Beyond the Textbook

This chapter does a good job in showing that we shouldn’t be teaching to the textbook, we should be teaching for our students to learn. One of the questions posed is “Does this topic, idea, or process represent a big idea with enduring value beyond the classroom?” I think almost any content can meet this criterion if we are striving to teach and engage rather than check a box on the standards list. The standards and the textbook concepts are just the bare minimum of what we need to teach. Since we are evaluated on how well our students perform of big standardized tests, many teachers focus on teaching what is on the test. This is fine, but if we really try to get students to think more intellectually and beyond just facts and ideas, they will ultimately be able to think critically better and understand material and idea way beyond the final exam. 

Overall, I don’t really like using the textbook, but it is a good resource to get some simple vocabulary and concepts down. I can see myself assigning the vocabulary word sort activity because it does more than just have the kids come up with definitions. They have to at least associate some words with others and that will help them when the concepts are fully taught in class. If I can avoid the textbook and have the students learn my own textbook, that would be ideal. And by that, I mean reading the textbook and taking out what I think is most accurate and useful for the students. I think my students would appreciate the simplified text and it would stress them out less so I could really get into the hands-on teaching that I want to do.

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