Text Organization

[Angelina Polius]

In this thread you will comment on the physical presentation of the textbook that you examined . i.e Social Studies, Science, etc

Do you think the text is well presented or is a considerate text for the target group? Why do you think so?

Share your ideas and do not forget to build on what others have said to provide deeper clarity and understanding.

[joejoe]

text books now a days like the ones we examined in class yesterday; are very well presented.
they are not only about the linguistic aspect but the non linguistic too, including lots of colourful photos which students can use to better understand text......
but this is not so for all text it is more evident in science, social studies and language text books....the math text books still lack that appeal, which would interest students into wanting to pick up the book.

[mand]

I totally agree with you joejoe. i think that the way the text books are made now is so different from before. They have improved for the better and are more student friendly. They are fully equipped with a number of new features, including summaries of chapters, colourful pictures labeling and much more for the interest and higher learning of the students. i also think that the content included in them are directed to the goals of the curriculum

[sara]

I am in agreement with what joejoe said but for the mathematics textbook especially in the primary grades is very enhancing and user friendly. The activities in the book are very interactive. What I have noticed is that over the years the physical presentations of the textbooks have been undergone some major changes. The socail studies text book what I used at school was black and white both pictures and font, lack of pictures, but the ones which we viewed yesterday in class we colourful, fun and contained activities and just inviting to everyone

[cyan]

Well I'd like to second sara when she stated that the text books today are very different from what we were exposed to in the past.

When I explored the primary school textbooks yesterday, I found that many of the physical features were modified and appealing. For e.g. the cover page and the pictures in the book were quite inviting due to the colourfulness and the realness; whereas, back in the day, the pictures were black and white.

Thus, I think that the textbooks these days are well presented for the targeted age groups, since knowledge is presented in a creative and interactive way which especially makes use of the six language processes.

[sachipooks]

i agree with the previous statements made by my colleagues in the past majority of text books were presented in black and white, and they were not organized and structured to suit the needs of the students but presently they have become more interactive, colorful and user friendly especially science books. what i really admire now about science text books are that there are safety icons and rules to the students may take heed of which materials are dangerous and may harm them . also in majority of activities a safety icon is presented in a certain color to indicate to the reader if it is harmful, dangerous and if supervision of the teacher is needed..

[millie]

well as for me i must agree with joe, i find now some of the text books are so colourful and user friendly, when i go through the pages it makes me want to teach, and the students can relate to to pictures, because they are local and i also like the way they are now sectionalized with questions, summaries, new words, ect.
Despite the fact they have made drastic changes it has not been carried out to all the grades, like sara said the mathematics textbook still lack the appeal and colour to interest the students.

[blanch]

I agree with the others. The Social Studies text books for the lower grades consist of many colourful illustrations, the headings and chapter numbers are of a bigger font size, the sub heading are bolded. All of these techniques are used by the authors to guide the students as they read the chapters. The information on the pages are appropriate for grade 3. For instance the sentences are short and concise. Also all the sub headings had pictures and written text. While the students are reading they can connect what they are reading with the pictures which can further enhance comprehension.

[blanch]

But ladies have you seen the S.S text books used in grade 4? What happen to all the colourful illustrations that were in the text books for the lower grades? If you can get your hand on book, check it out. What do you think?

[millie]

am holding a s.s text book right now and i fine that its catchy enough for the 4th graders. It has lots of pictures, colourful, not black and white, it has a section on points to remember, it has objectives at the begining of each chapter, it has questions, questions thet will encourage discussion, and points to remember at the end of the chapters.
It also has a word list along with the definitions.
As for me i think its good enough, and besides they cant keep it the same as the grade one books the students are older and they have to make it to suit their level.

[jean]

I agree with my fellow members. The texts now are designed with many colourful pictures and are made more interesting for the students, as opposed to when I was at school, where the textbooks were black and white. I must say that they have come a long way and appeal more to the students now who are stimuated by all the colours and pictures.

Based on the comment by Blanch, I don't presently have a grade 4 text with me but Millie does have a point in that the students need to move on from all the books filled with pictures and colours. If that transition is done slowly, by placing less pictures and colours in the books than the lower grades, that will prepare them for as they move on in their school life for the texts which have very few pictures. They will learn to depend less on the pictures for understanding what they read.

I'm not saying that they should be removed completely because even I am more drawn to books with pictures than those without at tiimes.

[del]

I must say that you all have shared brilliant ideas about the textbooks that are available right now and those that were there before. Most of the text books long ago were not appealing, furthermore, the structure and physical apperance of the text made it difficult for the students to read.
However, the authers have tried their best to improve the structure and physical apperance of the text to suit the students. They have added many features in the textbooks like; summary boxes, examples, transitional words and also bolded the important topics and concepts to help the students comprehend.

[phia]

I was not in class during this exercise but let me try to think critically. Well, i must say that i agree with all of my friends her. The text books that are being use today are better presented than the ones we used before. The are more colors and as a result of that the text book has become more child friendly. I think is benefits the students have the reading difficulties more alone the line. Also, i agree with jean that have to expose students with less pictures and colors will benefit them because it will prepare them to enjoy any type of books later e.g newspaper and so one.They will not only be drawn to books with prints and colors.

[indi]

I agree with the points that were made previously about the great improvement in text books used in the primary schools. I also noted the simplicity with which the information is presented at the different levels and how at grade levels where less pictures and animations were used, For example for grade six the author used comic strips to explain certain concepts.

[Angelina Polius]

I am glad that you have made that observation about the texts students use at the primary level. Yes, indeed they are now more reader friendly, and appealing. The chapters, headings, subheadings, objectives/advance organizers, summary, activity section, illustrations, diagrams etc, boldfaced words/terms are all part of the author's plan to help the child better understand the content. If students are not aware of this, they will not use these features to help them better understand. Hence, it is important that teachers provide explicit instruction in helping students determine the plan used by authors to help them learn. We will spend some time in class examining the plan used by some authors.

Good points all of you. We are still waiting to hear what others especially Maho have to say