What are some successful/effective ways students can independently increase their reading level?

[nana053]

I wonder if reading something like Gone with the Wind, but then seeing the film might help.

Another possibility would be reading along with a book on tape, perhaps.

[stepka]

Originally Posted by nana053

I wonder if reading something like Gone with the Wind, but then seeing the film might help.

Another possibility would be reading along with a book on tape, perhaps.

Yes I think those are quite helpful and unlike other English teachers, I think cliffnotes are also valuable. The idea of any of these is to get an overview of what you're going to be reading so you're not too lost and confused. I always try to do this with a difficult piece of lit. Sometimes seeing the movie first can be counter-productive though--when I was 12 I saw the movie Wuthering Heights and loved it and tried to read the book after that but couldn't get thru it for years. When I finally read it and got the point of it, I realized that the movie was romance novelized and showed only the first half of the book but the book was never a romance novel.