Teachers, how old are your text books?

[flamingeaux]

I got a teaching position. Yay! I'm teaching 6th grade Science and Social Studies.  I finally got my text books today and the Social Studies book was published in 2005!  Is that a normal length of time to use the same text book?  It's a title I school, so it kind of irritates me, even more.  How are these kids supposed to catch up and be competitive with their peers when their text books are so outdated?

[Jalapeñomel]

I don't have any textbooks.

[Jalapeñomel]

And congrats on the job!

[sonrisa]

Congratulations on the job :-)

What is the date on the science book? If they could only afford to update one, I'd hope it was science.

[flamingeaux]

Jul 30, 2015 23:05:24 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

Congratulations on the job :-)

What is the date on the science book? If they could only afford to update one, I'd hope it was science.

Thanks. 2012 on the Science Book.

[spk926]

That seems old but not that far out of the "normal" window. We have a 7 year rotation. So every year we get either new reading, grammar, writing, phonics, math, social, science or health curriculum. (Some may be lumped together )

I would ask where the district is in their social studies curriculum cycle.

[sarahswim]

I teach 6th grade SS, too (along with ELA). Our books are probably that old, too. I end up piecing together most of my curriculum with other resources-stuff I find on the web, Teachers pay Teachers, books I find at teacher stores, etc. I actually think we are piloting a new series for this school year so I'm excited for some updated resources.
I second whoever suggested asking where they are in terms of updating their resources. If you need or want more specific help, feel free to PM me. Congrats on the job!

[RoxMonster]

Congrats on the job!

I teach HS English and many of our textbooks were purchased in 2007. However, many of the other subjects have books published in the 90s....or earlier. Unfortunately, 2005 would not be at all uncommon here.

[theoverlander]

Ha.

I've been teaching for 13 years without social studies materials/curriculum. I found some textbooks in the closet from 1987, soooo yeah. 1987.

They keep saying we're getting something new,...

[Monica Geller]

Congrats on the job!! I taught 6th Social Studies for 8 years so if you ever need anything don't be afraid to ask! (I teach 7th ELA now). We updated SS in 2013 but it was 2002 before that. We have a 10 year rotation for texts although I stopped using the text after my 3rd year once I was comfortable with the content to teach without a book.

[mccallister84]

I teach math and our last text text was 2005. Not a huge deal in math. Now we use consumable texts which theoretically can be updated yearly.

In 7th grade SS the book they use is an older edition of the book I used in 9th grade global studies. I'm 31 so yeah...

[shell403b]

10 years. I think textbook adoption for World Languages starts either this year or next.

[tiptoetulips]

Pluto is still a planet in my books.
We really don't use textbooks often though

[sterl724]

I teach high school English in a very tiny rural school. I've been there 4 years. (This fall is my 5th.)

We JUST purchased new English texts. (Several departments got them actually.) The English ones were the oldest... 1983 and 1987. (I was born on 1984...So they were literally older than me.) For the juniors and seniors (my classes) I used them very sparingly. The junior text had a teacher edition and no extras. The senior text had no teachers edition and nothing else. (And it's out of publication, so we couldn't even track down a teachers edition.)

The new stuff came in recently, and OMG. SO MUCH STUFF! The workbooks, online content, extra sets of teacher editions! It's actually been a little overwhelming to go through.

Part of the problem with outdated stuff was the previous admin and the lack of experience, especially in curriculum. We got a new super last year, and she has done a lot of curriculum development, and the first thing she wanted was new books. Several departments got then, but now I think it'll be a rotation.

[wildfloweragain]

We don't have textbooks. Congrats!

[irishbride2]

I'm textbook free this year but the one I used last year was from 2011.

But I get to chose every year what I want to do/use so it's nice I could do a new book every year if I wanted.

[hymen]

No textbooks for us (English).

On our team math has gotten 2 new textbooks since I have been there (2008) and geography and science are using books that are at least 10 years old.

[nsl]

My old district was theoretically on a 10 year textbook adoption plan, though in reality I know some disciplines went 12-14 years between adoptions.

Definitely ask if anyone knows when a new book will be adopted. In your case I would probably talk to the department chair or a friendly teacher in your department about how they deal with the outdated information in the book and what kind of supplementary materials they recommend you investigate.

[Doggy Mommy]

Congrats! We don't use textbooks except sometimes for math. Those are probably around 2007ish but we use the online content more.

[joenali]

We just got new a new math curriculum last year. New reading this year, new writing last year. All aligned with ccss.

[iamgrace]

When I was in a classroom we were constantly buying new textbooks, but could typically only afford to do one subject per year. As a result, we'd be dealing with some that were ten years old, but would have some brand new. Usually the focus was on science and math.

[cabbage10]

Congratulations on your job!

My chemistry books are dated 1999 and 2003. Textbook funds were the first thing cut in budget cuts and that had been our textbook adoption year.

I find very few of my students even use the textbook; I don't assign work out of it,. A lot of my colleagues created their own textbooks on online book sites. I don't know how feasible that would be at a title I school?

I feel with history things need to be updated due to current events, luckily for me chemistry doesn't really change. Can you implement different resources?

[Jalapeñomel]

Jul 31, 2015 9:23:11 GMT -5 cabbage10 said:

Congratulations on your job!

My chemistry books are dated 1999 and 2003. Textbook funds were the first thing cut in budget cuts and that had been our textbook adoption year.

I find very few of my students even use the textbook; I don't assign work out of it,. A lot of my colleagues created their own textbooks on online book sites. I don't know how feasible that would be at a title I school?

I feel with history things need to be updated due to current events, luckily for me chemistry doesn't really change. Can you implement different resources?

Hey, have we talked chem before (forgive me,my first year is a blur)?

[cabbage10]

Jul 31, 2015 9:54:53 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Jul 31, 2015 9:23:11 GMT -5 cabbage10 said:

Hey, have we talked chem before (forgive me,my first year is a blur)?

I don't think so .  But I will gladly take chem teaching with anyone PM me any time!  As far as the first year blur thing, I completely understand !

[suzubell]

Mine have been there as long as I have been (8 years) and they weren't new then.

Congrats on the new job!

[erbear]

Jul 30, 2015 23:02:36 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

I don't have any textbooks.

This.

[katfco]

I haven't been officially given the curriculum yet, but I raided the supply room today and took a student copy of the social studies textbook, which was printed in 2008. So, not too bad.

[oscarnerdjulief]

We have a class set of 10-year-old textbooks that are falling apart. I can use them one or two more years, then I will have to start copying a lot of things or just use the Holt Reader versions.

I don't even like putting them on the shelves because they're so ratty. I doubt we will ever get new textbooks, esp. with the shift to informational text. Thank goodness we have Scopes, plus we do one novel.

[Deleted]

I student taught in 2007 with the same exact science and SS books that I used when I went to school there in the late 80s/early 90s. They even had my friends' names written inside the cover. I hope they've upgraded since then but who knows. They're probably lucky to get any science or SS lessons. :/

[flamingeaux]

Jul 31, 2015 6:27:46 GMT -5 tiptoetulips said:

Pluto is still a planet in my books.
We really don't use textbooks often though

Give it a couple more years, Pluto is like a pair of bell bottoms, it'll come back eventually.