Are Classroom Books Sufficent Enough????

Working in groups, Dr. Smironova gave us the task to find 4th grade social studies textbooks that students are currently using. As we carefully looked through the books, she gave us a checklist to follow. As we went through the checklist, we were also given the task to rate the books. The issue my group encountered was that our three books (teacher's book, student workbook, and student book) did not match each other. When it came down to rating how well they worked with each other this became our major issue. How could it be possible to rate books that are not part of the same set. Instead of rating  them as a set, we based their rating on their own independent rating. It was quickly obvious the ratings we were giving our books. We found the workbook was overall a good book. Workbooks allow the students to apply their knowledge of what they learn, allows them to practice, and review. Though the workbook is not colorful and not appealing at all, it is still practical and allows students to create a better understanding of the content they learn. The student's book was also rated as a good book. The book did have color, and was very informative on the content it presented in the book. The book also provided the students with visuals. The only problem with the book is that it was huge. This huge appearance makes it not very appealing for students. Lastly, the teacher's edition book was our last rating. Overall we did not give this book a good rating. The teacher's edition was hard to follow and did not provide the teacher with much direction on activities and how to present the lessons. The book was what we considered "all over the place" and a very difficult book to follow. This book did not meet our expectations at all!