Why oh why don't schools use textbooks anymore??

[Anonymous]

Isn’t it interesting that humans went from disconnected scrolls, to bounded books, and back to, basically, scrolls again?

I am a grandma and like textbooks, which gave the feeling of substance”, but l wonder if this is just nostalgia.

[Anonymous]

It is not just nostalgia. Children need to be manipulating more objects than just computer mouses. Turning pages is fine motor skills practice. It is also physically grounding in the tangible physical world. It truly does engage different parts of our brains and bodies. And you can’t beat those beautiful color photos, eye-catching graphics, etc. My students really enjoy getting out our old set of gorgeous textbooks.

[Anonymous]

Also, they give my students practice in CARING for something rather than just crumpling up and discarding a photocopy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it’s a loss to have no textbooks. It’s really hard for students to see the scope and structure of a subject when it’s a bunch of piecemeal handouts.

Yes! In this age of distraction, a textbook provides structure to subject matter in a way that isolated handouts and online sources do not.

[Anonymous]

I'm an English teacher. The texts (short stories, poems, essays) that appear in textbooks don't generally appeal to my students. I get to know them and their interests and change out our readings year-to-year.

Two years ago, my sophomores were really in to soccer. You bet that as often as I could, I found soccer related texts. Some I created myself! But that soccer year involved more learning in a good chunk of students than would have occurred if I went with the per-selected stories.

[Anonymous]

Have you heard of computers? It's a thing.

Would you rather we all have encyclopedias, too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school science teacher. Science instruction has moved away from rote memorization of science facts and more into science skills, analysis and critical thinking. I have access to textbooks but choose not to use them (both AP level and freshman level). Instead I give my students diagrams to analyze. Real data to analyze. Labs to complete and analyze. Modeling projects where they need to wrestle with the content and make sense of it as they go. It often takes a while to convince students that the goal is not memorization. No publishers textbook I’ve had access to does any justice to aligning well with the rewritten AP science curriculum or NGSS. They claim to but don’t. Maybe I’ve just never had access to one’s that do. I can say in a heartbeat I’d rather have $8000 dollars in lab equipment as opposed to 80 $100 textbooks for my students to occasionally use.

Re-read what you wrote and realize how ridiculous it is. Unless you memorize some science facts you can’t really analyze. I couldn’t it believe when my 9th grader started bringing home assignments that said - “use a credible internet source to find…” Or has work that is all about the process and it doesn’t matter if it is right it wrong as long as they follow the process. There is basic scientific information everyone should memorize to be an informed citizen. You can memorize first then use real data to analyze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This should be a rallying point for parents--to get text books back in the classroom. Energy spent on this rather than arguments over masking is a much more wise use of time and energy.

+10

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a teacher, but teachers at my kid's schools have said that the issue is that textbooks become outdated so quickly after they are printed. Putting so much money into a resource that needs to be reprinted/updated frequently is wasteful.

trust me, most disciplines are not changing that rapidly that the publishers need to push out a new textbook every two years. Most disciplines stay pretty stagnant for a long time.—textbook reviewer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an English teacher. The texts (short stories, poems, essays) that appear in textbooks don't generally appeal to my students. I get to know them and their interests and change out our readings year-to-year.

Two years ago, my sophomores were really in to soccer. You bet that as often as I could, I found soccer related texts. Some I created myself! But that soccer year involved more learning in a good chunk of students than would have occurred if I went with the per-selected stories.

And what about the others? I would have hated being in your class during soccer-year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This should be a rallying point for parents--to get text books back in the classroom. Energy spent on this rather than arguments over masking is a much more wise use of time and energy.

+10

More proof that parents need to stay out of this field that they are unqualified for .

No, you won't get textbooks back in ths classroom because you do not understand so many things.

[Anonymous]

Textbooks aren't dynamic or interactive. They are a giant waste of money in lieu of authentic learning experiences.

Let's move with the times, people.
Also, let educators decide how to teach.

Oh, wear the masks, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not just nostalgia. Children need to be manipulating more objects than just computer mouses. Turning pages is fine motor skills practice. It is also physically grounding in the tangible physical world. It truly does engage different parts of our brains and bodies. And you can’t beat those beautiful color photos, eye-catching graphics, etc. My students really enjoy getting out our old set of gorgeous textbooks.

None of this is true. None.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly you all sound like a bunch of grandmas. Textbooks seem really dated and stagnant…except for math,maybe.

Thank you! I’m not a grandma but happy to sound like one. My grandma was the wisest person I knew. And she knew that things of substance were of value. We have given our children so much that is a mile wide an an inch deep.

Horses and buggies were so much better than cars! Bring back the coal mines!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not just nostalgia. Children need to be manipulating more objects than just computer mouses. Turning pages is fine motor skills practice. It is also physically grounding in the tangible physical world. It truly does engage different parts of our brains and bodies. And you can’t beat those beautiful color photos, eye-catching graphics, etc. My students really enjoy getting out our old set of gorgeous textbooks.

None of this is true. None.

Your kid can “manipulate more objects” by turning the pages of novels you give them to read at home.