Lack of Text books

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:22:03 - Are you saying the administration is who is asking teachers to forego cases of unopened textbooks costing millions, and to instead fudge their own curricula using handouts and whatever other nonsense?

Yes, that is what I am saying. What teacher wants to spend hours making handouts? At my school we are not allowed to use text books and the admin teams boosts about how 'we do not have teachers manuals' or consumables for kids. What teacher wants to write curriculum?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do not think it is good for teachers of any subject area to be making their own curricula at all. It seems a phenomenal waste of time and there is a risk that the teacher is not a good enough content expert to develop such curricula materials. There are tons of curricula resources out there.

I think that every teacher should be a good enough content expert to write their own curriculum, and adjust that curriculum to a variety of learners. That's the job of teaching. There may be tons of curricular resources out there, but not very many of those resources are good.

And I suppose you think all doctors should build their own surgical tools. Instead of the best cardiologists in the country working with more patients and spending their time looking for innovative approaches or even training other doctors, they should spend their time recreating the wheel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:22:03 - Are you saying the administration is who is asking teachers to forego cases of unopened textbooks costing millions, and to instead fudge their own curricula using handouts and whatever other nonsense?

Yes, that is what I am saying. What teacher wants to spend hours making handouts? At my school we are not allowed to use text books and the admin teams boosts about how 'we do not have teachers manuals' or consumables for kids. What teacher wants to write curriculum?

If this is true, then it represents yet another massive, totally unacceptable fail on the part of DCPS. No wonder everyone's fleeing to charters, to privates, and to public school districts outside of the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do not think it is good for teachers of any subject area to be making their own curricula at all. It seems a phenomenal waste of time and there is a risk that the teacher is not a good enough content expert to develop such curricula materials. There are tons of curricula resources out there.

I think that every teacher should be a good enough content expert to write their own curriculum, and adjust that curriculum to a variety of learners. That's the job of teaching. There may be tons of curricular resources out there, but not very many of those resources are good.

I agree that every teacher should be a good enough content expert but unfortunately I think that is often not the case. I think curricula should be developed by the top people nationally in a particular field. I still think it is a huge waste of time for every teacher to re-invent the wheel as well. As for good resources, I think often it is "fuzzy" educational theories/ideas such as whole language and discovery math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do not think it is good for teachers of any subject area to be making their own curricula at all. It seems a phenomenal waste of time and there is a risk that the teacher is not a good enough content expert to develop such curricula materials. There are tons of curricula resources out there.

I think that every teacher should be a good enough content expert to write their own curriculum, and adjust that curriculum to a variety of learners. That's the job of teaching. There may be tons of curricular resources out there, but not very many of those resources are good.

I agree that every teacher should be a good enough content expert but unfortunately I think that is often not the case. I think curricula should be developed by the top people nationally in a particular field. I still think it is a huge waste of time for every teacher to re-invent the wheel as well. As for good resources, I think often it is "fuzzy" educational theories/ideas such as whole language and discovery math which cause inadequate curricula.

[Anonymous]

sorry double post

[Anonymous]

16:38 is right on.

And that same teacher should be able to differentiate across reading levels that span 7 grades.

And address the learning needs of ESL students. They compromised 1/2 of my child's first grade class. And that teacher should be able to address the 6 different languages that all those first graders spoke at home.

And she should be able to do all this for 24 children without any sort of assistant.

Yeah, those teachers are so, so lazy.

I mean, did you see those lazy teachers at Sandy Hook? One was found lying on the ground. She must have been napping on the job.

Not only are you offensive, you're also really stupid. Teachers are absolutely prepared to create their own curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Well. At Deal they will basically tell your kid a set of open ended questions about an era in history and then your child to "just go find the answers on the internet". It's pretty ridiculous. I don't know how or why anyone is tolerating any of this. Get a textbook for the students. Parents would be willing to pay for it at Deal. It is an outrage that they don't use them for history or math. In english, they won't even let them take the novel home for review.

[Anonymous]

17:29

Its me again! And I just want to clarify something. One of the very best things about teaching is the ability to be creative and resourceful to meet the needs of your students. I have always loved designing cool projects and fun lessons that are costumed fit to my classroom. And the sense of ownership that you take away, when the kids 'get' it- is one of the very best things about the job. So I am NOT advocating a teaching model where a teacher just shows up and spits out a canned lesson plan. As many PPs have said, a teacher is an expert- on her kids, and can tweak lessons to meet the needs of his/her kiddos. Not only is this an essential job function, but its also a blast. (Yes, I love my job!)

What I am NOT ok with- and what I do not feel comfortable with is designing a curriculum. I am great at knowing my kids and the developmental mind of my students, but I am not a math, science, reading, history, and writing expert. Do I write great lessons for my kids, sure I try to. But its a huge drain on time, when that same time could be used- better to differentiate a lesson that was already drafted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC attends a upper NW school that does not use text books. I may be an old fart ( 40ish) but I don't remember getting so many hand-outs when I was in school, during the stone ages. She is in 3rd grade and was given a packet to do over the Holidays. The math homework is pretty much a review from the last couple of months. It would help me , if I could refer to chapters that she has gone over already.Also, it seems that, all everyone is concerned about is the DC-CAS test.
Is this the norm for 3rd grade to 12th grade?

I have been following this thread a little bit and was confused if most people responding were talking about elementary, middle or high school. I have a child in DCPS elementary and another in middle. In middle school there are textbooks for each class. In elementary it is more common that students do not have textbooks but workbooks. Regarding math we've had two teachers who do not use Everyday Math but use a more traditional approach for math instruction.

OP. My child is in 3rd. PIA's and Diebels are poor assesments for students. The principal at my DC's school tries to justify the lack of using text books. Everyday Math serves no value to any DCPS student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:29

Its me again! And I just want to clarify something. One of the very best things about teaching is the ability to be creative and resourceful to meet the needs of your students. I have always loved designing cool projects and fun lessons that are costumed fit to my classroom. And the sense of ownership that you take away, when the kids 'get' it- is one of the very best things about the job. So I am NOT advocating a teaching model where a teacher just shows up and spits out a canned lesson plan. As many PPs have said, a teacher is an expert- on her kids, and can tweak lessons to meet the needs of his/her kiddos. Not only is this an essential job function, but its also a blast. (Yes, I love my job!)

What I am NOT ok with- and what I do not feel comfortable with is designing a curriculum. I am great at knowing my kids and the developmental mind of my students, but I am not a math, science, reading, history, and writing expert. Do I write great lessons for my kids, sure I try to. But its a huge drain on time, when that same time could be used- better to differentiate a lesson that was already drafted.

I second this ^^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well. At Deal they will basically tell your kid a set of open ended questions about an era in history and then your child to "just go find the answers on the internet". It's pretty ridiculous. I don't know how or why anyone is tolerating any of this. Get a textbook for the students. Parents would be willing to pay for it at Deal. It is an outrage that they don't use them for history or math. In english, they won't even let them take the novel home for review.

This is so untrue I don't even know where to begin. There are textbooks. Your kid probably isn't bringing them home.

[Anonymous]

The proof is in the pudding.

Yes, a good teacher should be able to provide excellent content and curriculum - but the results coming out of DCPS show that most students are not even achieving minimal proficiency. Horrendously poor literacy and numeracy demonstrates that most DCPS teachers are not succeeding with their attempts. The current approach is a horrendous failure.

There is no room for creativity when there's not even any demonstrated mastery of the basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:22:03 - Are you saying the administration is who is asking teachers to forego cases of unopened textbooks costing millions, and to instead fudge their own curricula using handouts and whatever other nonsense?

Yes, that is what I am saying. What teacher wants to spend hours making handouts? At my school we are not allowed to use text books and the admin teams boosts about how 'we do not have teachers manuals' or consumables for kids. What teacher wants to write curriculum?

DCPS spends more than enough per student to have the best textbooks in the nation. Not providing them basically amounts to fraud on taxpayers. Why aren't we hearing a major outcry from WTU on this? Why aren't school board members and council members being thrown out of office for this?

[Anonymous]

Let's not forget that a great many teachers in DCPS are TFA or brand new recruits who are simply overwhelmed with classroom management and data collection.

They don't have the time or the expertise to reinvent curriculum.