Has Kelly's Book Just Killed the Textbook?

[Alan Sitomer]

Did Readicide just commit readicide against one of its own... for the good of reading?

Here's a re-post of something I just added to the forum...

The Governator Gets One Right, Proclaims Time to Move On from the Textbooks!!

Despite being 0 - for about 216 in terms of educational plate appearances for the state of California, Governor Arnold made an announcement today that elevates his batting average.

He announced, and I quote...

"I think it is so important that we move on from the textbooks."

The game is changing, folks. The game is changing. And since I so rarely quote Ah-nold with a smile on my face, let me continue...

"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students lug around these antiquated and heavy and expensive textbooks.

"California is the home of Silicon Valley. We are the world leader in technology and innovation, so we can do better than that."

You hear that sound? That's right... it's the beginning of every school in this country NOT flushing their money down the toilet buying these -- to quote Ah-nold -- "antiquated" educational tools.

Wow. Double wow! How long before the rest of the country follows?

[Gayle K. Hobbs]

Oh There you go.. I'll Get Arnold to buy my first Kindle for me!!!!!

[timothy shea]

There is indeed hope for our civilization and our nation's schools!

[James Miscavish]

That'd be a lot easier if schools had 1:1 laptops.

[RHE]

Before I became an English Teacher to 7th graders, I worked in the Information Technology Department of one of the too big to fail banks. As a division IT manager, I had three guys working fulltime fixing laptops that were given to senior and executive vice presidents. I know it is technically feasible to move to electronic textbooks, but I do not honestly believe schools have the financial resources or technical expertise to make the migration. Our science teachers find themselves fixing vandalism to their classroom laptops. I also am concerned that those of us with access to digital resources really fail to completely understand the people across the digital divide. My campus principal, who frequently emails attachments named doc1, believes the students are digitally savvy, but as one who has programmed computers, they truly are not.

Texas did pass a bill to allow the electronic resources, but I suspect early adopters will find the electronic route is a lot more expensive than is promised.

[Kelly Gallagher]

I do not believe textbooks are inherently bad. It's the USE of the textbooks that I find troubling. (Disclosure: I consult for a major textbook publisher). I use my anthology in class when teaching literary elements and the arc of fiction. It's easier to do with short stories. Same with poetry. Also, because our school is short of books, I often use the drama piece found in the textbook (e.g. unabridged Julius Caesar). In the age of Google, I also augment the textbook with outside text.

What I find troubling is that often the textbook becomes the entire curriculum. Read the story, answer the questions. Read the story, answer the questions. Repeat all year. That is a recipe for readicide.

That said, I think it is obvious that all students will have all books electronically on a Kindle-like device some day in the not-too-distant-future.

[Alan Sitomer]

Scores and scores of districts across the nation are on "novel restrictions" meaning that they only get to teach a limited amount of real books -- while textbook use is MANDATED.

And scores more are literally prohibited from using real books in the classroom. Teachers are being reprimanded for using real books in classes. (I am not making this up.)

Real books are under overt assault. I say bring real books back into our classrooms. All the best teachers I know use real books as the core element to their curriculum and right now the districts, the state and so on have the relationship inverted whereby real books are considered supplemental and textbooks are considered core.

Thus the hundred of millions of dollars spent on textbooks every year and the paltry amount leftover for the people on the front lines who want and need and are starving for real books. I mean it's like we're considered fortunate if we can get a class set of a book like Speak -- yet we're all provided with these preposterously oversized, cumbersome, non-reader friendly 5 pound bricks that are like mosquito repellent to reluctant readers.

Kelly, when you say it's, "It's the USE of the textbooks that I find troubling." I'd say you are spot on. As a supplement every now and then, sure thing, more power to ya, bay-bee. But as a state mandated core purchase for every kid in the state that sells itself as a "solution to every problem you could every have in the classroom for every kid you will ever teach" it's... well, I don't want to offend anyone.

But either way, Arnold has just fired a canon shot that is going to change the game.

[Gayle K. Hobbs]

If Arnold will see it clear that I get a teaching position this coming fall, I will support his e-reader idea to the fullest extent of my abilities. I won't stop teaching with books though. I will only use it as an extra tool to further enhance and entice my readers (or non-readers)

[Jeff Holland]

Kelly, et al., for years I used the textbook and it solely. It was about eight years ago that a student (who devoured reading and who became our school's valedictorian) told me about her hatred for textbooks in English class. I asked her why. She said she hated "excerpts" of books. I had never thought of this. I taught British literature chronologically and figured that this was the way it was to be taught. And I assumed until that moment that I would use the pieces in the textbook alone. I continued this practice a year or two longer, but her statement remained in my head. After teaching a novel or two, it suddenly dawned on me that I, too, began to hate excerpts. These days, the reverse is true for me. I never issue a textbook to students to lug around and keep in a locker. We keep a class set on the shelf, and I turn to it when teaching a few selections. I am primarily now a teacher who wants students to consume the whole. I almost wish I could convince my district to stop buying so many textbooks and to use the money for class sets of novels.

[Yvonne Furniss]

Attention Governor Mike Beebe: Okay, Arkansas, let's get on board! Or should that be "off the textbook board?"

[Martha Jo Dennison]

I think it will be a l-o-o-ong time until the textbook companies lose their stronghold. As a special education teacher assigned to English classes, I cringe almost daily at what I see teachers using (a brand-new series adoption). Of course, I have no input into anything, but if I did, I would suggest they STOP being influenced by so many bells-and-whistles they'll never use, and look at what gives them the most bang for their buck. The costs of textbooks are obscene, especially in this economy, and so many of the materials that go with them, including tests, are ridiculously irrelevent. If IEP students, or any struggling students for that matter, are not reading on grade level, imagine what the average textbook looks like to them. Oh, how my heart broke when I saw kids supposedly studying Emerson, one of my favorites, by answering questions at the end of the selection, without really learning what he meant in his writings. It's now my job to move around the room and help them answer those questions. Back when I could teach (before NCLB), I used Reading Reasons daily with my students, and was able to use plays, poetry, and prose without any access to textbooks! It's much harder to do, but (I think) a more authentic way of teaching. I still followed the standards, just not with textbooks, except as an occasional hard copy.

[Robin Turner]

Well, the problem is that Ahnold wants to move from paper textbooks to electronic textbooks, rather than freeing up teachers to teach beyond the anthology.

I know that Kelly uses the anthology selectively in class, but I've found that most texts, in order to not cause strife or lawsuits, have to be so tame and unprovoking (and will often be maimed in order to eliminate anything questionable), that they don't really present the same level of complexity and richness that we could find elsewhere.

When I taught at the community college level, there were several professors that told the publishing company exactly which pieces of literature they wanted in an anthology, and these texts were "made to order" without disconnected pictures, inane questions, or misguided instructions on pedagogy. And they were cheap.

In my school district, we will not be allowed to purchase any novels in the upcoming textbook adoption--only anthologies may be purchased, to replace the nearly-mint textbooks that we use only sparingly.

It's a deplorable situation that we're in.

Robin Turner

[Grace de Haro]

Yes, he did get one right (too busy right now to analyze the thinking? behind it) but I also think that the old saying don’t throw the baby out with the bath water still holds true. That old textbook is after all a book and has no doubt a certain overlooked value. The problem generally lies with people thinking that there are exact recipes, sure answers, and magical solutions to our daily dilemmas.
Take reading, some kids just don’t like to read and no matter what we try they are not lured into this activity that I for one can’t do without. Could we be missing the whole point about what makes reading important or wonderful and worthwhile? I love stories, biographies, philosophy, humor etc. I love to read and share. So, does this mean that it should be all those things for our students too? What if they get their enjoyment and excitement, and adventure some other way? And then, what if we try a different approach? One way in which I have involved otherwise reluctant readers has been to read aloud. I love to read aloud to anybody who will listen (this can be a blow to your self esteem). Reading for me is a social activity, reading alone is lonely, reading shared is exponential adventure, and why should the classroom be a place to read in silence or a place to discuss what was read alone and in silence? Why can’t we read aloud and share as the feeling arises? Does it all have to be planned and structured? Is there room for a little of non structured structure? Room for letting words come out of our mouths with different sounds, different pronunciations even, allowing different punctuations and emotions to come out. Reading aloud to students is generally successful and having the students read aloud is also well received by most. If we forget for a minute (the new administration will surely make some changes in the not too distant future of public education) the frightening standards we might get some teaching done because as somebody said this is what we are there for, and as an added bonus we might learn something as well!
PS. I have not read Readicide, but if it means what I think it does I have seen it done!!
Grace de Haro