Why, Why, Why???

At MU I took two methods courses with Dr. Gilles. They were essentially the same course, but one focused on writing and the other course focused on reading. She once asked us, which course we preferred and later made the statement that most people have a preference. I never really understood how anyone could prefer reading to writing. As a good student and follower does, I have taken Dr. Gilles' advice and made sure I covered both adequately and alternately.
My students have opened the year with reading poetry, then we wrote poetry, then we read fiction, now we're writing fiction. Each time we write my students are completely enthralled in the experience (at least the majority of them). When we have to read, it's a completely different story.
For instance, we completed Literature Circles last week and my students were ascetic. I had four books going and two of the groups were a little more than mildly excited to read their books. The other two were heavily annoyed by the constant repetition and the fact that they had been assigned the school books which are in horrible shape (clumps of pages are missing in most of them and the binding is coming apart). Could it be a coincidence that the groups who were reading the brand new books I bought with my own money seemed to be having a more pleasurable experience? Just food for thought...that's another blog entry on another day.
Back to the matter at hand. After Lit. Circles, we began studying how to write Friendly Letters. We had a shortened week so I figured we could knock this out now. It's as if I teach two different classes. This week when we wrote our letters, I was reacquainted with the same students I taught when we wrote poetry. Today, their final drafts of their three paragraphs were due. I had students wanting to skip P.E. to finish writing their letters and address their envelopes. Skip gym; that's unheard of! Puzzling to me.
Why, why, why? Why do they prefer writing to reading. Reading seems to me the easier option. There is much less work and effort required. They read a book, discuss it, answer questions and on good days they draw something about the book. When we write in my class, my students produce an average of two rough drafts and I mark up their precious drafts. Writing always takes more explanation, instruction, and modeling on my part so I know it must require more physical and mental effort from my students.
Did they enjoy writing their letters because there is more freedom of expression? That's really the only thing I can think of. Let me know if you can offer any plausible explanations that explain why my students prefer the long, sometimes daunting task of the writing process.
Meanwhile, I'm off to read a book.

Tear Fest II

Today I cried. It wasn't a long, drawn out overly emotional and sappy cry. It lasted for almost a minute. It was a different kind of cry. It was sudden and slow and only three tears fell from my face. I'm not even sure of what was wrong or if anything was wrong. I'm just tired and extremely overwhelmed. My body just feels like it can't go on any longer. So I did it. I went to the bathroom, stared out of the window, and without warning, the tears came. Like I said, they were brief, but necessary.

The triumphant part about the situation is that during my daily mental reflection in rush hour traffic, I owned everything I felt. I thought to myself, "I'm taking on too much additional responsibilty." In actuallity, it's not really that much that I've taken on, it's just that my work load situtaion is so extreme this year, that extra tasks seem amplified. Anywho, I always ask myself on not so great days, was it soooo bad that I wouldn't return the next day if I had a choice? The answer was no. Even though I am incredibly exhausted, I couldn't bare the thought of not seeing my kids again. (Maybe I'm exaggering...I could bare the thought, but I REALLY wouldn't like to!)

I've wanted to quit some endeavors in life and some of them I have; just quit right in the middle of the whole thing. So if it's not bad enough to quit, it can't really be that bad at all.

So I'm beginning to pick up the pieces mentally and emotionally and prepare for a new day. I'll look into my kids eyes tomorrow and give lots of hugs and I know everything will be alright :))

PEACE