Ep 114 // Replace Your Textbook with 21st Century Learning Experiences (REPLAY)

Teacher TrainingFree Resources
Written By Rachael Parlett

Inside This Week’s Episode: — Ditch the traditional textbook and replace it with a 21st century alterative. Learn 4 alternatives to traditional textbook teaching in the elementary classroom that will boost student engagement AND learning!

NO ONE LIKES CHANGE.

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of shaking things up in the classroom and swapping out old, stale ways of teaching and replacing them with modern 21st century teaching practices.

Now, you would think that I welcome change with open arms because of how often I talk about applying and trying out new teaching methods, or a new cool classroom technology tool, or by the podcast episode I recorded on how learning styles are a myth - a theory that I fully believed in up until a year or so ago. 

And of course, you might think that I’m quick to abandon traditional teaching methods by how often I talk about LINKtivites - my solution to making learning fun and engaging by providing students with a multimedia learning experience.

Well, guess what.  No - I don’t like change.  I’m not always the first one to adopt something new.  I’m often tardy to the party when it comes to trends.

But - what I do have going for me that often helps me go outside my comfort zone is my desire to provide the best possible learning experience for students.  As a classroom teacher, that desire pushed me to try that new teaching method, or test out that new classroom technology tool, or what have you. 

And now, in my current role as an educator, creating resources for other teachers, that desire pushes me still to keep exploring what those 21st century best practices are, so that I can now empower teachers to do the same.

Textbooks seem to be that tried and true tool that teachers have had forever.  But, if I’m being honest - I’ve never seen a student get excited about reading from a textbook.  And likewise, I’ve never seen a teacher get excited either.

Now, I’m not saying that textbooks have no place in a 21st century classroom, but what I am saying is that we can, and should, go beyond the textbook and engage students in a much more effective way.  And guess what - textbooks are often the starting point.  They often provide us with good information. 

But, I’m going to share how you can take textbook information and present it in a way that will get students excited about learning.

Here are 4 engaging alternatives to textbooks:

GALLERY WALKS

A gallery walk is a fabulous way to present new information to students that allows them to move around and interact with objects, pictures, and each other while learning new content.

If you're unfamiliar with a gallery walk, here's an overview:

A gallery walk is when you set up several sections or stations around your classroom with pictures, artifacts, posters, and other objects about a topic.  Each station exhibits something different about that topic.  Students walk from station to station collecting information on an activity sheet or notebook.  Each station might also have a piece of chart paper near the pictures and objects for students to jot down questions, thoughts, or things that they notice about the content presented at that station.

A reverse activity for a gallery walk would be to have STUDENTS create the content to place at each station as a review of what they already learned.  This would be a perfect authentic end-of-unit project for students to work on.  You might have each student choose or be assigned a sub-topic from your unit and create a visual representation to be placed in your student-made gallery walk.

In short - take the content that is presented in your textbook and transform it into a more visual representation to be presented in a gallery walk.

READER’S THEATER

Ditch the boring textbook and replace it with reader’s theater! This is a much more interactive way for students to learn and consume new content (plus sneak in some fluency practice while they’re at it!). And, I promise - reader’s theater can work for nearly ANY topic - trust me.

Take the information that I want students to learn from the textbook, and create characters to spit out that information in their dialogue. If I can throw a little joke in there every now and then that I know will make the kids chuckle, great!

You May Also Like to Read: 5 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD USE READER’S THEATER IN YOUR CLASSROOM

FILE FOLDER LEARNING STATIONS (AKA: DISCOVERY LEARNING FOLDERS):

Another format I like to try when I need to present textbook info in a more flashy way is to use discovery folders. A discovery folder is what I like to call a file folder with flare :)

Here's how it's done:

STEP 1 - Choose a topic that your textbook covers, but in such a way that puts you (and your students) asleep.  I've done discovery learning folders for Native American regions in North America, political decisions made during the Civil War, biomes, early European explorers and major battles of the American Revolution to name a few.  I broke each topic into several sub-topics and created one discovery learning folder per sub-topic.

STEP 2: Open up a blank PowerPoint presentation (or whatever tool you used to create student resources).  Create a cute cover page that includes the topic (or sub-topic) that students will be reading about.  Add some cute clip art and images.

STEP 3:  Create up to 3 pages that contains the information that you want your students to learn.  This information can come right from your textbook.  Pull out the information that your students need to know, but use more colorful language that you know will interest your students.  You can group the information into sections by using different headings and include lots of pictures, maps, diagrams, whatever visual will help students best understand the content.  I sometimes like to include a few discussion prompts for students to talk about when they are in their groups.  I put these on the last informational page.  You can also sprinkle discussion prompts throughout so that students use them as they work through the folder.

STEP 4: (Optional)  Include an extension activity for students to complete after they've gone through the folder.  These activities might include a word sort, coloring and labeling a map or diagram, completing a page for an interactive journal...etc)  Above, you see that when students were looking through the folder on an explorer's life, they were asked to label the parts of an explorer's ship.

STEP 5:  Glue your informational pages on the inside flaps of your folder as well as on the back if you have a 3rd page.  Laminate if possible - you're gonna want to use this babies year after year!

Try them out!  They'll be a big hit for sure!

If you’re looking for some ready to go, you can snag one that I’ve already created. Check them all out here. Just click on each picture for more details! 

LINKTIVITY® DIGITAL LEARNING GUIDES

Alright - so if you know me and my teaching style, then you know I can’t write about ways to replace a textbook and NOT include LINKtivity® digital learning guides! If you’re totally new to LINKtivities, then:

You May Also Like to Read: ENGAGING LEARNERS WITH LINKTIVITY DIGITAL LEARNING GUIDES

Students. love. LINKtivities. PERIOD!  They love 'em!

They can learn at their own pace, on their own digital device, and feel like they are playing a game the whole time!

Once you begin using them, you will find that your students will craaaaave them! Not only do LINKtivies teach students important content in a kid-friendly way, but they also enhance their learning by linking out to YouTube videos and kid-friendly websites that will allow your learners to experience the content on a deeper level.

Get access to my entire library of LINKtivities inside the LINKtivity® Learning Membership!

 

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Rachael Parlett
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Ep 115 // Gamification in the Elementary Classroom (How to Make it Work, and What to Consider Before Starting)
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Ep 113 // Using Choice Boards in the Elementary Classroom With Purpose!