So this is how my students feel when they haven't done their homework...

Alright, I failed.  I gave in to the exhaustion my class caused me, followed by a full week of recovering from wisdom tooth removal (I am weak and the pain killers are strong). But I must get back to it. I have class again this week starting on Tuesday, but I think I'll be smarter this time about my reading. I'll also have a chance to go into my building and grab picture books that will ease the burden of some of my reading.

I did get a chance to read these last three weeks, just not as much as I should have. I started Wild Girl, by Patricia Reilly Giff, and started (and finished!) The Feminine Mistake, by Leslie Bennetts (not a children's book, and I definitely skipped major parts, so don't be impressed by the 300+ page count). All of this adds up to the fact that I did not read every day, like I was supposed to. Or like any human being should do to keep their mind sharp. But of course, I am human, and thus I err. I might not have even used that word correctly, I don't know, I'm still on pain killers (okay, fine, I'm on basically just suped-up ibuprofen).

Okay, so now I have to do some reflecting on how this slip-up will fit into my teaching. I've already been doing some thinking about how I don't want to have my students keep reading logs, and I don't want to make them lose recess for not reading, but I also have to acknowledge that, as a fourth grader, three weeks of little reading is a bad thing in terms of continued progress.

I think this highlights for me the importance of setting aside time every day for independent reading in the classroom. I always had a book with me when I was in class, but I never read because nobody else was reading, and so being the only one reading would make me look anti-social. But if everybody were expected to read at the same time, I think that would have gone very differently, I would have had a hard time putting my book down. On top of that, I would have been engaged enough to want to continue with the book later. When you go one day without reading, the second day without it seems to come easier.

And so, I will remember for future classroom practice that I need to stress the importance of having a sacred "Just Sit and Read" time, just to let us remind ourselves how much we enjoy the activity.