aphies and opinion pieces, and picture books gives a new dimension to learning and helps to personalize it by providing students with different interests with unique opportunities to become engaged in the texts (Vacca & Vacca, 2005).
The right balance between these different types of materials depends upon the needs, skill levels, and interests of students and upon subject matter. While most courses should be text driven, I would argue that they must also be augmented by non-textbook materials. For younger students, a 50-50 balance might be appropriate whereas older and more advanced students might benefit from less attention to primary texts and a stronger focus on other materials.
George, M. (2002). Mary Called Magdalene. New York:
Vacca, R. T., & Vacca, J. L. (2005). Content Area Reading.
The passage selected for analysis is:
PENSACOLA, Fla. ยท Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast with 130-mph winds Thursday and unleashed most of its fury on the Florida Panhandle. Ivan killed at least 22 people, collapsed a bridge and sent tornadoes barreling through several hospitals and hundreds of homes.
But along much of the coast, the storm dubbed "Ivan the Terrible" did not live up to its nickname. Millions of residents had fled inland while emergency crews braced for widespread devastation. City leaders in Mobile, Ala., and Biloxi, Miss., said damage was nowhere as extensive as some had expected.
In New Orleans, where doomsday predictions had the low-lying city becoming a giant toxic lak
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