how to study for a test (with no textbooks)
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Anonymous
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This has been an ongoing problem. DS graduated from high school several years ago and his FCPS school had scores of beautiful textbooks that were never used and then discarded, brand new, as a PP mentioned.
The refusal to use textbooks was often detrimental to students. He took an AP Econ class where the teacher steadfastly refused to use any textbooks at all, preferring to hand out their own paper study guides and "textbooks." The material was SO CONVOLUTED that I had no idea what she was talking about when it came to supply/demand (and I say this as an Economics Ph.D!). When DS asked to borrow one of the many Mankiw textbooks lying around the classroom, he was given a 20 minute lecture on how "Mankiw is an idiot." 
DH and I supplemented his education in the past by buying him books, but it's of no use in the classroom. Teachers want work done THEIR way (even in STEM subjects) and anything that goes beyond what they taught or is slightly different than the way they teach is immediately marked down. It's like a dictatorship at times. |
Anonymous
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Similar to PP above, my kids are at FCPS. I have one who graduated last year, one who is a senior, and one sophomore.
The lack of using textbooks is really awful. All 3 kids are very good students, but the many many resources used (some online, some slips of paper, paper paper everywhere...) cause everything to be very convoluted. There's no natural "flow' of curriculum for classes due to this choppy, disorganized presentation of materials. Much of what they are tested on is from power point lectures delivered by teachers. So god forbid you are absent, becasue what you are studying from is a few bullet points (which mean nothing) on some pages. With no textbooks, not even a way to make context out of it. The whole "no textbooks" thing is a huge mistake, if you ask me. I get the need to move to online/less cost, but I dont understand why they dont just use online textbooks rather than paper. My kid who graduated last year is in college now, and has textbooks again! |
Anonymous
+1000 There is no substitute for well-written, engaging ACTUAL textbooks. Like you, PP, I used to pore over my school textbooks, especially in English and history, reading ahead and immersing myself in subjects that interested me most. Also like you, I've been buying my kids books similar to the ones you mentioned so that they can have full, hands-on access to them, whenever they like (even when the internet is down! ). It's such a shame the pendulum has swung so far that the kids are left with no textbooks.
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Anonymous
No, my understanding is that MCPS develops the curriculum and sells it to Pearson. |
Anonymous
Teachers used to write textbooks instead of companies. What particularly are you worried about? |
Anonymous
I'm a teacher and I 100% agree with this. I think the move away from textbooks to worksheets glued into binders is just horrible. |
Anonymous
| Who came up with this glued worksheet into notebook trend? |
Anonymous
For all the lip-service schools pay to "recycling" and "saving the planet" as the reason for going away from textbooks, the glued worksheet in a notebook thing is so anti-green it's not even funny. |
Anonymous
I imagine at some point teachers have written textbooks, but from my experience growing up in the 70's and 80's, textbooks were not written by schoolteachers. They were written by subject matter experts, often professors (is this what you mean by teachers) with a review board of other experts, or sometimes by a comittee of subject matter experts. In any case, the authors were identified. Their institutions were identified. Someone could make an evaluation on the qualifications of the authors. Someone could look at the actual material in the textbook and evaluate it for accuracy, clarity, and instructional effectiveness. Moreover, one could look at the educational outcomes of other school systems where it had been used. When MCPS writes textbooks, we don't know who is writing the textbooks or what their qualifications are. I think they may have comittees of teachers who give input, but I'm not sure how involved the teachers are, as opposed to the central office staff. Most teachers I know, as helpful as they may want to be, only have so much time to devote to committee meetings. I haven't heard of MCPS offering sabbaticals for this purpose. Moreover, how much content expertise do the teachers have? I don't think an elementary teacher necessarily has to be an expert in math, science, history, etc. to teach effectively. I think they should be generalists in content knowledge and experts in instruction. I think, however, that the authors of textbooks do need to be subject matter experts who, while they may not directly address advanced topics, are knowledgeable about them and know the preparation which is necessary in the foundational levels of a subject to prepare students for later success. You can see by the reactions high school teachers have had that MCPS is deficient in this regard. I think there is a huge issue of conflict of interest. The same organization decides what they want the product requirements to be, produces the product, reviews the product, implements the product, and evaluates the products effectiveness. There is no objectivity, let alone competition. There is never the chance to see if it has proven results because our kids are the first tier of test subjects every time. Finally, there is a financial incentive to continue this system. Can you imagine the outcry in a textbook based school system if a publisher offered kickbacks to pick their textbooks? It would be a major scandal. Not only are we restricted to a curriculum monopoly, but the school system is trying to profit from it. In the example you gave at least when teachers wrote the textbooks, the outcome was something tangible - a textbook that could be used and evaluated. Even if the personnel that MCPS uses are the best possible curriculum authors in the world who come up with a fantastic curriculum, students still miss out by not having a textbook (electronic or traditional) to refer to. |
Anonymous
I don't get the glue into a notebook. Waste of paper and glue. |
Anonymous
| I had to buy the textbook my DSs teacher used in math because the photocopied sheets were such bad quality. Ridiculous. If the notes he takes are subpar and all he's given is the problems to complete, how can he really learn!? |
Anonymous
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I'm surprised the teachers can understand anything my kid writes on that cheap grey see-through paper using nr 2 pencil.
I miss seeing his textbooks too. I have no idea what he is learning in grade 4 in DCPS. I'd like to take his textbook and read it. Instead i get e-mails from his teacher telling me what they are working on. Can't really remember after I read since I'm a visual person and I find it waste of her time. Give me the book and I'll know in a minute what they are working on in grade 4. |
Anonymous
+1 As a teacher I am in complete agreement. It is appalling. I am an incredibly well-educated teacher with multiple degrees and endorsements, and I think it would be incredibly presumptuous of me to think that I knew more than the consortium of individuals who write the texts. I actually follow a text secretly because it would be looked down upon by our school district if I followed a text book. Interestingly, these administrators are the same ones who question what I am doing so well that my students outperform their peers. Well, it isn't just because I am a good teacher. It also is because I am constantly scouring the texts to ensure that I am teaching the full scope of material and that I am not presenting material within my own bias or with my own shortcomings. The pendulum has swung too far into la la land. We need to go back to textbooks as our primary source material. |
Anonymous
Yassss, OP. Slay. |
Anonymous
I meant PP 
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