Independent Reading is reading that we do independently of what is required for work or school.
Reading should be encouraged at any age because it cultivates a positive relationship with reading and builds on one’s comprehension and fluency skills.
This blog post documents my own independent reading and serves as a mentor text to my students as we build our independent reading habits.
Title – How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States
Author – Daniel Immerwahr
Genres – Nonfiction, US history, military history
Current Page Number – 46
This week I am reading How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States.
This book sat on my dresser for months prior to me picking it up. I’m not sure why it was untouched for so long, but during the last week, while on Winter Break from school, I was looking for something different to read. I usually spend my time reading short non-fiction articles for Article of the Week, fiction assigned to students, and student writing, which is mostly reflection and analytical writings.
During the introduction and first few chapters, How to Hide an Empire has been eye opening. Daniel Immerwahr has exposed the truth about well-known historical events/people that high school and undergraduate courses did not go over, including how Pearl Harbor wasn’t the only US territory attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, how Daniel Boone was not well liked by George Washington, and why the Trail of Tears really happened.
I am looking forward to the rest of How to Hide an Empire. It is extremely well researched and relays the information in an easy-to-read format with a familiar tone. It is providing me with the break my brain was looking for in terms of reading content over this reading break from teaching and school.