Reading under the table.

Drugyal HSS library had many Louis L'Amor books and at one point of time I got myself totally   engrossed in them. I would even read them in the classroom while the teachers taught. Hiding the book under the table and my head stooped over the textbook on the desk made it look like I was looking at the textbook. I enjoyed reading them, especially in the classroom. I don't know how I never got caught. May be I was really good at faking or may be my teachers didn't care what I did in their class. Those were exciting moments when I transferred myself from the mundane monotonous lessons to the exhilarating gun fights of the old Wild West. 

Sidney Sheldon books intrigued me for totally different reasons. They had scenes which one might say is not appropriate for a boy. I remember my teachers advising us not to read the book but thinking about it now, as long as one reads I think SS always gave a good reading. The suspense intensified the drama and I could never keep myself away from finding what happens next. I read Stranger in the Mirror in one night. 

Now I catch students reading books other than their textbooks during their study. At first I didn't know what to tell them. They are studying, from the point of view of an English teacher but other teachers may most probably tell them to read their textbooks. Leave the novels for other times, when they are free. However, I don't stop them. As long as they are reading, they are not disturbing their friends. They are, in my opinion learning. One may say not studying but they are learning. 

I caught a girl once, she was reading in the class when she was suppose to discuss a question for presentation with her friends. She was reading the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. The book was half hidden under the table. She was completely indulged. So, when I stood near her she didn't even notice me for the first few seconds. She stopped immediately when she noticed me. I couldn't scold her. I told her to come to me during the interval. She wrote a book review on Breaking Dawn, that was her punishment for reading in the class. She gladly did it.

Reading is important but most students don't read. Telling them stories and leaving them incomplete when the climax is reached, helps. This, I did with The Count of Monte Cristo, White Fang, Bram Stroker's Dracula, and The Kite Runner. 

Reading is important and so is writing. Writing journals is encouraged but most don't do it sincerely. 

"Reading and Writing should go hand in hand like Lovers."