Recently, I encountered teachers who strongly dislike programs such as Storytown and Journeys. Some of their complaints are that they are not rigorous enough, are not aligned strongly enough to the standards, are not easily differentiated, and are too "generic." These teachers prefer to examine the CCLS and create their own curriculum for the year. Some teachers even take it s far as to desire cross-curriculum teaching, where all a theme spreads throughout ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science and the arts. I have met teachers who spend their entire summers creating curriculum.
While I think teachers who take it upon themselves to create their own curriculum are amazing, I am currently not one of them. I still consider myself a "new" teacher, and I would go as far as to say I enjoy using these programs and following their scope and sequences and teacher's guides. I trust that my curriculum coordinators have done extensive research on whatever programs they are purchasing and that the programs are the best fit for my school and my students. Of course that is not to say that I would not supplement materials as needed, or cut out or expand on areas that I believe could use trimming down or plumping up. Aside from working in schools where creating your own curriculum doesn't fly (public school represent!), I simply have not had the time to devote to a project like this. Last summer I was busy finishing my wedding planning and going away on an extended honeymoon, and this summer I am traveling and moving!
I know a lot of my private school friends are able to (read: have to) create their own curriculum for their grade. In my experience, public school teachers tend to not have this option. We are usually "required" to use the programs purchased by our school.
What about you? Which do you prefer? What does your school encourage? I would love to hear from you!
This is a great topic! I taught for 6 years in a "curriculum-based" district. We had a curriculum for everything from reading to handwriting to science and math. Now, I teach in a district that really allows me to create and focus on what I feel is necessary for my students. We have a math program (Everyday Math...getting the 4th editon in September), but everything else is really considered supplemental material. I feel there's pros and cons to this. I love doing it "my way", but my team and I have put in a lot of effort creating our own scope and sequence to make sure that we get to all the topics we feel are important. There are times I feel it would be easier to already have something laid out for me, but I do enjoy being able to have the time and opportunities to think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your input Megan! My mentor at my last school strongly believed in creating your own curriculum but unfortunately we weren't given much freedom to do that. It's definitely an interesting topic!
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