Question to Teachers - Do you prefer to come up with your own curriculum or follow a set curriculum?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
? |
Anonymous
|
I spend a lot of my own money (and have in the past) on materials. Why? Because it's that important. And if I get something from the internet it is because I have had a choice there and I have seen something that fits with my class or is easier to tweak for my class. If the school district purchases something, they don't consult with me. They decide what to buy. The textbook is only the "core" curriculum It does not expand or give interesting activities for the material. Workbooks and tests are not all that interesting. I develop project and research ideas, group projects, Socratic seminars, etc. Those are the things that capture and keep students interested. I am the one who makes the material relevant to what is going on in their lives. The books and materials can seem dead (especially to teens). If I don't see how the material is interesting, they won't see it either. If I am not enthusiastic about the materials, they won't be either. The kids can spot a fake in a minute. I have to be just as interested in the materials (if not more) as they are. That also means "changing things up" when things start to drag. |
Anonymous
|
I feel like someone is trying to start a private school teacher vs. public school teacher fight with some of the questions about paying for your own resources and asking about assistants to do your copying (what? where?).
That's not what the OP was asking ... |
Anonymous
|
I feel like someone is trying to make a case for districts spending a lot of money on published curriculum instead of allowing teachers to purchase their own materials (and paying for that). Like a publishing company representative. |
Anonymous
I'm OP and I'm just a parent. At our public school the teachers are only given money from the PTA for their own supplies and otherwise have to use the county curriculum which other than math has no real curriculum. This is elementary. The teachers seem overworked and little work comes home. The setup is similar to the ESOL teacher's description. It's been four years and from what I've seen teacher prepared work is far worse than any of the prepackaged material. I think this is because they don't have enough time to prepare their lessons and have so many days and subjects to cover and children to teach. To me it makes sense that a teacher receive some pre-printed material and also be given some money and time to come up with some individual lessons and have the time and resources to make them very good. I don't think the public school would ever give enough time or money to have each teacher come up with their own materials every day for every subject. |
Anonymous
Well that was very succinct answer to the question in the thread title. |
Anonymous
So then why do teachers complain they have too much to do? They reject other curriculum materials that are well thought out just so they can recreate the wheel every day. No one is judging you by the materials you hand out to your class. They are judging you by how well you teach the children and what the children learn. |
Anonymous
| I am the teacher who said I work in private and have a text book but prepare my own support material. The school purchases the books for the students and any other pre-made support material I need. As far as having time to prepare my own work, it does take years. I don't redo everything every year. I have lots of material I have made in the past. I do create new things all of the time if the students needs more work in a particular subject or I have emphasized something more one year than another year. It does take time, but I do it in the evenings when my own kids are doing homework or on the weekends. I also have free periods in the day where I can get things done. It is a lot of work, like most jobs, but I fit in in. I do have to say I love it so I don't feel forced to do it. I actually enjoy it. Basically I keep the same schedule as a student so it fits in with my life style. |
Anonymous
The bolded is so key. A great curriculum evolves over time. Curriculum kits are fine as a starting point, particularly for a teacher who is starting in a new school or is new to teaching. No one has time to create a whole curriculum from scratch, for multiple subjects, in one year. But if you are given the time and space to be creative, the curriculum can really sing. I've been teaching at the same (private) school for nearly 15 years now, teaching the same subject, and still every year is a little different than the last. You have to grow and evolve, or the work becomes stale. That's not good for students OR teachers. |
Anonymous
Agree a teacher shouldn't teach the same thing year after year, but what is happening in public schools is that teachers are given nothing to start with. I think this is just as detrimental to giving too much curriculum material and being made to follow it. If you don't have any requirement to use the curriculum material, I'm surprised teachers would be against receiving something to help them out and build a framework around where they can add in or subtract stuff as needed. I hear that these teachers don't have time for creating the curriculum so why wouldn't they want some help? It may be difficult for a private teacher to understand because they have more freedom and children pay a yearly supply fee every year. That's not the case in public school. |
Anonymous
|
PP wrote:
"So then why do teachers complain they have too much to do? They reject other curriculum materials that are well thought out just so they can recreate the wheel every day. No one is judging you by the materials you hand out to your class. They are judging you by how well you teach the children and what the children learn." The curriculum materials are not all well thought out or they just don't work with the teacher's style or the makeup of the students. And if you are judged on how well you teach and what the students learn, you have to have materials that work for you. You cannot divorce these things from each other. Teaching is a process where the pieces have to fit together. Teachers also consult with each other and share their materials to help each other. Many of the best ideas are hatched while talking to other teachers and many teachers work together to germinate their ideas. This can really be exciting for the teacher. |
Anonymous
|
PP wrote:
"Agree a teacher shouldn't teach the same thing year after year, but what is happening in public schools is that teachers are given nothing to start with." Not true. Public school teachers are given many things when they start. You are making a huge generalization here. Teachers are not against receiving things! They just don't want to be told that they must use those things. They want freedom to explore what works best with their students. This is part of why they love to teach---it's a dynamic process and it is definitely a challenge that you love (if you are a teacher). Are you a teacher? |
Anonymous
The teacher quoted below is an ESOL teacher who was given no curriculum materials. Believe it or not there are schools in the DC area that give very little or no curriculum materials to their teachers. Should this ESOL teacher spend all this time developing curriculum or should she be given funds to purchase curriculum materials? With the rise of children coming in below grade level from other countries and having to learn the language, I think her time spent finding and making materials is a bit of a waste. I started this question to ask what percentage of materials do teachers like to create on their own. Not whether they liked all curriculum given to them or nothing at all. There is probably a middle ground that works well for most teachers. "I am an ESOL teacher and there is no set curriculum for ESOL. We used to have a curriculum but they decided not to create an ESOL curriculum when they developed 2.0 so the curriculum we had is obsolete. I teach 4 different grade levels and work with my teammates to develop a curriculum for each of the grade levels I teach. We run a pullout program so we need lessons, activities, books, assessments, etc. It is incredibly time consuming but on the flipside we're able to really hone in on what our students need. We try to repurpose materials we had from before (i.e. books) but I've been buying the majority of my resources from sites like Teachers Pay Teachers. If I were making resources for just one grade level, I'd do the majority of it on my own but it's just too much for 4 different grade levels. We do create our own assessments, though. I spend way too much money buying resources but I can't give any more of my own time so it's a tradeoff. " |
Anonymous
I am the PP, and I also spent many years in public. In what public school are teachers given "nothing to start with"? That certainly wasn't my experience in public, nor is it the experience of my friends who teach in public. Maybe in specials, like art and PE, this is less the case. But things like language arts and math curricula tend to be very much district-wide initiatives. I'm confused by your post. You say on one hand that teachers aren't given any curriculum, but on the other hand they are against being given any curriculum? I don't understand what you're trying to say. Do you mean that teachers should be prescribed a certain curriculum? |
Anonymous
|
PP wrote:
quote]"Should this ESOL teacher spend all this time developing curriculum or should she be given funds to purchase curriculum materials? With the rise of children coming in below grade level from other countries and having to learn the language, I think her time spent finding and making materials is a bit of a waste. I started this question to ask what percentage of materials do teachers like to create on their own. Not whether they liked all curriculum given to them or nothing at all. There is probably a middle ground that works well for most teachers." If you know of a great prepackaged curriculum for children in high school who are non English speaking and who are at about the 3rd grade level, please share!! If it's out there, I would love to see it (all of it) and use it. Does it include a script for the teacher? Is it a total year long unit? Does it lay out the plans for each day along with reading, writing, speaking and listening activities (not just workbook style pages)? Does it include math remediation? Does it include audio and some video? Does it include activities that can teach social studies and science at basic levels? Does it include science kits? Because this is what an ESOL teacher at this level needs. I can tell you from years of experience with ESOL at this level that you are constantly adjusting what you do based on what does or doesn't happen the day before. I have used a huge array of materials and know about a lot of them, but have never been able to use just one "text" or one "prepackaged curriculum" for these students. Maybe I'm doing it wrong and maybe I was wasting my time, but I didn't see another way to do it. I saw others who tried the "plan for the whole semester cause I know how this will go" and they left after the first year. ESOL requires the most flexibility of any class (and the most creativity). I have taught other subjects and this might just be my opinion, but you cannot be rigid in ESOL. You have to really adjust based on the backgrounds of your students. If you don't plan well, you can't maximize your classroom time with these students. |