Teacher Book

Many of the books I blog about are stories that I wanted to read simply because I wanted to read them.  I find that children's stories are often captivating, whimsical, and just the break from reality I need.  I am currently training to be a teacher so, apart from being enjoyable, this project has also served as a way for me to build up a database of books I can use with my students.  Today's book, Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman, falls firmly into the category of teacher book.

As long time readers of the blog will know, I am not particularly fond of poetry (with some notable exceptions), so I put off reading this book and choose instead to start with books I found more appealing. But now as I am nearing the end of my Newbery readings I decided it was time to give this book a try. 

First I must note that this book is meant to be read aloud.  As the title implies, these are poems written for two readers; sometimes the readers alternate and sometimes they read in unison.  This makes it slightly difficult to read the book and I found myself wishing for a partner I could read aloud with. I was slightly surprised to find that all of the poems are about bugs.  From grasshoppers to book lice and everything in between each poem focuses on a specific bug.  Who would have guessed that the joyful noises were actually insect sounds.

 The entire time I was reading this book I couldn't stop thinking, "this would be great for teaching!" Reading with a partner is incredibly motivating, even for students who are struggling readers.  These poems could be used as performance pieces which would mean students need to read them over and over again (in fancy reading specialist talk we call that repeated reading and it's quite effective in improving overall reading performance).  The poems are filled with different language strategies, rhyme, alliteration, metaphors, just to name a few-and the focus on bugs makes it more appealing to boys.  As hesitent as I was to read this book, I can now say without a doubt that this will definitely be a book I use in my classroom. 

Finding a use...that's kids stuff