D&Z ch 4-5
This has been one of my favorite chapters! Starting out with the idea and development of E=mc^2 was particularly touching for me because it was one of the books in physics that got me interested in the subject when I was around 14! Besides that, my mentor teacher is a teacher who has nearly abandoned using the textbook. Students are all issued one but only use it as a reference. Problems and reading are not assigned from it. His homework problems mostly based on published data he found or measurements he took himself. D&Z claim that english is one area that focuses more on process than just content. A lot of modern research literature is arguing the a similar method for science. Students should be learning the content through scientific processes. In the recommended content I was surprised by how many titles I had already read. Some of them on my own, (A Lesson Before Dying, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, E=mc^2) and others that my teachers assigned or suggested (Nickel and Dimed, Warriors Don’t Cry). One thing I have a question is about the authors suggest letting students choose their own titles. Choosing a google title that can accompany class time to effectively replace textbooks is a delicate task. Finding multiple books for the same section may be difficult to make sure all the kids are developing a good base of knowledge. The only thing I can think to help is if we have class presentations where students teach what they learned from their title.
Dear Lisa,
ReplyDeleteFor starters, I like your writing style. You make a good point that science and english are very similar from a procedural viewpoint. I would argue that most subjects are connected in a similar fashion, which could be a reason why there has been a change to Common Core. Also, reading a good book most certainly has a lasting effect on anybody! I wish that I was teaching in a higher grade level because I would love to assign a book for my class to read. It would be a great way to combine two subjects (cross-curricular points) and keep the classroom alive. Lastly, textbooks are good and bad. All subjects can be taught from a variety of sources instead of a single (expensive!) textbook. However, they are great reference books and are very reliable. I don't know about you but I kept most of the textbooks I have bought for college. Well, keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Michael Vargas