Considering textbooks and texts...

I'll be honest. Whenever I think of using a textbook, I cringe a little. I think back to a teacher who was around in my childhood and that I later worked with. She was a by-the-book kind of teacher with whom I really had no issues with as an elementary student -- that's just the way it was. I had the chance to revisit her classroom on occasion, this time as a coworker assisting a student in her room. The fact that she still used the textbook exclusively and that her approach to teaching hadn't changed have had a big influence on me when I consider my own students. She was tired and her students weren't engaged. An embarrassing (but true) fact: I fell asleep in her class as an adult. She expressed much frustration to me about how much schools have changed--what bothered her most was having to teach students like the one I assisted. She felt like it was extra work to handle not only the variety of reading levels but also students with disabilities. I am sure many of us might be resistant to use textbooks after our own experiences as students, our interests in trade books or other media, or things we have read or heard about textbooks. Let's be honest: there's not a lot of textbook love out there! 

I felt challenged to reconsider my point of view, though, with this week's readings. Our textbook authors really were spot on with their pro/con lists for textbooks and tradebooks.  I am sold on the benefits of trade books in content areas, but I'm ready to use textbooks differently. One point for using the textbook that stands out for me is using it to help students navigate books and use features to find answers. The more I think about how quickly we are becoming a Google-dependent culture, the more I want to provide them with alternative means to find information. I am sure as a new teacher you might be more willing to use the textbook until you are ready to venture into other territories, and for some content areas, it seems foolish to create your own materials (Math). It will be interesting to hear your responses once you explore the textbook of your own interest and analyze how you might use it with your students. Where does the textbook fit in your philosophy of reading in the content area?  

Most teachers I know seem to either never use it or use it too much, but my thoughts--post reading--point me towards the words balance and exposure. The best teachers have found a way to expose students to a great variety of media rather than just one format, incorporating and valuing both textbooks and trade books. They are using technology, art, drama, experiments, manipulatives, trade books, and textbooks--giving students a chance to read, write, and think critically with all. Considering the amount of money schools spend on textbooks, let's treat them as one of the tools we can rely on. Consider also the great responsibility you have to prepare your students for a future; they need a chance to develop competencies in a variety of mediums. The last thing I'd want to see is a student falling asleep in my class, or to be predictable, so I consider this when I gather my resources to use with students. 

Last, I think back to chapter 3 and Caswell and Duke's 1988 study at the Harvard Literacy Labratory. Peter and Isaac's stories reminded me of a movie called The First Grader (2010). An elderly man, once a freedom fighter and now raising goats, receives a letter but can't read. Kenya announces that everyone can now go to school, a message he interprets personally to mean even the elderly. He attempts to attend an elementary school with increased obstacles and resistance, all with the support of a teacher who might lose everything because she wants to see him succeed. It's a beautiful story, but you may not see a connection to the week's readings. For me, it reminds me that we will have students like Peter and Isaac who have gotten lost in the shuffle of school or life. We are going to encounter an enormous spectrum of skills, experiences, and interests. Perhaps they have learning disabilities, aren't motivated, or they just have't made a connection to what we want (need) them to learn. It's been my experience that many of these students have parents who feel like the system failed them, and their children share a negative attitude towards school. It's these students who are asking, even as 3rd graders, "Why do I need to learn this? What's the point? Why am I here?" I think our job as teachers is not limited to just using a great variety of resources but helping them see how knowing this content or using a skill can help them in the future. The old man in The First Grader might not have had a chance or reason to learn to read until his late 80's, but his determined spirit was not going to be broken. Here, the opportunity is present, but the determination might be something you will have to inspire. How do you envision motivating someone like Peter, whose primary interests are in social studies and science, in a Math class? Did you yourself have breakthrough experience as a student, one which changed your opinion about the necessity of being educated?