Just What the Doctor Ordered

I got a manicure and pedicure the other day. It was the first one of the season. Throughout the spring and summer, or flip-flop time, I try to keep up with my toes. Getting a pool pass is a big deal for my family and I would like most of the attention during bathing suit season diverted to my feet.  Plus, plain and simple, it's a relaxing and selfish way to spend 2 hours each month. 

I dropped my daughter of at dance the other night and stopped on my way home for a bit of pampering.  What made it so special this time is that it was completely unplanned. The plan was to complete my half of the carpool, and then come home to get some work done. Instead, I was a walk-in at my favorite salon who they happened to have time for. As I sat back in the massage chair (that feels like it's about to rocket off into space- I usually turn it off promptly after they turn it on), soaked my feet in the perfectly hot water, and sipped on my large blueberry coffee, I reflected. Because if you've been keeping up with my blog, reflecting is what I do.  And this is what came to me:

As I sat flipping through People catching up on the gossip and current hairstyles of celebrities, I thought maybe the middle schoolers I work with would enjoy reading more if they could do it while getting a pedicure. OK, so that's sort of a metaphor, but what if they could read while sitting on a soccer ball, or basketball, or skateboard, or listening to their favorite tunes, or sitting on big comfy pillows.  When I was in a classroom, I offered carpet squares to my 7th graders any time they read. And each week we had "coffee club" while reading the newspaper. The idea was that adults don't sit at hard desks in hard chairs while they read the newspaper so why should students? I offered tons of free choice reading in my classes as long as the books were of the genre I was currently teaching.  I taught only 2 class novels, but was somehow still able to assess that my students were meeting the required standards. ;-)  I gained a reputation for being passionate about reading. Which is probably what caused me to move into this new position that I'm still trying to work through. Nonetheless, kids enjoyed being in my class where they were free to read and write what they wanted. We had rules of course, but I was creating readers and writers. It''s true, kids actually enjoyed reading and writing.  Of course, it was never 100% of them, but I'm confident it was the majority. 

So I'm going to petition the state to begin funding spas in schools.  Even with all the cutbacks in educational funding, I think kids deserve pedicures while they read.