Today on the podcast, whole class novels and choice. How do we have it both ways; reading literature deeply and also fostering joyful, independent learning?

In Kate Robert's new book, A Novel Approach: Whole-Class Novels, Student Centered Teaching and Choice, Kate examines the troubles and triumphs of both whole-class novels and independent reading. She says we can find a student-centered, balanced approach to teaching reading. 

As an English teacher, Kate has seen whole-class novels build community, but she’s also seen too many kids struggle to read them—and either abandon reading altogether or become the reader who’s been left behind. Kate’s had better success getting kids to actually enjoy reading when they choose their own books within a workshop model. 

Many know Kate from her work with Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project, but she’s been thinking about this topic since before then. For Kate, the idea started back when she observed the paradox her father, an english professor, struggled with in his teaching.

A Novel Approach is accompanied by classroom videos where you can watch Kate put her ideas into practice with students. We’ll be previewing these videos on the Heinemann blog and on Kate’s website. To see the videos, read blogs from Kate, and to download a sample chapter, visit blog.Heinemann.com. Be sure to also follow Kate on Twitter @TeachKate

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