Literacy Initiatives at Saint Joseph's University EDU 247

Textbook Evaluation

General Impressions & Appearance

Publication Year: Some books are culturally relevant while others may appear outdated. Don't always judge a book by its cover, though because the stories may be loved by students!

Cost: Who must pay for this? What is your budget? Is this a fair price for the book? Do teachers pay for their own books?

Length: What is the length of the textbook? How might the length influence your pacing throughout an academic year?

Size and Weight: Heavy books dimensions lead to backpack injuries. Light flimsy books fall apart and must be replaced. How will students endure?

Cover: Durable and attractive? Will they want to pick it up? Most kids judge a book by its cover. Surface can sustain spills.

Age and Cultural Appropriation

Illustrations and Charts: How much does the publisher

II. Organization

Division of textbook (units, sections, lessons). Is this how you would like to cover the material?

Special sections in each lesson. Special sections in each lesson are highlights about unique stories

Sequence of concepts help students with new ways to organize text information.

Student Options

Multiple pathways to engage student learning. The student can click on links when s/he notices an interesting digression.

Relevant and respectful choices about content. Children will not be led astray by stories and illustrations.

Diversity for underrepresented populations

Political Contests and Textbooks

Readability

Varied reading abilities

Graphs and charts to compliment text

ELL sections

Memory and Comprehension

Pertinent questions posed by disciplinary experts

Basic questions to trigger memory

Larger questions to expand the material beyond the discipline

Expands basic, proficient, and disciplinary vocabulary

Credits:

Created with images by ulleo - "books book stack isolated" • robscomputer - "Textbook" • indi.ca - "indi-textbook" • AlishaV - "Zero -Table of Contents" • phylofigures - "pgen.0010071.g001" • textbookrebellion - "textbook rebellion UMD" • Jose C Silva - "I'm not sure this is better than a textbook" • theslowlane - "Flags of 3 neighboring nations" • Yuya Tamai - "Textbooks" • FontFont - "FF Tundra" • OperaPopRocks - "THIS is what's in my bag" • mosaic36 - "IMG_4415" • cerbuside - "IMG_0754" • tj scenes - "question" • PublicDomainPictures - "black business computer" • new 1lluminati - "spiral tribe" • acme - "IXS_2450" • ulleo - "books book stack isolated"

Made with Adobe Slate

Make your words and images move.

Get Slate

Report Abuse

If you feel that this video content violates the Adobe Terms of Use, you may report this content by filling out this quick form.

To report a Copyright Violation, please follow Section 17 in the Terms of Use.