Instructional resources and materials should not be used blindly, even if they are traditional.

Educators
should evaluate the material they use based on several criteria. Teachers should evaluate their
instructional resources for maximum effectiveness. They should also align the resources they use and
create with all relevant learning standards. Furthermore, instructional materials should not be used for
their own sake. Educators should ensure that the resources they use to support learning fulfill that
purpose rather than distracting from students’ learning.

When creating instructional materials such as assessments, educators should make sure that they ask
their students a wide range of questions. Some students will respond positively to certain types of
questions than others. Also, instructors should ensure that the resources they create are usable by
students with special needs. If they are not, modifications will need to be made to enable use by
students with special needs. Thirdly, if time and resources permit, educators should make multiple
resources to teach the same subject. Similar to how students respond differently to different types of
questions, there are multiple ways to learn. Some students learn visually while others learn auditorially.
Still, others learn through physical contact. Educators should ensure that all types of students are able to
learn the required material.

When educators are assessing and selecting traditional resources to use to teach their students, the
most important factor that they should consider is the ability of the assignment or passage to help
students fulfill a learning standard. If a traditional instructional resource does not adequately meet the
needs and requirements of current standards, it should probably not be used without significant
modifications. If it cannot be modified, non-traditional materials may be a better fit for the needs of the
classroom.

Instructional Materials Examples

Many types of instructional materials can be used to teach students about one subject. Teachers can use
exclusively traditional materials, graphic organizers, or teacher-made resources. However, this is not the
most effective way to teach. The most effective educators will use a wide range of materials that teach in
a variety of ways to effectively influence students to learn the materials and concepts required by
standards.

For example, the first standard of the English Language Arts Standards related to History and Social
Studies for grades 6 to 8 is that students should be able to ‘’cite specific textual evidence to support
analysis of primary and secondary sources.’’

Examples of traditional materials that can help students accomplish this standard include:
Textbooks that discuss information about time periods that are relevant to the primary source being
analyzed

Anthologies or readers that have primary sources about a particular time period that can be analyzed
and compared with each other

Workbooks that encourage students to answer a variety of questions regarding primary sources

Examples of graphic organizers that can assist students in fulfilling this standard include:

Venn diagrams that can be used by students to include evidence for and against certain arguments
regarding a primary source

Charts that allow students to list and elucidate evidence for certain arguments

Timelines that allow students to track relationships between events that occurred close to each other in
time

Maps that allow students to examine the spatial relationships between primary sources and events they
discuss

Examples of teacher-made resources related to this standard include:

Quizzes that assess how much information a student has retained and learned from a specific primary
source

Projects that require a student to perform an in-depth analysis of a particular primary source