Textbooks should be chosen based on their content, scope, orientation, level of difficulty, reviews, and how well they fit with the instructor's learning outcomes and own, personal approach to the subject matter being taught. In addition, the teacher should plan out the integration of the textbook into the classroom before the classes even begin at the lesson planning or curriculum development stage. Examples of textbook usage are offered by U.C. Berkeley's Barbara Gross Davis, who suggests teachers have students study readings before class, take notes on major themes, summarize readings, bring questions to class, work-outs and homework prompts and examples, and for ongoing review of potential exam materials.
Around the first day of class, prepare students for engaging with the textbook by teaching reading strategies that relate to the type of book you are using. For example, in a vocabulary-rich book like a biology textbook, you may go over a handout with students explaining the SQ3R approach to reading. SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review and refers to a method of reading for learning. It is also helpful to prepare students for the reading and assignments they will have to do throughout the semester by providing them with a syllabus, class schedule, or assignment on the first day. You can fread parts of the first chapter aloud on the first day.
Students will engage more with a textbook if it feels relevant to the class they are taking. One way a teacher can do this is to directly refer to the textbook graphics, chapter sections, questions, or terminology during lecture, or to integrate passages and images from the reading into a slide show. In addition, teachers can refer students to use different aspects of the textbook for further or better study based on students' individual learning styles by encouraging visual learners to review diagrams, or have auditory learners read aloud.
Requiring students to read a textbook at home between classes is a common teaching approach. One way to get students to engage further with their textbooks is to assign written homework from the book. For books that offer prompts, questions, and examples, students can be assigned to complete sections of the book directly for homework which will culminate in a test or quiz later. For books that don't offer such, teachers can assign writing prompts based on the reading, or create small-group activities based on the reading from the night before.