Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 5) ideas, and still makes us wonder how anyone might learn any math from its pages.”3 As recently as 2003, Gilbert Sewall of the American Text book Council testified before the U.S. Senate that “many history textbooks reflect lowered sights for general educa tion.” He goes on to describe the books filled with “bright photographs, broken format and seductive color [that] over whelm the text and confuse the page.” He argues that these textbooks “raise basic questions about sustaining literacy and civic understanding in a democratic polity and culture.”4 Much of the shift in design and content reflects a twofold pedagogical problem on the part of the leading publishers who try to produce textbooks that are all things to all people. First, the publishers are trying to create universal text books that satisfy the adoption rules for every state. Jay Matthews explains that, in his observation of state and school district textbook committees, “They select books not because of their depth, literary quality or effectiveness in the classroom, but because a quick scan of their chap ters indicates that they cover the largest number of items on their state’s official list of teaching standards.”5 The result is textbooks that “break up knowledge into little pieces, the better to reflect the particulars required by each important market. Not much space can be given over to organizing principles, or to helping students see the connections among ideas.”6 A second problem created by the publishers’ efforts to please everyone is the tendency to focus on the students who are poor readers. Gilbert Sewall accuses the publish ers of academic irresponsibility: “The complex phenom enon known as the ‘dumbing down’ of textbooks is a rational activity on the part of valuefree sellers who seek to capture a larger share of a nationwide market. Textbook buyers are mainly concerned that their textbooks be acces sible to all students, including . . . the least academically capable.” 7 Part of the problem in the design of modern textbooks is that authorship of text plays a minor role. Sewall explains that “field representatives, sales forces, market researchers, prod uct managers, and editorial directors help determine the con tent of a textbook,” before an author is even recruited. The authors, then, must conform to the preconceived model. Judy Yero, a freelance textbook author, describes a sample assignment she was given for a high school text in a major subject area: “The outline called for 49 discrete concepts to be ‘taught’ in a 30 page chapter. After deducting pages already earmarked for other ‘features,’ there were 19 pages left for the content. On eight of those pages, I was allowed only 20 lines of text—30 on the others. . . . Ultimately there were considerably less than 400 lines of text in which to cover 49 concepts.” Yero goes on to explain that the selfdescribed “pedagogy” of the publishing house for which she wrote was that “Kids don’t read!” Therefore, the textbooks are “designed to make it as easy as possible for kids to NOT read and still get something out of the book.” Consequently, “the reading level in many textbooks is often several grade levels below the grade at which the text is used.”8 It seems that the text book design hinders, rather than enhances, basic reading skills as well as critical thinking, not to mention fundamen tal subjectmatter knowledge. These modern textbooks certainly are visually appealing and, perhaps, impressive to the noneducational expert, but their design and content seem to undermine, rather than support, serious pedagogy. Are these picture and activity books the best we can provide for the students of today and the leaders for tomorrow? Perhaps parents and educators should look to nontraditional publishers for legitimate textbooks designed to support sound educational goals within a philosophical framework consistent with their beliefs and values. Dr. Rhonda Galloway teaches English at Bob Jones University. 7 Gilbert T. Sewall, “Textbook Publishing,” Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. LXXXVI, No. 7 (March 2005), pp. 499-500. 8 Judy Yero, “Textbooks in the Age of Standards,” Focus on Teachers Newsletter, Vol. I, No. 6 (November 2002) http://www.teachersmind.com/ Novnewsletter.htm. Teacher to Teacher | March 2008 3 Tom VanCourt, “Less Is Better—but It Still Isn’t Good,” The Textbook Letter (September/October 2000) http://www.textbookleague.org/114math.htm. 4 Gilbert T. Sewall, American Textbook Council, senate testimony before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, September 24, 2003. http://www.historytextbooks.org/senate.htm. 5 Jay Mathews, “Why Don’t We Fix Our Textbooks?” Washington Post (March 22, 2005) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A565012005Mar22.htm. 6 Harriet Tyson, “Overcoming Structural Barriers to Good Textbooks,” 1997, http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/Reports/tyson.htm. page 5 http://www.textbookleague.org/114math.htm http://www.textbookleague.org/114math.htm http://www.historytextbooks.org/senate.htm http://www.historytextbooks.org/senate.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56501-2005Mar22.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56501-2005Mar22.html http://www.teachersmind.com/Novnewsletter.htm http://www.teachersmind.com/ http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/Reports/tyson.htm http://www.teachersmind.com/Novnewsletter.htm
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page Intro) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 1) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 2) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 3) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 4) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 5) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 6) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 7) Teacher to Teacher - March 2008 - (Page 8)
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