Encourage Reading and Writing with Cell Phone Novels

 Encourage Reading and Writing with Cell Phone Novels

A new genre of literature, perfect for Generation Text is the cell phone novel, which offers short chapters full of cliffhangers, dialog, and dramatic plot twists to get students engaged in their reading. Writing cell phone novels challenges students to show narration, poetry and even visual art by choosing line breaks, punctuation, whitespace, and rhythm. Textnovel (http://www.textnovel.com) is a free, fun way for students to read, write for a real audience, gain feedback and revise serial fiction.  Lost books and eaten homework are a thing of the past.

Educators choosing to use Textnovel will need to become familiar with the site and the settings where the stories are given movie type ratings.

• Ideas for the Classroom

• Even if cell phones are banned, choose a G rated cell phone novel and have students read it and make comments as homework.
• Collectively write a cell phone novel as a class project, or within cooperative learning groups. The social nature of the site will bring students together to create, revise, and develop their stories.
• Use the Textnovel site for journal writing that will never get lost or destroyed. They simply send their entries to their journal where the teacher can comment. Updates are sent via text or email.
• Text Talk
  Krystal Swarovsk - High School
  Like most students, high schooler Krystal Swarovski was never given an opportunity to write for a real audience in school but with www.textnovel.com Krystal has a large fan base and was awarded the Text Novel Editor’s Choice award for her story Slices of Pie.  Here is an excerpt from Krystal’s bio from the site which provides a glimpse into what contributing to the site has meant for her.
  
  So, most people on this site put their writing career to date in their about me section, but since i'm in high school, my writing career to date has been a short story (B-), a collection of poems(A+), and many many many informational essays and literary criticisms, grades ranging from C+ to A+. More on the A side though... :) Anyway, point is, the only writing I have ever really done has been for school, with varying degrees of success. However, last year, a good friend of mine (whose pen name here is Anabelle) was telling me all about her story and this fabulous website during study hall, and she convinced me to get an account on textnovel, and that's where I started writing. I have to say I am surprised by the amount of votes my stories have received. I didn't think I would get over 20! ;) So thanks to everyone that's read what I've written. :D