Ch. 4 Balance Diet of Reading

          Chapter 4 gave me a lot to think about because it jogs my memory of what I went through when I was in school.  I remember certain teachers focusing heavily on the textbook as if it were their Bible. They followed every section, gave every quiz and test from the textbook. But then I also had the teachers so vocally said how much they hated textbooks and were going to use their own reading materials for the class. Something I remember from the reading was then they mentioned the fact that there are tons of textbooks that try to explain something, but we can't really say we understand them (p51). It is true because if the content is engaging and the students are doing something to enforce their learning, the student will remember and they will understand by physically doing. That's why I think it is important for a teacher to mix it up a bit in their teaching methods. I do think textbooks are a great guide especially for beginning teachers. But I think with early planning, a teacher could have her students read sections of the book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789) to enforce learning about the slave trade. This is an important part of our history and sometimes its often given a week's unit and that's it. In high school I remember spending a long time learning about the Atlantic slave trade and it's involvement with not only the U.S but Europe too.