History Textbooks - Are They Equal?

During recent years, I have come across several different Canadian History textbooks. Many have been left in classrooms during room changes or slated for disposal. Either way - as a teacher, I always seem to be drawn to keeping a copy of these texts for a "just in case" moment.

Sitting at my desk this week, I realised that I have 5 distinctive different Canadian History textbooks, and wondered how equally or differently they covered the same subject...so naturally, I select the largest subject possible - World War Two (excluding the War At Home) While I realize that teaching from a textbook is the least interactive way to teach history, I figured it would be interesting to compare.

Textbook #1 - Spotlight Canada 4th Ed. (2000)

This textbook features the usually seen visuals that are associated with Canada and World War Two. However, it is extremely limited on its information. Limiting the war to approximately a dozen pages. The most notable subjects that I believe are not adequately served are the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic, the Normandy Campaign, the Pacific War, and the Holocaust. These subjects are either mentioned in passing or not at all. 80,000 Canadians served in the Pacific, and this textbook mentions Hong Kong in 4 small paragraphs. The one positive note from this text is its clear explanation of the convoy system and the Canadian naval Corvettes.

Textbook #2 - Discovering Canada (1983)

This is is the oldest textbook in my collection. Of all the textbooks I examined, this one has the clearest timeline and synopsis of major events during the World War Two. I enjoy this synopsis because one cannot accurately analyse Canada's contributions to the war without knowing what else was happening simultaneously. The text also provides a (very short) list of key terms, as well as a decent introduction with the invasion of Poland. Compared to textbook #1 - it has more detail on D-Day and Normandy, but again fails to discuss the Pacific, while limiting its discussion of the Battles of Britain and the Atlantic.

Textbook #3 - Canadian History: Patterns and Transformations (2003)

Perhaps this is the weakest text if your intention is to teach how the war impacted Canada. This textbook does not focus on international events. It focuses solely on what was happening in Canada. Therefore, there is a single paragraph on Prime Minister King during the war years. I found this extremely surprising as Canada transformed dramatically during the war - how could a text with this title overlook the impacts of the Second World War?

Textbook #4 - Defining Canada: History, Identity, and Culture (2003)


Similar to books #1 & 2 this text does a good job providing a basic summary of events. It does a decent job at explaining why the world was in conflict in 1939, as well as solid summary of the rise of Fascism, and the Western policy of Appeasement. The battles of Dieppe and Normandy are covered in slightly more detail than any other text, but again it has no coverage of the Pacific War.

Textbook #5 - Canadian History: 1900-2000 (2000)

My biggest criticism with this text is that it claims to include Canadian history in 2000, yet was only published in 2000...However, it does the best at describing the lead-up to war (5 or so pages) as well as the causes of war (an additional 5 pages). It touches on the war in the Pacific, even mentions Pearl Harbour in addition to Hong Kong. This text also has the best section about Women at war (5 pages) as well as several pages on the legacy of the war and its effects on the global political sphere. Perhaps it is for these reasons that this is (from my experience) the most common history textbook in Canadian History classrooms.

Closing Thoughts:

I never advocate teaching history out of a textbook. Experiential learning is the best way to engage students in History. Far too many students consider history to be boring and their least favourite subject. This honestly makes me sad. History is engaging by nature and should be taught through story-telling with critical and analytical thinking. Where I believe textbooks come in handy is for critical thinking activities and analysis of reliable sources for research. I found this to be an extremely interesting exercise, they are not equal in how they approach the subject matter.

I have not yet had the opportunity to work with any of the newly published/approved textbooks

History Uncovered: Canadian History Since World War I (2014)
Creating Canada: A History - 1914 to the Present Second Edition (2014)
Think History: Canadian History Since 1914 (2016)
Canadian Sources: Investigated (2014)

What are your thoughts? Have you recently analyses the effectiveness of your texts for your classes overall expectations?

Questioning the In-Class Essay

While I am relatively new to the teaching profession (3+ years experience) I find myself questioning more and more the practice of having students write literary essays in-class. Why are we forcing students to do this, especially when we know it leads to lower quality papers?

I am a high school English teacher and I spend a great deal of time teaching formal writing; especially how to write a proper literary essay. I also privately tutor high school students, often supporting them in similar English courses to the ones I teach and I am struck every time a student informs me that they are writing an in-class essay on the novel/play they just finished studying.

From my perspective, an in-class essay evaluates two things. 1. How well a student can write under pressure in an uncomfortable learning environment. 2. How well a student can memorise points and research they completed outside of the classroom for their in-class essay. That is it.

I honestly believe as teachers, and school boards, we implemented in-class essays to prevent plagiarism, yet with services such as Turnitin being used, there is no longer a benefit of the in-class essay. Besides, every senior level English course I teach has an essay question on the final exam. Therefore, if I want to assess how well a student can write under pressure and based on memorization, I get an opportunity anyway.

Plagiarism will likely occur in essays. It is a common understanding that at least one student will attempt to cheat, and hope that you will not catch it. To deter this from happening, I show my students Turnitin, and how it find everything on the internet, even provides the URLs to where the information was retrieved. I have found that by showing students that we have the technology to detect plagiarism, it is less likely to occur. Turnitin even detects if the same essay has been submitted to another teacher in another school.

The other part that prevents students from plagiarising is a strict school policy. In my school board, a plagiarised assignment is automatically assessed a failing grade (30%) and the student is not automatically allowed a re-write opportunity. Re-write are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, there is no reason not to allow students to write essays at home.

I have asked other teachers why they use in-class essays, and another common response is that they want students to learn proper peer editing.

Alright, I agree that there is a benefit to learning proper peer editing skills, but this can still be employed when a student is allowed to work on their paper at home. Besides, once a student leaves your class and moves on to post-secondary or employment, there is rarely a moment in real life that a student will be forced to work without adequate resources (word processing, the internet, and a magnitude of other resources that are not available in in-class essays).

In my opinion, if you want to adequately prepare a student for college or university, they need to learn proper time management skills, and how to write an essay on their own time. This is not accomplished with in-class essays.

Finally, the level of writing is always better in essays written at home. This is because the strong students will use peer editing at home to improve their essays. As an English teacher, I hate reading poorly written work, it is a waste of my time, especially when correcting spelling and grammar errors that would not be present in a word-proccessed essay. That is why when I receive a well-written paper, it is a joy to read, and easier to assess. That is why I want the practice of in-class essays to end!

What are your thoughts?