Brett Johnson

READ 472
11/9/15
Textbook Assessment
The textbook I chose to use for this assignment is the assigned
book in the Augusta County Public School system for seventh grade
world history. The textbook is entitled United States History: Civil War
to the Present and it was published in 2012 by the Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company.
Readability
There are a various number of formulas and techniques that can
be used to measure readability. Readability is the measure of how easy
or hard a text is for the reader to understand. For my sample, I have
chose to use the Flesch-Kincaid readability test. The Flesch-Kincaid
tests gives two scores, the reading ease and reading level, and they
are both based on the length of the words and sentences. The reading
ease score gives a number from 0-100 that assesses how easy the text
is to read. Generally, scores between 90-100 are easily understood by
the average 5th grader. The average 8th and 9th graders easily
understand scores between 60-70. Finally, college graduates easily
understand scores between 0-30. The higher the number is, the easier
the text is to understand. The reading level test gives a number that

directly correlates with the grade level the text would be best suitable
for. Below is a table I created which shows different scores and
statistics for three randomly selected passages in the textbook.

Page
Number
616
707
895

FleschKincaid
Reading
Ease
57.6
62.3
55.7

FleschKincaid
Grade
Level
8.6
7.1
8.6

Syllable
Count

Word
Count

Sentenc
e Count

173
208
206

108
131
126

8
13
10

Words
per
Sentenc
e
13.5
10.1
12.6

These readability calculators are generally good measures when

determining the grade level. School systems can run these tests when
they are trying to determine what textbook to buy for their classrooms.
There are some assumptions these calculators make though that might
not necessarily be true. The first assumption is that passages that have
sentences of longer lengths are more difficult to read. The second
assumption is that longer words are harder to read and understand.
While these assumptions could skew the data a bit, these calculations
are a pretty accurate judge of the readability of the book. As you can
see from my results from the three randomly selected passages, the
reading ease and grade level scores are all fairly close, while the
syllable count and words per sentence have more varied results. The
Flesch-Kincaid reading ease scores tell us that the average 8th-10th
graders should easily understand the book. This concerns me a bit

because this textbook is used in a 7th grade classroom and the reading
ease tells me that this book might be too challenging. The FleschKincaid grade level test confirms this as well. Two of my tests resulted
in a grade level of 8.6 and one of my tests resulted in a grade level of
7.1. The average of these three scores is 8.1 which tells us that these
sections are suggested for an eighth grader. Because this is
concerning, the school board would have to run more tests to see if
this is consistent level throughout the book. I believe these scores are
very realistic based on the language used in the text. Being a history
textbook, there are many names and events that are longer in length
and that students may not be familiar with. From these scores, it has
led me to believe that this textbook might be a little too challenging for
most seventh graders in the Augusta Country Public School System,
especially struggling readers and ELL students.
Content
The content of this book covers material from the Civil War to the
present times, going all the way up to George Bushs presidency. The
book begins with a table of contents that is broken up by unit and then
under each unit are the different chapters and sections. After the table
of contents, there are a couple of pages teaching the reader how to
become an active reader. This is a cool aspect of the book because it
reminds students how they should be reading text and some of the
most beneficial strategies. Another thing I really like that this book

does is there is a prologue at the very beginning that reviews the

United States history from the founding of the nation all the way up
until 1860. I think that in history, which is very chronologically based, it
is important that students understand what has happened in history
that got them to that point. This section of the book talks about
Columbus, the American Revolution, the Constitution, slaves, and the
nation breaking apart, all things important to our nation up to the Civil
War.

Vocabulary and important terms are key to understanding in all

content areas, but especially in social studies. Throughout the
chapters, all of the important names and dates are in bold, usually with
a definition or explanation in the same paragraph as the bolded term.
The prologue reviews the history of the
nation up to the Civil War.

Although this is simple, by

bolding the words it draws
the students attention to
important terms they should
be aware of. These terms,
although usually defined
before or after the bolded
term in the text, are all
available in the back of the
back in the glossary. I think

the textbook could have benefitted from some vocabulary strategies

that emphasize certain important terms. One strategy I really like is
the most important word strategy, which Kylene Beers presents. This
strategy forces students back into the text to consider what was the
most important aspect of that text. (Beers, page 174) There are many
vocabulary strategies out there and I think that the book could benefit
from including some of them.

I believe that the content in this book is very appropriate to the

subject and although it covers a huge time period (1861-present), it
analyzes the major events very well and in depth. The book allows for
students to be an active reader when they are learning about the
different events that took place in history. There are images, maps, or
timelines on every page, sometimes more than one of those. Along
with the images and maps are questions for the students to consider.
At the end of each section, there is a section assessment which lets to
the student or teacher know how well the information was received.
The assessments do a good job of triggering higher order thinking
through high levels of Blooms Taxonomy.

Format
On the first page of every chapter, the authors tell the reader
what they will learn, an outline of the different sections, a timeline of

major events in that chapter, and an essential question that will be

answered throughout the chapter. At the beginning of each section,
which are smaller parts of the chapter, there are main ideas the reader
will learn. These include the big idea, key terms and important people.
I think this is one of the main strengths
of the book because I have learned how
important it is for the students to know
what the big ideas of the chapter
are and what they will learn from
On the first page of every chapter,
the authors preview what you will
learn in the chapter.

reading. This can be seen in

different settings as well, like in
my practicum classroom. The
teacher has the essential
question for the day posted on
the board with an outline of the
days activities.

Like mentioned above, there is an assessment at the end of each

section that allows students to apply what they have learned from the
previous section. At the end of each larger chapter, one page is
dedicated to a different social studies skill. This is a very effective
aspect of the book because it teaches different skills that the students
need to be a more complete learner. Right after that page, the book
goes into a chapter review. There is a visual summary of the chapter,

which appeals to the visual learner, vocabulary and terms review,

critical thinking, reviewing themes, and using the Internet. In addition
to all of this review, is a page with relevant standardized test practice
questions. These are very important because as we know, standardized
tests, such as the SOLs, whether you like them or not, are a very
important part of a students public school career.
At the end of the book, the authors chose to include basic
information that didnt fit the scope of the textbook, but that they feel
is important to our country and that every student should know. This
section includes an atlas, list of the presidents, facts about the states,
At the end of the chapters,
one page is dedicated to a
social studies skill.

the American flag, Declaration of

Independence, the Constitution, and an
English and Spanish glossary. Part of

this historical thinking idea we have learned about in our methods

course, is creating students that are well-rounded citizens. I think it is
important to know this general information, like the Constitution and
Declaration of Independence, in order to be a well-rounded and
knowledgeable student. This section gives the student a wealth of
knowledge on documents that our country was built on, basic history
on the presidents our country has had so far, and basic information on
each of the states. More relevant to the material in the textbook, the
English and Spanish glossary allows students to quickly look up
different vocabulary words, wars, and people. The fact that they

include a Spanish glossary as well is extremely beneficial to a school

system that is very diverse, like we have
here in Harrisonburg for example.

Utility
As mentioned before, the book does
a great job of review and using critical
Some basic U.S.
information is included in
the back of the book.

thinking skills to figure out higher-level

problems. The book is broken up into
different units and within the units there

are chapters, and then within the chapters are sections. Review is a big
part of a textbook and I believe that review is one of the strengths of
this book. At the end of each section, there is an assessment that
requires the student to use higher order of thinking from analyzing to
identifying cause and effect. At the end of each chapter, there is a
chapter review, which includes a wide variety of questions that enables
the student to use varying skills to answer the questions. I think the
visual summary is a very effective tool because so many people are
visual learners. The visual summary is a simple picture that highlights
the key parts from the chapter. Students can easily understand these
pictures and it would be very beneficial to a lot of students. The other
aspects of the review include vocab, terms, and people, critical

thinking, themes, social studies skills, using the Internet, and reading
skills. This is such a wide range of topics that it allows the teacher to
focus on certain aspects for certain students. It makes differentiation
easy because you can have certain students do specific sections.
In addition to this extensive review the book provides, there is
also a section with standardized test practice. This is very valuable tool
because standardized tests are something that is a big deal in schools.
There is a section of
standardized test
practice at the end of
every chapter.

Although there is much debate on the topic,

standardized tests are how school districts collect data
and judge the different schools. This
practice section allows the students to see
what kind of questions they will be
encountering at the end of the year.
Style
I believe that the style of writing used
in United States History: Civil War to the
Present is very relevant to the intended

grade level of seventh grade. The information is presented in a very

educational and informative way. As we saw earlier, two out of the
three passages I analyzed suggested that this book is a high eighth
grade level. With that being said, I think the way this book is written
can allow for a seventh grade understanding as well. The authors do a

great job of using a variety of sources to teach the material. The

constant use of images and primary sources allows different types of
learners to understand the material. Although the reading levels may
suggest an eighth grade level, the way the sentences are put together,
or the syntax, makes the readings understandable for a lower grade
level. For the most part, the sentences are made up of high frequency
words and the sentences are not too long in length. I also think that
because the book is broken up into many small sections, it enables the
teacher to assign short sections of readings, which will not overwhelm
the student. While the book may be challenging to some readers, it
delivers the information in the clearest way possible.
Summary
After reflecting on all of the aspects I talked about, I think that
this book is a good tool that is generally appropriate for the seventh
grade classroom, which it is intended for. Just like any other textbook,
there are some strengths and weaknesses. The first strength that is
worth noting is the wide array of review activities that are available to
the learner. There is review at the end of each section, chapter, and
unit. The review is very appropriate and it allows the students to
understand the big ideas from each part of the book. The review does
a great job forcing the students to use a higher order of thinking to
answer the questions. I also like how the authors tell the students what
skill each question requires. The second strength is the prologue at the

very beginning of the book. I think this is a very effective tool because
history is understood in a chronological order. Because the book
technically starts at the Civil War, students need to understand some
of the events that happened in our nation before that point. While they
should have learned that in previous classes, this section highlights
some of the major events that students should understand. Finally, the
use of imagery throughout the book is impressive. Like I mentioned
earlier, so many students are visual learners, and the authors
obviously understand that. Very seldom is there a page without any
visuals on it at all. The visual summary in the review section is a great
tool that allows the students to visually understand the big ideas from
each chapter.
While there are many strengths of the book, there are some
weaknesses worth noting as well. The first weakness of this book is the
reading level of some of the sections. From the first part of this
assessment, you can see that two of the three sections I looked at had
a grade level of 8.6. This book is intended for a seventh grade
classroom, and I know that a large amount of students in the class are
not reading at a seventh grade level. This could present a challenge for
some students because they may struggle to understand the
information the authors are trying to get across. Second, I think that
overall length of the units may cause the students stress. Although the
authors break down the units into chapters and sections, if the teacher

teaches by units, the 75-100 pages per unit may cause the students
some unneeded stress. Finally, I wish that the authors had given some
more activities that forced the students to use technology. The World
Wide Web has so many valuable resources that can allow for deeper
learning. Technology is such a big aspect of a lot of students lives, and
I think that teaching the students how to use technology effectively
would have be very beneficial.
There are many text evaluation instruments out there, but the
one I chose to use is from the book Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note
Stances, Signposts, and Strategies by Kylene Beers and Robert Probst.
Their analysis is broken down into four different instruments. Each
instrument is then separated into four complexity levels, from easier
evidence to more demanding. The first measure used is the complexity
of the ideas presented. The ideas presented vary from different
perspectives, the complexity of the information, possible bias, and
ambiguity. The second measure is the structure used. The structure
deals with things like visuals, graphics, and overall order. Easier
evidence suggests an easily definable text structure; visuals that help
provide meaning, and headings that guide the reading. A more
demanding text has multiple structures and almost no graphics. Third,
the language used is also an important measure to look at when
assessing a textbook. The scale that language is judged on deals with
how familiar the language is, the complexity of the vocab, tier I, II, and

III words, sentence structure, and use of similes and metaphors. Finally,
the knowledge required is the last measure. This deals with the
complexity of ideas, prior knowledge, and specialized knowledge.
I chose to use this text evaluation instrument for a couple of
different reasons. First, We have done a lot of work with Kylene Beers
this year and I am familiar with her. I know she is one of the top
scholars in the field; therefore this instrument has to be reliable. In
addition to that, this is a very recent publishing which is only a couple
of weeks old, so this evaluation instrument is possibly the most up to
date evaluation instrument out there. This mix between a scholar who
is at the top of her field, and the up to date information made this
specific instrument an easy choice.
Trade Sources
1. (2014). Retrieved November 6, 2015, from
http://www.civilwar.org/

This website is great resource for both students and teachers

because it is very interactive to spark student interest and also
has many resources for teachers. First, I will talk about some of
the resources this site has for students and the tools they can
use for their learning. This site is very interactive and it allows
students to explore on their own. The first feature this website
has for students is the Find a Battlefield page. Here students
can go into the main page and search by state or year, or they

can select a specific battle. If you select a state, it shows all of

the battles in that specific state and if you select a year, it shows
all of the battles that took place during that year. After you select
the year or the state, you can click on a specific battle and it
brings you to this really cool page with tons of different
resources. This page has pictures relevant to the battle at the top
of the page, a brief overview of the battle, different relevant
articles, videos, and an animated map of the battle. There is also
a section with suggested reading, so if a student is interested in
this specific battle, the site gives suggestions on books they can
read to learn more. This is an awesome feature because as we
have learned, students should be reading things they are
interested in. If a student knows he or she is interested in a
specific battle, they can easily find books related to it. Another
cool feature of this website is the section they have for teachers.
In the teacher section, it has the curriculum for the Civil War at
all levels of schooling, Civil War lesson plans for every level, and
then a field trip planner where you can look up places you can
visit by state and it takes you to the certain battlefield, museum,
etc. you click on. It also gives you all the relevant information
about that place.
2.

Mullenbach, C. (2014). The industrial revolution for kids:

The people and technology that changed the world : With 21
activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Rasmussen, R. (2014). World War I for kids: A history with
21 activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Panchyk, R. (2002). World War II for kids: A history with 21
activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.
Herbert, J. (1999). The Civil War for kids a history with 21
activities. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.

These four books are all very similar and they teach four very
important events and time periods in history. The suggested
reading level for these books are grades four through eight. As
we have learned, books that are a little below reading level can
be very beneficial for kids. These kinds of books get students
excited to read and the struggling readers in your classroom
should be able to handle these books. These books use great
images and they teach the story of these different events in a
simplified way, which gives the students the most important
information. Not only are these books a great resource for your
students, they are a great resource for the teacher as well. The
teacher could teach from these books and then use some
activities that the books lay out. For example, in the Industrial
Revolution book, one of the suggested activities is to have your
students draw a floor plan of a typical tenement house. These
houses were often very small and in rough condition. By using

this higher order of thinking activity, students will apply their

knowledge to fully understand how these houses were a problem
and what kinds of changes came to these houses. These four
books all have great activities like this that the teacher can use
in their classroom.
3.
How was information shared? (2013, December 19).
Retrieved November 7, 2015, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/0/ww1/25332968

This website is full of great propaganda posters from World War I.

Posters are a great example of primary sources. I have learned
that primary source analysis is a great teaching tool and they
have many benefits. The students feel empowered if they have
an actual piece of history in their hands and they feel a
connection to the specific primary source. Propaganda was very
important in WWI and the government used it to get people back
home in the United States to do certain things, and to get the
citizens to believe in what they were doing. This site is a great
resource because it has propaganda from all different
perspectives and the students will be able to analyze these
posters and figure out what the government was trying to say
through them.

4.

Boyne, J. (2006). The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A fable.

Oxford: David Fickling Books.
Herman, L., & Boyne, J. (2009). The Boy in the Striped
Pajamas: Teacher guide. Bulverde, TX: Novel Units.

When teaching World War II, Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust is a
unit that you will spend a lot of time looking at. Also made into a
movie, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas tells the story of a boy
whose father receives a new job and they move to a large house
right near one of the Nazi concentration camps. The young boy,
Bruno, is exploring the land near his house one day when he
finds a large fenced in area with people wearing strange outfits.
He befriends a boy on the other side of the fence, which
eventually gets him in trouble. The suggested reading level for
this novel is grade seven and above and it has a lexile score of
1080L. This score suggests an eighth grade reading level. This is
potentially a downside to this source because it would probably
be a stretch for a lot of your seventh grade students, especially
students who read below grade level. This would be a great
source though for an eighth grade class or a gifted seventh grade
class. This novel is a great read because it examines the
relationship between outsiders and the people in these
concentration camps. It tells the story through a young boy who
is of the middle school age so the students would be able to
relate to what this boy is going through. I also cited the teacher

guide of this book. This book is a great resource for the teacher
because it gives him/her lots of activities they can incorporate
into the classroom. This book enables the teacher to teach
segments of the book if they wanted and then they could use an
activity from the teacher guide that matches with the section of
the book they are going to teach.

5.
Bonsper, D. (2015). Vietnam memoirs, Part 1: My
experiences as a Marine Platoon Leader. San Bernardino,
California.: AroSage Publishing.
Bonsper, D. (2015). Vietnam memoirs: Part 2: My
Experiences as a Marine Advisor. San Bernardino, California.:
AroSage Publishing.

This set of two memoirs tells the story of Don Bonsper, who
served two primary roles during the Vietnam War. His first
memoir talks about his experiences as a Marine platoon leader
and his second memoir talks about his experiences as a Marine
advisor. Both of these books are very well written and his strong
use of imagery keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. These
books are told from his perspective so the teacher could use
these resources to teach about bias and analyzing perspectives.
Because he in a Marine and fighting for the U.S., obviously his
perspective is important to keep in mind when reading these two
books. The reading level of these books is a ninth grade level so
like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, these books would probably

have to be taught in a gifted class. Another possible negative is

the long length of these books, the first being 280 pages, and the
second being 200 pages. This means that the teacher is going to
have to pick out certain excerpts that they want to use. Despite
those two negatives, these books are very beneficial to the
student because they give real life examples of what these
soldiers go through on a daily basis. In order to fully understand
history, I think it is important for the students to understand
what actually happens behind the scenes, and these books do a
great job explaining that.

Having an extensive library of trade books and novels is

extremely important for every teacher to have in their classroom. If we
want students to read during their free time, it is necessary to have
books that you have read so you can suggest them to your students. It
is also important to make time in the day to allow students to read.
Ivey and Fisher quoted in their book, When asked what they found
special about time to read, students consistently said that it allowed
them to think and to learn. (Ivey & Fisher, page 55) The trade books
and resources I chose cover most of the main events taught in the
textbook. There are so many resources out there, and I think it is
important for the teacher to use a variety of mediums to teach, which
my sources reflect.

Other Sources Used

Beers, K. (2003). When kids can't read, what teachers can do: A
guide for teachers, 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Kylene Beers.
Ivey, G., & Fisher, D. (2006). Creating literacy-rich schools for
adolescents. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
Curriculum Development.

Textbook Citation
Deverell, W., & White, D. (2012). United States history: Civil War
to the present. Orlando, FL: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.