Reading the Toronto Star today got me reflecting on how much I have learned from Garfield Gini Newman. Flash back to October 5, 2015, when I saw the headline of a New York Times article: Texas Mother Teaches Textbook Company a Lesson on Accuracy. I was shocked and appalled by the audacity of a textbook to show such flagrant disregard for the truth. It got me thinking. I was planning my second inquiry unit for Grade 8, and this unexpectedly converged with Garfield Gini Newman's consulting session. He and his wife, Laura, had been hired to help the teachers at our school develop their ability to foster critical thinking in the classroom. It was the perfect fusion of timing and topic.
I was developing the History unit for Canada: A Changing Society. The focus of the unit is on Canada at the turn of the century. Because I teach in an IB (International Baccalaureate) school, I had the opportunity to find a more global and conceptual angle on the unit. I was looking, as well, to teach a variety of skills using the curriculum as the vehicle. Garfield asked me why the students couldn’t create their own textbook. It was never something on my radar, and it really got me thinking. A few weeks later, It’s in the Book was born.
It’s in the Book became a project-based learning unit with the ultimate goal of creating a digital textbook geared to a Grade 8 audience. I was able to meet with Garfield a few more times during the initial planning and launching of the unit. This assignment was co-created with the students as a result of an inquiry into the problem with textbooks. I was challenged by and engaged in every detail.
To what degree can we rely on textbooks for accuracy? The lessons began with the students analysing two accounts of the same topic: The Yukon Gold Rush. The accounts were surprisingly different. Using the Critical Thinking Consortium’s handout on comparing accounts, the students concluded that two accounts of the same event can be different as a result of the primary sources used to gather the data and the perspective of the writer. That was an important first conclusion and a great start to the inquiry.
Next, we looked at a lot of sources in print that were very challenging. After viewing the textbook pages from Houston, we looked at an article about how Israel was erased from the map.Then, we discussed the idea of Creationism in textbooks.Through the investigation of these texts and a few others, the students concluded a few important things:
1) People believe what they see in print
2) Things in print aren’t always accurate
3) Textbooks are a problem if no one questions what they are reading/learning about
4) There is permanence to print
As a class, we agreed that a good way to address the problem was to ensure the content was credible. I led a few lessons on credibility from TC2 and added the Easybib.com presentation along with the infographic below that helps teach how to evaluate a news article. We tested it out with a few website and article samples, and the skills were clearly building.
Next, the students began investigating different accounts of Canada: A Changing Society. The students looked at images, layout, titles and other text features. After the explicit instruction and learning experiences, the Grade 8’s concluded that textbooks geared to their age group required:
Visual Aspects:
colour
font choice/size
organization/design/layout
clear titles and subtitles
images and captions
Content:
uses language that is easy to understand/user friendly/readable
credible
current/up-to-date
glossary for difficult words/bolded vocabulary
asks thought-provoking questions of reader to help review/think about material
balanced (multiple perspectives, unbiased)
digital (even if as a companion to a printed text)
After typing the students' criteria onto the outline, I presented their project to them. The groups had to create a digital textbook on their selected topic under the umbrella of Canada: A Changing Society with attention to all the expectations they co-constructed, geared for their age group. Further to the chapter of text, the students had to submit an annotated bibliography to show how they determined the use of the resources to inform their research along with a justification of all the design/layout choices. I added that part this year to provide more evidence of their learning of the skills taught. This was a rich task that I loved doing for the second time this year.
Life is a carnival, it's in the book. Life is a carnival, take another look.take another look. The Grade 8's digital textbooks celebrated their learning and collaboration, their ability to find credible and relevant sources that are well-corroborated and effectively justified. Some even chose to create websites instead of traditional textbook entries because they found them more user-friendly and easily updatable. When this unit was over, I sent Garfield the vlog of one of my students reflecting on the process and results of her learning as a way to thank him. He helped me change my thinking and look for new ways to teach transferable skills. This helped me use inquiry to go beyond the curriculum and really get the students thinking while engaging in deep learning. Though I was only able to work one-on-one with Garfield a few times, I learned a lot in every session and am a better teacher as a result. I never would have created this PBL unit without his empowerment and guidance. From the artists who brought us great music including my teaching provocation Acadian Driftwood, The Band: I am grateful to Garfield Gini Newman for helping me. "What a way to ride, oh what a way to go."
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