Historical Perspectives
Historically, content area curricula, such as social studies,
have depended upon textbooks to teach to students. Schools
districts purchase these books for use by all students at a
specific grade level (Allington, 2002). However, it must be
remembered that within classrooms, there are a wide variety of
reading levels (Hume,1996; Robb, 2002;). Students with learning
disabilities or students for whom English is a second language are particularly at risk when textbooks are used in content area
classes (Billman, 2002; D’Arcangelo, 2002).
Fordham & Sandmann have shown that using textbooks,
along with literature from all genres, is important for student
achievement (Fordham & Sandmann, 2002).
Using multiple texts allow for the individualization of the
material (George & Stix, 2000; Johnson & Janisch, 1998;).
Every student is able to study the content area topic using
resources appropriate for their reading level (Allington).
Teaching in the content area must go beyond the textbook and
include literature of all genres (Fordham & Sandmann).