Text Study
October 10, 2009
Novi High School in Novi, MI
In his tenth-grade civics class at Novi High School, Mr. Franchi utilizes the textbook Government Alive!—Power, Politics, and You. The title of this book alone poses certain questions in regards to the central focus of this textbook: What does it mean when government is described as being alive? Does it refer to the people and how they have the power to shape the decisions made by the government? Or does it take on a literal meaning in that our government has been constantly changing over time? According to the textbook’s publishers, “Government Alive! not only teaches how our government works, but it also inspires readers to participate in the political process as active citizens”. Thus, the textbook not only informs students about the technical aspects of the government, but also encourages them to become active citizens in a democratic society. Easier said than done right?
At Novi High School, civics is a required class, which makes it so most students refer to this brand new textbook when learning about our democratic government. In other words, this textbook is one of the only written sources of knowledge for students in Mr. Franchi's class to learn from. So does this textbook do its job in educating children about our government? This question, and more, will be explored further throughout this text study. Specifically by looking at a single chapter of the textbook—chapter 6—and its coverage of federalism, we have analyzed the many unique facets of this textbook. From its unique separation of key vocabulary terms to its emphasis on visual learning through pictures and graphs, this textbook provided us with useful information for our study. We have not only determined its strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness, but also how it compares to a supplementary text about federalism and public school reform entitled Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States. Since literacy is such an important aspect of the development of all learners in a social studies setting, we were very critical when addressing both of these texts.
When examining Government Alive!, it is clear that the textbook is designed to be a tool for student understanding. On the first page of the chapter, the title “Federalism: National, State, and Local Powers” is written in large, bolded print; instantly, students are able to understand the broad idea of federalism, even before they begin to read the chapter. The rest of the chapter is broken down into small, manageable sections. These sections are marked by bolded titles, like “The Benefits of a Federal System” or “The Constitutional Division of Powers”, which helps make the sections clear, organized, and understandable. And within each section, there are subheadings that outline the main concepts of the section. For example, within the section “The Benefits of a Federal System”, there are the following subheadings: “Federalism protects against tyranny of the majority”, “Federalism promotes unity without imposing uniformity”, and “Federalism encourages political participation”. These subheadings are bolded and italicized, drawing attention to the different categories and how they support the main idea of the section. Overall, the sections and subsections help organize the text; while it is clear that there is a lot of information to cover in one chapter, this organization helps the flow of ideas to be smooth and coherent.
Other structural elements of the text include guiding questions and a summary review. On the front page of the chapter, the text asks the question “How does power flow through our federal system of government?”. By including this question at the beginning of the text, students are pushed to think about the main idea and over-arching theme of the chapter while they read; at the same time, the question narrows the focus of the students, helping them understand why the chapter is important and what effect federalism has on the United States system of government. Similarly, at the end of the chapter, there is a summary review of the material. This summary breaks down the material and briefly discusses the main ideas of the chapter. Thus, the students are instantly aware of what was important in the text and what they need to take from the chapter.
While the tone of any textbook is formal and informative, Government Alive! does a good job of making the information easy to understand for the average tenth-grade student. For example, the text compares the flexibility of the federal system to a “laboratory for policy experiments” and cooperative federalism to a “marble cake of mixed powers”; these analogies help simplify the big ideas of the chapter, making them more comprehendible and, perhaps, more interesting to students. Furthermore, the text’s syntax and diction are relatively simple and easy to understand. The sentence structure remains short and straightforward throughout the entire chapter, which helps prevent students from getting distracted or discouraged.
Also, the diction throughout the chapter is simple and understandable for most tenth-grade students. There are very few potentially difficult words, and new vocabulary words are bolded and are followed by definitions. This textbook, however, does something very interesting and useful with the vocabulary words. On the front page of the chapter, there is a list of eight key political ideas, such as “expressed powers” and “interstate commerce”; within the text, these key terms are bolded, are slightly larger, and are colored in green, making them distinguishable and easy to spot. At the same time, other vocabulary words, like “grants-in-aid programs” and “quorum”, are present in the text and are simply bolded. By distinguishing between key political terms and normal vocabulary words, students are able to understand the main ideas while still learning important government terminology. All of the terms—both the political ideas and the vocabulary words—are followed by short definitions. These definitions are also in the back of the book in the glossary for easy access.
Besides the clear section headings and the comprehensive use of vocabulary words, the textbook does a good job of incorporating pictures, graphs, and maps; throughout the chapter, there is some form of visual on almost every page. The use of pictures, for example, is a good way to make the information more applicable and relatable to students. The pictures depict real people doing real government work: they show town meetings, court cases, law enforcement officials, and politicians. This helps students see the government in action and how it affects their everyday lives. On the other hand, charts and graphs are useful to organize data, which makes the information more understandable and clear. The charts and graphs allow the data to have a bigger impact and resonate with the students. The chart on page 105, for example, shows the breakdown of the number of governments in the United States on the national, state, county, and city levels; shown in the form of a pyramid, the chart visibly conveys the magnitude of the number of city governments compared to the single federal government. The use of a chart makes the data more understandable than if the data was simply stated within the text. Thirdly, the use of maps allows students to see similarities, differences, and patterns across the country. The map on page 119, for example, shows the percentage of people in each state without health insurance; thus, by looking at the map, students are able to see trends and make connections between the states.
For the more visual learners, the textbook’s use of pictures, charts, and maps would be very useful. If a student has difficulty understanding the text, he may be able to get the main ideas and concepts more easily from the visuals. Often, the information that the visuals convey are described directly in the text, allowing students to process the information in a variety of different ways. On the other hand, some of the visuals provide extra, relevant information, such as the Rise of Women in State Legislatures picture and chart on page 110. This topic is not discussed anywhere in the text, but provides students with another topic that may spark their interests. Furthermore, above anything else, the use of visuals is important because it breaks up the text and gives the textbook color; this helps make the textbook more interesting and exciting to students and encourages them to read the textbook carefully and effectively. However, it is important to keep in mind that for some students, the visuals may be distracting. With such an emphasis on visuals, the value of text may diminish; it is likely that some students will focus most of their attention on the pictures and maps rather than the information in the chapter.
Another strength of the textbook is its incorporation of primary sources. While most textbooks are secondary sources written from the perspective of a team of historians, Government Alive! includes many quotes and articles; this provides the textbook with new perspectives and makes the text more applicable. In every section, there are numerous quotes from government leaders, Supreme Court supreme justices, and political scientists. While these quotes tend to be more challenging to read because of their language, diction, and content, they provide an alternative to the textbook’s narrative. However, the quotes chosen for the textbook are appropriate for tenth-grade students. The textbook chapter also includes a primary source of a political cartoon from 1812, which depicts the idea of gerrymandering. While this political cartoon may be challenging for some students to understand because of its vague representations, it prompts the students to see current political concepts from a historical interpretation. This makes the political concepts more applicable and understandable because of their relevance in historical event. Also, at the end of the chapter, there is a primary source article from the book Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity. This article brings in the issue of health insurance, pushing the students to make the connection between current issues of healthcare reform and federalism. All of these forms of primary sources give students another perspective, which prompts students to think critically and make connections.
According to Peter Afflerbach and Bruce VanSledright’s article Hath! Doth! What? Middle graders reading innovative history text, the incorporation of primary sources in a history textbook helps students “develop critical reading skills” and “understand how accounts of history are constructed”; furthermore, Afflerbach and Van Sledright argue that students then “may begin to develop an awareness that authors privilege certain evidence to craft a particular versions of history” (Afflerbach 697). Thus, the incorporation of primary sources in a textbook pushes students to think critically and understand key historical terms like bias, perspective, and intended audience; these skills can help students better understand history and its importance in today’s society.
Furthermore, the textbook does a good job of including a lot of information and tying key terms to important historical events. For example, the concept of redistricting is supported by the Baker v. Carr Supreme Court Case from 1961, while the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan support the idea of devolution. By including a historical event as examples, the textbook helps students make connections and understand the impact of history on the United States government.
However, at the same time, the inclusion of so many examples causes the text to be packed with information. With so much material to cover already, many of the historical events are simply glossed over without much introduction, causing the text at times to be confusing and overwhelming. For example, within the section “Regulated Federalism: More Money with More Strings Attached”, the text uses the example of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society; Johnson’s domestic programs are condensed into a single paragraph, causing students to miss the importance of the Great Society and its huge impact on federal government powers. According to Afflerbach and VanSledright, the incorporation of so many broad examples leads to the “expense of detail”; then, the brief descriptions of such large historical concepts can become more confusing than beneficial to a student’s understanding (Afflerbach 705).
Although the text offers variety in an attempt to engage each student’s attention, many tenth-grade students will be easily distracted as they try to muddle their way through the many paragraphs and sections on federalism. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the average attention span of high school students is not very long, leading to boredom for many students. According to Afflerbach and Vansledright, “[teachers] need better understanding of the challenges students face when they read innovative texts, and of the strategies and stances they bring to bear to meet these challenges, if we are to foster the conditions necessary to support the development of critical reading in the history classroom” (Afflerbach 2). Textbooks are the most common text used in American history courses and so often, are the one thing that discourage students and turn them away from the subject. The vast majority of history textbooks, including Government Alive!, are so over-packed with information and so heavily laden with ideas and terms that many students are discouraged from learning history. Even if the textbook is able to engage a student’s attention, many students are often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information they need to remember from them.
In this textbook, there are facts, terms, and general knowledge that the author assumes the reader is aware of. For example, because the text jumps right into information about federalism, it is clear the author assumes that readers have a firm understanding of American history and that they are familiar with larger concepts such as the three branches of government and their different powers and roles. While it is important to take into account that the preceding chapters address some of these concepts, many teachers like Mr. Franchi admit to doing the chapters out of order. At the very least, the text assumes that students remember all of these concepts, documents, and key terms. Thus, students may not have a complete understanding of the material, making the chapter confusing and overwhelming. Providing students with supplementary material to accompany the textbook may help at least in part to solve the problem of assumed prior knowledge. In his article A Deafening Silence: History Textbooks and the Students Who Read Them, Richard Paxton argues that because "[h]istory textbooks are frequently used to introduce new topics, additional instruction sometimes follows including supplementary written materials"; according to Paxton, it is important for teachers to help their students learn new topics by adding a supplementary text as background material (Paxton 317). This will promote a deeper comprehension in the students, as they will be receiving the new information from a variety of different sources and perspectives.
Paxton also argues that the reading habits of adolescents give insight to why students often have difficulty focusing on a textbook. According to Paxton, adolescent readers often describe text books as "difficult to understand", "erroneous", and having "overly broad coverage" of topics (Paxton 324). These common issues with textbooks contribute to why so many students are turned away from the subject of history. While a student may have an interest in the historical content, he may be easily discouraged if the textbook is confusing or challenging to comprehend. Furthermore, Paxton argues that "students rarely question the trustworthiness of their textbooks, nor do they question authors' intent or search for possible bias. When reading history textbooks, students tend to act as acquiescent assimilators of information, merely scanning the page in search of facts and explanations" (Paxton 321). This causes students to miss out on learning important skills for analyzing historical documents; interpreting bias, point of view, and intended audience are all important skills for a student to be successful in history, and are so often overlooked when the textbook is presented as the sole text.
Furthermore, the language of this chapter can be seen as bulky and difficult to sift through for struggling readers. For instance, there is a paragraph which opens with: "The rapid extension of federal power in the 1960’s alarmed people who valued state and local control. While running for president in 1968, Richard Nixon promised voters that he would restore ‘true’ federalism by reigning in federal power” (textbook 107). These two sentences contain some rather abstract concepts that may not pose a problem to the average reader; however to a struggling reader or an English Language Learner (ELL) student, the chapter’s language may be very difficult to comprehend. Then, it is the responsibility of the teacher to help these students break down the text and understand the material.
When addressing issues of understanding terms and concepts within a text, it is good practice for teachers to use various forms of scaffolding. Scaffolding functions as a way for students to capture an idea or concept with activities, discussion, and readings outside of the textbook. Although it is especially useful when teaching ELL students and struggling readers, scaffolding is still an important tool for average readers as well. As the Pearson text points out, "many students in today’s diverse classrooms have trouble handling the conceptual demands inherent in text material when left to their own devices to learn. A gap often exists between the ideas and relationships they are studying and their prior knowledge…[I]nstructional scaffolding allows teachers to support students’ efforts to make sense of texts while showing them how to use strategies that will, over time, lead to independent learning" (Pearson 40). While using the Government Alive! textbook, scaffolding would considerably enhance students understanding of the concepts and terms presented. The material in this chapter requires active discussion between the students and the teacher and between the students themselves. Discussion allows students to better process the information; furthermore, giving student’s questions that stimulate discussion and encourage analysis of the text will help build understanding. Group work would also be a great way for the material to be scaffolded for students; for example, one possible scaffolding activity would be to have the students participate in an in-class debate about a certain topic in American history. This would encourage participation and help students form their own opinions based on factual knowledge. Ultimately, these forms of scaffolding activities provide alternative ways for students to learn, sparking their development as independent learners.
For struggling readers and ELL students, the material would need to be discussed with the teacher. It would also be helpful to do some sort of concept development with struggling readers. For instance, in preparing for a chapter on federalism, it would be helpful for struggling readers to do a review on the key concepts of government and the Constitution. Struggling readers may also benefit from group work; however, in these kinds of activities, many struggling readers may find it difficult to participate and interact with their peers because of their challenges with the material.
Yet another weakness of the textbook is its lack of connection with cultures of various ethnicities, races, and genders. Throughout the entire chapter, minorities are rarely mentioned: at one point, the text briefly mentions minorities in regard to the fact that federalism protects their rights, and later in the chapter, there is a picture and graph illustrating the rise in female participation in state legislature. Furthermore, while the chapter is filled with visuals, not a single picture includes any minorities; the pictures included in this chapter are solely pictures of white Americans, symbolically excluding minorities from the issues of federalism. This poses a problem of “relatability” with students: if students don’t see themselves as part of what the text is addressing, then it is hard for them to relate to. For example, if this textbook was used in a Detroit Public School where the vast majority of students are African American or Hispanic, it is likely that many students would be turned off by the fact that the chapter seems to be solely directed at white people. At the same time, however, it is important to keep in mind that the chapter on federalism may be unique, as the topic does not leave much room to discuss multiculturalism; glancing through the rest of the textbook, it was clear that different cultures, ethnicities, races, and genders are discussed and shown through a variety of different visuals. However, it is important for these topics be spread out evenly over the entirety of the textbook, to keep students feeling engaged, interested, and connected to the text.
In his class, Mr. Franchi utilized the material covered in the textbook by giving students an assignment on the reading. The purpose of the assignment was to guide the students’ reading and help them analyze the text in different ways. The assignment can be divided into three distinct parts, based on the different types of questions. These three parts are similar to the Three Levels of Comprehension discussed in the Pearson textbook; according to Pearson, the Three Levels of Comprehension include the literal level, the interpretive level, and the applied level (Pearson 27).
In Mr. Franchi’s assignment, the first part asks basic content questions, where students are asked to identify the main message of the section, give definitions for vocabulary terms, and summarize key ideas. This first part is similar to Pearson’s literal level, as the questions refer to material that is straight from the text. The second part of the assignment asks questions that require students’ interpretation; in this part, students are asked questions about their own opinions and ideas about government’s role in society. These questions are similar to Pearson’s interpretive level because they prompt students to “conceptualize implied ideas by integrating information into what they already know”; these questions push students to reflect on the material and understand the implications of federalism in their own lives (Pearson 27). And finally, the third part of the assignment requires students to think about the broader concept of federalism, and how their opinions towards the role of government have changed after reading the textbook; this third part coincides with Pearson’s applied level because it gets students to think critically and form their own opinions.
Mr. Franchi gave students class time to work on this assignment. Over the course of two days, student had a total of 80 minutes to read the chapter in the textbook and to complete the assignment; any work that was not completed in class was to be homework, due the following week. After a very brief introduction to the assignment and the context of the chapter, Mr. Franchi turned the students loose and allowed them to work independently for the remainder of the class period. Though he was willing to answer student’s questions about the assignment, Mr. Franchi did little to support the students as they read the textbook chapter and completed their work.
By observing the students during the time they spent working on the assignment, we can assume that there were no major difficulties with the reading. From our perspective, there were no outward, visible signs of frustration or confusion. During their time in class to work, several students went to Mr. Franchi to ask questions, but the majority of these questions referred to logistical concerns, such as when the assignment was due. A few times, we overheard students asking their classmates questions about specific content from the chapter; these questions were about vocabulary words or specific answers on the assignment. Overall, we can assume that the chapter did not pose any major challenges to the students, and any questions they did have were addressed by Mr. Franchi or their classmates.
However, even though Mr. Franchi gave students plenty of time to work on the assignment, the majority of students did not use their time wisely and were not able to finish their work in class. Instead of doing the assignment, most students used the time to chat with their friends. In fact, at one point in our observations, as few as six students out of the 29 total were actually working on the assignment. We observed one student start singing a song from the movie Mulan, another student get up from his seat repeatedly to talk to Mr. Franchi about baseball, and a group of students in the back corner build a tower out of empty water bottles. It can be argued that the students’ distraction was caused by sheer boredom. Mr. Franchi did little to help the students interact with the text, and when faced with the potentially daunting task of reading 20 textbook pages on federalism, it was clear that the majority of students were simply uninterested. Given the extensive amount of time and their complete independence, most students chose to ignore the reading and the assignment and focus on things much more interesting to them.
Instructionally, the text needed to be taken apart and organized in such a way that the students can process the information being presented to them. One practice that is very helpful for this is the use of graphic organizers; even in the textbook, there are several of these models. For example, on page 103 of the textbook, there is a Venn diagram that breaks down the federal system into expressed powers and reserved powers, with the middle section for concurrent powers. Diagrams such as these are very useful for organizing the facts up for students, as they break down the text into cohesive groupings; however it can also be useful for the students to fill in graphic organizers for themselves. For example, one exercise could be to have the students get into groups and fill in a graphic organizer which breaks down federal, state, and local powers. This would allow the students to get a better grasp of the information while also promoting group learning. Also, many students retain information better by writing things out, which this kind of activity incorporates.
The Pearson text argues that students need "to be in control of reading" (Pearson 45). Teachers need to be aware of how students are monitoring their own studies. When students are struggling, the teacher needs to be able teach skills that will help students to be responsible for their own reading. While establishing this awareness, it is important for teachers to assess the students’ reading habits at the beginning of a course. After assessment, it could be useful to create different reading strategies for the students so they can learn how to improve their reading skills. Then, modeling is key for any type of learner; once a strategy has been developed, it is important for a teacher to model it for the students. Also, providing times where the students can practice the strategies and become more familiar with them is important to reinforce strategies. By doing this, teachers are able to help the student develop better reading skills and become more literate in the subject area. Along with the modeling and implementation of general literacy practices, it is important for teachers to be constantly monitoring and regulating how well the literary practices are working, to improve student's comprehension of the material. For example, when Mr. Franchi assigned the Chapter 6 reading, many students quickly became distracted and disengaged. It would have been important for Mr. Franchi to assess why students were responding to the text in this way: was it because the topic was not interesting to students, or was it perhaps because the text was too dense and the students’ reading and comprehension skills were not developed enough to tackle such an assignment? These questions could have been answered had Mr. Franchi taken the time to analyze his students’ work and assess their reading and comprehension of the material.
In addition to helping students establish better literary skills, providing supplemental text is a useful way of aiding students’ understanding of the material. With a text such as Government Alive!, a short article from a news source (magazine, website, newspaper, etc.) would have been a good supplement for the textbook. A supplementary article would have provided students with more information on a topic such as federalism, by incorporating a source that students may interact with more easily: the media. In selecting a supplemental text, however, it would be important to consider the credibility of the source, as well as the level of bias in the article. It would also be good to consider how applicable it is to the topic, and what sort of differing perspective it would offer the students.
Since the students were not interacting well with Chapter 6, we chose an article that we would use to supplement the text if we taught the lesson. We believe this article would help the students have a better grasp on the material and would engage their interest more than the textbook alone. The article Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States is about the discontinuity in test standards across states. Although NCLB is a national policy, states have the power to create their own tests to measure progress in their schools. This freedom has lead to some states lowering their standards so they can more easily reach Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and reap the benefits of these higher test scores. In her article, author Kelly Wallace analyzes how both Georgia and South Carolina have low reading proficiency rates on national tests, even though Georgia’s state test results are astronomically different. Georgia’s state tests report reading proficiency as 87%, while reading proficiency in South Carolina is 36% according to its state test. Some speculate that Georgia lowered its standards on the state tests to increase test scores. Herein lies an age-old topic of debate about U.S. federalism: how much power should states have, particularly over education? This problem is a key concept that could be taught in a lesson using both Chapter 6 and the article. These two texts could also be used to teach a variety of different concepts, such as the difference between the federal government’s enumerated powers and the state governments’ reserved powers, and the strengths and drawbacks of federalism (“High School Content Expectations: Social Studies” -HSCE).
The structure of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is fairly typical of a news article. It begins by defining the issue of contention, and then moves to a case-study with interviews from people who are involved. These interviews present both sides of the issue, which helps students be exposed to a variety of ideas and viewpoints. Both the textbook and article do a good job of showing the multiple viewpoints of issues regarding federalism. The structure of this article is also good because of the use of pictures and video. These visuals break up the text, making it so the article is less dense and easier for students to understand; also, pictures and videos allow students to have a mental picture of the ideas addressed, leading to better understanding. Furthermore, the organization and flow of the text is very good; though the paragraph format may not be conducive to adolescent readers, the ideas in the article flow very smoothly. For example, whenever the article presents an argument, it is followed by an opposing counterargument; this helps students recognize the opposing viewpoints. Also, the ending of the article is effective because it is a cliff hanger. The article ends by stating that “congress is working on this issue but we have yet to see what the results will be. Stay tuned” (Wallace 2). This kind of cliff hanger ending helps keep students engaged and interested in the text, while prompting them to form their own opinions. And ending the article in such a way may push some students to research the topic more in depth, as the article may spark curiosity about NCLB and its effects in education.
The tone of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is relatively informal. For example, the author often uses colloquial expressions like “[o]ff we went to Georgia…” (Wallace 1). This is an advantage to an adolescent reader; as NCLB is a complicated issue, writing about it in an uncomplicated way makes it easier for a tenth grader to understand. Also, many of the paragraphs start with a question, which pushes students to think critically; the article asks questions like, “why would they do this?”, making the tone feel very logical and straightforward (Wallace 1). The tone of the article is also positive, and ends on an optimistic note by referencing the main goal of NCLB: helping kids get the best education.
The key words and terms in the article are specific to current events, which may not be explained in depth in the textbook. Some difficult terms include “standards,” “proficiency”, “AYP”, and “achievement gap”. If the teacher does not make sure this vocabulary is clarified before the students read, students may be “distracted from constructing meaning and appreciating the primary text source material because…unfamiliar vocabulary present[s] an obstacle to understanding” (Afflerbach 699). In this case, scaffolding would be a good technique for the teacher to use; for example the teacher could have a class discussion (or think-aloud), using the terms as the topic of conversation. The teacher could ask the students what they think each of the terms mean and guide them to the right answers by pulling information out of them. Then the teacher could have them explain the terms in their own words. This kind of scaffolding activity would prompt students to read critically and pull out important information from the text.
It is important for students to understand words like “proficiency” and “achievement gap” not just because they need to know them to comprehend the article, but because they are relevant to current events in the United States. It is important for students to be knowledgeable about current events, because to “participate effectively, American citizens need…knowledge about their government and society” (HSCE 48). Also, having students learn about terms like “AYP” and “standards”, helps them build on the literacy skills they already have. High school teachers must always remember that “students need a strong foundation in literacy, but that is not enough…[They] need a lot of help to raise the roof on learning, even after they learn the foundational skills of reading” (Alliance for Excellent Education Policy Brief 2). The teaching of literacy skills is on ongoing process that all teachers must incorporate into their classrooms.
There are several strengths to this news article. First, the article is from CBSnews.com, a very credible site; also, because the text is online and not from a newspaper, it is more easily accessible to the students. This article could easily be used as a supporting document in a class activity, as its use of the real life scenarios of South Carolina and Georgia make it easier for the students to make personal connections than with Chapter 6 from the textbook. Thus, the article would help students make connections between the content they are learning and how it applies to their own lives. A final positive aspect of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is that its content conveys the discord that can exist within a federalist system, a concept that is an important part of the Civics Content Expectations for Michigan high school students. The teacher can use the article’s debate about Georgia’s state test to teach about a variety of different content, such as the structure, functions, and enumerated powers of national government, the powers and limits on powers, and the structure and functions of state and local governments (CE 3.1-3.3, HSCE).
This article has some embedded texts, which helps students learn to analyze and read critically (Afflerbach 697). The embedded texts in this article are quotes from superintendents who have opposing viewpoints on the issue. Any article that a teacher has her students read should have more than one perspective, as opposing viewpoints help students broaden their own perspectives and think critically. Students often do not use a sourcing heuristic and for the most part, do not consider the source of the document and the biases the person may have (Paxton 320-21). It is the responsibility of the teacher to teach her students how to read critically and effectively so that they can use what they read to develop their own opinions. Additionally, knowing how to judge and interpret different viewpoints is a critical strategic reading ability for students to develop because it helps them determine the meaning they construct from the text (Afflerbach 702).
This article also has some weaknesses. The incorporation of more pictures, charts and graphs may make the text less dense and would help illustrate the more complicated ideas such as “national test” and “state test”; conceptualizing ideas through pictures is key in helping visual learners comprehend ideas better. Thus, when one text falls short in this area, it is important for a teacher to supplement it with another, more visually-charged text. Chapter 6 is rich with images, and in this way, it is a good complement to the article; for example, chapter six’s marble-cake and layered-cake federalism pictures help explain the difference between two competing views of how state and national government should interact. Another weakness of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is that both of the states discussed in the article are from the South. Students are often prone to over-generalize and thus, they may infer that the test scores are inaccurate because of the poverty and racism that are often stereotypically associated with the South. A teacher using this text would need to be sure the students understand that these stereotypes are not the causes of the inaccuracies, and that the inaccuracies are actually due in part to the lack of a national test for measuring progress under NCLB.
The text may pose some challenges for readers. The article does not provide much background information on certain aspects of NCLB, nor does it explain the many technical terms in it such as “achievement gap” and “proficiency.” The textbook may be a good source for students to learn such vocabulary. The author assumes that the reader has a moderate amount of knowledge about NCLB and federalism, and student readers might not have that knowledge before they read. If the teacher does not go over these concepts with the students before they read, they may get confused and overwhelmed; often, students may get frustrated and give up on it. Therefore, before assigning the article, the teacher should make sure that her students understand the technical terms well enough so that they can comprehend the bigger ideas in the text. The teacher might want to have them do a pre-reading exercise like KWL. The KWL worksheet should have a word-bank with major concepts and terms from the article (i.e. “standards,” “AYP,” “NCLB”) so that the students can identify which of these things they know, what things they want to know, and what things they learned as they read. This is a form of scaffolding that would be an especially important strategy to use with struggling readers.
Another possible scaffolding technique could be to break the text into different sections so that each part is more manageable and easier to comprehend. These parts could include: “what is happening now with NCLB?”, “what is the argument of the article?”, and “what are the potential solutions?”. This would help the teacher pull information out of her students, while pushing the students to think critically and analyze the article. In addition, it is important to keep in mind that ELL students may not be familiar with the colloquial expressions like “equal playing field” and “common measuring stick” (Wallace, 1). Providing a glossary of key terms and phrases would help these students make sense of certain parts of the article and would explain the main idea of the article before they read.
Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States would be a very good article to use in Unit 1 of Mr. Franchi’s civics class as a supplement to the textbook. It complements Chapter 6 very well and gives students a more relatable way to delve into the concept of federalism. The textbook is an important resource because it gives practical, factual information about our nation’s government; it sets the stage while supplementary texts like the news article bring life and meaning to what the students are learning. The article helps students make connections between the broad concepts of Chapter 6 and the world they live in.
All in all, both the textbook and the supplementary article provided us with insight on to what the “ideal” text should look like. With the textbook being our main source, we closely analyzed its role in the classroom and how receptive students were to its usage and implementation. Through the assignment, Mr. Franchi did a wonderful job of outlining the important aspects of the textbook; however, it still appeared as if students were far from engaged in the material. Although informational and straightforward, the textbook failed to make the material interesting for tenth-grade students; its disregard for cultural, racial, and gender issues only added to this lack of interest amongst the readers. The article entitled Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States is an interesting article that truly reinforces the material learned in the textbook. We refer to this article as supplementary, not because of its inferiority, but rather because of its need for explanation from certain material presented in the textbook. Regardless of the specific differences between the two sources of text, both helped us learn what should and should not be presented in a high school civics text. There were certainly aspects of the textbook that trumped the article, as were there aspects of the article that trumped the textbook. Even though both had its fair share of strengths and weaknesses alike, these sources of text were a beneficial resource in our completion of a text study.
> Reflection of Lesson
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Novi High School in Novi, MI
In his tenth-grade civics class at Novi High School, Mr. Franchi utilizes the textbook Government Alive!—Power, Politics, and You. The title of this book alone poses certain questions in regards to the central focus of this textbook: What does it mean when government is described as being alive? Does it refer to the people and how they have the power to shape the decisions made by the government? Or does it take on a literal meaning in that our government has been constantly changing over time? According to the textbook’s publishers, “Government Alive! not only teaches how our government works, but it also inspires readers to participate in the political process as active citizens”. Thus, the textbook not only informs students about the technical aspects of the government, but also encourages them to become active citizens in a democratic society. Easier said than done right?
At Novi High School, civics is a required class, which makes it so most students refer to this brand new textbook when learning about our democratic government. In other words, this textbook is one of the only written sources of knowledge for students in Mr. Franchi's class to learn from. So does this textbook do its job in educating children about our government? This question, and more, will be explored further throughout this text study. Specifically by looking at a single chapter of the textbook—chapter 6—and its coverage of federalism, we have analyzed the many unique facets of this textbook. From its unique separation of key vocabulary terms to its emphasis on visual learning through pictures and graphs, this textbook provided us with useful information for our study. We have not only determined its strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness, but also how it compares to a supplementary text about federalism and public school reform entitled Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States. Since literacy is such an important aspect of the development of all learners in a social studies setting, we were very critical when addressing both of these texts.
When examining Government Alive!, it is clear that the textbook is designed to be a tool for student understanding. On the first page of the chapter, the title “Federalism: National, State, and Local Powers” is written in large, bolded print; instantly, students are able to understand the broad idea of federalism, even before they begin to read the chapter. The rest of the chapter is broken down into small, manageable sections. These sections are marked by bolded titles, like “The Benefits of a Federal System” or “The Constitutional Division of Powers”, which helps make the sections clear, organized, and understandable. And within each section, there are subheadings that outline the main concepts of the section. For example, within the section “The Benefits of a Federal System”, there are the following subheadings: “Federalism protects against tyranny of the majority”, “Federalism promotes unity without imposing uniformity”, and “Federalism encourages political participation”. These subheadings are bolded and italicized, drawing attention to the different categories and how they support the main idea of the section. Overall, the sections and subsections help organize the text; while it is clear that there is a lot of information to cover in one chapter, this organization helps the flow of ideas to be smooth and coherent.
Other structural elements of the text include guiding questions and a summary review. On the front page of the chapter, the text asks the question “How does power flow through our federal system of government?”. By including this question at the beginning of the text, students are pushed to think about the main idea and over-arching theme of the chapter while they read; at the same time, the question narrows the focus of the students, helping them understand why the chapter is important and what effect federalism has on the United States system of government. Similarly, at the end of the chapter, there is a summary review of the material. This summary breaks down the material and briefly discusses the main ideas of the chapter. Thus, the students are instantly aware of what was important in the text and what they need to take from the chapter.
While the tone of any textbook is formal and informative, Government Alive! does a good job of making the information easy to understand for the average tenth-grade student. For example, the text compares the flexibility of the federal system to a “laboratory for policy experiments” and cooperative federalism to a “marble cake of mixed powers”; these analogies help simplify the big ideas of the chapter, making them more comprehendible and, perhaps, more interesting to students. Furthermore, the text’s syntax and diction are relatively simple and easy to understand. The sentence structure remains short and straightforward throughout the entire chapter, which helps prevent students from getting distracted or discouraged.
Also, the diction throughout the chapter is simple and understandable for most tenth-grade students. There are very few potentially difficult words, and new vocabulary words are bolded and are followed by definitions. This textbook, however, does something very interesting and useful with the vocabulary words. On the front page of the chapter, there is a list of eight key political ideas, such as “expressed powers” and “interstate commerce”; within the text, these key terms are bolded, are slightly larger, and are colored in green, making them distinguishable and easy to spot. At the same time, other vocabulary words, like “grants-in-aid programs” and “quorum”, are present in the text and are simply bolded. By distinguishing between key political terms and normal vocabulary words, students are able to understand the main ideas while still learning important government terminology. All of the terms—both the political ideas and the vocabulary words—are followed by short definitions. These definitions are also in the back of the book in the glossary for easy access.
Besides the clear section headings and the comprehensive use of vocabulary words, the textbook does a good job of incorporating pictures, graphs, and maps; throughout the chapter, there is some form of visual on almost every page. The use of pictures, for example, is a good way to make the information more applicable and relatable to students. The pictures depict real people doing real government work: they show town meetings, court cases, law enforcement officials, and politicians. This helps students see the government in action and how it affects their everyday lives. On the other hand, charts and graphs are useful to organize data, which makes the information more understandable and clear. The charts and graphs allow the data to have a bigger impact and resonate with the students. The chart on page 105, for example, shows the breakdown of the number of governments in the United States on the national, state, county, and city levels; shown in the form of a pyramid, the chart visibly conveys the magnitude of the number of city governments compared to the single federal government. The use of a chart makes the data more understandable than if the data was simply stated within the text. Thirdly, the use of maps allows students to see similarities, differences, and patterns across the country. The map on page 119, for example, shows the percentage of people in each state without health insurance; thus, by looking at the map, students are able to see trends and make connections between the states.
For the more visual learners, the textbook’s use of pictures, charts, and maps would be very useful. If a student has difficulty understanding the text, he may be able to get the main ideas and concepts more easily from the visuals. Often, the information that the visuals convey are described directly in the text, allowing students to process the information in a variety of different ways. On the other hand, some of the visuals provide extra, relevant information, such as the Rise of Women in State Legislatures picture and chart on page 110. This topic is not discussed anywhere in the text, but provides students with another topic that may spark their interests. Furthermore, above anything else, the use of visuals is important because it breaks up the text and gives the textbook color; this helps make the textbook more interesting and exciting to students and encourages them to read the textbook carefully and effectively. However, it is important to keep in mind that for some students, the visuals may be distracting. With such an emphasis on visuals, the value of text may diminish; it is likely that some students will focus most of their attention on the pictures and maps rather than the information in the chapter.
Another strength of the textbook is its incorporation of primary sources. While most textbooks are secondary sources written from the perspective of a team of historians, Government Alive! includes many quotes and articles; this provides the textbook with new perspectives and makes the text more applicable. In every section, there are numerous quotes from government leaders, Supreme Court supreme justices, and political scientists. While these quotes tend to be more challenging to read because of their language, diction, and content, they provide an alternative to the textbook’s narrative. However, the quotes chosen for the textbook are appropriate for tenth-grade students. The textbook chapter also includes a primary source of a political cartoon from 1812, which depicts the idea of gerrymandering. While this political cartoon may be challenging for some students to understand because of its vague representations, it prompts the students to see current political concepts from a historical interpretation. This makes the political concepts more applicable and understandable because of their relevance in historical event. Also, at the end of the chapter, there is a primary source article from the book Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity. This article brings in the issue of health insurance, pushing the students to make the connection between current issues of healthcare reform and federalism. All of these forms of primary sources give students another perspective, which prompts students to think critically and make connections.
According to Peter Afflerbach and Bruce VanSledright’s article Hath! Doth! What? Middle graders reading innovative history text, the incorporation of primary sources in a history textbook helps students “develop critical reading skills” and “understand how accounts of history are constructed”; furthermore, Afflerbach and Van Sledright argue that students then “may begin to develop an awareness that authors privilege certain evidence to craft a particular versions of history” (Afflerbach 697). Thus, the incorporation of primary sources in a textbook pushes students to think critically and understand key historical terms like bias, perspective, and intended audience; these skills can help students better understand history and its importance in today’s society.
Furthermore, the textbook does a good job of including a lot of information and tying key terms to important historical events. For example, the concept of redistricting is supported by the Baker v. Carr Supreme Court Case from 1961, while the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan support the idea of devolution. By including a historical event as examples, the textbook helps students make connections and understand the impact of history on the United States government.
However, at the same time, the inclusion of so many examples causes the text to be packed with information. With so much material to cover already, many of the historical events are simply glossed over without much introduction, causing the text at times to be confusing and overwhelming. For example, within the section “Regulated Federalism: More Money with More Strings Attached”, the text uses the example of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society; Johnson’s domestic programs are condensed into a single paragraph, causing students to miss the importance of the Great Society and its huge impact on federal government powers. According to Afflerbach and VanSledright, the incorporation of so many broad examples leads to the “expense of detail”; then, the brief descriptions of such large historical concepts can become more confusing than beneficial to a student’s understanding (Afflerbach 705).
Although the text offers variety in an attempt to engage each student’s attention, many tenth-grade students will be easily distracted as they try to muddle their way through the many paragraphs and sections on federalism. Furthermore, it can be assumed that the average attention span of high school students is not very long, leading to boredom for many students. According to Afflerbach and Vansledright, “[teachers] need better understanding of the challenges students face when they read innovative texts, and of the strategies and stances they bring to bear to meet these challenges, if we are to foster the conditions necessary to support the development of critical reading in the history classroom” (Afflerbach 2). Textbooks are the most common text used in American history courses and so often, are the one thing that discourage students and turn them away from the subject. The vast majority of history textbooks, including Government Alive!, are so over-packed with information and so heavily laden with ideas and terms that many students are discouraged from learning history. Even if the textbook is able to engage a student’s attention, many students are often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information they need to remember from them.
In this textbook, there are facts, terms, and general knowledge that the author assumes the reader is aware of. For example, because the text jumps right into information about federalism, it is clear the author assumes that readers have a firm understanding of American history and that they are familiar with larger concepts such as the three branches of government and their different powers and roles. While it is important to take into account that the preceding chapters address some of these concepts, many teachers like Mr. Franchi admit to doing the chapters out of order. At the very least, the text assumes that students remember all of these concepts, documents, and key terms. Thus, students may not have a complete understanding of the material, making the chapter confusing and overwhelming. Providing students with supplementary material to accompany the textbook may help at least in part to solve the problem of assumed prior knowledge. In his article A Deafening Silence: History Textbooks and the Students Who Read Them, Richard Paxton argues that because "[h]istory textbooks are frequently used to introduce new topics, additional instruction sometimes follows including supplementary written materials"; according to Paxton, it is important for teachers to help their students learn new topics by adding a supplementary text as background material (Paxton 317). This will promote a deeper comprehension in the students, as they will be receiving the new information from a variety of different sources and perspectives.
Paxton also argues that the reading habits of adolescents give insight to why students often have difficulty focusing on a textbook. According to Paxton, adolescent readers often describe text books as "difficult to understand", "erroneous", and having "overly broad coverage" of topics (Paxton 324). These common issues with textbooks contribute to why so many students are turned away from the subject of history. While a student may have an interest in the historical content, he may be easily discouraged if the textbook is confusing or challenging to comprehend. Furthermore, Paxton argues that "students rarely question the trustworthiness of their textbooks, nor do they question authors' intent or search for possible bias. When reading history textbooks, students tend to act as acquiescent assimilators of information, merely scanning the page in search of facts and explanations" (Paxton 321). This causes students to miss out on learning important skills for analyzing historical documents; interpreting bias, point of view, and intended audience are all important skills for a student to be successful in history, and are so often overlooked when the textbook is presented as the sole text.
Furthermore, the language of this chapter can be seen as bulky and difficult to sift through for struggling readers. For instance, there is a paragraph which opens with: "The rapid extension of federal power in the 1960’s alarmed people who valued state and local control. While running for president in 1968, Richard Nixon promised voters that he would restore ‘true’ federalism by reigning in federal power” (textbook 107). These two sentences contain some rather abstract concepts that may not pose a problem to the average reader; however to a struggling reader or an English Language Learner (ELL) student, the chapter’s language may be very difficult to comprehend. Then, it is the responsibility of the teacher to help these students break down the text and understand the material.
When addressing issues of understanding terms and concepts within a text, it is good practice for teachers to use various forms of scaffolding. Scaffolding functions as a way for students to capture an idea or concept with activities, discussion, and readings outside of the textbook. Although it is especially useful when teaching ELL students and struggling readers, scaffolding is still an important tool for average readers as well. As the Pearson text points out, "many students in today’s diverse classrooms have trouble handling the conceptual demands inherent in text material when left to their own devices to learn. A gap often exists between the ideas and relationships they are studying and their prior knowledge…[I]nstructional scaffolding allows teachers to support students’ efforts to make sense of texts while showing them how to use strategies that will, over time, lead to independent learning" (Pearson 40). While using the Government Alive! textbook, scaffolding would considerably enhance students understanding of the concepts and terms presented. The material in this chapter requires active discussion between the students and the teacher and between the students themselves. Discussion allows students to better process the information; furthermore, giving student’s questions that stimulate discussion and encourage analysis of the text will help build understanding. Group work would also be a great way for the material to be scaffolded for students; for example, one possible scaffolding activity would be to have the students participate in an in-class debate about a certain topic in American history. This would encourage participation and help students form their own opinions based on factual knowledge. Ultimately, these forms of scaffolding activities provide alternative ways for students to learn, sparking their development as independent learners.
For struggling readers and ELL students, the material would need to be discussed with the teacher. It would also be helpful to do some sort of concept development with struggling readers. For instance, in preparing for a chapter on federalism, it would be helpful for struggling readers to do a review on the key concepts of government and the Constitution. Struggling readers may also benefit from group work; however, in these kinds of activities, many struggling readers may find it difficult to participate and interact with their peers because of their challenges with the material.
Yet another weakness of the textbook is its lack of connection with cultures of various ethnicities, races, and genders. Throughout the entire chapter, minorities are rarely mentioned: at one point, the text briefly mentions minorities in regard to the fact that federalism protects their rights, and later in the chapter, there is a picture and graph illustrating the rise in female participation in state legislature. Furthermore, while the chapter is filled with visuals, not a single picture includes any minorities; the pictures included in this chapter are solely pictures of white Americans, symbolically excluding minorities from the issues of federalism. This poses a problem of “relatability” with students: if students don’t see themselves as part of what the text is addressing, then it is hard for them to relate to. For example, if this textbook was used in a Detroit Public School where the vast majority of students are African American or Hispanic, it is likely that many students would be turned off by the fact that the chapter seems to be solely directed at white people. At the same time, however, it is important to keep in mind that the chapter on federalism may be unique, as the topic does not leave much room to discuss multiculturalism; glancing through the rest of the textbook, it was clear that different cultures, ethnicities, races, and genders are discussed and shown through a variety of different visuals. However, it is important for these topics be spread out evenly over the entirety of the textbook, to keep students feeling engaged, interested, and connected to the text.
In his class, Mr. Franchi utilized the material covered in the textbook by giving students an assignment on the reading. The purpose of the assignment was to guide the students’ reading and help them analyze the text in different ways. The assignment can be divided into three distinct parts, based on the different types of questions. These three parts are similar to the Three Levels of Comprehension discussed in the Pearson textbook; according to Pearson, the Three Levels of Comprehension include the literal level, the interpretive level, and the applied level (Pearson 27).
In Mr. Franchi’s assignment, the first part asks basic content questions, where students are asked to identify the main message of the section, give definitions for vocabulary terms, and summarize key ideas. This first part is similar to Pearson’s literal level, as the questions refer to material that is straight from the text. The second part of the assignment asks questions that require students’ interpretation; in this part, students are asked questions about their own opinions and ideas about government’s role in society. These questions are similar to Pearson’s interpretive level because they prompt students to “conceptualize implied ideas by integrating information into what they already know”; these questions push students to reflect on the material and understand the implications of federalism in their own lives (Pearson 27). And finally, the third part of the assignment requires students to think about the broader concept of federalism, and how their opinions towards the role of government have changed after reading the textbook; this third part coincides with Pearson’s applied level because it gets students to think critically and form their own opinions.
Mr. Franchi gave students class time to work on this assignment. Over the course of two days, student had a total of 80 minutes to read the chapter in the textbook and to complete the assignment; any work that was not completed in class was to be homework, due the following week. After a very brief introduction to the assignment and the context of the chapter, Mr. Franchi turned the students loose and allowed them to work independently for the remainder of the class period. Though he was willing to answer student’s questions about the assignment, Mr. Franchi did little to support the students as they read the textbook chapter and completed their work.
By observing the students during the time they spent working on the assignment, we can assume that there were no major difficulties with the reading. From our perspective, there were no outward, visible signs of frustration or confusion. During their time in class to work, several students went to Mr. Franchi to ask questions, but the majority of these questions referred to logistical concerns, such as when the assignment was due. A few times, we overheard students asking their classmates questions about specific content from the chapter; these questions were about vocabulary words or specific answers on the assignment. Overall, we can assume that the chapter did not pose any major challenges to the students, and any questions they did have were addressed by Mr. Franchi or their classmates.
However, even though Mr. Franchi gave students plenty of time to work on the assignment, the majority of students did not use their time wisely and were not able to finish their work in class. Instead of doing the assignment, most students used the time to chat with their friends. In fact, at one point in our observations, as few as six students out of the 29 total were actually working on the assignment. We observed one student start singing a song from the movie Mulan, another student get up from his seat repeatedly to talk to Mr. Franchi about baseball, and a group of students in the back corner build a tower out of empty water bottles. It can be argued that the students’ distraction was caused by sheer boredom. Mr. Franchi did little to help the students interact with the text, and when faced with the potentially daunting task of reading 20 textbook pages on federalism, it was clear that the majority of students were simply uninterested. Given the extensive amount of time and their complete independence, most students chose to ignore the reading and the assignment and focus on things much more interesting to them.
Instructionally, the text needed to be taken apart and organized in such a way that the students can process the information being presented to them. One practice that is very helpful for this is the use of graphic organizers; even in the textbook, there are several of these models. For example, on page 103 of the textbook, there is a Venn diagram that breaks down the federal system into expressed powers and reserved powers, with the middle section for concurrent powers. Diagrams such as these are very useful for organizing the facts up for students, as they break down the text into cohesive groupings; however it can also be useful for the students to fill in graphic organizers for themselves. For example, one exercise could be to have the students get into groups and fill in a graphic organizer which breaks down federal, state, and local powers. This would allow the students to get a better grasp of the information while also promoting group learning. Also, many students retain information better by writing things out, which this kind of activity incorporates.
The Pearson text argues that students need "to be in control of reading" (Pearson 45). Teachers need to be aware of how students are monitoring their own studies. When students are struggling, the teacher needs to be able teach skills that will help students to be responsible for their own reading. While establishing this awareness, it is important for teachers to assess the students’ reading habits at the beginning of a course. After assessment, it could be useful to create different reading strategies for the students so they can learn how to improve their reading skills. Then, modeling is key for any type of learner; once a strategy has been developed, it is important for a teacher to model it for the students. Also, providing times where the students can practice the strategies and become more familiar with them is important to reinforce strategies. By doing this, teachers are able to help the student develop better reading skills and become more literate in the subject area. Along with the modeling and implementation of general literacy practices, it is important for teachers to be constantly monitoring and regulating how well the literary practices are working, to improve student's comprehension of the material. For example, when Mr. Franchi assigned the Chapter 6 reading, many students quickly became distracted and disengaged. It would have been important for Mr. Franchi to assess why students were responding to the text in this way: was it because the topic was not interesting to students, or was it perhaps because the text was too dense and the students’ reading and comprehension skills were not developed enough to tackle such an assignment? These questions could have been answered had Mr. Franchi taken the time to analyze his students’ work and assess their reading and comprehension of the material.
In addition to helping students establish better literary skills, providing supplemental text is a useful way of aiding students’ understanding of the material. With a text such as Government Alive!, a short article from a news source (magazine, website, newspaper, etc.) would have been a good supplement for the textbook. A supplementary article would have provided students with more information on a topic such as federalism, by incorporating a source that students may interact with more easily: the media. In selecting a supplemental text, however, it would be important to consider the credibility of the source, as well as the level of bias in the article. It would also be good to consider how applicable it is to the topic, and what sort of differing perspective it would offer the students.
Since the students were not interacting well with Chapter 6, we chose an article that we would use to supplement the text if we taught the lesson. We believe this article would help the students have a better grasp on the material and would engage their interest more than the textbook alone. The article Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States is about the discontinuity in test standards across states. Although NCLB is a national policy, states have the power to create their own tests to measure progress in their schools. This freedom has lead to some states lowering their standards so they can more easily reach Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and reap the benefits of these higher test scores. In her article, author Kelly Wallace analyzes how both Georgia and South Carolina have low reading proficiency rates on national tests, even though Georgia’s state test results are astronomically different. Georgia’s state tests report reading proficiency as 87%, while reading proficiency in South Carolina is 36% according to its state test. Some speculate that Georgia lowered its standards on the state tests to increase test scores. Herein lies an age-old topic of debate about U.S. federalism: how much power should states have, particularly over education? This problem is a key concept that could be taught in a lesson using both Chapter 6 and the article. These two texts could also be used to teach a variety of different concepts, such as the difference between the federal government’s enumerated powers and the state governments’ reserved powers, and the strengths and drawbacks of federalism (“High School Content Expectations: Social Studies” -HSCE).
The structure of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is fairly typical of a news article. It begins by defining the issue of contention, and then moves to a case-study with interviews from people who are involved. These interviews present both sides of the issue, which helps students be exposed to a variety of ideas and viewpoints. Both the textbook and article do a good job of showing the multiple viewpoints of issues regarding federalism. The structure of this article is also good because of the use of pictures and video. These visuals break up the text, making it so the article is less dense and easier for students to understand; also, pictures and videos allow students to have a mental picture of the ideas addressed, leading to better understanding. Furthermore, the organization and flow of the text is very good; though the paragraph format may not be conducive to adolescent readers, the ideas in the article flow very smoothly. For example, whenever the article presents an argument, it is followed by an opposing counterargument; this helps students recognize the opposing viewpoints. Also, the ending of the article is effective because it is a cliff hanger. The article ends by stating that “congress is working on this issue but we have yet to see what the results will be. Stay tuned” (Wallace 2). This kind of cliff hanger ending helps keep students engaged and interested in the text, while prompting them to form their own opinions. And ending the article in such a way may push some students to research the topic more in depth, as the article may spark curiosity about NCLB and its effects in education.
The tone of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is relatively informal. For example, the author often uses colloquial expressions like “[o]ff we went to Georgia…” (Wallace 1). This is an advantage to an adolescent reader; as NCLB is a complicated issue, writing about it in an uncomplicated way makes it easier for a tenth grader to understand. Also, many of the paragraphs start with a question, which pushes students to think critically; the article asks questions like, “why would they do this?”, making the tone feel very logical and straightforward (Wallace 1). The tone of the article is also positive, and ends on an optimistic note by referencing the main goal of NCLB: helping kids get the best education.
The key words and terms in the article are specific to current events, which may not be explained in depth in the textbook. Some difficult terms include “standards,” “proficiency”, “AYP”, and “achievement gap”. If the teacher does not make sure this vocabulary is clarified before the students read, students may be “distracted from constructing meaning and appreciating the primary text source material because…unfamiliar vocabulary present[s] an obstacle to understanding” (Afflerbach 699). In this case, scaffolding would be a good technique for the teacher to use; for example the teacher could have a class discussion (or think-aloud), using the terms as the topic of conversation. The teacher could ask the students what they think each of the terms mean and guide them to the right answers by pulling information out of them. Then the teacher could have them explain the terms in their own words. This kind of scaffolding activity would prompt students to read critically and pull out important information from the text.
It is important for students to understand words like “proficiency” and “achievement gap” not just because they need to know them to comprehend the article, but because they are relevant to current events in the United States. It is important for students to be knowledgeable about current events, because to “participate effectively, American citizens need…knowledge about their government and society” (HSCE 48). Also, having students learn about terms like “AYP” and “standards”, helps them build on the literacy skills they already have. High school teachers must always remember that “students need a strong foundation in literacy, but that is not enough…[They] need a lot of help to raise the roof on learning, even after they learn the foundational skills of reading” (Alliance for Excellent Education Policy Brief 2). The teaching of literacy skills is on ongoing process that all teachers must incorporate into their classrooms.
There are several strengths to this news article. First, the article is from CBSnews.com, a very credible site; also, because the text is online and not from a newspaper, it is more easily accessible to the students. This article could easily be used as a supporting document in a class activity, as its use of the real life scenarios of South Carolina and Georgia make it easier for the students to make personal connections than with Chapter 6 from the textbook. Thus, the article would help students make connections between the content they are learning and how it applies to their own lives. A final positive aspect of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is that its content conveys the discord that can exist within a federalist system, a concept that is an important part of the Civics Content Expectations for Michigan high school students. The teacher can use the article’s debate about Georgia’s state test to teach about a variety of different content, such as the structure, functions, and enumerated powers of national government, the powers and limits on powers, and the structure and functions of state and local governments (CE 3.1-3.3, HSCE).
This article has some embedded texts, which helps students learn to analyze and read critically (Afflerbach 697). The embedded texts in this article are quotes from superintendents who have opposing viewpoints on the issue. Any article that a teacher has her students read should have more than one perspective, as opposing viewpoints help students broaden their own perspectives and think critically. Students often do not use a sourcing heuristic and for the most part, do not consider the source of the document and the biases the person may have (Paxton 320-21). It is the responsibility of the teacher to teach her students how to read critically and effectively so that they can use what they read to develop their own opinions. Additionally, knowing how to judge and interpret different viewpoints is a critical strategic reading ability for students to develop because it helps them determine the meaning they construct from the text (Afflerbach 702).
This article also has some weaknesses. The incorporation of more pictures, charts and graphs may make the text less dense and would help illustrate the more complicated ideas such as “national test” and “state test”; conceptualizing ideas through pictures is key in helping visual learners comprehend ideas better. Thus, when one text falls short in this area, it is important for a teacher to supplement it with another, more visually-charged text. Chapter 6 is rich with images, and in this way, it is a good complement to the article; for example, chapter six’s marble-cake and layered-cake federalism pictures help explain the difference between two competing views of how state and national government should interact. Another weakness of Educational Law Has Different Standards for Different States is that both of the states discussed in the article are from the South. Students are often prone to over-generalize and thus, they may infer that the test scores are inaccurate because of the poverty and racism that are often stereotypically associated with the South. A teacher using this text would need to be sure the students understand that these stereotypes are not the causes of the inaccuracies, and that the inaccuracies are actually due in part to the lack of a national test for measuring progress under NCLB.
The text may pose some challenges for readers. The article does not provide much background information on certain aspects of NCLB, nor does it explain the many technical terms in it such as “achievement gap” and “proficiency.” The textbook may be a good source for students to learn such vocabulary. The author assumes that the reader has a moderate amount of knowledge about NCLB and federalism, and student readers might not have that knowledge before they read. If the teacher does not go over these concepts with the students before they read, they may get confused and overwhelmed; often, students may get frustrated and give up on it. Therefore, before assigning the article, the teacher should make sure that her students understand the technical terms well enough so that they can comprehend the bigger ideas in the text. The teacher might want to have them do a pre-reading exercise like KWL. The KWL worksheet should have a word-bank with major concepts and terms from the article (i.e. “standards,” “AYP,” “NCLB”) so that the students can identify which of these things they know, what things they want to know, and what things they learned as they read. This is a form of scaffolding that would be an especially important strategy to use with struggling readers.
Another possible scaffolding technique could be to break the text into different sections so that each part is more manageable and easier to comprehend. These parts could include: “what is happening now with NCLB?”, “what is the argument of the article?”, and “what are the potential solutions?”. This would help the teacher pull information out of her students, while pushing the students to think critically and analyze the article. In addition, it is important to keep in mind that ELL students may not be familiar with the colloquial expressions like “equal playing field” and “common measuring stick” (Wallace, 1). Providing a glossary of key terms and phrases would help these students make sense of certain parts of the article and would explain the main idea of the article before they read.
Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States would be a very good article to use in Unit 1 of Mr. Franchi’s civics class as a supplement to the textbook. It complements Chapter 6 very well and gives students a more relatable way to delve into the concept of federalism. The textbook is an important resource because it gives practical, factual information about our nation’s government; it sets the stage while supplementary texts like the news article bring life and meaning to what the students are learning. The article helps students make connections between the broad concepts of Chapter 6 and the world they live in.
All in all, both the textbook and the supplementary article provided us with insight on to what the “ideal” text should look like. With the textbook being our main source, we closely analyzed its role in the classroom and how receptive students were to its usage and implementation. Through the assignment, Mr. Franchi did a wonderful job of outlining the important aspects of the textbook; however, it still appeared as if students were far from engaged in the material. Although informational and straightforward, the textbook failed to make the material interesting for tenth-grade students; its disregard for cultural, racial, and gender issues only added to this lack of interest amongst the readers. The article entitled Education Law Has Different Standards for Different States is an interesting article that truly reinforces the material learned in the textbook. We refer to this article as supplementary, not because of its inferiority, but rather because of its need for explanation from certain material presented in the textbook. Regardless of the specific differences between the two sources of text, both helped us learn what should and should not be presented in a high school civics text. There were certainly aspects of the textbook that trumped the article, as were there aspects of the article that trumped the textbook. Even though both had its fair share of strengths and weaknesses alike, these sources of text were a beneficial resource in our completion of a text study.
> Reflection of Lesson
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