You remember textbooks right? The fifty pound giant books doled out on the first day and returned the last day having only been opened twice – once for midterms and once for finals? Yeah those books.
Unfortunately the same books I learned fifth grade science from are being used in today’s classrooms and while textbooks provide good guides to the curriculum, they are not enough. Students don’t read them enough. Teachers rely on them too much. They are good books being stretched above beyond their limits.
So what do we do? This post will offer two additions to the typical classroom textbook that will improve the learning of your students.
First off let me point out the word “additions.” I, along with the authors of Content Area Reading and Content Area Writing, am not suggesting teachers eliminate textbooks entirely. We are strongly suggesting that other materials and methods should be added to a toned down version of the standard textbook teaching.
With that clear the first addition is called a trade book. Trade books are your everyday average run of the mill books found in libraries and bookstores and certainly not those fifty pound monstrosities handed out on the first day of school.
So why should we bring them into school?
Because students actually want to read them. Or at least want to read them marginally more than other books assigned in schools. Trade books also have several teaching benefits. For example, they:
- Discuss content relevant to the students’ lives in present day
- Are usually written in clearer language that engages students more
- Are great for differentiation and meeting the different levels of every student in the class
- Provide a deeper understanding of concepts found in textbooks
- Most importantly they motivate students to read more (CAR, 360-362)
The three types of trade books most commonly used are nonfiction, fiction, and picture books. Each type provides unique assistance to textbooks and concepts being taught in class. Nonfiction books provide the same if not more information as textbooks in writing that is easily accessible to students with plot lines that are relatable (CAR, 363). Fiction books can use fantastical settings to discuss real world, contemporary issues (CAR, 373). And finally picture books no matter what age can provide a visual and simple representation of events, topics, issues, etc (CAR, 369).
How do we implement trade books in the classroom?
There were several methods listed in Content Area Reading, but the two methods I found to be most interesting and helpful were self-selected reading and teacher read-alouds. Both methods deal with two different ends of the spectrum, but both provide excellent benefits to student reading and comprehension.
Self-selected reading allows students to pick texts they want to read. It sparks their interest. It motivates them to read more. Most importantly it gets them reading regularly in school. Appointed reading time creates a nice routine that allows students to have the freedom to choose what they read as long as they read. And it can be anything! It doesn’t have to just be novels. It can be a magazine or a blog site. Anything as long as students are reading. And giving them the freedom to choose gives students a sense of more control over their schooling (CAR, 380).
On the other hand, teacher read-alouds are not just for young students. Older students can benefit from these sessions too. Read-alouds help students to hear the language and absorb it in ways they wouldn’t have had they just read it quietly on their own. It engages readers. It holds their interest. It helps with discussions. I think teacher read-alouds are also beneficial because the teacher can read the text in ways that will transmit the most information possible, for example, character voices, emotional inflection, pauses to explain what is going on, etc. Read-alouds can be used in nearly every classroom for anything from reading passages from novels to previewing the days assignment to providing background information (CAR, 382-383).
The second addition to textbooks in the classroom is writing. Writing to learn is such an easy task that I honestly don’t know why it is not part of every single classroom. There are eight criteria for writing to learn:
- Short – quick little bursts of writing, nothing longer than a page
- Spontaneous – do it off the top of your head, no planning involved
- Exploratory – use it to figure something out, to work over a concept on paper
- Informal – no need for big fancy words or elegant sentence structures, be simple
- Personal – no need to share with the world, supposed to be for you
- One draft – self explanatory
- Unedited – who cares about grammar here?
- Ungraded – don’t need feedback on them, no grades necessary, maybe points for just doing it (CAW, 22-23)
These little writing to learn tasks are meant to be quick and easy way to not only give your voice a break but also to let students get their thoughts on paper or figure out what their thoughts are. Most importantly it gets students explaining things to themselves in their own words which will greatly help their understanding of the material (CAW, 25-26).
Now I am guessing I will learn specific writing to learn activities, and once I do I shall let you know so we can all hopefully start using them.
Literacy for Language Lovers 