Why are there no textbooks in FCPS elementary?

[Anonymous]

Not sure about the middle and high schools, but the elementary school my dd attends does not use any textbooks. Does anyone know why this is?

[Anonymous]

$$$$

[Anonymous]

Because teachers don't want them, only lazy teachers use them. Good teachers don't need them.

I will admit that so far, up until 3rd grade, my kids have had excellent teachers that have done a great job and clearly don't need textbooks. But probably their jobs would be easier with them.

[Anonymous]

Nobody does anymore besides the modern books are terrible.

[Anonymous]

I have been teaching for 26 years and for the most part we have never had textbooks. Many years ago we had hardbound math texts. We have other texts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because teachers don't want them, only lazy teachers use them. Good teachers don't need them.

I will admit that so far, up until 3rd grade, my kids have had excellent teachers that have done a great job and clearly don't need textbooks. But probably their jobs would be easier with them.

I guess I only had crappy, lazy teachers for 12+ years. Amazingly, I have three degrees.

[Anonymous]

Teachers spend a half an hour a day copying stuff they got off the internet, the volumes of paper used is huge. So schools are not spending money on textbooks but are definitely spending a lot on paper and copying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because teachers don't want them, only lazy teachers use them. Good teachers don't need them.

I will admit that so far, up until 3rd grade, my kids have had excellent teachers that have done a great job and clearly don't need textbooks. But probably their jobs would be easier with them.

Interesting. I went to top private schools and they used textbooks. I guess they were all crappy, lazy teachers?

[Anonymous]

I’m an elementary teacher and don’t feel like textbooks would add any value to my teaching. I design lessons that are more interactive and engaging than what a textbook would provide. I use resources from the pacing guide as well as things I create or find. When I was in school, I remember reading from a social studies textbook and answering the questions when I was done, and that was the extent of the lesson. In my school, we provide much more meaningful learning experiences.

[Anonymous]

Without textbooks, I spend a great deal of time looking for resources with which to teach. The pacing guide is full of digital content. Kids are watching instructional videos instead of reading textbooks.

[Anonymous]

Fcps cant find a textbook that covers their wonky curriculum so they cherry pick here and there off the internet, have teacher enrichment days, and make kids glue stick ditto sheets into their gigantic spiral notebooks, and the like.
Math is so jumbled. I wish there was a textbook to give parents an insight of how this stuff is being taught. Apparently, the way we learned long division is not the preferred method - they teach it differently, for example. I couldnt help DS with the long division worksheet bc his teacher had a different approach, which I had never heard of, and it was confusing. And forget Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (It's GEMDAS now).
Kids learn spelling and vocab through reading and writing. No rote memorization. No writing out the words 10x to learn them, etc. No handy vocab workbook to practice words.
VA history is nothing but worksheets, a few boring guest speakers, and a field trip to the Smithsonian

[Anonymous]

schools with no books... is that funny or sad??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps cant find a textbook that covers their wonky curriculum so they cherry pick here and there off the internet, have teacher enrichment days, and make kids glue stick ditto sheets into their gigantic spiral notebooks, and the like.
Math is so jumbled. I wish there was a textbook to give parents an insight of how this stuff is being taught. Apparently, the way we learned long division is not the preferred method - they teach it differently, for example. I couldnt help DS with the long division worksheet bc his teacher had a different approach, which I had never heard of, and it was confusing. And forget Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (It's GEMDAS now).
Kids learn spelling and vocab through reading and writing. No rote memorization. No writing out the words 10x to learn them, etc. No handy vocab workbook to practice words.
VA history is nothing but worksheets, a few boring guest speakers, and a field trip to the Smithsonian

Preach. I totally agree. It’s pathetic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps cant find a textbook that covers their wonky curriculum so they cherry pick here and there off the internet, have teacher enrichment days, and make kids glue stick ditto sheets into their gigantic spiral notebooks, and the like.
Math is so jumbled. I wish there was a textbook to give parents an insight of how this stuff is being taught. Apparently, the way we learned long division is not the preferred method - they teach it differently, for example. I couldnt help DS with the long division worksheet bc his teacher had a different approach, which I had never heard of, and it was confusing. And forget Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (It's GEMDAS now).
Kids learn spelling and vocab through reading and writing. No rote memorization. No writing out the words 10x to learn them, etc. No handy vocab workbook to practice words.
VA history is nothing but worksheets, a few boring guest speakers, and a field trip to the Smithsonian

bingo.

[Anonymous]

APS is the same. But the reason parents are looking for textbooks is that none of the crappy worksheets that come home come with exemplars so we can know how you’re teaching the kids. My kid asks for help with his math homework, and I start showing him the ways that I know how to do it, and he’s never seen that before

For example, one day the worksheet came home saying “using the circle and stick method, solve this problem”. It was some kind of basic addition, but I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Google didn’t help, and I had to crowdsource on FB and one friend in NY had a slight clue what that was. It took us about five minutes to write out all the bits, when knowing the addition single digit pairs and how to carry would have taken 30 seconds. The worksheets should come with sample problems on the, if they’re going to teach these ridiculous methods. It’s not inspired teaching, it’s BS.