Textbook Evaluation Form PDF

Preview

Summary

Name of text: Adventures in Art

Author(s): Laura H. Chapman

Publisher (Date): 1994

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Description

Cherese Cobb #4 EDU 321 2/8/11 Maryville College Laboratory School Textbook Evaluation Form

1.

Name of text: Adventures in Art

2.

Author(s): Laura H. Chapman

3.

Publisher (Date): 1994

4.

Appropriateness of Content (match with curriculum frameworks): Adventures in Art allows children to foster artistic vocabulary; use a variety of mediums (paint, ink, glue, charcoal, etc); and reflect on their own work and others. Although the text is well aged (over a decade and a half old), it still meets all of the present-day Tennessee standards (for 4th grade). .

5.

Readability Checklist (see Tartan): See Attached Readability Checklist ●

Understandability (reference p. 133-136): Adventures in Art does a good job at keeping text to the point and in line with student prior knowledge or experiences. However, new concepts need to be introduced slower with more examples.

Count the number of words in the sample 100 Count the number of sentences 10 Count the number of big words (3 or more syllables) 1 Calculate the average sentence length. 100/10 = 10 Divide the number of sentences into the number of words Calculate the percentage of big words. 1/100= 1% Divide the number of words into the number of big words Add the avg sentence length to the % of big words 10 + 1 = 11 Multiply the result by .4 11 x .4 = 4.4 ● FOG grade level (See Tartan): 4.4 ●

FRY grade level (reference p. 130-131): Approximately 4th grade level Average number of sentences per 100 words: 10; Average number of syllables per 100 words: 131

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Usability (reference pp. 133-136): See Attached Readability Checklist

General conclusion (from checklist): Adventures in Art is written on grade level. Although

Cherese Cobb #4 EDU 321 2/8/11 Maryville College Laboratory School Textbook Evaluation Form Chapman did not include any end-of-chapter questions, she embeds questions in the text that asks students to think on the literal, interpretive, and applied levels of comprehension. The large font text, bold terms, and colorful graphics aid the students’ learning process. However, the book crams too many concepts together. In addition, some lessons lack an adequate number of examples. These issues could be addressed by spreading the concepts out (or creating several smaller lessons with fewer concepts) and by providing extra examples constructed by the classroom teacher.

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Interestability (reference p. 133-136): See Attached Readability Checklist General conclusion (from checklist): The text is highly interesting. Packed with colorful works of artist from all walks of life, the text presents physical activities that will motivate students—it also provides ways to increase or decrease the difficulty of certain art techniques. Its only flaw is that some of the titles are a little stale or meaningless since kids are not yet armed with an artist’s vocabulary.

6.

Overall Evaluation: Don’t Recommend

Adequate

Highly Recommend

Explain: While the text’s interestability and usability levels are high, the text’s understandability is lacking. The text introduces new concepts too rapidly (sometimes five or more within 2 short pages) without enough examples, which is why I can’t highly recommend this text. However, on a positive note, the text is written on the appropriate grade level, is concise, and takes prior knowledge and experience into account. Likewise, it does an excellent job of including artists from across the differing centuries and countries. With that said, scaffolding of concepts and breaking down lessons into more discreet parts will make this text a powerful weapon in any art teacher’s arsenal.

Cherese Cobb #4 EDU 321 2/8/11 Maryville College Laboratory School Textbook Evaluation Form 7. What have you learned, thought about, decided as a result of this activity? Before this activity, I never thought about how school boards or teachers for that matter decided what texts to use in the classroom. Doing this activity, however, made me realize that a lot of sweat and tears are put into careful selecting text that is interesting and developmentally appropriate. Likewise, I have learned that not all texts are equal. Texts that are dry, colorless, or lack clear directions or examples such the life out of teaching and learning....