Last night, at one of my favorite Mexican restaurants here in Austin, TX, I got a chance to read the February/March 2005 issue of edutopia. This is a very slick, free teacher magazine published by The George Lucas Educational Foundation. I really liked one article in the issue titled, "No Books, No Problem." As with all of the magazine's content, the article is available online.
The article focuses on one teacher's choice to stop using his class' adopted textbook and focus on the use of many different sources of information to teach students. I especially liked one comment by the teacher: "Since textbooks are marketed nationally, they must comply with content standards for all states, resulting in ten-pound tomes that cover all topics superficially."
I think this problem is particularly true with teachers faced with the challenge of teaching gifted students. I used to get so frustrated with textbooks that try to cover everything without touching on anything in any depth. Teachers of gifted and talented students are often encouraged to increase the depth and complexity of the content they teach to gifted learners, but how are we supposed to do this with the current crop of textbooks out there. Julia Roberts, Ph.D., in her little booklet Enrichment Opportunities for Gifted Learners, offers all kinds of ways to extend the learning of gifted children, but it's tough to follow her advice in a classroom bound to the confines of a textbook.
In a follow-up article to the piece I mentioned above, edutopia includes a "How To" piece titled "Toss the Text". This article offers some practical advice for teachers wanting to move away from relying so much on a single textbook. It provides some sound advice, but I would like to hear more from you guys about this.
Is anyone out there using some subject-area textbook that you really like? If not, what are you doing to sidestep the issues involved (finding the materials you want to use, getting copies for your students, etc.) and expose your kids to really significant content?