Get Schooled

By LitMajor

May 18, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this

Since many textbooks have incorrect information in them, I would be hesitant to open one up and teach from it. I majored in English Ed and have found many mistakes while researching ELA textbooks. Missing passages from a story, incorrect dates, you name it.

Once I’m in a classroom, I doubt that I will rely on a textbook at all. After properly researching a textbook, I wouldn’t mind using it as a reference tool but I would supplement heavily. Of course, English is a different beast so I’m sure other educators may think otherwise.

Speaking as a parent, I had to call my son’s teacher and request that he bring his textbooks home. She informed me that it’s not usually done but relented when I forced the issue. I haven’t found any errors yet but I also have not seen anything “great” either. How can parents have an opinion about textbooks when our kids aren’t allowed to bring them home?

By LitMajor

May 18, 2006 12:26 PM | Link to this

Since many textbooks have incorrect information in them, I would be hesitant to open one up and teach from it. I majored in English Ed and have found many mistakes while researching ELA textbooks. Missing passages from a story, incorrect dates, you name it.

Once I’m in a classroom, I doubt that I will rely on a textbook at all. After properly researching a textbook, I wouldn’t mind using it as a reference tool but I would supplement heavily. Of course, English is a different beast so I’m sure other educators may think otherwise.

Speaking as a parent, I had to call my son’s teacher and request that he bring his textbooks home. She informed me that it’s not usually done but relented when I forced the issue. I haven’t found any errors yet but I also have not seen anything “great” either. How can parents have an opinion about textbooks when our kids aren’t allowed to bring them home?

By Jeff

May 18, 2006 12:26 PM | Link to this

As my prinicpal keeps telling me: The book is NOT the curriculum. The state standards are the curriculum. The book is just a tool to use as you see fit.

As far as books being where the content is: That’s where the easy “canned” content is. If a teacher wants to invest the time, they can easily create their own assignments tailor made (in some cases) to each individual student. (Easy but time consuming is making a general ssignment for the class. I’ve been known to do it often.)

Textbooks make life easier because we have teacher editions with all the answers. I would NEVER claim that they enhance student learning.

BTW: As I’ve stated in other places: I have enough higher level books for those students, but I only have a class set of lower level books.

By decaturparent

May 18, 2006 12:44 PM | Link to this

My oldest is just finishing 3d grade, but to the small extent that she has had them (just math) we have found textbooks to be a huge help at home.

If my kid has some homework that she doesn’t understand, I have started to ask her to just look it up in her math textbook rather than just explain it myself. She seems to learn it better when she has to find it and read it herself than when I spoon feed the reasoning to her verbally.

It may be that she is a visual learner… but it really makes a huge difference as far as her retention and understanding if she can see it in print.

I believe that as the years go by, I am just going to ask the teacher what textbooks s/he uses, if any, and just get our own. Used textbooks are pretty easy to find online and it seems to me that they will be useful for my younger kids as time goes on.

By Amazed (Independent Woman)

May 18, 2006 12:51 PM | Link to this

I read the article, when it first appeared on the website. I found it interesting.

I know that books will contain errors and are outdated, but why purchase the textbook if the teachers don’t use them.

I’ve reviewed my daughters textbooks and have been very disappointed in the material. I don’t blame the teachers, because I know they did not select the textbooks.

However, the school boards are doing a serious injustice to kids, teachers and parents when they select books that don’t cover the curriculumn for their school district. It’s even worse, when kids are being encouraged not to bring the books home.

By jim d

May 18, 2006 12:54 PM | Link to this

Well in Gwinnett county our BOE must feel they aren’t very important. As next years budget defunds purchasing text books.

http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/gcps-mainweb01.nsf/D23E50F8184A3C678525715D004F72DD/$file/ABM2006Budget_Document.pdf

By jim d

May 18, 2006 01:00 PM | Link to this

May as well trash all the history books anyway. They never have been nor will they ever be an accurate depiction of history.

By Molly

May 18, 2006 01:18 PM | Link to this

I was completely unimpressed by the textbooks my daughter (3rd grade, DeKalb county) brought home. Math, science, and social studies books were all very heavy on distracting graphics and very light on content. The math text book in particular was full of errors. The full color pictures certainly added to the cost and the weight, but did nothing to help illustrate the concepts covered. The social studies text book was so basic I would have thought it appropriate for kindergarten.

By Teacher Teacher

May 18, 2006 01:49 PM | Link to this

State law requires that each student in each class be given a textbook. Having said that, have you seen what a joke some textbooks are? I get the biggest laugh when I see science teachers Xeroxing page after page of ancillary materials so as to supplement the text. The science texts are so large and chock-full of material that no ancillary material needs to be Xeroxed. The science text comes with a student workbook as well as a CD-ROM with even more stuff on it. It would not matter if a student were given five books for each class. With that Xerox machine in the workroom, teachers are going to give handouts every day to kids. I guess the thinking is that since the students reject the text (watch at the end of the day and notice just how many books get taken home!), give the students handouts in class.

I have one text that I use in my classes. (I eschew the workbook.) I give no handouts and provide more info than is in the text via notes on the board or overhead. In my class, most learning occurs on the days when I give such notes. Subject areas have textbook adoption every seven years, and I have been on my subject area’s textbook adoption thrice. Although we adopted textbooks three years ago, DeKalb did not have enough money to purchase them. Hey, Patti, why don’t you do a story on that? Where does the money go that is allocated for textbooks? You should see the texts my students are forced to use. In fact, the text I must use — and I have never seen a teacher’s edition, not that I need one — has no front or back cover and has less than a fourth of the dictionary at the back.

I work for a premier system!

By Elane

May 18, 2006 02:06 PM | Link to this

Funny how, in math & science I always remember a weird split between the approach taken in the book and that taken by the teacher. You would almost swear you were being taught two different courses. One by the textbook author/editor and one by your instructor. Either one or the other was clear and easy to follow. Rarely both. Sometimes there was a third split, when the exam that “mattered” was designed by some third party in the school district or the state. It’s decades later, and my son reports the same phenomenon.

By wwww

May 18, 2006 02:18 PM | Link to this

I think we need to consider the source of the quote.
I encourage any parent that reads this blog to read a textbook from their child’s school, especially the history textbooks. As a history teacher, I can tell you there are often “errors of omission” all through the text. For example: The Aztecs simply “disappeared” once Cortes landed in Mexico. Malcolm X has ONE PARAGRAPH devoted to him in one US History textbook I’ve used. Leo Franks is often overlooked all together as well as Emmett Till.

Textbooks are best used as a SUPPLEMENT to good instruction - and this instruction should be divided between the school and the parents.

By M Benson

May 18, 2006 02:27 PM | Link to this

wwww, I couldn’t agree more.. however… when those text books aren’t provided as a supplement? When there is nothing provided as a supplement?

By M Benson

May 18, 2006 02:27 PM | Link to this

wwww, I couldn’t agree more.. however… when those text books aren’t provided as a supplement? When there is nothing provided as a supplement?

By M Benson

May 18, 2006 02:28 PM | Link to this

wwww, I couldn’t agree more.. however… when those text books aren’t provided as a supplement? When there is nothing provided as a supplement?

By wwww

May 18, 2006 02:41 PM | Link to this

M Benson,

I’ve been reading your other thread over on the CRCT subject. I honestly don’t know how to feel about it. THis is my 2 cents.

Math is a subject that is not learned whatsoever from a textbook. The teacher in question doesn’t use the book because it probably is very lacking in the skills needed to supplement her instruction. If I had to guess, I would say the county you are in might have a blanket math curriculum that all teachers are to use, and the book she doesn’t use is part of that curriculum. She probably “played the game” and used the book one or two years, only to find it was not working for her students. Let me tell you, not using a book is much, much more demanding on a teacher, and the ones who choose not to are doing so out of a sheer desire to do the best by their students.
I am also perplexed to hear your son never did poorly in math until this year - if I were you, I would get him to a private tutoring center ASAP and figure out what is going on. This isn’t the teacher’s fault, and I don’t know that it’s any one person’s sole responsibility. I can tell you as a middle school teacher, we are often involved in COUNTLESS meetings on students who fall in your son’s category - did this not happen in his school? My experience has been very negative with respect to math textbooks. Rarely are they any help to anyone, are often very confusing and misleading, and are best used simply for practice questions. Please do not think that a lack of a book contributed to his CRCT score.

I am sorry to hear the situation you and your son are in. If

By LitMajor

May 18, 2006 03:23 PM | Link to this

M Benson..

I think as parents we may have to supplement ourselves. No, we probably shouldn’t have to do this since we pay taxes, public schools should be great… yada, yada, yada. But, when the future of my child is at stake, I will do whatever needs to be done.

I’m not satisfied with the curriculum at my son’s school. I don’t like the AR books that they have available, the lack of Science and Social Studies, etc. I could go on and on. I supplement. We buy books (one could go to the library) that are on the AR list but not available in his school. I go online and look at 5th grade curriculum that impresses me, usually from my old school district in VA. I check out what they are studying in every subject and I do what I can at home. In a sense, my son attends school from 8-2:50 and once again when he comes home. It doesn’t bother him at all because he’s bored all day.

We study dinosaurs and art at museums. They don’t even take field trips at this school. My son hasn’t been on a field trip since he attended private school in kindergarten. We take them as a family so everyone learns something. We must be proactive in our children’s education.

By Mz. B.

May 18, 2006 03:59 PM | Link to this

When I was in school, textbooks were essential….you would read an assignment and discuss it the next day, so that you would know something about the subject…maybe have some opinions. However, speaking as a Dekalb Middle School teacher, textbooks are of little use in my school because many, if not most, of the students are unable to read and understand them…The Big WHeels at the county office always encouraged “hands on ” and “texts on tape” so that the students could pass without being able to read.

By luvs2teach

May 18, 2006 04:14 PM | Link to this

Because of the switch of Earth Science from 8th to 6th grade, I was not able to issue textbooks this year. I hated it, because although I do deviate from the text (it doesn’t cover some things in the curriculum or it doesn’t cover them to the extent I need - it also contains material not in our curriculum), I like to have the text as a resource; I also like to assign reading and other work from the text.

It changed how I taught, and it made me more creative in making sure the kids have resources. I now have a class website that covers everything in the curriculum. I post my notes online. My kids do more writing for homework instead of worksheets or chapter questions.

As a parent, I relied on both my kids’ notes and their texts if they needed help, particularly (and usually) in math. If their notes weren’t sufficient, though, I always asked why!

By OldSchool

May 18, 2006 04:23 PM | Link to this

Textbooks play an important role in my Engineering Drawing classes. That’s where students can find some answers, learn ahead of their classmates, find the basic rules and “how-to’s” for drafting, study examples, and general get a good foundation going for the subject matter. I caution them however, to take textbook material with a liberal dose of salt. You see, we’ve found blatant errors and misprints. Some are carryovers from earlier editions but some are printing errors. If the registration marks are not carefully lined up, colors don’t line up either and that can create some interesting solutions to assignments. Students frequently choose to make their drawings look just like the examples in the book instead of using the dimensions and applying the rules to get a drawing that probably looks different but is actually correct. Then I get to grade inferior drawings or those that are just plain wrong.

Textbooks should be guides and not final answers. They should offer rules, guidelines and food for thought but should never be taken as the last word or final authority. Life isn’t black and white and students need to learn to sort fact from fiction and to be able to defend their choice or viewpoint. We need texts if only to argue with their content.

By TinaTeach

May 19, 2006 03:06 PM | Link to this

When I was doing my student teaching my mentor teacher limited my ability to use the text book in class. I was allowed to use it as a guide to see what order I was teaching the material in and I was allowed to give homework out of it. But I was only allowed to use two activities per week out of the book during class. This forced me to stop using the book as a crutch and start making up my own activities.

As a result I will be more likely not to use the text book in class but rather have the students use it as an aid at home. I thin there are good text book out there but too many teachers are using them as the be-all-end-all of what they teach.

By TinaTeach

May 19, 2006 03:06 PM | Link to this

When I was doing my student teaching my mentor teacher limited my ability to use the text book in class. I was allowed to use it as a guide to see what order I was teaching the material in and I was allowed to give homework out of it. But I was only allowed to use two activities per week out of the book during class. This forced me to stop using the book as a crutch and start making up my own activities.

As a result I will be more likely not to use the text book in class but rather have the students use it as an aid at home. I thin there are good text book out there but too many teachers are using them as the be-all-end-all of what they teach.

By D

May 22, 2006 11:05 AM | Link to this

Its been a long time since I used a textbook, but what I remember was that we used it in advance to get a general idea of what would be covered in class. That way, we weren’t getting the material the first time in a lecture from the teacher. If the book was incorrect, out of date or was in need of supplemental information, the teacher would build on that during the lecture, or by additional handouts or assignment of additional outside sources. If the textbooks are a bad as they are made out here, what materials should be read in advance of the classroom presentation. It just seems like there should be some basic understanding of the subject before class that will reinforce the learning that takes place in class.

By Donna

May 23, 2006 11:41 AM | Link to this

I am trying to get a list of the books my son will need for his next years classes. The school now says they can not give me the books over the summer months because it is against the law and now the school says they do not have a list for the books we will need. Is there anyone who can help me find out the books the Gwinnett County school system uses for 2nd graders?