Well, my final exam was yesterday. I didn’t kill multiple choice as much as I would have liked but next semester is always another opportunity. This test was the conclusion of my first semester with no textbook. I must say, I didn’t miss it that much. It made me work a lot harder but that was the best part about it. I found new sites and sources that I didn’t know existed. We used games and interactive sites to teach the exact same material. My students read Pericles’ last speech and all of Hammurabi’s Code for FREE! They didn’t have to shell out $100+ dollars for the newest edition. Textbooks are stagnant. They stay still. How 21st century is that? Breaking free of the textbook mindset is a process. I still find myself relying on my “textbook” PowerPoints too much but eventually I will break those chains as well. Now that I think about it, teaching history from a textbook is simply unnecessary. The cost cannot be justified in my mind. At least not for a history course.
So, how did I do it. I relied heavily on my teaching colleague @TeachPaperless. When you do not have a textbook you need to find an alternative. Wikipedia was my friend. Fordham University’s primary source database was priceless, and BBC Ancient History site was amazing. Between those three sources and a few others, I had more than enough information to replace the textbook. My list will continue to grow as will the price of textbooks and their irrelevance.
