chhayaben panchal

yes, There is always need of standard text book for students in class. But beside that i am always using reference book for extra examples. At the end of the each class , i always assign home work for the chapter covered in today's class, but not from text book and also assign one/two word problems related to the content covered in class. Which will force students to go to library or go to internet search for finding the clue. This helps me to serve two purpose- trying understand the application of content and also through internet they will be able to see the bigger picture of the subject.
Before 10 or 15 years, it was very hard to find specific reference books. we had to go to the library, search for book. And there is always limited collection of books in school or public libraries. But now a days, books are easily accessible through internet.

Claudia Coulter

I reinforce the written material with guest lectures that will employ discussion and simply validate the written material. This way students hear it first-hand and tend to accept what the text states.

Gail White

i use a current issue of a relevant professional journal to pick out specific topics that we can either discuss in class, or they need to tell me how it relates to what we are covering in class.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Jeff,
Good idea on keeping the course content current. Sometimes students seem to think that the content of the course is selected from some historical setting rather than from a contemporary source.
Gary

Jeff Davis

I like to use current news articles that are relevant to the course material and can be discussed in class. This keeps the material current and show how it relates to real life. Students especially seem to like when the articles are extremely recent -- news related to a topic that comes out the same day you are planning to cover that topic is teaching gold.

Gary Meers, Ed.D.

Hi Araceli,
What materials do you use besides your text? What have you found to be the most helpful?
Gary