Depending on the subject you teach, teaching without a textbook could be pretty difficult. When I wrote my entire curriculum for chemistry I didn’t use a textbook at all. I honestly don’t think that anybody NEEDS a textbook in order to teach. Now with distance learning and remote teaching, textbooks may not be an option for some people.
Textbooks are certainly valuable resources that can make teaching MUCH easier. It can provide students with reference material when they need some extra help with content. But honestly, textbooks are heavy, expensive and quickly become outdated. In my All Star Planning course (on curriculum writing so your lesson plans are MUCH easier), I teach the course as if the teacher just has a textbook sample. I seriously prefer teaching without a textbook. Here’s why:
- I feel like I need to read most of it
In order for me to assign reading in a textbook, I feel like I need to read it as well. I simply wouldn’t feel right assigning a kid to read all of Chapter 19 to learn about inorganic reactions if I didn’t do it myself. Not for nothing, but I didn’t do my reading assignments as a kid. I don’t know what would compel me to read out of a textbook as an adult.
- I know the kids mostly don’t use them
In the 21st century, kids don’t read textbooks. I’m pretty sure that if it’s not talking to them, most kids aren’t interested. That’s not to say that there aren’t kids out there who would read out of a textbook, but I think the typical teenager would prefer a video. Something with a little more pizzazz. For the most part, I curate videos for my students to watch in place of assigning textbook pages.
- I prefer my own stuff
I find that the way I teach is SO different from most chemistry textbooks that I’m afraid that the book is going to confuse the kids. Back when I was trying to teach myself organic chemistry out of the textbook, I thought it was so different from what I was learning in class. Honestly, none of it made sense, but I would have preferred a book written by my professor, or just have them teach without a textbook all together.
Interactive Notebooks in Place of Textbooks
I instead have been using interactive notebooks for teaching without a textbook. I think this is so much more efficient because we can build it as we go. For this, I create the individual pages, and the students construct the book, page by page, throughout the course of the year. Read more about how to start an interactive notebook here. I love this because I keep the pages short. I also like that I can update the pages to fit the specific needs of my students, and change with the times. Should they need more help, I can add that in. If the vocabulary needs adjustment – I’m on it!
The kids don’t need to do a lot of reading. I give them exactly what they need and nothing more. We don’t need a 400+ page textbook to teach us chemistry. My INB comes out to just over 100 pages each year – that’s a little more than half of a composition notebook!
They are also allowed to write in the books, unlike textbooks. Because the kids create the books themselves, they take such good care of the books. I’ve only ever had one kid lose their notebook – I let them bring the books home. Read more about my unpopular opinions on interactive notebooks here.
I find Teaching without a textbook easier
Teaching without a textbook and moving to interactive notebooks have been such a great change for me. I feel like I have so much more control over what I deliver to my students. Instead of telling the kids, “answer questions 1,4,8,11,15…” and trying to fish through a question set, I just create a worksheet or activity for them. I ask them EXACTLY what I want with very little confusion. I remember 9th grade geometry like it was yesterday. The teacher would assign all the odd problems, and of course I’d wind up doing the even problems.
As a teacher, I’m proud to be teaching without a textbook. I don’t really know much else honestly. I will say, it hasn’t been a total disaster. In fact, I’ve had fun with the adventure.
You can check out my chemistry interactive notebook pages here.
