A Reading Teacher Should Read, Right?

     I haven't written a post in this particular blog in quite some time. Since it's called The Wordeling Reader, and I'm planning to write about reading, this seems to be the best place to add my thoughts.

     I'm a reading (and writing) teacher, and my students range in age from 18 on up. Every time I get the chance, I tell my students to read just for the pleasure of it. Many of my students hate to read, which saddens me because reading can broaden horizons. At the beginning of my lecture periods, my students and I read for 15 minutes. At the beginning of the semester, 15 minutes seem like a lifetime to those who do not read (who do not take the time to read). As the semester progresses, that 15-minute time span seems to be too short for those students who have become hooked on reading. That amount of time is always too short for me.

     That 15-minute moment is very tiny for me because I love to read. Usually, I am reading more than one book. In the classroom, at the moment, I'm reading Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz. At home, I'm reading The Wurst Is Yet to Come by Mary Daheim. I'm a sucker for those cozy mysteries [Other cozy mystery authors I like are Joanne Fluke, Rita Mae Brown, Lilian Jackson Braun, Blaize Clement (RiP), and Janet Evanovich.] The Daheim book is via the Kindle app on my computer and iPad. I am also reading a couple of nonfiction books: Beyond Belief: My Secret Life inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill, Calling the Rainbow Nation Home: A Story of Acceptance and Affirmation by E.T. Sundby, and A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman.

     I have several fiction and nonfiction books in my Kindle library. Some are for the sheer pleasure of reading, and some are for my teaching profession (for both reading and writing classes). I also have several hard-copies of fiction and nonfiction books. I guess several would be an understatement if you saw how many actual books I possess. I've been reading for a few decades, and I've collected quite a few books along the way. These days, when I finish a book, I bring it to school and give it away. I can practically hear the book lovers, now, knowing that one of their own gives her books away. Would they be just as equally horrified to know that I consider books to be just books? Why should I keep my books after I finish reading them when I can give them to someone who has never read them.

     When I tell my students to read, they often tell me they don't have time to read. I tell them they do not make the time to read because only a small amount of time can be allotted to reading, and they would still have time to do other tasks. Their favorite excuse for not reading is, "Reading makes me sleepy." I tell them that they are already sleepy and that reading relaxes them so that they can sleep. I tell them that, sometimes, when my mind is full of thoughts, and I cannot go to sleep, I read because reading relaxes me so much that I can go to sleep.

     When I read (especially fiction), I am whisked away to the place where the story is taking place. I'm in that story, mingling with the characters. My mind is not thinking about anything else other than the story. Gone are my busy thoughts that were interfering with my ability to sleep. Occasionally, I become so enthralled in the story that it wakes me up, and I will read for several hours past my bedtime. I will happily deal with the next day's tiredness because I chose to keep on reading the story.

     I hate when sleepiness interferes with my reading. Sometimes, I will pick up a book and start reading it only to put it back down again to catch a few Zs. Then, upon awakening from my nap, I will read a bit more, and, as if I wasn't yet done napping, I fall asleep again. On those kinds of days, I will read and nap and read and nap, etcetera, throughout the day. Thankfully, I do not often come across those kinds of days.

     My students are surprised to know that sometimes I fall asleep while reading. I guess they think reading teachers never go to sleep while reading. It's like a student who sees her teacher at a store. There is surprise in that student's face, as if to say, "Why aren't you at school?" Isn't that how we thought when we were kids? Our teachers could not possibly be anywhere else but school because that's where we have always seen them.

     Reading goes beyond the pleasure mode of it. I want my students to take initiatives to go beyond the textbooks they are required to read for their classes. I do a great deal of research for my lessons, as well as for anything that piques my interests. I tell my students not to settle for just what's in their textbooks nor in their teachers' lectures. I tell them to read more about the topics they are studying. Most students, unfortunately, are satisfied with simply reading their textbooks and listening to their teachers (some students do not even read their textbooks nor listen to their instructors - tell me, again, why those students are even in college?).

     Those students who do not reach beyond the textbooks and lectures are the ones I need to reach. Do I have to require my students to read beyond the books and the lectures? I guess, if I want them to get into the habit of learning beyond what's right in front of them, I will have to require them to document the beyond. That is something I will work on this summer and incorporate this coming fall semester.

     As for reading for myself, I will continue on that path, simply, because I enjoy it. What are you reading these days? What authors do you like? What genres do you enjoy? Happy reading!