Connecting the individual class to the larger institution and the larger community The role of textbooks & The importance of effective use of textbooks

Contact information  Pat Byrd  Copies of the handout and inventory are online at

The role of text books in connecting to the world outside the classroom  The external setting for individual classes: A class = a teacher and a collection of students A class is not a free floating unit separated from the rest of its environment. A class is part of a larger society and those students do not belong just to the individual teacher but are part of families and schools/programs/academic institutions and societies and cultures. That is, the students are not just “my students” but also “other people’s” and those other people have a reasonable interest in the content and purposes of the individual class.

Purposes of curriculum & materials  To give coherence to a program  To give information to parents and sponsors and others with an interest in the development of the students

Creation of the curriculum and selection of the texts  Because of these important beyond-the-classroom connections, creation and maintenance of a curriculum with supporting materials is urgently important.  And this important role means that teachers must learn to see ourselves not just as creatures of a single classroom but as educational professionals with responsibilities to the larger society.  We need to learn about the program and system and institution processes and to understand how to become part of the processes by  Finding out how the curriculum is designed and having a part in that process  Finding out how textbooks are selected and having a part in that process

Two analytical processes  Textbooks need to go through two types of analysis by teachers: 1. Analyzing the textbook for its fit with the curricular purposes of the program and the classes that make up the program. That is, critical analysis for a buy/no-buy decision. 2. Analyzing the textbook for its use in a particular class with a particular set of students.

Mixing up the two processes  The critical analysis process becomes disfunctional when applied to classroom use of a text  When a text has been selected, then the issues change to the practical “what am I going to do in class” set of questions that drive most of our teaching.

An inventory for textbook analysis  Figuring out how to use the assigned text Read the book from cover to cover. Go back through the book to make detailed notes about  Table 1: what language is being taught  Table 2: what content is used and being taught  Table 3: What kinds of activities are provided?  Table 4: What kinds of things might I do with those activities?  Table 5: What’s provided for the teacher to help her/him implement the materials in the book?