Book Review: Overcoming Textbook Fatigue

by Joan Nash Comer

When I was asked to read and review Overcoming Textbook Fatigue (ASCD, 2012) by ReLeah Cossett Lent, my first thought was “Oh my stars! What perfect timing!” I was in the midst of my own “textbook fatigue” in early winter, as a 6th grade reading teacher at Columbia Elementary School in Madison, Alabama.

My second thought was “Oh my stars! When will I ever have time to do this?!”

However, when I began to read the author’s well-crafted and insightful content, it was immediately obvious that this book was “not another thing to do,” but a much needed resource and daily guide for thinking about and planning reading lessons.

After perusing the Introduction, I felt as though I had been to church. I was uplifted and encouraged by ReLeah Lent’s description of the limits of absolute “fidelity” to textbook-driven instruction. Hallelujah and amen. She goes on to explain:

“…using textbooks as well as [emphasis mine] a wide variety of supplemental resources to support effective instruction is what modern schooling is all about.  Driving instruction from the textbook’s table of contents or trying to cover everything in the text is actually counterproductive…”

ReLeah Cossett Lent definitely gets it.

Variety = Student Engagement

The very design of Overcoming Textbook Fatigue provides me with a user friendly guide that I am now putting to work as I plan and enhance my reading instruction. Student engagement and “buy in” is a KEY factor to get sixth graders to do anything. This is the developmental age where peer pressure is ramped up to the max, and any time I can influence the “majority of the peers” to get excited and involved in reading literature, I am able to reach out to others who want to be part of this peer-driven excitement – even if it involves having to learn!

In my dog-earred copy of the book, the information in Chapter 7, “Give it Up for Text Sets,” is heavily highlighted and tabbed. Lent lays out the framework for accessing a variety of text resources to deepen students’ interest and knowledge of specific topics.

What a wealth of information for those of us planning the implementation of  the English/Language Arts Common Core Standards for this upcoming school year.

Lent organized this chapter as a “how to” guide for educators to use in creating, planning and using text sets to meet the needs of a variety of grade levels and subject areas. A key point: while students are interacting with the various texts, they are applying reading strategies across several disciplines.

When I first read Lent’s text set ideas, it reminded me of a time 20 years ago when I was a  first grade teacher; I didn’t have textbooks for any subjects other than reading. I had to interest my students and enrich their learning by using “themes of study.”

Using the course of study for science and social studies, I collected a variety of books related to the specified topics. I displayed the collected resources in a specifically decorated  “theme study” area of my classroom. My first graders would get “hooked” on the interesting facts of our theme topics — penguins, weather,  insects. They would seek other resources to add to our “theme area” to share with the class. The students and I were so excited about our topics that we became Investigators; we constantly searched for additional resources to share new information with each other.

What I now know from reading this chapter is that even though I teach an upper elementary grade, where textbooks are readily available, I can confidently use the textbooks as ONE of the MANY resources my students and I have available to enhance learning. The textbook doesn’t have to be (and it shouldn’t be) THE learning roadmap.

How We Come to Rely on Textbooks

Chances are, if you’re a teacher like me who has taught across the elementary grades (I’ve taught every grade from first to sixth in the past 26 years), you can look back and see the places where you were influenced to become “addicted to the textbook learning plan.”

For me, it began as I moved to the upper elementary grades, home of heavy curriculum requirements, the push to “get everything covered,” and larger class sizes. Staying afloat is easier when you have something to grasp that will keep your head above the surface while you tread water. The textbook can be that life raft in the beginning. But there comes a time when you’ve got to realize that moving up to a boat you can sail yourself is a more effective means to make progress in the “sea of student learning.”

What you’ll find in Overcoming Textbook Fatigue

Lent focuses on student engagement in Chapter One, and she provides examples of effective strategies for student engagement throughout the lesson components she highlights in chapters 2 through 6:

• building background knowledge,

• understanding that vocabulary IS the content,

• having students read and write for the purpose of LEARNING,

• and using meaningful assessments that will provide feedback about the learning that has or has not occurred.

Readers will find practical ideas throughout the book for providing students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning as well as how to create a classroom environment that allows for daily student engagement.

I found the ideas in chapter 8, “Going from Textbook Fatigue to Invigorated Learning,” well aligned with my beliefs about teaching and learning. The goal of teaching is to create independent, lifelong learners. Although I have always quested toward that goal, I have often lost sight of the prize as I became bogged down with pre-set plans for textbook use, along with the expectations that using those “traditional” textbook teaching methods would increase student performance (even though the textbooks did not meet all of the curriculum standards for instruction).

Using the resources in chapter 8, I now have research-based information and some common-sense strategies to support a teaching practice that goes beyond the textbook. In Overcoming Textbook Fatigue, ReLeah Lent shares her careful observations and her deep understanding of the available research. As a result, her book can provide busy educators like me with a practical, user-friendly reference that will guide us in making professional decisions with the outcome of making students more independent and more excited about pursuing new learning throughout their lives.

Reading Is a Life Skill

I love to read the same books that my students are reading. I love to TEACH reading, when it can be viewed as meaningful and something that actually enriches our world outside of school and will continue to do so when we become adults. I love to talk about the authors and discuss their artistic craft and help my students look for important themes and insights in their writing.

I love it when my students write reviews about what they are reading and post them in social media — or make advertisements for their favorite books to put in our hallways and encourage other students to try them. That’s what real people do when they read a book they are excited about.

Reading is a life skill. It has to be taught as a means to grow and learn and enjoy. After 26 years, I have been unable to find a textbook that will accomplish even 25% of this goal. I applaud ReLeah Lent for her vision, her passion and her research. She provides the motivation and the evidence to help educators like me re-energize our classrooms (more “amens” and “Hallelujahs”).

With Overcoming Textbook Fatigue to support our pedagogy, we can confidently demonstrate our ability to develop readers through lesson plans that incorporate a collection of strategies and resources designed to address the needs of our individual students — the real kids who sit in our classrooms with the hope and expectation that we are going to support them, open the doors to knowledge and skills, and help them make their learning purposeful.

Joan Comer is an elementary school Reading & Language Arts teacher at Columbia Elementary in Madison ,Alabama.  She has a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education. Joan spent 8 years as a Reading Specialist & Coach at Endeavor Elementary in Harvest, Alabama. She has taught all grade levels (and most subjects) from 1st-6th, but 6th Grade Reading/Language Arts is where her heart resides. She enjoys helping her students develop their voices as writers.