Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Sin Against Teaching


Question: What are some of the more disgusting sins against teaching at the college level?

Answer/Quote: “Finally, textbook authors do not write textbooks for the fun of it! Don’t get me wrong, they are compensated; however, most of the past and present textbook authors I know initially proposed their textbook ideas because what they wanted to do in their classes was not available in any other book. Experienced instructors know that no single textbook does everything they want for a class (heck, not even my own textbooks does everything I want); that is why we usually supplement textbooks with handouts and Internet resources among other things. The tipping point comes when an instructor asks students to purchased rather expensive resources, a textbook or two, and then does not explicitly use them in the classroom.” P. 310-311.

Comment: I’ve done it, usually as a result of pressure from the English department. I do it no longer. RayS.

Title: “Why We Won’t See Textbooks in Our Disciplinary Rear View Mirror in the Near Future.” Rochelle (Shelley) Rodrigo. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (March 2012), 309-311.

No comments:

Post a Comment