Anonymous
Post 03/31/2020 09:29     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why do people think books = anti-teachers? It's just a method of delivery. No one is saying they don't want teachers, just that they want the content delivered in a way so that parents and kids can access it.



+1

I believe teachers miss books as well!



I’m a teacher, and I wish we had textbooks.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2020 16:13     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Anonymous wrote:+1 to text books. Was shocked to learn they are not in use in schools anymore. Publishers stopped making them. In this age of homeschool, all I can find are workbooks that don't teach the material. There is a difference between books that explain how to find the least common denominator, for instance, and books that say "find the LCD for these problems below" without explaining. Books with former are dead because schools are not buying them. All I find is the latter which does not well for any actual teaching. It presumes teaching is already done and kids just need practice. Completely flabbergasted.


Publishers still make textbooks and sell billions to big districts like CA, TX, and NY. If you think this area is insane now, wait until textbook approval committees start. You can still find online crazy right wing fundy parents having convulsions over the textbook Across the Centuries. When we used to give them out in my district, a mother cut the entries on Islam out of the book and told us to bill her. We did. We also provided her son with photocopies of the sections she censored.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2020 15:53     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Anonymous wrote:+1 to text books. Was shocked to learn they are not in use in schools anymore. Publishers stopped making them. In this age of homeschool, all I can find are workbooks that don't teach the material. There is a difference between books that explain how to find the least common denominator, for instance, and books that say "find the LCD for these problems below" without explaining. Books with former are dead because schools are not buying them. All I find is the latter which does not well for any actual teaching. It presumes teaching is already done and kids just need practice. Completely flabbergasted.


We'll, the kids should know that already at this point in the school year.

There are textbooks, still, but many do assume that the teacher teaches and the textbook reinforces, rather than being the only source of instruction. I know of a couple homeschooling math textbooks that are designed to teach without any adult interaction, but not many.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2020 15:40     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
+1 to text books. Was shocked to learn they are not in use in schools anymore. Publishers stopped making them. In this age of homeschool, all I can find are workbooks that don't teach the material. There is a difference between books that explain how to find the least common denominator, for instance, and books that say "find the LCD for these problems below" without explaining. Books with former are dead because schools are not buying them. All I find is the latter which does not well for any actual teaching. It presumes teaching is already done and kids just need practice. Completely flabbergasted.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2020 13:30     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Anonymous wrote:Teachers would love to have textbooks. The best thing you could do today is email your school board and ask for textbooks. I spoke to one school board member who told me they were told that every teacher had a class set of textbooks to use for each subject. Not true at all. In some cases, there is a great textbook, but teachers don’t have enough to pass out and the school tells them to use Powerpoints. If there is one thing I have seen lately in education, it is that principals are REALLY focused on pleasing parents and don’t want their supervisors contacting them about parent complaints or seeing poor marks in online surveys about parent experiences at schools. Please complain.


+1 to all of the above.
Anonymous
Post 03/29/2020 11:37     Subject: The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Teachers would love to have textbooks. The best thing you could do today is email your school board and ask for textbooks. I spoke to one school board member who told me they were told that every teacher had a class set of textbooks to use for each subject. Not true at all. In some cases, there is a great textbook, but teachers don’t have enough to pass out and the school tells them to use Powerpoints. If there is one thing I have seen lately in education, it is that principals are REALLY focused on pleasing parents and don’t want their supervisors contacting them about parent complaints or seeing poor marks in online surveys about parent experiences at schools. Please complain.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2020 07:37     Subject: Re:The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
On the Monday of what turned out to be our last week of school, I did two things in my English 9 classes:

- Gave out an actual book for kids to take home
- Gave out a technology survey to see who had devices and internet access at home


I would love to use the book I gave out, but I don't think it's going to work that way. I'm in MCPS.
Anonymous
Post 03/28/2020 07:35     Subject: Re:The value of instruction books - after we go back to normal, could we have instruction books again?
Anonymous wrote:Thank god our middle school still handed out textbooks. It was so helpful for the students. But also the TEACHERS! What teacher wants to create a lesson plan every single day. There is no reason why a textbook needs to be used all the time. It's a reference and a way of doing some practice and summary reading. The way it has always been. We still did group projects back in the day with a textbook. Teachers are spending too much time in lesson planning because of lack of textbooks. I'd rather the teacher have more time to plan the cool projects rather than the daily math practice.


This x million. Textbooks make it easier on teachers. Just find the good ones.