Artifact 7

Context: I completed a textbook evaluation during a Social Studies in the Elementary School course at Appalachian State University, under the guidance of Betty Dishman. I performed a comparative analysis on two first grade texts, My World and My World: Adventures in Time and Place.

Impact: By completing a comparative textbook analysis on two social studies texts, I learned to evaluate resources that may be used in my classroom. By assessing textbooks, I was able to better understand the value of structure, organization, content, vocabulary, contextual clues, details, paragraph development, and sentence level, as related to textbooks. The textbook analysis allowed me to 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 first grade social studies textbooks, I demonstrated skills of identifying, locating, and evaluating technology resources. For example, I evaluated each book by using a Content Area Assessment, in which I gathered information on the texts’ structure, organization, and content. Finally, I made a recommendation for the My World textbook, since it contained more current information and was more reader-friendly (IIC). Furthermore, the textbook analysis illustrated my planning skills, as I evaluated the overall subject matter of the social studies books as related to curriculum appropriateness. For example, I determined that both texts did, in fact, contain information on essential concepts as defined by the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for first grade (INTASC VII).