I love getting an extra hour in the fall; it comes at the perfect time when I always feel so far behind at school and need an extra 60 minutes to grade or plan lessons.
But this year I decided I'm going to devote an extra hour just for myself to read a book. Of course, as I sat up late last night reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth–the second book in the Divergent trilogy–I wished I could have an extra hour every single day just to read. (I've been dying to read the final book, Allegiant, but hadn't made the time to read Insurgent.)
It made me wonder... Why do English teachers–the ones who stereotypically love to read literature the most–have the least amount of time to read? Case in point: the day I received Allegiant in the mail I lent it to one of my students knowing I wouldn't be able to read it yet. That same day one of our science teachers came in to my classroom at the end of the day to borrow a copy of Divergent (the first book in Roth's trilogy). Then he came back the next day and said, "OK, I need book two." What!? How did he have time to read an entire book in less than a day? And guess how long it took him to read Insurgent? Yep, less than a day. So he basically finished the entire trilogy in three days. Three school days, mind you.Wanna know how I spent those three school days and nights? Skimming student responses to the novels we are reading in class, reading and offering suggestions for college application essays for some of my seniors, entering grades into our school's online grading application, uploading my online journal questions, typing up new bell-ringers for the week, and writing test questions for the novels we finished up in class last week. None of which I'd rather do than read.
So last night and today, my friends, I am going to READ. For pleasure. And the papers that need graded this weekend will have to wait one more day. Sorry kids.
So how will YOU spend your extra hour?
Share in the comments below.
What are you reading, by the way? Share that, too!
