Text Book Controversies

During my elementary, middle, and high school years I truly relied on my text books. They were my go to when I was not sure whether or not I understood the curriculum correctly. I think they are helpful for students because it is another source of information. As teachers, we are a single source for our students. We provide them with the knowledge they need to know for each subject, and we add on to what the text books are missing. Essentially though, students should be able to refer to their text books when they are unsure about an assignment question or are trying to remember something that was talked about in class. If this is not possible, I think it would be important to insure that students are taking good notes in class and/or that the teacher is issuing handouts. Another good reason for this is that text books can sometimes be confusing and throw out a lot of information at one time, which can be a lot for a student to take in and comprehend.

I don’t think that textbooks are completely useless and I, for one, enjoy them. There were times in my math class where my teacher would tell us that the book does it one way but it is easier to do it another way. Or she would tell us that the book does not explain it well enough. She always gave us her own notes to refer to, however, the book was still helpful at times and all of our homework assignments came from the book.

I think another reason some people do not like text books is because they don’t like the common core material that they follow, or teaching to a test. However, I think teachers can put their own little spin on their lessons. If we have to “teach to a test” then we might as well make it more enjoyable for us and our students. This gives us a way to be creative in our classrooms, and in return hopefully keep the students more engaged while teaching to the standards.

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How Smart Readers Think

As I was taking the reading portion of the GACE exam, I remember reading the passage to each question over and over again. I spent an estimated time of five minutes on just one question just trying to understand what it was saying and what the question was asking. Frustrated and confused, I broke the passage a part and chose the answer I felt best fit. After reading this chapter on how smart readers think, all I could think about was the time that I took that test. I could also relate it to all the unwanted reading assignments I have had throughout my school years. It was hard to get through some of them and have a full understanding of what it was talking about when I gazed off half way through it. I get to the end of the passage and I think to myself, okay, what did I just read? Then I have to read over it again. This happens all the time in classrooms. If a student hates science, they will probably never enjoy a reading assignment for that subject, nor will they take the time to fully understand the material. I also find students who are really fast readers and they rush to get through the readings and then they don’t know anything about what they read because they didn’t take the time to read and understand. There is a difference between reading to get it done, and reading to understand. I worked with a fourth grader not too long ago and she struggled with reading. She would read the book but when I asked her questions afterwards she wouldn’t know the answers. Because she didn’t like to read she tried to finish the book quickly and did not get a full understanding. This happens in so many classrooms. It is important for all teachers to break down their reading assignments to their students. The more they understand reading strategies and the material, the more successful they will be.

 

Subjects matter. All subjects matter. Reading is an important aspect in all subjects. If a student cannot read, they cannot write, they cannot take in the knowledge they need from their science and social studies books or even their math books. That is what I found stuck out to me the most while reading Subjects Matter. I have experienced this student in my mom’s classroom. One of her students’ cannot read. My mom frequently tells me that her previous teachers should be ashamed of themselves because she should have never made it to third grade. She failed all of her classes except one and did not pass anything on the GMAS. For this reason, she is back in third grade again. Because she cannot read, she could never complete her work. She never understood her work and didn’t know what to do. For this reason exactly, I think it is important to enforce reading in every subject. Correct students if they mispronounce a word. Catch their mistakes early on so they do not continue to make the same mistakes later on in their school career. Teachers, this is also important for us. We should speak in correct grammar so our students don’t pick up on bad habits. We are examples for our students to follow. We help them learn and grow, we help them read, and we help them realize that all subjects matter.

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