The problem with "teachers pay teachers"
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Anonymous
Our reading specialist is basically another admin who deals with discipline and putting out fires since the principal and AP are always in meetings or trainings. She doesn’t meet with students at all unless you count doing MAP R makeups as meeting with students. |
Anonymous
Your child’s classroom experience depends on how engaging the teaching materials are. While a lot of us want to create a Dead Poets Society or Stand and Deliver levels of inspiration, we’re not all actors and comedians, and it’s not realistic to create 150 days of TED Talk-worthy lectures four times per day. Yes, even new teachers create classroom materials. No one’s going to do it for them. If they “teach from the book” it will be a classroom management nightmare as students get bored and tune out. Also, I’ve never seen a school where the previous teacher/administration saved all of the assessments, worksheets, and homework in an easy-to-find place where the next teacher can grab them without recreating anything. In fact, I worked in one school where there was hardly my trace of the previous year’s curriculum at all; I was advised to read the student edition of the textbook and check an archived version of the class calendar for information. The more experienced teachers often don’t share because they don’t have the time or they lack overlapping planning periods with new teachers. They’re also concerned that if they “give up” a lesson plan to another teacher that they can’t use it themselves. Some of the best schools have joint planning periods where teachers evaluate lessons together with the goal of improving teaching, but scheduling of student classes makes it difficult to do this regularly. When I was new to teaching, more experienced teachers would, at best, hand me a book in the hallway or say “Google it” when I had questions about lesson plans. The best help I ever got was from a sub who retired from full-time teaching. She brought in folders of her old lessons for me to use, and I treated those like gold. |
Anonymous
| And you think this is a good way of dealing with classroom management? No other workplace functions that way even in medicine which is very individually specialized. We are not all recreating the wheel each day in other professions. |
Anonymous
| I opened a TPT store and I post resources that I created due to a need with my own students. Mostly ELL/Special Ed friendly elementary anchor charts and newcomer materials. The revenue pays for the resources I purchase since I don't have a curriculum as an ESOL teacher. Sometimes I buy something that looks great on the thumbnails, but then realize it has some kind of error I can't correct easily. I leave feedback for the seller, and usually they fix it. I don't know what I'd do without TPT. The key is to look really closely at what you want to buy. |
Anonymous
Maybe the problem is that OP’s kid belongs in a lower level class. |
Anonymous
Another ESOL teacher here without a curriculum. I have found some fantastic resources on TPT especially decodable and leveled texts. My students really like them plus they can take them home to read since none of them have books at home. |
Anonymous
| Most of the time you can't fully preview a resource on TPT until you buy it. It's a real caveat emptor situation |
Anonymous
and I guess if you're too poor to afford private school for your intelligent child year just shit out of luck?! |
Anonymous
It wasn’t always this way. The previews today are awful (limited portions, very small and incredibly blurry). I was looking for something recently and thought I found something that would work. After making the purchase and being able to read everything up close, I realized it would not work for my students. I ended up spending the next two plus hours creating something myself that would work. I’ll still look on TPT though, because every so often I am able to find a quality product. If it saves me some time, it’s worth spending the money (IF it’s equivalent to something I would create myself). |
Anonymous
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The real issue is that the school systems are not providing a curriculum, complete with supporting texts, that can be used as a sound foundation for teachers. This means that teachers are left to put together whatever they can however they can do it, which means most material for our new and young teachers is created on the fly. TPT can be a great resource for additional creative resources. It should not be used for a primary source.
The abdication by the school system(s) of one of its primary responsibilities, providing curriculum and resources, is appalling and I am disturbed that more people on this thread don't recognize that. Really, the silo approach to teaching, whereby one teacher decides his/her own curricula and then teaches it, is why our nation had to move to the standardized testing model we're in now. Otherwise heaven only knows what Johnny and Cindy and Lindsey Lou would be studying. You reap what you sow, people. |
Anonymous
| I have purchased and used them to supplement at home. I find that most are just a lot of cute art work with some content sprinkled in. It seems that most are purchased for the cutesy factor vs the content factor. I think some teachers are probably under the illusion that the cuter the worksheet the more engaged the kids will be and I don't think that's true. |
Anonymous
It is not abdication by school systems. This is how teachers want it. |
Anonymous
| My first year teaching (high school science) I was given the state standards PDF and told good luck. I was hired 2 weeks before classes started so I had virtually no time to prepare. No other resources. I got a class set of textbooks that were pretty old and I didn't even have enough for everyone in the class to use at the same time. Forget worksheets and guided notes. If I asked the kids to take notes on looseleaf like we did when I was a student they complained and I got parent phone calls about being unrealistic. I spent HOURS building up my resources. If I gave out a few papers with typos on them, it was the least of my problems. |
Anonymous
That's a sweeping statement. Most of the teachers in my building resent that our district has plenty of money to hire too many admins but not enough to buy an actual curriculum. We don't make much money ourselves and I am tired of spending my own money just to do my job. I already provide nearly everything in my classroom on my own dime except for the clunky old desktops in the corner and the ancient furniture. We get 2 boxes of copy paper each year and a random assortment of office supplies (most of which I don't need). |
Anonymous
Yes. If you are poor, you are pretty much just SOL anyway. That's how being poor works. |