Extensive practice provides the

opportunity for students to

consolidate the skills and strategies

teachers often work so hard to develop.

Knowing the Resources

What Matters to Adolescent Learners?

“I believe our professional efforts in discovering and

embracing what matters will fall into three broad areas:

knowing adolescents, knowing the resources, and knowing

the research.”

Janet Allen, “Choosing What Matters for Adolescent Learners”

Reading Volume of Fifth-Grader Reading Volume of Fifth-Grader Students of Different Levels of Students of Different Levels of AchievementAchievement

 

 

Achievement

Percentile Minutes of Reading per

Day

Words per

Year

90th 40.4 2,357,000

50th 12.9 601,000

10th 1.6 51,000

Adapted from Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1988

NAEP Reading Report Card for the Nation U. S. Department of Edu., 1999 available at http:nces.ed.gov/naep

Harvey Daniels and Steven Zemelman in Subjects Matter suggest these thoughts as teachers and students look at booklists.

 

• Content that is important or engaging

• People we can care about

• A narrative structure or chronological line

• Places we can visualize

• Danger, conflicts, risks, or choices

• Value, moral, ethical or political dimensions

• Some ideas that reasonable people can debate, dispute, or disagree about

Some Favorite Web SitesSome Favorite Web Sites

www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists

http://www.dawcl.com

http://www.teenreads.com

http://www.kidsreads.com