I have a secret. I am a book-a-holic reading teacher. I abuse Amazon’s “one click” and “add to cart” buttons. I spent my entire first year teaching salary on children’s books. Okay, those aren’t secrets. (Except maybe the salary fact.) The real secret: I hated reading: as a child, as a teenager, and as a young adult. As a child, I whined and complained that I wanted to be outside instead of reading. As a teenager, I cheated my way through book reports and English assignments. As a young adult, I spent more time trying to avoid reading than I would have spent actually reading the book. (Such things included cliff's notes, the movie version of the book, and if I was really desperate, the audio book.) Thankfully, when I entered the education program in college, I met a brilliant professor. She began and ended every class with a fantastic picture book. It was then, that I finally discovered the joy of reading. However, even today, I still check the length of chapters in any book I’m about to read. I would prefer to read a longer book that has very short chapters versus a really long short story. I think it’s visually deceiving or it gives me a sense of accomplishment to complete one short chapter. All I have to do is get through this two page chapter and I will feel successful. It's sort of the same feeling as checking things off a list. 1. Get up. Check. 2. Drink Coffee. Check. 3. Take dog for walk. Check.
However, when I read it in under two hours, I was shocked. Its format wasn’t intimidating. I wasn’t intending to read for two hours that day, but I flew through it. And the exact same thing happens with the kids I teach. Novels in verse are like legal gateway drugs that lead kids to the best addiction ever: books. Why Kids Love'em *Short format *Some contain illustrations *Emotionally driven stories *Short format Why Teachers Love'em *Kids read and enjoy them *Exposure to poetry forms *Added supplement to history lesson (for Historical Novels in Verse) *Great for practicing reading strategies such as visualizing and inferencing. *Can be used to practice fluency by performing the poems. *Kids read and enjoy them Top Three Favorites
What are your favorite novels in verse? How do your kids or students respond to them?
Check back in a day or so for a compiled list of Novels in Verse you can download. But for now, here is a visual list: Novels in Verse.
2 Comments
Charlotte
9/13/2013 02:37:34 am
Love this second Monday post. I think we have all struggled with reading at times. Thank you for sharing Novels in Verse.
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Mandy
9/13/2013 09:45:08 am
Thanks Charlotte! So glad you liked it. :)
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We are so excited to be mixing things up at CBA, beginning with some delicious additions to the Blogfish. Meet our awesome bloggers!!
Here's our lineup: 1st Mondays begin with awesome Aussie debut author and former student Amanda Lieber who will be focusing on Aussie kidlit. 2nd Mondays will feature super smart Melissa Stoller whose career is taking off with several new books. 3rd Mondays will feature our new blogger coming soon. 4th Mondays features new blogger, the fabulous Brentom Jackson, who has a beautiful approach to blogging. And 5th Mondays we'll be taking a break Archives
December 2023
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