Reading Reflection #4 Subjects Matter Ch. 3 & 4

Chapters 3 and 4 are centered around a common theme, textbooks. In chapter 3 we investigated why textbooks are not enough to drive an entire class. There are several shortcomings of textbooks. One major flaw is there is simply too much information in textbooks. This makes it hard for readers to differentiate micro-details from overarching concepts. Also, textbooks are reference books, which do not read the same way was a narrative. They simply just house large amounts of information. We expect students to read and retain the information in them, but not only are they hard to read but the design of each page is distracting. To make matters even worse, textbooks are often outdated and contain major typos. The author recognizes that despite all of these shortcomings, textbooks still have an important role in many classes. Therefore, the author wanted to inform the readers of several criteria that teachers should consider when deciding which textbook to use; however, the author is makes it clear that our entire curriculum should not be dictated by a textbook (which are often aligned for the state standards of Texas and California which can differ from other states). Chapter 4 builds off of the idea that textbooks are not enough to teach students. It suggests that as an alternate to textbooks, teachers should include an array of literature from different genres that include news stories, primary and secondary sources, magazines, trade books, and webpages. Our selections should include fiction, non-fiction, contemporary works, the classics, easy reads, hard reads, short passages, and long passages to ensure that there is material for all reading levels. The idea with these enriching texts is that students can benefit from getting a deeper understanding of specific material. These can be overarching concepts that the teacher really wants to drill home. If our intention is to prepare students to be good readers, then let's give them the same material that good readers encounter everyday. Students should be reading something everyday. After reading these chapters, I realize that I do not have to teach students the way I was taught. In fact, I wish I can go back and attend a school that used multiple reading sources. I do not want to discourage students from reading by assigning them 2 chapters of reading out of a textbook (haha that's a sly joke). Instead, I want them to learn to love to read. That's why I would like to implement this idea in my classroom, and luckily the authors provided me with a large list of reading selections that I can use in my classroom. Thank you!