Why, As a Retired English Teacher, I Struggle to Read for Pleasure
And How I am Training Myself to Enjoy Reading Again
Planning, researching, grading, reading, testing. This encompassed my 34 year teaching career in the classroom and at home. I retired in 2014, but I am a reader who struggles with reading for enjoyment.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Let me back up a bit.
My mother raised me to be a reader. And, I loved to read.
For many summers, the heat of the afternoon prompted reading time. Because we didn’t have air conditioning in the 1960s, my mother would close the drapes on the living room’s picture window and spread a sheet on the floor every afternoon. The cool cotton was delightful to lay on as we quietly read. If we were lucky, a light breeze would make its way through the front door and pass over us as it made its way out the dining room window.
Although central air conditioning had become common when my children were young, we would close the drapes and spread a sheet on the floor to lay on as we read. Then, before bed, we read again.
