Using textbooks: its not what you use but the way you use it!
Sunday, May 3, 2009 14:17
At the risk of being rant like again (see previous PowerPoint post) I have trouble with the double standards surrounding the use of textbooks in class. I have actually had teachers smugly say that they don’t use textbooks, as if this is some old-fashioned lazy way of teaching that they, the amazing revolutionary inspirational teachers that they are, would not dream of stooping too. Usually these are the same teachers who basically transcribe everything onto worksheets and then shower their students with pieces of paper.
I used to be a little like this until I realised that for a significant proportion of class-time my students were cutting, sticking, looking for or losing pieces of paper. I also noticed that there is a limit to worksheets that students can handle in one lesson and have frequently endured groans as I handed out yet another one.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-worksheet, I use them a lot, but I don’t use them at the expense of a textbook. Basically a textbook, if correctly chosen for the course, should deliver all we need. It should have the required information and additional questions to prompt the reader to assimilate the concepts taught. The key question is not whether we should be untrendy and use them but how we can encourage students to use them correctly.
My key tips are (yes I know, yet another internet top ten tips…and apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs but it may help NQTs):
1. Use the words in bold in the text and tell the student to list them and make a glossary.
2. Use guided note-taking. This is like a comprehension exercise. Often students, particularly low ability, do not know the difference between key information and explanatory information and simply copy everything down without thinking. I work through the textbook, converting the information into exam like questions. After all I know the syllabus and I know what the exam papers are like so I can tailor the notes/questions to suit. The students then use the worksheets (see told you I use them) to work through the section and pull out the key information and actively think about what they are reading. I call these InfoQuests (as opposed to WebQuests and they are basically a booklet of worksheets) and I have added a couple of these to the IGCSE and AS resources. Very textbook specific though.
3. Students should list page reference numbers in their own notes so they can refer directly back to the relevant page when revising.
4. The book should be defaced by the end of the course! If the students are allowed to keep the books (A level students usually have their own at least) I encourage them to highlight, make pencil notes and add post-it notes throughout. It is a learning tool and should be used. Students who achieve the top grades also usually have books full of post-it notes with questions they need to ask me the next time the see me. I love this method as questions are very specific and the answers are usually short. Much better than the general shrug and “I don’t get photosynthesis”…I mean that is a whole topic!
5. Never give out page numbers but just state the topic heading then encourage them to use the contents and index pages to find the page. This is a great opening activity in itself and also keeps the students familiar with their books. Plus they act less like drones numbly turning to the page number given rather than the topic being studied.
6. Use the keyword technique (they usually hate it but it works). In short they read a short section, listing keywords in the margin as they go (plus scribbling down any diagrams, without labels), close the textbook and then make notes using the keywords as guides, plus label any diagram. This requires a lot of concentration and has to be done in one go (i.e. they can’t really natter to their friends, which is why they hate it). The mental processing this takes is much greater than copying directly and they can be amazed at the quality of notes made without the book being open. Recall is also often improved.
7. Students reading out loud from the book seems to keep many on task. Obviously this shouldn’t drag on and naturally we need to be sensitive as to who we pick to read. The students can then shut the book and work in groups to MindMap the topic just covered. I then get them to show and explain their maps. The learning is almost organic this way but of course I do close with formal notes/handout or presentation (or this could be done first and the textbook activity could be a closing activity).
8. Use the contents page as an outline study guide. My students are always asking me, prior to their end of year exams, for a list of what they should study as “other teachers have given them”. I cheerfully explain they already have some lists, they disagree, I tell them they have, they say they haven’t, I say they have….it’s called their syllabus. They grumble, as this document isn’t the “here is the mark scheme to your exam” quick fix they are really after. So then I tell them they have a simpler summary list. They say the haven’t, I say they have…it’s the contents page of their textbook (to which one student recently replied “what’s that?”…why do I bother?).
9. Advise students not to buy too many study guides etc. and to focus on one or two recommended sources: their textbook and one revision guide. Too many students spend too much time looking through a plethora of books that they hope will magically do their revision for them. They lose focus and end up being busy doing nothing. Less fuss and more focus.
10. Often I will photocopy a diagram from the book, tipex out the labels and hand it back as a worksheet to label. However this just results in mindless copying and doesn’t have any learning quality. To counteract this I will either re-orient the diagram so it is sideways, or upside down (if it is appropriate) or use a slightly different diagram from the internet that they then have to try and match to the books diagram. They really have to pay attention to the structures then (the heart is a classic for this as are the nutrient cycles).
Obviously not every lesson should be all about the book. Like every strategy it is variation that works, integrating fantastic multimedia resources with wonderful practicals and useful worksheets. However I do believe that the book is the backbone to the course, always there, complete, without pages falling out and missing lessons. We should applaud the wonderful textbook and remember that time for some calm focus so students can orientate themselves within a two year course is useful. Following a textbook allows students to know where they have been and know where they are going next. It is easy to flick through, to carry around and can be taken on buses and even into the bathroom (after all bidets are for keeping books in…aren’t they?).
As with all resources and techniques it is not what is used but how it is used, how often and how well integrated with other modes of delivery. So I am making a stand for the textbook! We all use them and should not feel like fuddy duddies for doing so: it is a great resource!
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