TEXT ANALYSIS 1

Text Analysis

Kim Kaye

Department of Education, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

EDU 412: Literacy Development

Dr. Prince

March 2023
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Introduction

When looking at the textbook that my mentor teacher hases her students use, I believe it

is a decent example of a textbook that students should be interacting with during the school day.

The textbook is titled “MyPerspectives English Language Arts” and this was volume two that

she was using with her 10th grade students. The section of the textbook that I looked at

specifically was the “All That Glitters” unit. This unit had multiple different types of texts and

activities within it. They had text types such as journalism, poetry, short stories, magazine

articles, news articles, informational graphics, and even images. The key idea of the unit was

stated on an opening page that said “All That Glitters” in a large, easy to read text and in a

smaller text under it said “For many people, the longing for material goods extends well beyond

the needs of survival. What drives our passion for things?” (MyPerspectives, 2017) Overall, this

text takes on a relatively user-friendly and welcoming tone for students. It uses grade-level

appropriate vocabulary as well as gives ample examples, reviews, and activities for the teacher

and student to use alike. Although I would recommend this text to other teachers and students,

that is not to say there were no weaknesses. The text was a very strong contender for a well-

rounded anchor text that can be used along with other forms of media and text in the classroom.

So despite the small number of weaknesses, this text is a very strong one to use in the classroom,

in my opinion.

Strengths

Throughout this textbook, there are many strong additions beside just the anchor stories

which make this a useful tool for students. In the beginning of the unit, there is a page that breaks

down all the parts, texts, activities, and more that the students can expect in this unit. It also
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seemed to make use of lots of images which were interesting for students to look at and associate

with the main ideas of the text. The textbook also makes use of multiple forms of text, which can

be really helpful for differentiation based on interest. The different genres of text and the

different content of the stories will make this engaging and interesting for a variety of readers.

Beside the main texts, the book also featured many different types of pop-outs. Some of which

included things like : “as you read” reminders and things to notice, “scan for multimedia”

prompts, a vocabulary word web graphic organizer, a specific determined and marked place to

write a summary of the text students just read in the margins of the textbook, multiple different

activities that are a variation of group work and individual work, strategies explaining explicitly

how to ‘close read,’ moments that students are expected to annotate, insights about the genre of

text, information about the author, and much more. For the graphic organizers in which the

textbook made ample use of, they always had part of it filled out as an example and directions

included so that students may fill it out by seeing the visual. This also applied for the activities

such as the performance tasks and informative essay the text assigns. The space which was

indicated for students to write notes was helpful as it made them think about it and gave them a

clear spot to put their annotations. I also thought it was particularly good that it did explain

exactly how to annotate the text with examples and asked students to look for certain things to

note as they read. On page 374, the text asks students to read closely, “Annotate: In paragraph 3,

mark details related to size, luxury, and antiquity. Question: Why does the author use these

particular details? Conclude: What image do these details paint the life of Madame Loisel

desires?” (MyPerspectives, 2017) In explicitly asking students to look for certain things and

provide them examples when reading it is teaching them strategies that good readers do. In

addition to the pop-outs, the textbook also makes use of a multitude of different activities and
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performance tasks that it asks students to do. The activities often include graphic organizers with

examples which will help the students understand their task better. The activities also are usually

varied in different types such as vocabulary word webs, summarization, reflections on

comprehension, gathering supporting evidence, and doing research outside of the textbook.

These activities and performance tasks are beneficial when included in the text as it allows for

teachers to gather ideas of supplemental activities which will go hand-in-hand with the text,

however this can also lead to a possible weakness depending on the willingness of the teacher to

use outside sources or not.

Weaknesses

Although this text has many strengths, there are a few weaknesses which should be

addressed. One being that due to the surplus of activities and performance tasks within the

textbook itself, a teacher may feel the need to stick only to the textbook and not make use of

other supplemental resources in their curriculum. Due to the activities being clearly laid out and

explained, they my not feel the need to even check them for their uses in the curriculum and see

if they feel they are a good fit and make the assumption that because it is written in the anchor

textbook it is the best activity or performance task for the unit automatically. I do encourage

teachers to make use of the anchor textbook, I do encourage them to deeply read the textbook

and ensure that it is beneficial to use the activities. They should cherry-pick certain activities

which best fit into their curriculum, as well as use a multiple of other outside sources to further

complete the main points of the unit. The second weakness that I could think of was that

sometimes the sheer amount of pop-outs and activities may actually be overwhelming or

distracting to students. There are many things on one page of the text. This often included the
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pop-outs, the text themselves, and even sometimes quotes with different fonts and colors. This

could be beneficial in many ways, but for some students it could simply be too much that they

may not even know where to start or where to look. However, I do want to note that I’m not sure

what the ‘happy-medium’ would be considered in this context. I think that perhaps this textbook

effectiveness could vary student to student and their own abilities and skills. Some other

weaknesses which the textbook should be noted for are the assumptions that it makes for its

reader base.

Assumptions

Some assumptions that the textbook publishers make about their readers can have a large

impact on the accessibility of it for multiple different readers. Some of the assumptions include

that the reader is going to understand the cultural norms of America and were enriched by the

culture enough to understand references and certain ways of speaking. They also make the

assumption that the reader speaks and can read English, and also in addition, that they

understand academic English with the content-specific terms for ELA such as “annotate,

conclude, reflect, etc” (MyPerspectives, 2017). Assuming that the readers understand cultural

norms that are deeply embedded in a white-based ideal can also have an impact on students of

color. The textbook appeared to have mostly texts which white, middle-class students would

relate to more than other peers may. I do not believe it is bad to include one or two texts from

this perspective, but I also believe the textbook should be multicultural and applicable for a

variety of different students with different experiences. One more assumption that I noted that

the publishers made was that the 10th grade students would be on par with, or above, reading-

level for their grade. I understand that this textbook is based on averages, but I do hope students

who may be at lower reading levels also get access to a textbook that is as beneficial as this.
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Teaching

If I were to use this textbook in my placement, which I likely will as the curriculum is

centered around it, I would be sure to keep a few things in mind. I would like to ensure that I do

the activities in the textbook with my students and explain it to them in a different way so that

students with different learning styles could also understand it. I would also be sure to pick and

choose the activities that I thought were most beneficial, and skip ones that seemed like

busywork. When I pick and choose what activities I believe my students should complete, I will

ensure that there is a variety to them, this includes group work and individual work, different

graphic organizers, and different performance tasks. I would also be sure to find supplemental

activities that students could do for differentiation purposes, but also so that they are getting

everything from a variety of sources outside the anchor textbook. I would be sure to explicitly

teach the strategies that the students are tasked to do in this book, along with using new

additional strategies. If I were to teach an additional strategy, not in the anchor textbook, I would

teach the Textbook Jigsaw Sheet from “Subjects Matter” in chapter 6 by Smokey Daniels. In the

Textbook Jigsaw Sheet, students will be assigned a section of the text where they will mark any

words or lines that are of note to them using a coding system or sticky notes. Then they will

write down two or three of the main ideas and three connections they made. After this, they will

have a group meeting where the student explains their section to their peers. Then the class

comes back in a group discussion to explain their understanding (Daniels & Zemelman, 2004,

p.187). I believe in having the students become ‘experts’ on their assigned part of the text within

the anchor textbook and share it with their peers that it will help deepen and strengthen their
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comprehension. I think a strategy like this would also just work really well with a relatively

strong textbook like this one.

Conclusion

Prior to doing this textbook analysis, I did not put too much thought into how a teacher

selected their anchor textbook for students to use. Doing this assignment, the reading, as well as

the group discussions helped me grasp a better understanding of what makes a textbook a good

one to use or not. Before, I would have assumed most of them use the textbook to guide their

curriculum as that was what I had experienced as a student from my teachers and how they

taught in the past. This assignment made me look deeper into what goes into making a text

accessible for multiple different students, and some weaknesses which make it one that should

generally be avoided. It also forced me to think of ways to scaffold and support the anchor text

so that it can be used efficiently to help grasp concepts and for maximum comprehension.

Because I was able to look deeper into textbooks and how to use them now, I will be sure to use

a textbook which is similar to this “MyPerspectives English Language Arts” one. I will be sure

to find a text which is user friendly and has activities and their own supports within it, while

supplying my own to ensure all students have access to the same understanding of the text. This

includes textbooks which are mandated by administrators. Because of this assignment, I was able

to learn how to cherry-pick the best of the best from a textbook and supplementary materials in

areas where it may be weaker. In this textbook that I was able to look at provided by my host

teacher, I was able to see what an example of a strong textbook looks like out in the field.

References
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Daniels, H., & Zemelman, S. (2004). Subjects matter: Every teacher's guide to content-

area reading. Heinemann.

Pearson. (2017). MyPerspectives: English language arts.