This document discusses key aspects for literacy teachers to consider when getting to know their students and selecting reading materials. It emphasizes the importance of understanding both cognitive skills like spelling and comprehension as well as non-cognitive factors like attitude and learning style. The document also recommends that teachers use a literacy matrix to analyze and select texts that are appropriate for students' ability levels based on attributes like word length, sentence complexity, and whether the text is more visual or linguistic. Additionally, it stresses exposing students to a variety of literature that reflects their identities and cultures.