Brainmate

Get it Right….Save your TIME

Greetings to all the teachers out there toiling hard with their students. Getting up early in the morning, working hard all day long, pushing their vocal chords against the permissible limits; it’s definitely not easy out there handling numerous children each with a different mindset and varying capabilities. Yet you people with such a keen eye and intense stamina get it right. Yes, you get it right most of the time and kudos to you for that.

It gets all the more demanding when you people are burdened with an extra task of selecting the right book or let’s say the most appropriate book; from among the vast range of options and in limited time. All the English medium school teachers definitely deserve a standing applause for this.

Having been in the school books publication industry for more than 20 years and having adorned various profiles I have seen it all; right from the discussions which takes place with the authors to the final presentation given to the marketing team before they go out in the field handing out the specimen copies. Based on that I have given my best shot to save your time and effort at least on one front: book selection procedure.

Go through this simple point wise point guide to fine tune and speed up your process.

1. YOU ARE THE SUBJECT EXPERT

You are the subject expert and you know it better. Once you are approached by the marketing executive of any company make sure you ask him the questions about the book you are concerned with. Ask him about the things that you want to see in the book. Verify them then and there.

2. SILLY MISTAKES ARE DISTURBING

Develop a practice of reading or browsing thoroughly through 3-4 random pages of the book. This should be focused on assessing that there are no silly mistakes in the content such as spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, irrelevant content etc.

3. READ THE TEXT BOOK BACKWARDS

Start reading the book backwards. Yes, you read it right. Its a text book and not a suspense thriller so start reading it backwards. This is where you come across the annexures, extra practice material, worksheets, practice material for Olympiads, project based questions, etc. This gives you a quick insight about the quality of the content.

4. DIAGRAMS AND IMAGES ARE IMPORTANT

By just turning on the pages quickly get an estimate of the number of explanatory diagrams and images. Higher the percentage of the graphical content more interesting and interactive the book becomes.

5. SUMMARY GIVES YOU AN INSGHT

Go through the summary at the end of the chapter. It has to be there, it is a must. The more exhaustive the summary is, the better the content will be.

6. EXRECISES CONVEY A MESSAGE

Go through the exercises and make note whether it matches the standard of your students or not.

7. CHECK CONTENTS PAGE FOR SYLLABUS

Go through the contents page, if the book provides you with the detailed contents it is always better and time saving.

8. PRINTING, PRESENTATION AND ARRANGEMENT IS IMPORTANT

Make sure that the book is nicely printed and presented. The matter should be neatly arranged and written in easy to understand fonts. There should be no clumsiness in the arrangement of objects and there should be ample white space to render calmness to your eyes.

9. CONTACT INFORMATION IS IMPORTANT

Lastly,make sure the book has an ISBN and it contains complete contact information of the publication.

Granted, it will take time to get into the groove of all these things, but once you develop the habit, the difference you see will definitely be a welcome one.