Sarah McClure April Blog Post :

Routman chapter 12 - You Only Have So Much Time

As I read, “The elusive balanced life remains a mirage” Routman pg. 202, I nod in agreement.  It is Friday evening, I have just had my parents arrive from out of town for a weekend visit, and I am blogging about the difficulty of avoiding burn out and keeping life in balance.  The irony does not escape me.  I along with my fellow teachers desire to serve our students with excellence in the classroom.  We desire to serve our families with excellence as well and this is what causes the constant pull on our consciences and all too often exhaustion from our efforts.  Balance is so important, yet so difficult to find.  I appreciate Routman’s attention to this in Reading Essentials.  The chapter includes a lot of realistic and helpful suggestions.  I especially enjoyed the section, Keep Work Meaningful, this is music to my ears.  School should not be boring!  Work should not just fill time!  Everything that I expect my students to complete should have a very meaningful purpose.  My time is valuable and theirs is too.  It is time to trim away the excess busy work and focus on authentic learning.  Meaningful assignments foster engaged students and a meaningful product from them.  I also like the suggestion to make ongoing evaluation a part of every literacy activity.  I agree as well that it is important to continue my own education by engaging in continued professional development and reading professional books.  Possibly my favorite part of this chapter came from the excerpt from Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac.  “If we were to consider love from the point of view of our schedule, who would bother?  Who among us has the time to fall in love?  Yet have you ever seen someone in love not take the time to love?” (Daniel  Pennac)  It is true that we make time for the things that are dear to us.