Teaching the Text

I absolutely loved the readings this week on textbook’s and other resources. I completely agree with the author in that our textbooks are too big and crammed with too much information that we teacher’s are supposed to cover. Kids aren’t learning and understanding anything…they are merely surviving. Teachers are suffering as well, because they are no longer teaching for understanding but teaching to meet state standards and test scores. I can relate to one of the articles where it was mentioned that although their daughter received exemplary grades, when they got to college they realized they did not understand a thing. The same occurred to me. Now I was not valedictorian of my class, however graduated with honors and when I got to college, after the first two semesters, I realized I truly did not understand anything…I merely learned enough information to survive high school and score well on exams and the SAT. Textbooks are not designed to be an easy or enjoyable read but as the author’s state a reference book, filled with facts, definitions, charts, and diagrams. If we are to really teach our kids, they need to understand the material and have enough understanding to challenge ideas and think critically about those ideas; otherwise we are just teaching them to survive. There are some good alternative resources available that enable teacher’s to get their students to dive deeper into the material. Teacher’s have the power to deviate from the textbook and with careful planning and research, can locate materials that will enhance student understanding and knowledge and make it something memorable.