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Post date: Sep 21, 2019 1:39:36 AM
Here are a few ways teachers can assure that they are teaching standards and not textbooks:
Identify Key Standards - It is virtually impossible to teach every standard. So don't kill yourself trying to do it. Determine which standards are most important and which are subsidiary to those key standards. Emphasize key standards in your teaching by spending more time on those topics.
Create a Plan - Choose a sequence that makes sense for you and your students. Just because a standard is listed as number 1.1 or is covered in chapter 1 of the textbook does not necessarily mean it must be taught first. Scaffold key standards in a progression that seems logical to you as the teacher.
Make the Textbook Work for You - Choose which chapters coincide with your plan and cover them accordingly, even if some chapters receive less emphasis or are omitted entirely.
An over-reliance on textbooks can be the death of the teacher. I have heard students say that their teachers race to "finish the book" by the end of the year, thus assigning vast amounts of reading and answering questions over the final months of the school year. Using this logic, couldn't students simply read the textbook on their own and answer all of the questions removing the need for a teacher altogether? Even textbook publishers do not advocate such an approach. Edreports.org has evaluated many textbooks and reports that they do not all align to the standards as well as one might think. So what is really being taught, standards or textbooks? If the goal is to teach standards, then the teacher's job is safe. If, however, the goal is to teach the textbook then teachers can expect to go the way of the horse and buggy.
Throughout my time implementing new educational technology initiatives I have heard the concern that "computers are trying to replace teachers." Time and again I have assured fellow educators that computers, no matter how sophisticated they become, will never be capable of replacing the classroom teacher. However, a more serious threat to teachers does exist, one that is seldom (if ever) mentioned. That unspoken predator is the comprehensive textbook. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting that textbooks are an evil to education. In fact they are a necessary part of effective instruction. As is the case with most things, the effectiveness of textbooks is dependent upon how they are utilized.
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