Dear More than a Textbook Teacher,
As literacy coaches, we have been sifting our way through the preliminary stages of textbook adoption this week. We've deeply analyzed standards, rubrics, look for's, and state guidelines. If that sounds exciting to you, then you may need to get COVID tested. Surely, you have symptoms of delirium.
Truthfully, the process is not particularly exciting, but like many less than entertaining aspects of education, it's necessary. After all, how can you pick a quality textbook if you don't know what a good one looks like?
This is probably an awful analogy, but I think picking a good textbook is like choosing a spouse. You can set up a checklist all day long, but sometimes a few boxes remain unchecked.
However, if you're really lucky, like I have been, what you'll find is that some of the non-negotiables you thought were so important didn't matter at all, but conversely, some of the really amazing qualities you never thought to ask for, he has.
That's the nature of a relationship, which is what teachers will have with a new textbook.
Sometimes they'll hate that textbook. Sometimes they'll love it. Sometimes, they'll shove it in a bag and forget it. Other times, they'll stuff papers inside it and kiss the story that made a kid fall in love with literature for the first time.
My first year teaching I plowed through the entire textbook, every single page, by Christmas. I spent the next four months wishing I had slowed down to recognize it wasn't a race. If it had been, my students would have been the ultimate losers because I wasn't teaching. I was mowing through the content on a zero turn radius going 90mph.
I quickly learned there isn't a textbook on earth that can make a bad teacher a good one or a good teacher a bad one.
That's because teachers don't come with an ISBN number.
They aren't manufactured by textbook companies. They don't get adopted anew every four years.
They also aren't fanned out on a display table and sold to the highest bidder.
Teachers, good ones, are irreplaceable. Sure, they should use the textbook, and they will. They should also be mindful of the content and standards addressed in order to prepare students for state mandates. That's why we need detailed rubrics.
However, there simply is no substitute for the pages of experience a teacher brings to the table. Likewise, there isn't a technological component under the sun that will captivate a student's attention like the chapter that outlines a teacher's individualized passions and marries it with a student's in order to bring learning to life. There also isn't a single textbook company that will send sales reps to watch a freshman win his first high school soccer game, nor do they develop software that writes individualized birthday cards or letters of recommendation for seniors.
By all means, use the tools and resources provided, but never forget the most valuable one will always be you.
When it comes to the content, don't sell yourself short because whether they realize it or not, students are always asking you (not their textbook) "What are we going to learn today?"
-CDB