A Recipe for Great Content
Middle and high school readers can be a tough crowd. And since many students in this age group say they “hate” reading, choosing great content for them is even more crucial. We at Zinc have been working with teenagers for decades, and we know how to engage them. We’ve even been able to transform many kids from reluctant readers to proud bookworms. Below is the recipe we use when curating our site content. You can use it when choosing texts outside of Zinc.
Content should meet ALL of these criteria.
Excellent Writing: The text should model excellent writing for students, and if it's not superb writing, you should ask about the weaknesses in your class discussions and/or assignments.
Relevance: Look for topics that feel compelling to a diverse student body. Some kids, for instance, will gravitate toward articles on famous athletes; others will move toward important speeches in history or robotics news.
Longevity: Ask, “Is this text going to be relevant down the road, in a month or even a few years?” Even when reading about current events, find texts that teach students evergreen lessons.
Cultural Literacy: Ask, “Will this text add to the student’s knowledge of the world?”
Difficulty Levels: Each classroom has readers of all different levels. Search for texts that will challenge students across reading abilities, or assign different articles to groups at different reading levels.
Strong Argumentation & Point of View: Get students grappling with all the aspects of arguments: claims, evidence, assumptions, counterarguments, attacks, and defenses. They don't have to agree with the author to learn a lot from reading the article.
Excitement: Ask, “If a student who doesn’t like to read reads this, will she be inspired to read more?” The answer should always be yes.
Browse the articles, poems, and fiction excerpts that we’ve curated using this approach, and assign one today!