This is the thought that woke me at 3:30 AM this morning. My sixth graders chose a nonfiction book to read weeks ago, and they had been doing a weekly check-in or quick book share to demonstrate their progress. Lately, we’ve gotten busy digging into lessons on author’s purpose, text organization, and different types of note-taking strategies with short nonfiction text, and they haven’t had much time to read their books in class. I had planned to forge ahead today with the next note-taking lesson, but that little voice in my head had other ideas.
“What about the books they’re supposed to be reading?” asked the voice at 3:30 this morning.
“They’re supposed to be reading 30 minutes a day outside of class, ” I silently answered, as I rolled back over.
“Uh, huh, I’m sure they’re all doing that.”
“Shut up and let me sleep.”
“They need time to read IN class and to talk about what they’re reading,” the voice reasoned. “You can’t just say it’s important; you have to show it’s important by making time for them to read.”
“But I already made the lesson and the assignment and everything,” I protested, as I rearranged my pillow and stared at the ceiling.
Silence from the voice.
?
…
“Okay, you win.”
I got out of bed, put on a half a pot of coffee, and reworked my plan for today. I’ve scrapped the next note-taking lesson and built in time for the kids to read and talk about what they’re reading. As a former colleague would say, I needed to “slow my roll.”
Reading is important, so let’s read.
My Corner of the Village 