Summer at OBU

A summer day at OBU. I took this picture when there were no camps and everything was very quiet. Although I love it serene like this, I must say, I am looking forward to the fall semester. It is good to enjoy the break, and also good to enjoy the hustle and bustle.

I went to Riley Library to return some books I had checked out for the boys at Camp Meme
We had a great time reading and I found some intriguing books. Trying to get good reading material is one of my biggest jobs. Reading just for fun seems to be a thing of the past. When I was a substitute in the elementary schools the curriculum instructs the teacher to pick apart the story in teaching the student what writing a story entails. If I was a student in elementary school, I would dread reading on my own, because of the impression I would have to pick apart the book and thereby kill the very thing I was to enjoy.

As a substitute I had to get the classes quiet and I always tried to read funny poetry. Poetry that makes a point about children's lives without pandering. It is the best 30 minutes of the day. And what shocked me are the kids that I was having the most problem with got the point of the poems. Their laughter at the right time showed me they got irony and puns and they identified with the subject. Kids are smarter than we give them credit for. We should quit making them become robots and let them flourish.