Minnesota Teachers Write Their Own Textbook, Saving Money And Catering To Students (POLL)

With a $200,000 budget to purchase mass-produced textbooks that didn't quite fit their curricular needs, a group of three Minnesota math teachers got together over the summer to write their own textbooks.

Hours spent: 100 each. Cost: $25,000. Savings for the school district: $175,000. The new curriculum now lives on the web in the form of an easily updatable online textbook.

Budgetary reasons aside, the teachers at Blaine High School also said that the $65-per-book from companies include chapters that are never used because they're not covered in the state's math tests, according to the Associated Press.

The teachers hope that their new curriculum, catered to the needs of their students and the state's tests, will produce positive results on standardized exams at the end of the year.

At Byron High School in Minnesota, a clash of budget cuts and old textbooks that didn't meet the state's new student achievement standards led the principal and teachers to develop their own virtual textbooks. From The Journal:

Although improvements in test scores can never be attributed directly to any one thing, the results at Byron have been impressive. In 2007, only 29.9 percent of Byron's 11th graders met the state's math proficiency requirements. In 2010, that number soared to 65.6 percent.

Teachers who write their own textbooks can also ensure the quality of their material, or be accountable for what is taught. Earlier this year, history textbooks were removed from Virginia classrooms after dozens of errors were found in the texts. And following extensive review, the books were still laden with mistakes.

This customized textbook model is supported by organizations like the CK-12 Foundation in California, which was created in response to the California Free Digital Textbook Initiative. The open-content, web-based collaborative model supports what they call a "FlexBook," which they hope to help teachers write and design a textbook and curriculum that meets the needs of their students and state standards.

To carry those virtual learning tools, schools across the country -- from elementary to high schools -- have started bringing Kindles and iPads into their classrooms.

Eight elementary schools in Rapides, La. have introduced "techbooks" in lieu of textbooks in science classes, and Apple officials said in September that more than 600 school districts across the country are adopting programs that provide at least one classroom of students an iPad per student to use throughout the school day.

Quick Poll

Do you think students are better served with teacher-written textbooks?

Yes! It better fits the students, classrooms and curriculum.

No! Leave it to the textbook-writing professionals.

Unsure... it could go either way.

I don't care either way, as long as the students have books to learn from.

Share your vote on Facebook so your friends can take this poll

Comments

[MiaG]

01:44 AM on 11/29/2011

Affordable textbooks...Wow, I can't wait. It's time for teachers to take action and earn from writing textbooks. As a college students, I usually buy used or rent textbooks, my first stop- http://textbooks.org/ . Cheers to Minnesota Teachers!

[David Wiley]

11:38 AM on 11/14/2011

We've been doing this in Utah for sometime. We've got the cost of delivering printed versions of textbooks down to just over $5 per high school science textbook and have initial evidence that the amount of learning doesn't suffer when a $80 book is switched for a $5 one. More info at http://utahopentextbooks.org/

[Jelly Jam]

05:58 PM on 11/13/2011

I actually don't mind teachers writing their own tetxbooks as long as there is an extensive peer-review of the material and there are references from respectable sources. My only qualm is the following quote from the article:

"The teachers hope that their new curriculum, catered to the needs of their students and the state's tests, will produce positive results on standardized exams at the end of the year."

It's unfortunate that we're still teaching towards the test. What about teaching just for the sake of children learning to love learning/critical thinking/reasoning? What about teaching them about art, music, science history, math, and reading/writing so they can love those topics rather than feel like they're chores? I think we need to start shifting our educationg model from teacher-student-exam to pupil-guide-academic exploration.

[zSpin2001]

10:12 PM on 11/12/2011

The textbook industry is out of control, but if I don't use a nationally published textbook other colleges call into question the learning that our students do.

[TINKER6]

11:52 PM on 11/11/2011

Good attitudes! As some books before had a double catch phrase before you started the lesson. At least theTeachers have control over what they write, and incase a slip can explain theirselves. Sure checks can be made as far as material, but if it works leave it alone and give them a raise. GREAT JOB!

[Spike5]

01:30 PM on 11/10/2011

I'm a lot more comfortable with Minnesota teachers writing their own textbooks than those in Alabama and Mississippi and Texas. What's to keep them from excluding anything about biology or history that doesn't fit their literal-Bible perspective?

[tazmodious]

02:53 PM on 11/10/2011

It's not the teachers who are excluding biology and history. That is being done by elected officials, which include, school boards and politicians.

[Drew Palmer]

11:32 AM on 11/10/2011

Just another reason why Minnesota is on the cutting-edge of education!

[dtwrites]

10:59 AM on 11/10/2011

Think this is a good thing. But also think the teachers who write the books shouldn't use the books for courses they teach because it's so easy to defend what you write, even if it can be improved.

[Dede Eagleburger]

10:08 AM on 11/10/2011

As a history teacher in Virginia, I was so happy to read of this...now let us do the same thing here! Please!!!
The textbook companies and the testing companies have been getting rich off of us for too long...

[Joe Shmozler]

09:07 AM on 11/10/2011

See spot ran ran. Ran spot ran. Get ball spot.

[Joe Shmozler]

09:17 AM on 11/10/2011

This is much better than having free market competition. Tenure is wayyyy better than competition. Break time!

[f2900]

01:29 AM on 11/12/2011

Why are you such a hater? If they had bought the books you'd be complaining about the money spent. Go take a nap or something.

[MissusJones]

08:51 AM on 11/10/2011

Now those are great teachers. The textbook industry is such a scam, and so much money is wasted on textbooks that are many times poorly written. Kids have back problems from carrying backpacks full of heavy books home. Trees and paper are wasted to print books when electronic copies are more environmental. Collectively, schools and teachers could write all their own material and share it on the internet with each other saving money for everyone and improving education in our country across the board.

[carriedaway]

08:43 AM on 11/10/2011

Great job teachers! You are a credit to our profession, and I very much wish that many more people knew of your work.

[OMEGA MAN]

07:47 AM on 11/10/2011

The teachers involved should be given a Gold Star. I wish college teachers would do the same.

[drsolis]

11:38 AM on 11/10/2011

You read my mind. I was just thinking how we need to see some of this happening in higher education.

[zenju2]

02:20 AM on 11/10/2011

Some textbooks are absolute rubbish. I used to have to use this one awful series called "Paroles" for teaching French....the university students found it awkward, ill-organised, and bizarre. The idea of teachers writing textbooks is utterly brilliant and I hope this will start a trend. I think, too, that students should be invited to participate as well.

[JoyceBains]

11:20 AM on 11/13/2011

I remember something similar to that in the late 1990s for Spanish...our teacher spent a lot of time explaining to us to skip the "vosotros" parts when it was time to conjugate verbs.

[Allthosewhowander]

01:23 AM on 11/10/2011

What? Now that is just plain crazy. I can't believe teachers are being allowed to use logical and reasonable strategies to develop curriculum and learning needs. To think, giving teachers credit for knowing their students and what might be best for them to get quality instruction in the classroom. When will this madness end?!