“A Novel Approach dismantles timeworn methods for teaching whole class novels that consume class time, provide little relevance or rigor, and disengage students from reading. Kate Roberts offers an empowering road map for navigating whole class novels with your students while supporting their independent reading lives. A forward-thinking model for progressive literacy education.”—Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild
“I wish this book was around back when I completely stopped reading in High School. I lost years of my reading life, just as so many students turn away from reading in secondary grades because the assigned books are uninteresting, too confusing, or seem to drag on. Kate's approach shows us that when novel teaching is skills driven, brief, and complimented with book clubs, it can be more engaging to students and more rewarding for teachers.”—Christopher Lehman, coauthor of Falling in Love with Close Reading and author of Energize Research Writing
“Increasing the volume of student reading starts with finding the right balance between independent reading, book club reading, and core work reading. And this is where A Novel Approach proves invaluable. Kate Roberts not only shows secondary teachers why achieving this balance is important, she demonstrates how to do it.”—Kelly Gallagher, coauthor of 180 Days and author of Readicide
“There isn’t a teacher among us who hasn’t wondered, “How do I do all of this?” Reading this book is like having the world’s best instructional coach by your side to help you craft a clear, manageable, and responsive approach to helping your students become better readers, thinkers, and people. Kate reminds us of the tremendous power of our instructional decisions on our students’ reading lives, all the while, handing us resources, instilling in us a necessary confidence, and high-fiving us through pages of this book.” –Allison Marchetti and Rebekah O’Dell, coauthors of Beyond Literary Analysis and Writing With Mentors
“Like any author worth her salt, Kate trusts her readers to bring their own expertise to the text. If you are expecting the definitive answer to the age-old question, “What’s better: giving students opportunities for independent choice, or teaching with a whole class novel?” you won’t get the answer. What you will get is Kate’s straightforward, common sense approach on how to use both. Kate helps teachers weigh their options and make choices about what’s best for their students. She shares her systems and structures and reassures readers that students of all levels can make growth.”—Cris Tovani, coauthor of No More Telling as Teaching and I Read It, But I Don’t Get It
“In A Novel Approach, Kate Roberts offers those of us in the classroom a witty, engaging, and thoughtful examination of a problem we are all grappling with one way or another: How to teach whole-classs novels in ways that challenge and engage not only our students but us! This thoughtful book provides a range of approaches that would work in different classes with different kids. Just as important, though, it shows us that it is still possible to be the sort of English teacher we wanted to be when we entered the profession.”—Jim Burke, author of The English Teacher’s Companion
