Artifact 4

CONTEXT: I completed a textbook evaluation during Social Studies in the Elementary School course at Appalachian State University, under the guidance of Dr. Michael Jacobson. My partner and I performed a comparative analysis on two second grade texts.

IMPACT: By completing a comparative textbook analysis on two social studies texts, I learned to objectively judge and evaluate resources that may be used in my classroom. By assessing these textbooks, I was able to better understand the value of structure, organization, content, vocabulary, contextual clues, details, paragraph development, and sentence level, that are related to textbooks. The textbook analysis allowed me to properly distinguish between resources that I would and/or would not like to use in my classroom.

ALIGNMENT: The comparative textbook evaluation fulfills goal IIC of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, as well as INTASC Standard VII. By completing an analysis of second grade social studies textbooks, I exhibited skills of identifying, locating, and evaluating technology resources. For example, I evaluated each book by using a Content Area Assessment, in which I compiled information on the texts’ structure, organization, and content. Finally, I made a recommendation for the textbook that contained more current information and was more reader-friendly (IIC). Furthermore, the textbook analysis demonstrated my planning skills, as I evaluated the overall subject matter of the social studies books on a basis of how it is related to the curriculum. This is apparent when I determined that both texts did, in fact, contain information on essential concepts as defined by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for second grade (INTASC VII).