Teachers as Readers: Problems with Textbook-only Instruction

One of the first problems with textbook-only instruction that comes to mind is the inaccuracies.  A few years back, my husband read a book that he insisted I also read.  It was Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen.  The book was interesting, and I had never realized how much was misrepresented in some of today's textbooks for a variety of reasons.  There definitely is a value to having and using textbooks, but they do have limitations.  When using textbooks only, only one perspective is given.  I've used textbooks while in school that were the exact same textbooks my parents used growing up (their classmates names were written in the front cover of the book along with the year used); the material was, needless to say, quite outdated.  Another big problem is that many textbooks are boring.  They don't lend themselves to allowing students to learn about what interests them.

I think that as teachers, we need to utilize a variety of resources.  Textbooks can be one of those, but we need to branch out and use the numerous other resources we have available to us.  

References

Loewen, J. W., (1995). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: New Press.