My husband went to a train show in Cleveland today with a friend. I have to admit I was bummed by the prospect of spending an entire day by myself. Then the realization hit, "op·por·tu·nit·y" strikes. I got up when I woke up without hearing the repeated buzz of an annoying alarm clock in my ear. I sat down with my laptop, checked e-mail, scanned a few professional newsletters, read the New York Times online, and ate breakfast slowly, by myself, on the couch with my feet up. Then I remembered a computer project I wanted to work on.

A short time ago I attended an Orton Gillingham workshop. "Or·ton Gil·ling·ham" is an approach to reading that teaches the rules of phonics, syllabication, and other strategies. The instructor gave us a series of lesson plans to use and I wanted to create written response forms to go with the lessons. I had already created a template (using excel) and added the text to the response form for several lessons. Now I wanted to add pictures to the decodable stories to increase student comprehension when reading. I visited my favorite clipart site: http://www.clipart.com/ and promptly began downloading images. Time slipped by as I became totally engrossed in the task. As I worked I discovered that adding the illustrations would not only increase student comprehension but would provide an opportunity for students to use picture clues to respond to "wh" questions, as writing prompts, and to work on sequencing skills. Feeling quite proud of myself for maximizing the benefits of using Orton Gillingham instruction, I thought about uploading the response forms to my web page for other teachers in the area to access. It was then I began to feel tired and cranky.

Then the realization hit. My husband would be home in a couple of hours. I imagined a quiet dinner for two and the comfort of having a conversation with the person I know and like best in the world. What a perfect way to end a perfectly glorious "la·zy" day.