FIFTEEN MINUTES A DAY

When our high school went to the Block Schedule, I was very pleased for a variety of reasons. Selfishly, it allowed me less in-class time and more time for prepping and grading. I used my time so wisely, even choosing to eat at my desk since the admin had taken away our Teachers' Lounge after two strikes, that I almost never took home papers to grade.

For a teacher of Honor English I, College Prep Writing, and American Lit, well that shows how I used my not in-class time. Plus I served as sponsor of our school's literary/art magazine, Junior Engineering and Science Team co-coach, Toss No Mas co-ordinator, hackey sack hall co-coach, once in awhile girls' golf coach, varsity announcer in baseball, football, and basketball, English Honors Seminar co-teacher, and some advisory committees, well I had a full plate. But with good planning, I could shuffle huge writing assignment due dates and still avoid the at-home grading.

But one activity I really enjoyed was the start of every class period or block (I can't recall, but I think each block ran 1 hour and twenty minutes every other day) students were to read from a novel or non-fiction book. That's right: silent reading for the first fifteen minutes. If they didn't bring a book to class, they were docked points, but that almost never happened.

Keep in mind that today's or then's students don't like to carry books, don't like paper of any kind and have enough books to haul around without carrying a novel, too. Our students for some reason never used their assigned lockers either opting to use their cars instead, so for the morning classes for instance, they were saddled with books. But they brought their novel to class knowing that they had 15 minutes of free reading time.

Many got through several books during the semester; some only one. But it gave them more writing opportunities, that is topics spurred by their reading, as well as, if nothing else 15 minutes of quiet time.

So what am I reading now? Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself, Stephen Coonts' The Disciple, Brennan Manning's Our Furious Longing of God, John Ortberg's When the Game is Over It All Goes Back in the Box, and Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith. That's not true: I actually finished the Albom book last week, but it's such a good read that I threw that in. If you like Tuesdays With Morrie, then you'll really like his latest.

And, yes, sometimes I don't read much more than the fifteen minutes I allotted nearly a decade ago. But on the positive side, I no longer have to eat lunch at my desk while grading.