Outside the Book: Alternate Teaching Methods For a Greater Tomorrow by Rachel

Outside the Book: Alternate Teaching Methods For a Greater Tomorrow by Rachel - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

“Teachers, throw away the textbooks.” A shocking and unheard of piece of advice for our educators? Indeed. However, by limiting, or even eliminating, textbook use in the classrooms, far greater educational gains can be achieved. The advantages of employing more engaging teaching methods other than repetitive book work include development of a variety of skills, improved attention and longer retention, and greater flexibility for content learning. Alternate methods that promote these types of gains include group and individual projects, “flipped” classrooms, and technology incorporation – all which contrast sharply with the redundant teaching methods associated with textbooks. Ultimately, textbook teaching methods do not provide a well-rounded and engaging education the way alternate methods will.

Schools provide not only book knowledge and academic education, but also provide invaluable opportunities for preparing students with applicable social skills. These skills include responsibility, teamwork, and leadership. Coincidentally, these are also skills that remain imperative for success in classroom structures that involve group projects. Another important function of school is to foster curiosity and a love for learning. However, when textbook teachings are followed strictly, teachers and students lack the flexibility to explore different and personalized areas of the content that peak their interest. In contrast, in a flipped classroom setting, students have the power to choose a specific area of a certain lesson that most fascinates or challenges them and thoroughly research and learn about that specific content. Furthermore, bringing technology into the classroom allows students to research differing point of views or gain access to limitless information which is not possible with the use of just a textbook. Finally, when textbooks are used as the road map for a lesson, teachers generally use checkpoints such as standardized tests or multiple-choice quizzes to gauge retention of the material. However, students employ simple memorization for these types of tests and fail to truly retain the information. Instead, teachers may use methods to test comprehension such as final projects or essays. Through these types of assignments, students must thoroughly research and understand the material to successfully prove their retention. Overall, unique teaching methods outside the pages of the textbook provide improved learning techniques for students of all ages.

Teachers play a valuable role in the future of our children. Tasked with the role of providing students with a base of general knowledge as well as helping them build strong social and academic skills, the most efficient teaching techniques must be employed by our educators. Unfortunately, the common adoption of textbooks in the classroom no longer serves the need for granting our children the best possible education. However, simple restructuring of the classroom gives students more power to decide what and how material is taught which will naturally lead to longer retention, improved interest, and greater success. Until textbooks are no longer the primary source of learning in the classroom, both teachers and students alike will fail to realize the full potential of all that educational institutions and academic engagement can provide.