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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Please read “The Knowledge Gap” by Natalie Wexler. Lucy Calkins is HORRIBLE. I can’t believe teachers go along with this. [/quote]

Omg don’t blame the curriculum a whole district buys and says teachers have to use on the teachers. How much say do you have over how your leadership tells you to do elements of your job? [/quote]

I’m a nurse and you’d better believe that if my coworkers and I were instructed to do things that consistently led to bad outcomes, we would speak up and demand change.

WTH?? You’re ok with accepting the failing state of education? I seriously have to question your integrity if you’re ok with continuing to operate this way. Jesus. [/quote]

Calm down Drama Queen. The problem is this is also what’s taught in teaching programs. It’s been reading instruction for a LONG time. A lot of teachers honestly don’t know it’s not “the best” way to teach reading. I don’t teach elementary but you can also stop acting like teachers are killing children by using curriculum they learned on and are told to use by their district. By all means go lobby the district to abandon it and tell them what reading program you prefer.(you don’t know any.) [/quote]

I don’t know which is worse, knowing the curriculum you follow is terrible yet choosing not to speak up, or being completely unaware that the curriculum is terrible in the first place. It means you’re either lazy or stupid.

Yes, there are many better options for the chosen curriculum. Many posters have linked specific examples. Children need to be taught to decode. Spelling, phonics, and grammar instruction are critical. A curriculum focused on building knowledge, rather than general comprehension strategies, is much more effective.

How do I, as a nurse, understand this better than you?![/quote]

The Calkins curriculum is not terrible. It works wonders for many students in helping them to think deeply and comprehend at advanced levels (granted, I’ve only taught Calkins in upper elementary grades). In the lower grades, it needs to be coupled with phonics instruction. A phonics only curriculum would bore the early readers to tears. My kids’ K-1 teachers (ACPS) did a good job balancing Calkins with phonics instruction. The dramatics of calling the curriculum “terrible” don’t help. What we had before (NO language arts curriculum for my first 12 years of teaching) was much worse. Each teacher had to create her own lessons based on the standards.—Fine, if you had an outstanding teacher, but not great in many cases.[/quote]

THIS is the problem. We have educators that don’t understand how awful the LC curriculum is.

“It works wonders!”   Um, why are kids so grossly underprepared for middle and high school then? Why are test scores getting worse and worse?

The only kids that are doing well are those that come from privileged homes. This is because their parents make sure they have the basic knowledge they need (they supplement at home or hire tutors). Not everyone can do this.

THIS is why the solution isn’t just handing more money over. When our “educators” don’t even understand the problem, we are in deep trouble.[/quote]

Maybe the problem is not the curriculum, but that living in poverty makes academic success very difficult, regardless of the curriculum.

That's what research tells us, anyway, although it's ignored by everyone because it's much easier to blame schools for a problem they didn't cause than it is to address the real cause - poverty and inequity.

Also what my personal experience teaching for 30 years tells me.[/quote]

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