I have been reading a lot about text books in education. As primarily an English teacher, I avoided text books as much as possible and used novels, short fiction and non-fiction, poetry and drama that were stand alone. This way, I could teach annotation and be sure that students did not have to carry clunky books around with them.
When I taught History, I used text books in the classroom because they were a warehouse of facts, but, again, I wanted students reading primary material on their own. I always found that having students take texts home and take notes on material that was already highlighted for them was silly. I get angry when my son has to read in a text book and then fill in the blanks of a worksheet on the material. He never even has to glance at a map, picture or chart in his texts. That makes me kind of angry. Why waste the purchase of an elaborately constructed text if the students never have to do more than read the narrative?
I also understand that Math and Science tend to lean hard on texts, but, too often, I see the name of a unit to be "Chapter 11" rather than the topic or standard being addressed.
What is the proper place for text books in education? Why do you use them? Why don't you use them? What is the best way to use them?
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