Textbooks: to Use or not to Use

On my last visit to school, I observed a Geometry class and an Algebra I B class and was there for two and a half hours. While there, I was discussing textbooks with my teacher since I was asking him for suggestions for planning my lesson to teach. He told me that he tells his students to take their textbooks home and leave them there; in other words, the students are to use the textbooks as extra resources. In his classroom, he has several different kinds of textbooks for the classes he teaches. He showed me a workbook that came with one of the books and told me that he doesn't use it for any of his classes except for one because that class is very textbook dependent and they begged him to use a textbook.

This issue raises an important question. I think that teachers should not let the textbook dominate their teaching, but what do you do if your students are dependent on them? I really don't think that making them go completely without a textbook in one class when they're used to having one is the best thing to do. I like the idea of having students use textbooks as an extra resource rather than as the main tool of instruction. After studying about vocabulary in class, I think textbooks could be useful to have students look up the technical definitions of words and as sources for some problems. Other than that, I think I might have students only use it more if they want to do so. I had a teacher who required us to read the textbook the night before and take notes on it and used that as our main form of instruction. I definitely don't think that is the most effective way to use textbooks unless you give students some sort of training on how to read textbooks and get the most out of them.

In general, I have learned from all this that my views of how textbooks should be used might be different from the students' views of how they should be used. Thus, I will need to find a happy medium for which I am satisfied and they can best learn. I know for sure though that I will probably use the textbook as a resource, but not as my main tool for planning lessons. I think that there are so many resources available that it would be a shame to only use the textbook.