Please be sure you do. I was so touched by this story about a young man (about 15?) who is ‘special’–and talks about having trouble interpreting social signals, in particular, and having a very special interest that he obsesses over (religion of all things). I like the fact that Marcelo is careful not to ‘label’ himself–he talks about Aspergers and what that is and also about Autism and how the more severe forms can truly be so difficult to family and family and friends. He doesn’t want to put himself in the category of kids who cannot make themselves understood –but does a great job of letting the reader in on the difficulties of interpretting the world in a very literal manner, obsessing of things, having sensitivities that others do not and being misunderstood. It is so beautiful and touching, and to me truly illustrates how having this unique way of interpreting the world creates a “gentle beauty” in his way of naively questioning others intentions and motivation. The book isn’t about getting ‘Asperger’s’ right all the time, but about characterizing elements of Aspergers’, ADHD, and other kinds of people who have difficulty in the social realm.

Marcelo has a way of literally and painstakingly unpacking the ways in which people behave that actually makes this character even more of an ‘expert’ on human behavior than folks who seem so adept at navigating the social world. As a result  of the way in which he has to learn why people act the way they do (i.e., why they lie, hurt others, compete, are forced to do the wrong things for the right reasons) he takes us into a journey of human motivation like no other. The writer takes us into some wonderful spaces through Marcelo’s eyes and we get a view of the world, on love, on belonging that the best detective or ‘detector’ of subtle human behavior couldn’t construct.

Please see a few sites related to the book–

http://www.franciscostork.com/about_marcelo.php

http://www.readingrants.org/2009/03/30/marcelo-in-the-real-world-by-francisco-x-stork/

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/10/books/review/Lipsyte-t.html

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3700085.Marcelo_in_the_Real_World

I really hope to get Peter Reynolds of Fablevision to attend Diamonds 2010, and perhaps MPT with their Labyrinth math game. But so far we have Debbie Phelps (yes, its Michael’s mom!) as well as Rick Lavoie of Fat City fame among other luminaries in the field of underachieving students and how they learn.

Please be sure to visit the link I have posted here to register and/or consider submitting a proposal to this great event. It’s great to have discussions around what works best for this population, in particular because the answers are never straightforward or clear cut and the children are so heterogeneous. We can only continue to learn more and more from each other.

I’ve just come back from the National Educators Computing Conference in DC, or NECC09 which has given my a lot of ‘fuel’ for thought and ideas regarding how we can best use technology to help our teachers and thus help our kids succeed in school.

I’m also help out with the upcoming Diamonds in the Rough 2010 conference sponsored by Weinfeld Education Associates in Montgomery County, MD. We’ve now gotten Rick Lavoie, Debbie Phelps (yes, Michael’s mom) and possible Peter Reynolds of Fablevision to attend..among others

Please see the links to these two conferences on my page here.

The other conference that made a big impression on me this year was WNET/channel thirteen’s Celebration of Teaching and Learning in NYC. That link is still up with great video of the highlights such as Alan Alda talking about the Human Spark and Temple Grandin as well as Sir Kenneth Robinson on creativity. Get inspired by watching the video section of this link.