Textbook, Tasks and Projects

We are in full decision-making regarding the selection of textbooks. Is recurrent hear the same question: what publisher we take?
My answer is always the same and that the publishing house has to be in line with the requirements of the regulatory framework and, of course, the school plan in question.
In either case, the role of the publisher must be accompany the teachers in the performance of teaching, providing resources for both the design of their programs and for the development in the classroom.

Clarified these issues, you can work on projects with textbooks? The answer is yes. The textbook is a resource that helps teachers to sequence the basic learning of a more or less coherent, and students through various activities and suggested texts, acquiring cash them. One of the keys will generate tasks in which students have to apply the acquired learning.

Projects and tasks have common elements:
1. Require at least a final product: related to speaking, writing, tic, manipulative, teamwork, … (reports, leaflets, exhibitions, murals, choreography …)
2. They must have an impact that violates the merely academic. Tasks and projects are not developed for presentation and put a note; They are made in response to a problem situation that causes an impact on the students on a personal level, in the educational community and in families and socially.
3. Potentially interdisciplinary: meaning that, if the conditions are right, they can work simultaneously from several areas, but in the worst case, you could work from one.
4. Competence: in all cases a task or project aims to apply learning to respond to problem situations.
What skills requires students to perform tasks and projects?
The students must have acquired certain skills and techniques that will apply to these situations speaking, listening, and written comprehension, thinking and investigative and problem solving skills … These techniques can be learned through teaching units “workshop”, in which students learn to speak in public, plan and organize written information, select and properly deal information, … what we can help for it? Exercises and activities of the textbook.

How do we organize these teaching units WORKSHOP?
Dedicating one or more sessions throughout the school, weekly, biweekly or monthly course, depending on the workload of each area.

These lesson plans are not bi, but starting in the early going and culminate at the end of it.
The rest of the time can be devoted to the work of the rest of contents of each issue.
How did we get from the subjects to the projects?
1. Insert a task topic contributes to the jump bridges and not vacuum without protection. As the task has certain similarities with the projects, it can be a facilitator strategy. Work for workshops, students will acquire greater technical mastery of different skills and abilities that apply tasks and projects. Tasks can have a space schedule that alternates with the workshops and topics.
2. Designing Projects Research associated with problem situations, rather than content, in which the student responds by applying the skills and abilities that are acquiring. To do this, the hours would be devoted to project work spaces.

What circumstances are at the organizational level?
In the weekly schedule at least four types of educational units simultaneous:
1. Topics (textbook): in which students acquire basic learning associated to the content area.
2. Workshops (using the text book): in which students acquire mastery of techniques that are transferable to as many contexts of their academic and personal (speaking, display, report, …).
3. Tasks (using the book, provided by publishers or homemade) in which students apply certain skills and to address related problem situations related to the contents of skills areas.
4. Projects (proposed by the students) whose objective is to respond to problem situations raised by children, where basic learning content and associated skills and competence acquired skills be means to address the sequence of each project.
Desirable …
The book as such, be at the service of the organization of the classroom work plan, including material support and consultation, key to gaining skills, abilities and knowledge needed to successfully meet the various tasks and projects as they arise.