Treasures Reading Resources
What’s the Problem?
I read this post today, by TeachPaperless. This concise post, addresses the issue of digital textbooks vs. traditional, printed textbooks and brought about by reading an article about Apple discussing ways to include some big publishing companies on its new tablet (coming out in late January).
I couldn’t be more in agreement with the message TeachPaperless is giving educators. The message is pretty much- why use ANY textbook? Textbooks (digital or traditional), don’t teach kids to think. They don’t contain ‘real’ sources of information. They contain ‘parts’. Parts someone else thought was important. Here’s the clincher: the money spent on textbooks (in any form) could be put to much better use.
While teaching my 2nd son math, I bought the Saxon curriculum for 1st grade. In the Home Study Teacher’s Edition, I noticed that the conversation was scripted. I attributed it to something that major textbook companies did for ‘homeschool’ versions of their curriculum. Soon after, I came across a deal on eBay that offered the Saxon 2nd grade curriculum plus worksheets- for teachers. As soon as I got it, I opened it up to see the difference in the Teacher’s Edition vs. the Home Study Teacher’s Edition. OMG! It was scripted as well! The only difference was using the SAME example problems for a class instead of one child!
I’m telling you right now, I could have fell out of my seat. I wondered why in the world somebody would need 4 years of college, in order to read a script and write on the board! (I do know there’s more to teaching than that- I’m making a different point)
Recently, in one of the forums I read, a young teacher asked for help. She wrote that in college, she was taught to make her own lesson plans; however, the district had bought a program that demanded you follow the full curriculum. The rest of this girls’ post consisted of wanting help, because the curriculum in the textbooks didn’t make sense to her.
Hey! Wait a minute! What were you taught in college? Were you required to come up with lesson lesson plans that DID NOT include a textbook? Those of you that use a differentiated approach it the classroom- how much do you stick to the texts, especially when finding activities for your gifted or learning-disabled? (I hate that label!!!)
How many times have you been told to use the textbook as a ‘tool’- and then your district buy a program and DEMAND that you follow it to a ‘T’?
Using the aforementioned type of text, was it easier for you? What happened if your students got behind? Were you able Did you have time to help them?
While teaching, have you ever had 2 years of classes that were exactly alike? I’m going to take a chance here, lol, and say no. Did the text change? But the students did, hmmm.
I realize that there are schools/districts out there that allow their educators to use what they want. I applaud that approach. I applaud for recognizing that they have hired PROFESSIONALS. In these professionals, are people that can teach kids to think- and these school/districts know that.
You are a professional. You know your subject and you know your classes. You are always looking for a way to teach every child in the room. A textbook, ( digital or traditional ), is not. You know that you can do that, by using primary sources and the internet. You know that in doing so, you can use the money saved on something that your kids actually need. You know how to solve problems.
If so many of us know the answer; then, what’s the problem?
What IS the problem? Is it YOU?
One teacher will find a way- what could an alliance do?
| Print article | This entry was posted by sharnon007 on January 22, 2010 at 7:45 pm, and is filed under Commentary. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 6 months ago
Excellent post!
I rarely use the textbook for anything other than practise problems. My district is adopting new textbooks for Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 for next year. I, along with two other maths teachers in my department, have been placed in charge of selecting a text we aren’t going to use.
Good use of time, eh? E-textbooks would be wonderful (inho). At least my students would bring them to class. =)
about 6 months ago
I became aware of scripted curriculums when we became a Reading First (RF) school over 6 years ago. Keep in mind that RF was a federal initative. Textbook companies were driven by the RF mandates. State programs had to align with the fed goals and of course the local/county programs had to align with state…which aligned with fed… and of course the RF program was supposed to help with AYP… which is driven by fed initiatives…goodness…getting my drift here???!!! Most teachers do not like scripted programs and even when they are okay most teachers don’t use them! For instance, we adopted a really great voc enrichment program which was scripted. Most teachers used the script once or twice and then moved away from that. Administration including state monitoring did not focus on whether the teachers were using the script. The scripts were there but no one forced us to use them. Still many of us were and still are highly offended! The majority of teachers in my school have Master’s degrees and continue to attend over 100 hours of professional development each year according to the mandates of our RF program so we feel confident that we know how to teach. The script sends the message that we DON’T know what we are doing and we resent that…well, at least I resent that!
Now the textbook thing…that’s a bit different to me. I have this notion that a reading series does give us good direction in the teaching of skills. I like to follow those skills and I don’t want to leave anything out along the way. One skill builds on another and there are so many skills that it is easy to leave something out.
Math builds also but I feel more confident that I could teach math without a text and use more of a investigation approach here. I’d gladly throw out the science and social studies texts! Just give me the content standards and let me build my own units! Hmmm…I think I actually did that when I was in the classroom but let’s keep that a secret!!!
First year teachers often follow the rules to excess and as they become more confident, they are more likely to do what is best for the kids. Give that teacher you wrote about a year or two under her belt and I bet things will change!
Interesting post!