The Death of the Textbook

We are at a crossroads in education in which our choice will be made by us or for us--I for one hope that we rise the occasion and firmly establish our own selections and resources as a reflective exhibition of our professionalism and competency to select texts that intersect exactly with the needs of our students.

I have long been suspicious of textbooks--especially in my subject area of English.  It may have its roots in my first classroom that came with everything except textbooks and so I was forced to scrounge for materials until the books arrived--when they finally did, the exercises in them paled in comparison with what my students had been doing without them.  Unfortunately, self doubt set in and I broke down and did what I was supposed to do--following the guidelines, assigning the questions and activities, and handcuffing my students in the process.  It took a little while, but by my second year of teaching, I had given up on the textbook once and for all and adopted a pragmatic view where the book served as a convenient repository of texts, reducing the drain on my monthly copy allotment.

Last year, while still in the classroom, I assembled my own text and published the partial draft for my students using iBooks Author--granted, I barely scratched the surface of what I could do with the program, but it was a start in taking back my content for my students.  What I sought to do was to implement the very things that I was preaching to my fellow English teachers--keep it engaging, relevant, and move between genres as students explore ideas and themes.  I brought in news and journal articles, many just days old, finagled with the district internet connection to show YouTube videos on our topic, and tasked my students with discovering and creating meaningful content.

Our task is not too great, especially for the scores of teachers I have observed this year who gather resources on a daily basis, bridging the difference between the task and the proficiency level of the students.  The rightful place of textbooks is as a resource--but just one of many.