Textbooks Are an Option
From the desk of Carol C. . .
Over the course of the last decade or so, textbooks have gotten a bad rap. Many teachers have been convinced, persuaded, or told to put their textbooks on the shelf. It’s true there is a disconnect when what you are to teach is not what the book offers. However, this doesn’t mean textbooks don’t have their place in classrooms. They do. They serve as a resource which when used thoughtfully can enhance your students’ learning.
When I taught fourth grade the silver social studies book was considered to be the gold standard. Whenever I needed to teach NC government, regions, or history that book was my go to. It had terrific maps and diagrams and explained difficult concepts in a way kids could understand them. I along with every other fourth grade teacher loved this book. We went into mourning when a new textbook company was adopted. Many teachers did as they were told and got rid of those special silver books. Others put them on their shelves and pulled them out as needed. This should have been the message teachers were given. Use what you have that’s good. Don’t throw away the baby with the bathwater. Interestingly enough many fourth grade teachers still have these silver social studies books on their shelves to be pulled out and used when appropriate. They update and supplement as needed…after all Sam Ervin, Jr. is no longer the senior senator from North Carolina.
Reading textbooks have their place in classrooms, also. They are worthy resources to use for particular skills to be taught and strategies to be practiced. Should they be used as the only resource to teach reading? Absolutely not! They are, however, valuable to use when you want your entire class to work with the same piece of literature. This might be during a whole class mini lesson. There was a third grade purple reading book I loved. The first story was about plum jam. It is a wonderful story and was great to use to show how authors use humor in their writing. Could I have found another story to illustrate this idea? Yes, I could, and I did. My point is I did use the reading textbook on a fairly consistent basis. I didn’t necessarily go through it page by page and in order, but I did pull out literature and activities I thought would benefit my students.
Assessment is a hot topic in education. The bottom line is that using many different types of assessments gives teachers the most well rounded picture of their students. Good textbooks contain SOME good assessments. These tests and any other types can’t be used indiscriminately, of course. They take time to look through and decide what to keep and what to delete, but they are helpful and can help save time. Both informal and formal assessments are needed to give you more than one snapshot of a child. Textbook assessments can’t give you the whole picture and certainly shouldn’t be used in place of other assessments but rather in addition to them.
We as teachers decide how to use textbooks. We must use them wisely, or they become a crutch and sadly don’t enhance our students’ learning. Textbooks should not be used in isolation. The ideas found in any textbook need to be extended with the use of other materials or applied in real life. Remember, as the experts we drive instruction- not the books.