I feel like a High Schooler Again

All last week I observed a teacher in a nearby high school as part of my student teaching experience. I will be spending the next 13 weeks in this same classroom and at some point will be teaching the students like they are my own. However, these first few weeks lead up to the end of the first semester in my host school, and the students are preparing for final exams. So there is not a lot for me to do besides grading the odd stack of papers.

Blog-hopping a few weeks ago, I came across someone who was reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, the debut novel of British author Rachel Joyce. Just last week I came across another recommendation for it, and since I had it on reserve at the library, I figured I should give it a go.

I started reading it on Thursday or Friday morning.

Problem #1: I brought it to school with me.
Problem #2: Four of the five classes were working on review stuff-- nothing for me to do.

So basically, I spent a good portion of the day on Friday with my nose buried in a book. I left school on Friday feeling slightly guilty, but it's not like I didn't do something I was supposed to be doing. It was just a dull day at the high school. But I felt like I was about 16 again, reading a book under the desk because I was done with my work, but still didnt want the teacher to know that I was doing "outside work" in his class.

However, this is the mark of a really good book in my mind. I wanted to find out what happened to Harold, and why Queenie Hennessy was so important to him. But, as a plus, it wasn't an inappropriate novel. It was a very clean read. One of my favorite parts of the book was following Harold's journey along the map provided in the front of the book.

I would definitely recommend it.