Choosing Literature Part 2: The Reading List

Last week, we wrote the introduction to this blog post. Originally, we were super excited to pull this post together and provide it and then we realized through several conversations, that no one would really get why we were pulling together these books.

One of the main reasons lies in the scope of paraeducator’s daily jobs. Ultimately, it isn’t their job to choose a book for an ELA intervention. But they still might recommend a book for students to read at the library for a silent reading book. Or maybe this book is related to something they are reading. Either way, every year, especially in middle and high school, there are all these extra literature books to help extend a student’s reading. But for some students, those extra books aren’t always appropriate. Or they do not have an alternative reading book or maybe, for a host of reasons the student is not included in their general education English class. And that’s okay because we can look at this list of things we can do outside of what might parallel to a general education reading. This works with corrective reading strategies, adds to a student’s written work and encourages the interest in reading.

Reaching for a popular literature book gives a student a feeling of belonging. After all, even if their peer may have read that book a few years prior, there will be an opportunity for the student to have a conversation about the book—“Remember when you read that book? What did you think about the time when the character did ‘x’.” [Suggestion: give this as an assignment to a known friendly student to ask peers. It’s not great, but it’s a door opener for some students.]

The following list is not an entire list of books that could be paired with their movies. This is a list that focuses on finding a high/low reading list. We were quite selective with movies and books, there are many, but not all of the movies and books pair well. Our “Suggested Grades” are based on general reading ages of similar if not the books themselves.

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Do you have any comments about this week’s blog? Do you have a question for us? Would you like to be a guest blogger? Would you like to have an opportunity to pilot some materials at your campus? Find ParaEducate online here, here, here, here, and on our website. Paraeducate is a company interested in providing materials, information, and strategies for people working in special education inclusion settings for grades K-12.ParaEducate, the blog, is published weekly during the academic school year on Thursdays, unless a holiday. ParaEducate shares their findings at conferences, through their books, and their academic adaptations.