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ERIC Number: EJ818278
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Nov
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-8274
EISSN: N/A
Adolescents and Texts: Overserved or Underserved? A Focus on Adolescents and Texts
Tatum, Alfred W., Ed.
English Journal, v98 n2 p82-85 Nov 2008
As a literacy consultant who has been working in a high school for close to two years to help close the reading achievement gap between low-performing and high-performing students, the author contends that while certain students may be "overserved" by the social climate of the school, he did not believe they were being "overserved" with texts in the English classrooms. This was based on his observations during more than 100 hours of visits to classrooms across the English, history, and special education departments. Sadly, the texts selected for adolescents and the discussions about them in classrooms often miss the mark. This is true for high-achieving, average-achieving, and low-achieving students. This is important to note because there is a belief that only the struggling adolescent readers are being "underserved" by texts in middle school and high school classrooms. Right now, according to this author, most students are being underserved. In this article, he recommends two productive starting points to ensure that all adolescents encounter the texts they deserve in middle school and high school classrooms: (1) Using texts to engage adolescents with questions that matter to them; and (2) Using texts that tap adolescents' multiple identities.
National Council of Teachers of English. 1111 West Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096. Tel: 877-369-6283; Tel: 217-328-3870; Web site: http://www.ncte.org/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools; Middle Schools
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A