Textbooks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just can't imagine it would be THAT expensive to have even math and grammar/spelling workbooks. They are 7.99 at Costco.

Exactly. Millions paid to all the online tools that many teachers don’t want/don’t use. Ours had a teacher that was photocopying from a text book and then the kids were told to paste it in their marble notebook. The idea may have been good, but most I saw were papers folded in half or fourths and then glued in and was awful and kit something anyone would or could go back to to “study” from.

[Anonymous]

The teachers are idiots for having worksheets glued into the marble notebook. That’s a complete waste of time and resources. The marble notebook is smaller than an 8.5”x11” sheet. Thus, students must fold and paste it in! The teacher should be teaching kids how to punch three-holes into the worksheet and how to organize a binder!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teachers are idiots for having worksheets glued into the marble notebook. That’s a complete waste of time and resources. The marble notebook is smaller than an 8.5”x11” sheet. Thus, students must fold and paste it in! The teacher should be teaching kids how to punch three-holes into the worksheet and how to organize a binder!

I assumed they were taught this is somehow superior to using textbooks and worksheets. Kind of like how Lucy Caulkins took over reading instruction teaching at all teachers' colleges, I figured this took over too. Maybe Lucy even pioneered it! Except nobody's yet made an award winning podcast on how dumb it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of textbooks was the biggest mistake from FCPS

It all comes down to money. I doubt they want to replace half of them every year after they are ripped, defaced, or ruined in the latest classroom destruction incident.

When I was in FCPS (a long time ago) we had textbooks passed down for a number of years. You could see the names written in the front. Covered them in paper bags. I'm sure some number every year went missing or were destroyed by negligent students, but most survived the year. You should all remember this.

Are the kids today that much more destructive or negligent? Or do the textbook companies just demand too much money (it is a bit of a racket - maybe a lot of a racket)?

Or are the schools spending so much on technology they had to sacrifice textbooks. I think it may be time to return to textbooks.

The kids today are overwhelmingly more destructive, and some are even proud to vandalize school property. Very few parents hold their kids accountable for their behavior, or even say "kids will be kids," so kids never learn to respect property.

I am a teacher who issues novels to students 3-4 times each year. On average, 20-30 kids lose or damage their books beyond repair EACH TIME they are issued.

In addition, a number of students vandalize the desks, rip posters off walls in hallways, intentionally dent lockers, break their computers, spill water on others intentionally, and leave trash all over the hallways and classrooms. It is out of control.

I grew up in a different country, where every student has a textbook for every subject except PE. Parents pay tuition including the cost of textbooks. The textbooks are not as luxury as American textbooks. The paper and binding are just the normal, cheap books. Teacher encouraged us to make marks, highlights and notes on the book. I clearly remember one of my teacher told us on the first day of his class:" At the end of this semester, I want to see all of your textbooks become very old and even ripped. You should use it before class, at class and after class. The textbook will be threw into the trash can. The knowledge will be absorbed in your brain."

All the issue the teacher mentioned can be solved. There will be publisher who is willing to print textbooks with cheap paper and binding. Let the market talk. Also, let the parents pay for the textbooks . Sponsor the students from low SES family. Vandalize school property? Pay for it. So easy.

We have those here too, they’re called workbooks. Usually you get a textbook and a workbook with a solid curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting rid of textbooks was the biggest mistake from FCPS

It all comes down to money. I doubt they want to replace half of them every year after they are ripped, defaced, or ruined in the latest classroom destruction incident.

When I was in FCPS (a long time ago) we had textbooks passed down for a number of years. You could see the names written in the front. Covered them in paper bags. I'm sure some number every year went missing or were destroyed by negligent students, but most survived the year. You should all remember this.

Are the kids today that much more destructive or negligent? Or do the textbook companies just demand too much money (it is a bit of a racket - maybe a lot of a racket)?

Or are the schools spending so much on technology they had to sacrifice textbooks. I think it may be time to return to textbooks.

The kids today are overwhelmingly more destructive, and some are even proud to vandalize school property. Very few parents hold their kids accountable for their behavior, or even say "kids will be kids," so kids never learn to respect property.

I am a teacher who issues novels to students 3-4 times each year. On average, 20-30 kids lose or damage their books beyond repair EACH TIME they are issued.

In addition, a number of students vandalize the desks, rip posters off walls in hallways, intentionally dent lockers, break their computers, spill water on others intentionally, and leave trash all over the hallways and classrooms. It is out of control.

+1, 5 to 10 years ago I used to purchase class sets of novels for kids to read. I don’t do it anymore because over half of them are regularly lost or damaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. College kids have textbooks but many are digital soft copies.

In my DD’s 3 years of college she has probably purchased 5 or 6 textbooks. Everything else is digital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the posters saying text books are too expensive, do you think all the online sites are for free? FCPS has pays $$$$$ each year (feel free to request FOIA) and separately for all the online sites- clever, Lexia, ST Math and the list goes on… this is not about saving $.

And for the we can’t have nice things, so then explain if kids cannot handle having a book, why is FCPS allowing computers?

And you think those sites are more expensive than text books? No they are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just can't imagine it would be THAT expensive to have even math and grammar/spelling workbooks. They are 7.99 at Costco.

As soon as FCPS tries to purchase them from an approved vendor, they’ll be $25 each.

[Anonymous]

I imagine the entire approval process the school system has to go through for textbooks is much harder than they do to spin up Lexia. All the community review, committee meetings, and so on...

Maybe we need less bureaucracy.

[Anonymous]

Retired elementary FCPS teacher here. This should be the rallying point for parents. Kids would always be excited to get new textbooks at the start of the year. They had accompanying workbooks, as well. The curriculum was laid out in an orderly fashion and kids could reference the glossaries or indexes as needed. Absent kids could catch up. Parents could see what was being covered. Substitute teachers could keep things moving. Imagine if all those kids had had textbooks and workbooks at home during Covid. Many families could have helped kids keep learning.

It takes an incredible amount of teacher time to copy papers and packets and deal with the technology, and to help the kids with technology. It adds incredibly to teacher stress and burnout, especially for those who teach multi-grade classrooms.

There are many amazing teachers who do a great job design8mg and delivering instruction without textbooks, but those teachers spend hours outside of school doing so.

The black and white composition books with all the cutting and gluing are a nightmare for kids with fine-motor and organizational challenges, and if a kid is absent, it’s a hassle and time-consuming to catch them up on that. I did it for a year when they first started and then used binders and three-hole punches.

It used to be the district paid for textbooks and workbooks, and then they shifted that to individual school budgets, from what I understand.

These tech things are so expensive and they often require a multi-year contract. They should all be vetted by actual classroom teachers.

The reading textbooks were held up by Youngkin’s administration in the past year or two, because they all had to be reviewed for stuff they didn’t want in books.

If kids rip up stuff admin won’t make parents pay, but that can be changed by the school board. Kids can work off the costs in high school by doing Saturday chores at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Retired elementary FCPS teacher here. This should be the rallying point for parents. Kids would always be excited to get new textbooks at the start of the year. They had accompanying workbooks, as well. The curriculum was laid out in an orderly fashion and kids could reference the glossaries or indexes as needed. Absent kids could catch up. Parents could see what was being covered. Substitute teachers could keep things moving. Imagine if all those kids had had textbooks and workbooks at home during Covid. Many families could have helped kids keep learning.

It takes an incredible amount of teacher time to copy papers and packets and deal with the technology, and to help the kids with technology. It adds incredibly to teacher stress and burnout, especially for those who teach multi-grade classrooms.

There are many amazing teachers who do a great job design8mg and delivering instruction without textbooks, but those teachers spend hours outside of school doing so.

The black and white composition books with all the cutting and gluing are a nightmare for kids with fine-motor and organizational challenges, and if a kid is absent, it’s a hassle and time-consuming to catch them up on that. I did it for a year when they first started and then used binders and three-hole punches.

It used to be the district paid for textbooks and workbooks, and then they shifted that to individual school budgets, from what I understand.

These tech things are so expensive and they often require a multi-year contract. They should all be vetted by actual classroom teachers.

The reading textbooks were held up by Youngkin’s administration in the past year or two, because they all had to be reviewed for stuff they didn’t want in books.

If kids rip up stuff admin won’t make parents pay, but that can be changed by the school board. Kids can work off the costs in high school by doing Saturday chores at school.

It should be a rallying point for parents, but until you convince all your fellow retirees to stop going to the polls and just voting for whoever appears on their preferred sample ballot, the parents will keep being outnumbered and the school board members will only care about getting on those sample ballots.

See...parents just don't matter that much unless we can get FCPS to look bad in the news. That's the only time they pay attention to us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the posters saying text books are too expensive, do you think all the online sites are for free? FCPS has pays $$$$$ each year (feel free to request FOIA) and separately for all the online sites- clever, Lexia, ST Math and the list goes on… this is not about saving $.

And for the we can’t have nice things, so then explain if kids cannot handle having a book, why is FCPS allowing computers?

And you think those sites are more expensive than text books? No they are not.

Yes I do. You can pull the costs from FCPS. And for fun, look up Lexia’s financials- over $200 million a year…. No Red Ink, $26 million. Do you think these companies donate? Not to mention FCPS pays the consultants to identify the software they are going to use (but that would be a wash as they would pay them to find books too). Comes down to if a textbook or not person. Like whether a dog or cat person, won’t be able to convince the other anyway so will leave you all to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the posters saying text books are too expensive, do you think all the online sites are for free? FCPS has pays $$$$$ each year (feel free to request FOIA) and separately for all the online sites- clever, Lexia, ST Math and the list goes on… this is not about saving $.

And for the we can’t have nice things, so then explain if kids cannot handle having a book, why is FCPS allowing computers?

Yes, THIS. I'm so sick of the mentality that we're too poor to have in 2024 what we were able to afford in the 1980's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Retired elementary FCPS teacher here. This should be the rallying point for parents. Kids would always be excited to get new textbooks at the start of the year. They had accompanying workbooks, as well. The curriculum was laid out in an orderly fashion and kids could reference the glossaries or indexes as needed. Absent kids could catch up. Parents could see what was being covered. Substitute teachers could keep things moving. Imagine if all those kids had had textbooks and workbooks at home during Covid. Many families could have helped kids keep learning.

It takes an incredible amount of teacher time to copy papers and packets and deal with the technology, and to help the kids with technology. It adds incredibly to teacher stress and burnout, especially for those who teach multi-grade classrooms.

There are many amazing teachers who do a great job design8mg and delivering instruction without textbooks, but those teachers spend hours outside of school doing so.

The black and white composition books with all the cutting and gluing are a nightmare for kids with fine-motor and organizational challenges, and if a kid is absent, it’s a hassle and time-consuming to catch them up on that. I did it for a year when they first started and then used binders and three-hole punches.

It used to be the district paid for textbooks and workbooks, and then they shifted that to individual school budgets, from what I understand.

These tech things are so expensive and they often require a multi-year contract. They should all be vetted by actual classroom teachers.

The reading textbooks were held up by Youngkin’s administration in the past year or two, because they all had to be reviewed for stuff they didn’t want in books.

If kids rip up stuff admin won’t make parents pay, but that can be changed by the school board. Kids can work off the costs in high school by doing Saturday chores at school.

Your last if did textbook parents could see what being covered. Wonder if less complaints about material being covered since moved everything online? If can’t see, can’t complain.

[Anonymous]

I've long been convinced someone in FCPS is getting kick back from the marble notebook manufacturer. Those things are utterly useless.