How to Use a Textbook

 

     Unfortunately, when reading this chapter, the thing that stood out to me the most was not the tips on how to use a text effectively, or how to find the balance between coverage and depth, but rather the emphasis placed on teaching for the high stakes tests.  These tests endanger teacher creativity as well as a student's excitement to learn.  If I am teaching a middle school history class, and have a great idea for a fun, interesting lesson about the Boston Tea Party, but also have to cover the entire Revolutionary War in that same week because it is emphasized on the standardized tests what would be the right thing to do?  Do I teach the breadth of information required by Common Core or Georgia State Standards, or teach my students an enriching lesson that might spark a life long interest in history? 
   I went to a school where students were not required to take the State Standards tests (private schools do not have to take the GPS tests), and my teachers rarely used our textbooks beyond teaching subject relevant vocabulary or practice math problems.  A great example would by my 8th grade History teacher, who every year organized a "Second Continental Congress" reenactment for the entire grade; every student was assigned a specific person who attended the Second Continental Congress, and we had to research them, read about them in our book, and come to school on a designated day dressed as that person ready to act, as they did, in the historical signing.  As a future teacher, I often think about my 8th grade history teacher and how he interested me in history; he used our textbook as a reference book, and did not let it replace his job as the TEACHER by simply overloading on reading assignments.
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