Synthesis Blog #1

So what’s all of the politics about? In the book The New Politics of the Textbook: Critical Analysis in the Core Content Areas, Heather Hickman and Brad J. Porfilio analyze how textbooks are being used and why teachers and students are resisting enforced official curriculum.

“Many states adopt textbooks on a statewide basis and three large “adoption states” (California, Florida, and Texas) exert an enormous influence on the content of textbooks used nationwide. The textbook industry is highly competitive and the industry is dominated by a very small number of large corporations; as a result, textbook companies modify their products to qualify for adoption in one of these states, which will be must simpler with the Common Core Standards. As a result, the values and politics of adoption committees in those states influence curriculum nationally.”

I never knew textbooks were such a hot topic of discussion!  Sure textbook politics have come up a bit with the “Big Three” (Holt McDougal, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson) but has the debate to end textbook centered classrooms really stood a chance? Textbooks were such a vital part of my education, it would be wrong to say the majority of my science, math, and history courses did not follow textbook units and chapters with activities and discussions sprinkled in-between chapter subsections. I’ve always been expected to read before class and come to class prepared with questions. I once thought this was the way to go but after further investigation, this only inspires textbook dependence. Textbooks are reference materials. My goal as a subject educator, as stated in Subjects Matter, should be to infuse the curriculum with an array of versatile text, giving my students the resources to delve into and find interest in different subject area curriculum. (291 words)