Reading Post 1

CHAPTER 3: Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction by Alverman, Swafford, & Mentero (2004)

Before reading, Using Textbooks and Trade Books for Content Area Instruction, I had limited awareness of using trade books in the classroom. It seems that we always hear about how difficult it is the read textbooks, how the material is usually outdated, and the concept coverage is watered-down and meaningless. Growing up, history was one of my worst subjects and out of all the history teachers that I have had, there is only one that stood out. I can remember mostly everything that I learned in that fourth grade classroom. This teacher used books and resources other than just a textbook. We did have a textbook, but rarely used it. My teacher used multiple trade books for each unit that we explored. These books were full of amazing facts and fascinating images.

I feel that it is very important to use both textbooks and trade books in the classroom for any subject. Before reading this article I had a couple of questions come into my head. As a teacher, how would you choose which trade books to use in your classroom? By limiting the use of the assigned textbook and replacing it with other resources, could a teacher get into trouble with the school? When choosing a trade book to use in the classroom it has to be of high quality. The article said to look for trade books that have won awards such as the Caldecott Award and the Hans Christian Award. Finding out about the author may also be helpful in choosing trade books. We can find this information in the preface or the afterward of the book. As teachers, if we are going to be using sources other than the assigned textbook we should be positive that these trade books have credible authors and are of the highest quality for our students. I feel that teachers can get in trouble with the school if research to find good trade books is ignored.

I found it interesting that the article stated that the population of trade books has grown and the quality of them has increased. Why is this? Maybe statistics and studies are showing that they are improving the education of our children. Trade books offer a wide range of reading levels, majority are up-to-date, help struggling readers understand the content, expose children to different text structures, have appealing formats, and build background knowledge. As a future teacher, I want to start to collect and buy high quality trade books to use in my classroom. I want to provide my students with opportunities to learn about class material through both textbooks and trade books.