Half the department wants to teach the American Revolution with Democracy is Born, and the other half is rooting for The Dawn of Capitalist Imperialism. And then there's that one who just thinks you should use the rap about George Washington being six-foot-eight and weighing a ton.

What's a school to do?

Okay, those aren't real textbooks. (Except for the rap). But you get the point, right? Picking out the right textbook is no walk in the park.

 

Fun.

So keep a few things in mind, whether you're working on textbook selection with your peers or you have the opportunity to independently choose a text, you revolutionary, you. We can't tell you which ones are the best (again, except for the rap), but we can offer a few guide-os for your trouble. Here we go:

• Take a sec to ponder the community you're in. Will certain books be sure to evoke a major outcry from parents one and all? For example, some communities have a tolerance for creation theory while others have high occurrences of Darwin tattoos. Consider your community values and make sure the books you're looking at won't offend those values. Well, not too much. A little questioning why the world's the way it is is what education's all about.
• Schools are facing cuts left and right, so consider costs. How much will your school have to shell out? How can you expand the usefulness of the text to ensure a maximization of school funds?
• Is the reading level appropriate for your students? You can buy the cheapest textbook ever, but if it's written on a college level and you're teaching 8th grade, well, Houston, we have a problem.
• Relevance. When looking for a text, you definitely need to make sure you have something that's up-to-date. So science from the 1950s is pretty much a no-go (not to mention anything mentioning women—oh, should we say "the weaker sex"?). Certain subjects move so fast that we have to have current texts. This can put an extra strain on school systems, but it also gives our kids the best education possible.
• Content: is it rigorous? If the content is too simplistic, you won't challenge your kids. Everyone will be yawning and wishing they didn't have to practice their multiplication tables in 11th grade. Let's get to the calculus already. Famous last words, of course, but that's you teach the lesson of being careful what you wish for.
• Do the books comply with your state standards? State standards are being tied to teacher performance, so we have to make peace with them—no matter how uneasy they make us feel. If your textbook doesn't fit the standards, you'll be hollering in the wind.
• Do the books fit your own objectives for what you want your class to get out of its lessons? This is a big ditto of what we said about standards. Often your objective will relate to your standards, so this is just more of the same.
• One more tipperoo: gather opinions. If you're selecting texts yourself it's best to talk with others. If you're selecting texts with others, it's best to talk with them and maybe other others, too. Ultimately, different people will see different things about the text—some of which you may have never thought of.

Textbook selection can be an arduous and time-consuming process. That's what having a big, baller checklist like this is for. Power through those bullets and you'll be making a choice that's right for your community, your kids, and your classroom goals. Remember, especially with the rap.

And with Shmoop.