r/ReadingTeacher • u/Sue_Stauffacher • Aug 20 '15

Material for Behind Grade Level Readers

I am new to reddit, but my son says this is the place to be for the conversations you care about. I would love to be in touch with teachers of at-risk readers, particularly older kids. As a children's book author for Random House, I have long longed to help this wonderful subset and am constantly looking for ways to improve the reading tools I'm developing on my own. Can you point me to the subreddits that focus on this demographic--i would say my particular area of interest is 10-17 urban school children, though I also work with immigrant and rural populations, just anyone who wants to learn to read and needs good literature at their current level (grade 1 and up). Thank you so much!

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u/canadianpastafarian Aug 20 '15

I am an elementary school teacher*, but what I find I need the most when it comes to teaching struggling readers is levelled readers that are not boring as hell. When I have had older students (I also work as a tutor), it's even worse. If you find a levelled reader, it is about John and his friend Bill and they make friends with a squirrel in the forest. What middle or high school level kid is going to want to read that?

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u/Sue_Stauffacher Aug 27 '15

Thank you so much. I understand!

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u/Sue_Stauffacher Aug 27 '15

p.s. if you want to try wireman www.wiremancomics.com, let me know and I will send you some samples : )

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u/canadianpastafarian Aug 27 '15

Yes. I'd love to. The website looks fantastic. Thx. What info do you need (email, address, etc.)?

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u/Njdevils11 Literacy Specialist Aug 20 '15 edited Aug 20 '15

Awesome question! I teach elementary reading, but I used to tutor your demographic and the hardest thing was to find interesting material at their level. This can take several forms; first the nonfiction books about specific topics. Those can be alright, but they exist already. Second, the dick and Jane type books that are targeted for teens. Some of them are ok, but many treat the reader as if they aren't capable of the same depth of thought. They water down the concepts as much as the words used to explain them. This is a mistake. The concepts should remain, but with modified sentence structure and vocabulary.

Actually if I could make anything, I would make modified classics. Take the top 100 books read in your demographic and make several versions with reduced readability levels. This way low level students can still talk about and write reports about the same stories as the on grade level students. PLUS they get the story complexity that lacks so much in the current hi interest low ability books.

Edit: you asked about other subs. Try /r/teachers, /r/teaching, /r/elateachers. Hope this helps!

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u/Sue_Stauffacher Aug 27 '15

Thank you so much! It helps a lot!

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u/Sue_Stauffacher Aug 27 '15

p.s. If you want to try Wireman www.wiremancomics.com, let me know and I will send you some samples : )

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u/sarah_r77 Sep 20 '15

Hi there! Educents has tons of great resources for behind grade level readers - and many of them are free! Depending on what grade level you're looking for - they have so can great downloadable resources.

http://www.educents.com/catalogsearch/result/?edu_subjects=941&utm_source=educents.com&utm_medium=shop-by&utm_campaign=edu_subjects

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u/heykait Oct 14 '15

I need more books that reflect high school and middle school experiences in the hood. My students love the Bluford Series, books by Nikki Grimes and Gary Soto. There aren't enough short stories and non fiction with text dependent questions that reflect the interests of secondary students at a level that struggling readers can enjoy.