Math textbooks and their language

 In all of elementary, high school, and university, I don't remember ever having a math textbook that I found effective. As a teacher, I really appreciate the attention to linguistic detail put forth in this article - particularly the analysis of the use of first/second/third person, and the discussion of how these details affect whether the reader sees math as absolute or more subjective. On the other hand, though, as a student I don't think that these details can, on their own, make a textbook something I want to learn from. There are many other concerns with textbook design, such as problem design and exposition style, that I find more important when learning from a textbook.

In general I'm inclined to not use a textbook, except possibly for practice questions. I think they are good to give ideas about structuring units, but I value adapting my lessons to my individual style and my individual classes more than the ease of use that comes from a textbook. From my experience, students also dislike textbooks, so it's more likely that they'll be disengaged if I use them.

As an aside, th article did make me consider the common use of "we" in math literature. As the standard pronoun used in proofs, I appreciate the way it makes written mathematical content seem like a collaboration between writer and reader, as if they are exploring the ideas together. I want to make "we" the standard pronoun in my classroom as well, to bring students into the process, even when I'm teaching from the front.