Textbooks! What Are They Good For? Absolutely… Something (D&Z 6+7)

“Don’t assign the whole textbook.” That’s one of the first headings in chapter six of Daniels and Zemelman’s Subjects Matter, and what a novel idea it is. That’s not sarcasm, either. A lot of teachers and administrators could stand to hear that. We are so often concerned with just covering all the material that we fail to realize that making students read an entire book is a nearly impossible and Herculean task. Not every aspect of a content area deserves the same attention and so as educators, we are faced with the difficult and unfortunate task of having to decide what is important and deserves our time and consideration and what is not and should be skipped. Ideally, we would be able to cover all aspects of every subject we teach, but this is just not practical and is not an effective way to teach, especially in regards to the use of textbooks.

The two ideas discussed in this reading that I really liked were jigsawing and the Guide-o-Rama. This was not the first time I had heard of jigsawing, but I think this was the first time that I really saw just how effective it could potentially be, if used correctly. Jigsawing allows you to reduce the workload (i.e., ridiculous amounts of reading) that students have to do and also facilitates group discussion, which can be immensely useful in getting students to open up, think critically, and communicate their ideas with one another. I thought the Guide-o-Rama was great (despite the cheesy name) for a very different reason. In those situations where your students will have to slog through a chapter or two of the book with no reprieve, the Guide-o-Rama can really help them know what they should be focusing on and to what degree. So often, textbooks these days are filled with so many asides in the form of secondary text boxes, graphs, maps, charts, and anecdotes that it can be difficult to know what to read, what to skip, and what’s actually important. Providing students with a guide that tells them what to read, with what depth, and perhaps in what order will undoubtedly make things easier for them. In addition, the ability to add in your own thoughts and tips will allow the students to know your feelings about the text and know that you had some difficulties or questions with it yourself. This is all a part of making yourself more accessible to the students.

The chapter on building a community of learners was, to me, the less interesting of the two. That’s not to say that it doesn’t contain some important information, though. Establishing your classroom as a safe place for asking questions, an environment of accountability, and a community where people of all different backgrounds work towards a common goal is pivotal in being an effective educator. You need to build students’ trust and bolster their self-esteem so that they will feel accepted socially, which helps them infinitely academically. I had a professor a couple of semesters ago who constantly stressed that asking questions is important, that there is no such a thing as a stupid question, and that we should not hesitate to ask questions if we had them. That really struck me, because a lot of teachers may relate that sentiment halfheartedly, but this professor really seemed to mean it. I think that creating that kind of atmosphere in a classroom will ultimately lead to a lot of unhindered curiosity and trust between students and teachers and students and students.

One thought that I had while reading this chapter had to with the effective use of textbooks and implementing alternative strategies in the classroom. If, as a teacher, I decide not to rely so heavily on the textbook, is it acceptable for me to do sort of a one-off teach-aloud to my students explaining to them the flaws and limitations of textbooks? I think that that sort of honesty could be refreshing and encouraging to students who feel that reading textbooks cover to cover is a laborious and only marginally useful task. At the same time, however, will that cause problems for me in the long run? Will I run into opposition from administrators, parents, and fellow teachers if students develop this sort of anti-textbook mentality? I don’t know the answer to any of these questions, but it is certainly something I will be giving a lot of thought to as I move closer to beginning my career as a professional educator.