Textbook Assessment

Kyle Chambers

James Madison University

Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and economics.

Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Overview:

From the first class period Dr. Dredger told us we would need a textbook

from our practicum class. I asked my teacher if I could borrow one and if they use

them at all. She replied that she would give me an electronic version because that is

what the kids use. From my experience in the classroom the only time they look at

the textbook is when they are working on vocabulary or a packet based off the

chapters of the textbook. This book is designed for an 8th grade Civics class.

Readability

The purpose of a readability test is to determine how difficult a text may be,

and to give it a grade that is assigned to a certain educational level. The Flesch-

Kincaid grade level uses a formula to help textbook companies around the world to

make texts appropriate for a certain grade. I took random texts from the book I was

given to use as data. When checking the readability score I had to look at the total

number of words, syllables, and sentences to get to my readability score. I compiled

readability statistics from my book down below.

Page # Total Words Total Sentences Total Syllables Flesch-Kincaid

Grade Level

207 107 7 206 10.9 (11th grade)

305 124 15 217 8.1 (8th grade)

534 118 8 191 8.9 (9th grade)

I would like to point out the fact that on page 207 the Flesch-Kincaid

readability score is that of an 11th grader. This is ridiculous according to the grading

chart for an 8th grader to read this, but it does not show what the words or sentence

structure was. In every subject there are some words that the students just need to

know in order to understand the content. In the text I provided on page 207 there

were words that included “legislatures” and “lawmaking.” These are big words with

many syllables and put into the Flesch-Kincaid formula will heighten the difficulty of

the text. These words are necessary though in order to teach students about the

Legislative Branch in Civics. From the graph as well one is able to understand that

the readability score goes down when there are more sentences and/or less

syllables. Many of the students I am with are just at or a little below an 8th grade

readability level, but they still succeed at reading the supposedly 11th grade texts.

This is because challenging your students will bring out the best in them, and

vocabulary is important in helping students understand content. Citing from

Chapter 7 of Beers and Probst, “a lexile measure does not address the content or

quality of the book (Beers&Probst 48.)”

 The readability of any textbook may be hard for some students, but the

textbook that I am assessing does a great job at trying to help the students

understand the main ideas and vocabulary of each chapter. Having an online edition

really helps because It has everything the student needs on the left hand side of the

page. It has the reading focus for the chapter, key terms, and even an example of

how students should take notes on the chapter. Giving students the tools they need

to succeed is necessary when giving them harder texts to read. The online version

allows students to succeed. This especially works for when my cooperating teacher

assigns vocabulary to the students because it can be easily found on the left hand

side of the page.

 (Example from page 207

Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and economics.

Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.)

After seeing this on the online version I was made the conclusion that if the

students are given necessary help, then they will be able to understand the content

of the textbook. I especially like the “Taking Notes” help that the textbook gives. This
will help students take better notes if the teacher assigns the students reading in the

textbook.

Content

By using the online textbook I am able to use the bar in the upper left portion

of the screen to flip from chapter/section. This gives the students the option to flip

exactly to the chapter, section, or page they need to get to immediately. This allows

them to quickly find what they are looking for in the textbook.

( Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and

economics. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Page 1)

Civics does not really change a whole lot in the past decade. The book is from
2008, which is still pretty recent. It is due for another text soon enough, but the
book the students currently have is up-to-date as far as educators should be
concerned. The textbook does a good job of presenting the historical facts to the way
that the students would understand them. As a teacher I believe that the smaller
stories that are not taught many times, but are interesting and sometimes funny can
help a student get interested in a topic.

Page 94 (Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and

economics. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

I really like this section in the Executive Branch subtopic because it is a funny tidbit

that students will laugh at and remember. As a teacher this can also be a learning

experience because he/she could ask something along the lines of why they may
have suggested this title instead of “Mr. President.” Fun facts like this will keep

children interested in the topic and may even catch them off guard.

Like any social studies textbook primary sources are extremely important.

You click the resources button, then go to historical documents and can find all of

the primary sources that the students need to know. This is easy access to such

great historical knowledge at the click of their fingertip.

Magna Carta
explaining how the people of England wanted to limit the King’s power
(Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and
economics. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

As a teacher this is great because it is simple to get to and the students can be easily

accessed from any computer. The vocabulary of the Primary Sources may be hard
for the 8th graders to understand. I believe this is necessary though to have these

documents because when learning how the founding fathers gathered ideas for our

government presenting these primary sources will help the students understand the

process better.

Vocabulary is also an important part in this book as well. As I

mentioned earlier, my teacher loves vocabulary and uses the textbook to help the

students understand the vocabulary. I like the idea of using the vocabulary from the

textbook and then solidifying the vocabulary outside of the textbook through

flashcards or other games.

(Page 202) I am using this text example to show how key terms are
presented to the students. They are blue and underlined and I you click on
the term it will send you to another window with the official textbook
definition. (Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of
government and economics. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.)
This is what happens when you click on a key term in the online textbook. It will
give you the definition in English and Spanish. (Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in
practice: Principles of government and economics. Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.)

Something that is unique about the online textbook I think is the eActivities

present in the textbook. These activities help students solidify their knowledge on

the content, and are a great check to see if they understand the content they have

received. They have chapter review activities and section quizzes. This is a unique

function that only the online textbook has. Using these can help a teacher quickly

determine if they are understanding the material or not.

Last but not least I believe that all modern textbooks should account for ESL

students. Our nation is becoming more and more diverse with different cultures and

languages. This book does a great job at helping ESL students succeed. There is an

Audio option on the website that allows the ESL student to receive a summary of the

chapter in Spanish, and key terms are already translated for them if you click on

them or go to the Spanish Glossary.

Strength and Weaknesses

The following strengths of the textbook are

1. Everything is easily accessible to these students, and can be found easily.

2. Some of the content is at a higher level that can challenge students to

critically think more than if they were given easier material.

3. It is ESL friendly

The textbook’s strengths overall help both English speakers and Spanish

speakers find the content they are looking for. There are other things that make this

online textbook great. These are the three main strengths that this book has in my
opinion. I always want to challenge my students to stride for their best and I believe

that this book does a great job of balancing harder text with 8th grade texts. I was

impressed by the audio in Spanish. This is great for any ESL student who is trying to

learn the language and taking public classes that are in English. They will be able to

keep up with all of the other English-speaking students.

There are some weaknesses in this book though. They include

1. It is only accessible if they have a computer with them, which they do in

school, but some may not have one at home.

2. I experienced some hardship when trying to go to some pages. It would

either not load or I would have to refresh the browser. This could frustrate

students who are trying to stay engaged in the reading if this occurs.

3. There are not that many visuals. As I was skimming through the pages of the

book I found that there was a lot of white space and text. Pictures help visual

learners more than reading texts.

These are not daunting weaknesses of the text, but some flaws I believe could

be easily fixed. The problem with having an online textbook is that there is a

possibility that if the school does not provide computers to the students to take

home, and then they will not be able to access the textbook at home. If the students

do not have Wi-Fi, then they will also not be able to access the textbook. These are

just some small flaws with the online textbook.

Pedagogy

As a student I hated when the teacher used the textbook for everything. I was

taught to learn from my mistakes and other people’s mistakes. My idea of the role of
a textbook should be a guide as what to teach. It should assist the teacher in helping

students understand the content. Many of the texts can be dry and boring, so I think

by using before, during, and reading guides will help students become more

interested in the content. I also really like having students learn key terms through

the textbook because that is the basic meaning of the term. I believe having a

textbook is important, but it should not be the end all be all of teaching the content.

Bibliography

Alvermann, D. E., Phelps, S. F., & Gillis, V. R. (2010). C ontent area reading and

literacy: Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms (6th ed.). New York: Allyn &

Bacon.

Ansary, Tamin (2004). A Textbook Example of What’s Wrong with Education.

EduTopia. https://www.edutopia.org/textbook-publishing-controversy

Beers, G. K., & Probst, R. E. (2016). Reading nonfiction: notice & note stances,

signposts, and strategies. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Massing, G. I. (2008). Holt civics in practice: Principles of government and economics.

Orlando, FL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Miekley, Joshua. (2005). ESL Textbook Evaluation Checklist. The Reading Matrix. Vol.

5 no. 2.

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.534.2299&rep=rep1&ty

pe=pdf

Richards, Jack C. (2018). Evaluating a Textbook. Professor Jack C. Richards: The

Official Website of Educator & Arts Patron Jack C Richards.

https://www.professorjackrichards.com/evaluating-text-book/