There were a lot of great strategies in this chapter that offered extra guidance and practice for students while they are reading textbooks. In my last two blog posts I kept saying that we need to teach out students how to navigate textbooks, but I honestly had no answer. I was happy to have some answers, but I was also a little weary of some of the techniques.
Jigsawing through a textbook seems like a great technique that can be used for all grade levels. I would love to implement this activity in cooperative groups where students each have a job (after they all read the text). Students could even create a presentation on the section of the textbook and use large post-it paper to diagram the section out. The modifications that I made to the lesson would probably be used for a section that I have chosen to expand rather than contract. At the same time, it would be a good idea to have students Jigsaw a section that we are "glazing over" to allow students to interact with the text, but also not spend too much time on it. The only challenge that I can immediately think of is how much class time will be dedicated to Jigsawing. Would I have the students read the section in class and then discuss it? Or should the students know what sections to read for homework and come in ready to discuss? What if certain students don't complete the homework and the group suffers?
While reading about the "Guide-O-Rama" and "Textbook Circles", I can't help but question if these two strategies are geared for younger students. With the "Guide-O-Rama" I can see how a teacher would be able to pose guided questions or help prompt students' thinking, but I can't help but question if the students would use it to their advantage. In my own experiences in high school I know that the majority of the "honors students" wouldn't have used the guide and instead would have read the textbook straight or tried to copy the answers from another student. I can see how the "textbook circles" would work, especially by giving each student a specific role in the group. I think maybe the idea of book clubs or circles is seen as a younger activity and I wonder if high school students would think that they deserve a more challenging activity. At the same time, "textbook circles" would allow the students to work in cooperative groups and explore the text with their peers. I would be interested in trying the activity out and getting the students' opinion of it.
While looking for strategies online I came across this website which offers the advantages and disadvantages of textbooks in the classroom but also gives you advice on how to improve on the disadvantages. Its easy to say something doesn't work, but this site gives you some answers about how to fix the problem!
Were there any strategies that you particularly liked or disliked?
Did you find this like helpful?
Jessica, I too really liked the idea of using a jigsaw for material that there isn't much time to go in-depth with, but didn't consider the fact that if students didn't complete the work the group might suffer. I suppose this could be remedied by the teacher having already written notes about the chapter to inform the group of themselves, or perhaps having two groups pair up for that particular section, so there could be at least one person who had read.
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