Thursday, 11 November 2010

Reflection on Module 4 (3)

Chapter 9: Adapting a Textbook

Textbooks are like a two-edged sword for teachers to use. They are very convenient in that it provides a syllabus for the course, security for the students, a set of materials, a basis for assessing students’ learning, and consistency within a program. However, I have felt the teachers using textbooks are often regarded as lazy while working in the field. It may be true that textbooks make learning monotonous since the sequence is lockstep and they have limited selection of materials.
I confess that I did not like using a textbook in my classes when I started teaching English in Korea, which was over 14 years ago. I was usually assigned a textbook to use and did not have a choice. Being a novice teacher with some kind of conformist attitude, I followed the way the textbooks suggested, but never liked it. Anyway, as times went by I somehow came to learn to use the textbooks “my own way”. Once I earned some trust in my teaching, I began to try different activities rather than the ones in the textbooks or change the order of the activities, which is called adaptations at “the activity level” and “the unit level” according to Graves (2000). Soon after I realized that the students did not want me to cover everything in the textbook in the given order, I got totally out of it. Textbooks became more like references. I changed the syllabus according to my students’ level and learning needs; the adaptation at the syllabus level took place.
It is interesting that what I have done was adaptation because I thought it was kind of ignoring the textbooks. It may sound funny but I actually felt kind of guilty skipping some parts and adopting new, different ones. I’m glad that I actually did the right thing.  Thank Graves and Professor Bonev for giving me confidence.

2 comments:

  1. I felt the same way just like you described at the end. I planned a goal, but when I realize that the goal was too high for them, I had to change the activities. I, also, felt guilty not doing those activities. The book says the textbook is a teaching tool. I always thought I had to use the textbook. I felt there was no exception. The students get board easily and I get discouraged by looking at my unmotivated kids. It is so true that the textbook does not teach them, but we do WITH the textbook.

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  2. It is very important to maintain the appropriate level of adapting or getting out of textbooks. In some ways, text book is very important for teachers to be guided the direction of verified instruction methodologies, but in other ways it can be a deadly poison to confine teachers to a given curriculum. To avoid the danger of using textbooks, teachers should observe students’ reactions carefully and meticulously. How much are they accepting and absorbing contents in classes? What parts is leaving room for questions or doubts to students? What parts need additional exercises or applied activities in order to go forward the next part? All concerns toward students and curriculum are useful and helpful to be a student-centered curriculum. Thank you for your posting. It gave me a lot of points to think deeply.

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