This article was originally published on the blog Mr. G Mpls and was reprinted here with the permission of the author. The original post can be accessed here.
The Importance of Content Knowledge and Curriculum
The daily instructional choices of teachers are increasingly being embraced as key levers for reducing educational disparities in schools. Using the Glossary of Education Reform definition, a curriculum should be understood broadly as:
- the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn
- mandated learning standards or learning objectives
- the units and lessons that teachers teach
- assignments and projects given to students
- the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course
- tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning
Peculiarly, in the U.S. there is a glaring reluctance to explicitly identify and closely monitor the curriculum and background knowledge taught to students in each grade level and subject. Part of the hesitation is likely rooted teachers’ desire for a certain degree of autonomy and freedom in their classroom.
However, there is another part of the content-knowledge-rich curriculum discussion which makes many educators rightfully uncomfortable. This is the question of who chooses what knowledge is taught? This is an important question that has been largely avoided because much curriculum discussion has been reduced to whether or not individual lessons or assessment items are aligned with sterilized and skill-focused standards.
So while schools have avoided going near the question of who chooses what knowledge is taught, it is becoming evermore clear that an answer has emerged regardless. Google, Pinterest, and Teachers Pay Teachers have become teachers’ go-to source for homegrown curricular materials and (below-grade) leveled texts which has resulted in a haphazard, fragmented, and ultimately inequitable curricula.
In this piece I argue for a renewed focus on an explicitly identified, critically-analyzed, multi-cultural, knowledge-rich curricula to supplement the current lens in the U.S. dominated by standards, mandated assessments, and highly variable student-facing work. This curriculum should not be made from scratch (no need to reinvent the wheel), but rather grounded in existing high-quality curriculum and modified and/or supplemented when necessary.
Steiner (2017) provides a clear rational for why curriculum deserves more attention in the report Curriculum Research: What We Know and Where We Need to Go:
- Curriculum is a critical factor in student academic success.
- Comprehensive, content-rich curriculum is a common feature of academically high-performing countries.
- The cumulative impact of high-quality curriculum can be significant and matters most to achievement in the upper grades.
- Because the preponderance of instructional materials is self-selected by individual teachers, most students are taught through idiosyncratic curricula that are not defined by school districts or states.
In summary, educationally top-performing countries across the globe indicate the importance of a high-quality, content-rich curriculum, yet in the U.S. we remain mostly focused on skills, rather than domain-specific content knowledge. The next section examines the worrisome trends of curricula fragmentation and disorganization.
Google, Pinterest, and TpT Fill the Vacuum
In the absence of meaningful discussion about the content knowledge and curriculum taught at each grade level, state and national standards have filled the vacuum, leading to a fragmentation of content knowledge and obsession with dubious transferable comprehension skills like “finding the main idea.” To teach to these skill-based standards, teachers might utilize a district-provided curriculum set, or they will turn to the internet.
It is clear where many daily curricular decisions that shape children’s educational lives are being made – Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. Fast Company just named Teachers Pay Teachers the most innovative education company in the world in 2019 for “helping teachers improve their curricula.” More than 70% of teachers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia report using Teachers Pay Teachers.
A RAND Corporation survey found that self-developed or self-selected materials (Google, Pinterest, TPT) are the most popular online resources used by teachers, followed by district-provided materials. A report from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University found that many 4th-8th grade teachers are dependent upon materials they develop themselves or those shared by other staff members at their schools. Eighty percent of ELA teachers and 72 percent of math teachers say they use such materials at least once a week.
In summary, teachers are spending unsustainable amounts of time outside school (an average of 7 hours weekly!) searching for, developing, and sharing curricular materials that greatly vary in quality, depth of knowledge, and sequence. While some may claim Pinterest and TpT help teachers in a pinch, the daily use and growing reliance on low-quality and poorly-sequenced curricula only exacerbates educational inequity for students desperately needing access to “the best stuff.”
Furthermore, before being uploaded to TpT or Pinterest, there has likely been little to no critical analysis regarding the diversity of thought or representation of various perspectives. What students are learning is often left up to a capitalistic free-for-all riding on individual teacher choice.
Taking Curriculum and Background Knowledge Seriously
Instead of the current reliance on ad-hoc, home-brewed materials, imagine teachers coming together to explicitly identify high-quality curricula, subject-specific vocabulary and key concepts to be covered in their respective grade levels.
Teachers would simultaneously build their own subject content knowledge while critically analyzing the curricular choices and materials utilized in each grade. And, curriculum could be revised and improved yearly. Let me be very clear – this curriculum would be deliberately designed to not be Eurocentric, and would represent a variety of perspectives, cultures, civilizations, and time periods.
Through this process, teachers would also identify cross-curricular connections, pinpointing high-value background knowledge that can be developed over time using a wide variety of literature. This practice of explicitly identifying and refining curriculum is not new and has been described and modeled brilliantly by the Reading Reconsidered team. The four key components of their ELA curriculum are:
- Knowledge Organizers: a concise table with all key vocabulary, concept knowledge, time-lines and maps that enables routine retrieval practice. Harry Fletcher-Wood has an excellent post here on creating knowledge organizers and Miss Sayers has an excellent series on how to use Knowledge Organizers here.
- Embedded Nonfiction: Frequent use of shorter, non-fiction texts to supplement novels.
- Embellishments: Artifacts (maps, pictures, videos) included to further understanding.
- Knowledge-based questioning: pre-planned questions reinforce content knowledge.
While some may still immediately cringe at the idea of a planned, knowledge-centered curriculum, Daniel Willingham reminds reading teachers in “School Time, Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension” that teaching background knowledge should be considered an integral part of teaching reading:
“Much of the difference among readers is due to how wide a range of knowledge they have. If you hand me a reading test and the text is on a subject I happen to know a bit about, I’ll do better than if it happens to be on a subject I know nothing about…teaching content is teaching reading.”
Furthermore, if educators aim to reduce and destroy persistent, systemic educational gaps in society, we must equip students with the knowledge that has traditionally only been reserved for the privileged and elite. Doug Lemov writes in Reading Reconsidered that teachers’ inclusion of challenging, grade-level text is the most important decision a teacher makes every day. While it is tempting to bend to student choice, YA fiction and graphic novels, these books are not sufficient to reverse educational disparities.
“The fact is that some books matter more than others, get discussed more than others, both in life and by other texts. Only those who already know those books can afford the luxury of dismissing this fact. Our purpose is not to suggest that every book students read has to be a classic in the traditional sense, but rather that students who use education to gain access to new opportunities are most likely to rely exclusively on school for the cultural knowledge that will serve them in that journey.”
Takeaways
I hope that in the future, no child will ever respond to the question “what are you learning in school?” with “how to find the main idea.” Rather, our students should be able to answer that question citing a wide variety of high-quality literature that has exponentially increased their background knowledge and ability to critically analyze the the world.
This curriculum will not magically come from Google, Pinterest, or Teachers Pay Teachers, nor will it happen overnight using a pre-packaged textbook set from a publisher. Rather, a deliberately-planned, content-knowledge-rich curriculum will be the result of years of preparation and revision with colleagues, and its benefits for students and teachers will only grow with time and effort invested.
Unfortunately the exact same thing is happening in mathematics. The pre-service teachers that I teach are going into classrooms where Pinterest and Teachers pay Teachers provide the curriculum. They then look to those same avenues to get their lessons. Dressing mathematics up in a “fun activity” that contains incorrect content will only exacerbate the issues we are facing in mathematics.
Sorry to hear you’re dealing with similar problems. I can say anecdotally that in my teacher training I was actually *encouraged* to use TpT and Pinterest as part of my coursework :/
That is so sad. I’m increasingly concerned as a veteran teacher of 18 years of the vetting of materials on TPT and Pinterest. This article is right on point!
I agree with is whole heartedly. I hope society and those who are so very concerned realize that school districts are not providing the needed materials, or after the materials (curriculum) is purchased we are stuck with it for 6 years or whatever the contract is. Irregardless of how poor it is. So what do educators do, search to find something that meets the curriculum. We do not just willynilly grab something out of thin air (tpt). We plan, read, discuss try to pull together something. And this cost comes out of our pocket. What is boils down to is $, training and the amount of staff. And of course one of the biggest factors, which is nowhere in your article, parent involvement. We could have the best of everything, but if the parents aren’t involved and believe education is important it is pretty tough. I would like to know how the parents feel about their child’s education in these other countries that are doing so much better than the U.S. I am sure they do not take it foregranted. And the population (students) that is being compared, does it include everyone? Those children with disabilities? The teachers of the U.S. want the best for their students.
Thanks for reading!
I hope this piece did not come off as teacher-blaming. I do believe we want the best for our students, and like you point out, many teachers are provided with little to nothing.
I do hope this article serves as a wake-up call, and can spur more focus on the importance of empowering teachers (and saving us time and $) with cohesive, high-quality curricula.
I don’t see the problem being Pinterest or tPt. I agree there is a problem if teachers are simply seeking activities to make their classroom “fun”. I have taught for 21 years and have had a provided curriculum, vocabulary, and test for every subject provided by the counties I’ve taught in. However, if I taught fractions to first graders the same way for 21 years based on the materials provided to me, my students would fail to understand the concepts and in turn be unprepared for the next steps. The materials in my current county are not only lacking, they are boring beyond belief. I’ve frequently sought materials to supplement and engage my students instead of relying on only what has been given to me. Not only would my students fail, I would receive failing evaluations because student engagement is ranked so highly. Compliance and participation are the norm but highly engaging activities are what is now expected. As teachers you are penalized if your classroom is not attractive, well run, organized, and your students highly engaged. In my mind the answer is clear, concise expectations of what each grade level is to teach and what students are expected to know. What materials we use to achieve that end should be the decision of the teacher who has the most contact with the students and knows their interests, strengths, and weaknesses. Certainly some literature is more “valuable” than others but a child needs material that interests them. It’s mighty hard to engage a 6 year old in a book that is far above their experience level. They honestly need experiences outside the home, parents who are engaged in their schooling, proper nutrition, adequate rest, and experienced teachers. Teachers need to be trusted as professionals who are capable of deciding will their students learn to identify fractions with pizza or doughnuts or whatever. They don’t need to adhere to the given materials like robots. Teaching is being turned into some sort of script that teachers are expected to adhere to with fidelity. It should be expected that teachers teach using whatever materials and methods are best in their professional judgement.
Beverly Thomas makes some valid points. The overall tone of this piece seems to have an axe to grind with curriculum materials sought outside the district-provided materials.
Teachers are professionals. They know their students better than any other professional in the building. It’s time John Q. Public treated them as such.
If I find a resource on TPT, an idea on Pinterest, or create one, myself, that is my way of seeking out materials and tools to best meet the needs of my students. Does the author not trust the teacher’s ability to make critical decisions related to curricula? Shame.
Please reread the article. The author is advocating for better materials so that teachers dont have to find materials. The biggest issue with, “I know what’s best,” is the lack of consistency in the taught curriculum. It is, at best, a disservice to the students and ensuing teachers that there isn’t any horizontal consistency!
This is spot on. The eurocentric materials on tpt are very troubling. The cutesy stereotypical portrayals of Native Americans and Pilgrims are an example. They should have no place in our classrooms, yet are widely available.
I’m wondering what people object to about the Pilgrim/Native American story. From the time they arrived and for the next 50 years, there was cooperation and compromise between the two groups, but no violence or killing. The Pilgrims did not move the Patuxet tribe off the land; they had died earlier of disease (from explorers).
Well…the story is pretty complex and interesting. To not provide primary or secondary source documents (including maps and other resources) leads to an incredible missed opportunity and not understanding why the Patuxet, Wampanoag, and Mashpee might have needed to ally. I cannot imagine what the plague would have been like. And to not highlight how many Pilgrims had died en route or during the first few years is also another missed opportunity. Many resources online don’t focus on these situations.
“Rather, a deliberately-planned, content-knowledge-rich curriculum will be the result of years of preparation and revision with colleagues, “
To accomplish what this quote (from the article) implies in a 50 minute daily planning period that is never truly daily is impossible. Teachers do not have enough hours in a day to create curriculum, teach it, document everything each child does, while completing RtI paperwork, EIP paperwork, grading, lesson plans that are 3-6 pages long for ELA each day, be evaluated several times a year, be on camera every day all day , call parents, read emails from admin. , attend meetings, bus duty , drop off kids at lunch, pick kids up from lunch, and many, many other things!! It is unrealistic to expect teachers to do all the things asked of them in 2019!! Teaching was my dream. Sadly, I awoke to the realities.
In my state, it’s becoming increasingly more common for districts to go 1-to-1 and then stop purchasing official curriculum materials such as textbooks.
Teachers from my district gathered research (easily distributed there are always 2 sides), personal testimonies, and current student survey data that all indicated that we should adopt new books. Admin stalled for a while and said no. We won’t adopt new texts (including online texts) ever.
If not for researching online, I only have texts that are 10 years old and use cassette tapes and buying CDs as relevant examples for learning economics.
I make my classes for geography and World History less eurocentric by using outside materials compared to the old texts I have.
Although it’s a bit difficult to do that well and meet standards because standards are pretty eurocentric.
But what happens when we are given a curriculum – and it is substandard? I teach middle school science. The new online tool we have been given had almost no hands-on labs. Worse, although it claims to be ngss standards aligned, it has glaring gaps. Photosynthesis is taught _without water_. Waves are presented only in terms of visible light (no sound. No discussion of amplitude, frequency, wavelength, or medium. No mention of the rest electromagnetic spectrum. I go to the internet to help me fill those gaps
It goes against every fiber of my being to charge other teachers for ideas that, in the end, will only help other students. As a teacher I feel that everything I do, every worksheet I create, and every ingenious way I have to teach any child should be shared with my peers in an open forum, so that they too can share it with their students.
Though I am sure the resources purchased by your school from big companies are just fine. Why shouldn’t they be forced to share openly as well?
I have to disagree.
Teacher’s time is valuable. Why is it okay for publishers to charge districts hundreds of thousands of dollars for texts and worksheets but apparently not for teachers to make like $4 on a resource that took countless off contact hours and days to create?
Eileen, I could not agree more. Teaching is a second career for me, after many years in the private/corporate sector. I was hoping for a high level of solidarity and community in the teaching profession. So far, I haven’t found it…perhaps because I teach in a non-union state?
I find TpT disgusting. Teachers should not look at each other with cash-register eyes.
Solidarity!
I agree with this article 100%. I worked in many schools that have purchased curriculums that teachers are expected to follow by the book and have not yielded great results. I have also worked in districts that have not used purchase curriculum and I’ve tried to piecemeal things together through online resources teacher pay teachers Etc. in my opinion what needs to be done is start with the standards and use the resources the district provides as well as other resources combined with effective teaching practices and have teachers, instructional coach, curriculum directors create a curriculum that is useful to teachers. This should be a living document that we reflect on and adjust as a school community for its effectiveness for student learning. No one curriculum will ever meet everyone’s needs and not ever educator has the same level of expertise. Every child deserves our best.
Interesting article. I am a “seasoned” educator with 34+ years. I just returned from a l just returned from a large state math conference. It was easy to notice that some of the most popular sessions were those that dealt with “cutesy” activities and Interactive Notebooks (INB). Teachers are expected to make class time more activity based, and interactive. The development of such are time intensive. I’ve always felt that educators are not given adequate prep time – thus they are turning to Pinterest and TpT. Some material on these sites are good, some not. Too bad that all are not easily editable. I’ve always said it is not about creating, but about recognizing good potential and tweaking to fit what is needed.
I politely disagree. The reason I ever got on to TPT at ALL was because I was having to write so much of my own material. To devalue all of the hard work and research I put into my science resources for my own students (and store) is honestly offensive. If curriculum developers had any idea what classroom teachers actually need, there would be no TPT.
It’s true that there are low-quality resources on TPT. It’s also true that there are very high-quality resources on TPT that real teachers created from their own experience and expertise, then spent 50+ hours creating a product. After reading the comments here and this blog post (which I actually agree with to an extent), it’s obvious that teachers’ professional knowledge is still not being respected.
Do you believe that teachers cannot figure out which content on TPT is high-quality and will help their kids? Do you not trust the teachers placing their resources on TPT as professionals? Do you believe that someone would spend 100 hours on a resource to perfect it, make it high-quality, and worthwhile to other educators (all outside of contract time) to give it away openly? That type of mindset is not apparent in other professions. Do you expect other professionals to give their time and ideas away for free? Nope. Why is it that teachers are treated this way? We are valuable. Our work, time, and expertise are valuable. We shouldn’t feel pressured into working for free all of the time, honestly. If our mindset is this way, then technically, shouldn’t we expect companies like Pearson to give us their curriculum for free? If I were not selling a product, I wouldn’t put my blood, sweat, and tears into it; I would make due with what I had or try to find something… possibly on TPT. 🙂
That being said, TPT is actually working hard to urge sellers to update and create products that aren’t Eurocentric. They are also coming up with various ways to make the products free for educators, while still having avenues to pay the hardworking sellers.
Great article that I highly agree with. The importance of a cohesive curriculum cannot be overstated. The problem is a lack of communication between grade levels and district contracts with curriculum writers that are subpar. Our district recently finished a contract with an ELAR curriculum that was so bad that most teachers refused to use it. Imagine all of that wasted taxpayer $ sitting on the shelf in unused workbooks, only to be tossed in the trash (where it belonged) at the end of the year. This next year, we adopted a new curriculum. They dressed it up as if the teachers would get to vote. We each had to put in several extra hours analyzing four different potential curriculums and filling out a rubric for each one, all to give to an IC who had the final “vote”. In the end, though, curriculum choices are highly political. The people making the decisions are not in the classroom and have no idea what students actually need. I trust teachers to fill in those gaps as they see fit. Contrary to the opinions in this article, there are many high quality resources available on TpT. Many times, especially in ELA, there will be no district provided resources related to the anchor text. How can we expect students to read an entire novel and then have no activities or assessments related to it? All of the activities are simply “skills based” as this article rightfully criticizes. Websites like TpT exist because needed resources are simply not available in district provided curriculum. TpT also provides a platform for alternative revenue streams for excellent teachers who have put in countless hours of developing resources to share those resources with others in an online platform. As long as the resources are aligned and designed to fit with a cohesive curricula as the article describes, I see no problem with it.
I am a recently retired teacher. My parents were teachers as well. So, I basically grew up in education. Just from my 50+ years of observation, the students of my era function much more efficiently in society than the majority of students from the past 25 years. Our teachers are so pressured to achieve high test scores that basic life skills are lost. Most of my early elementary classes were spent on math, reading, and spelling. With that good foundation, social studies, science, and writing came easier to us. These days, we seem to teach discombobulated skills rather than cohesive segments. This is the reason so many high school graduates have difficulty with finances, completing job applications, interacting with people, etc. It’s amazing how much was accomplished without all this modern technology. Teachers planned and taught their own lessons. Nothing was scripted for them. They were trusted to do a job, and they did it with great results.
I have everything I need from my district, thank goodness. But what I see on blogs and social media is often teachers who are in a school WITH NO CURRICULUM that has been purchased for them by their district or charter company or whatever. They have nothing to go on. They purchase these units, I suppose, hoping it will cover everything they need to in their state standards. So sad.
I believe that many here are missing the point. TPT and Pinterest aren’t the issue. School districts not providing materials is not the issue. The issue is teachers knowing their own curriculum and seeking materials that coincide with the standards being taught as well as having time to pull materials together. With the increasing demands on teachers to spend more and more time being “super teachers,” TPT and Pinterest offer a place to go to start looking for quality materials. Teachers who know what their students need will pick and choose from items available on these sites and use them accordingly. The key here is to trust
teachers to know what they need to make their classrooms successful and provide time for them to develop those materials to use. Don’t blame websites that offer opportunities for choice.
Lynn, I agree with you 100%. Many times I peruse Pinterest and TPT for ideas, find one that sparks my own creativity, and rather than buying or copying as is, I turn it into something geared toward *my* students. We have a solid curriculum where I teach, but sometimes you just need new ideas for a lesson–there is so much value in these websites for such a thing! And trust teachers–yes yes YES! Please trust that I make decisions based on the best educational interests of my students!
This is a great article, and a great digital discussion. There are so many points that stand out to me from both the article and the comments that it’s hard to choose which to address. I’d like to start with the Figure 9 chart. I use TpT materials, and I select and vet the ones that meet CCSS, so the lower data points for the CCSS are not telling the whole story, I think. I use TpT materials because I currently have no curriculum provided for me in my district. In the 20 years I’ve been a teacher, and the private (3 years), charter (3 years) and public school (14) I’ve taught in, the instructional drive train was state mandates, and whatever the most popular research-based best practices are popular in the moment, with little or no curricular support to implementing them. However, I have always been assessed and evaluated on them. One year I had a student teacher observe me. I overheard the person talking to another, complaining that my classroom was boring and taught him nothing interesting because all my students did “was read and write.” Seriously, that was the criticism.
Right now my principal is PBL, STEM and skill obsessed. The district hired a STEM tosa to be shared among our six schools (four elementary, one middle, one high school) and supervise teachers in a STEM room that each school was to create. Guess who was asked to stock the STEM room? The teachers, as no funding was allotted for supplies. We also have to plan what we want to do in that room, and let the STEM tosa know what help she needs to give. “Soft skills” is also one of the latest buzzwords in my district. We are now told to provide them. I teach ELA, and I think that I’ve been teaching soft skills all along. The overarching problem I see is that the education system is expected to do everything, for everyone, while traveling in the wake of whatever fad is promised to work for each gap assessed. All of this while working with clientele (I call them students, but my district calls families clients), that are increasingly less able or willing to do anything that is not “fun.” In fact, we were told that if there are behavior issues it was our fault for not being engaging enough in the classroom. Our school is going 1:1 with technology next year, but our computer aide was cut. We are also expected to use our planning periods to cover classes for our colleagues when they call in sick. Our high school athletic field has been upgraded twice, and is slated for a third reno (in 14 years), but the reading books we would need to cover all of the modules in our Engage NY are not in the budget. Does this explain, perhaps just a little, the impetus behind the popularity of Google and TpT as curriculum aids? Please don’t get me wrong, I am not against the “Reading Reconsidered” points mentioned above. In fact, I’ve seen materials on TpT that align with those points as the learning objectives are worded very similarly. Many of the teachers on TpT are well versed in best practice, and create materials that are affordable, engaging, and easily implemented. Until the education system stops pulling teachers in so many directions, there will be no less dependence on teacher created materials, simply because deep down, other teachers are often the only people we feel understand us, and we can trust. Sad, but true.
I’m not grasping the connection… however – full disclosure – I do produce resources for Teachers Pay Teachers. I spent eight years mastering the curriculum and standards of the course I taught before I started creating resources. The amount of hours I spend on each lesson which includes PowerPoints, quizzes, worksheets, DBQs with primary source analysis & lesson plans that outline curriculum standards is insane. (Granted I have no life :). I usually charge $1.99 per “lesson” for all of these resources.
New teachers constantly reach out thanking me for the countless hours I have saved them. I’ve been teaching for 18 years now and spent hundreds of hours revamping resources this summer that I’ve created over the past three years just to create three products for an AP class I am now teaching. Again the price per each lesson is $1.99…
Of course teachers need to master their curriculum – but that has nothing to do with buying a resource that is far superior to the ones provided by textbook companies which I find to be extremely sub standard. I work for the Miami Dade public school district and have turned down a job to be a curriculum specialist three times because I love being in the classroom. I was one of only four teachers in this massive district chosen to pick out the new textbook for the social studies course I use to teach a few years back. The cost per book and the “bonus” materials provided by the publishers were laughable…
So again I don’t understand the connection you are making between mastering your curriculum and TPT. The true inequity is teacher salaries and you are attacking teachers who are creating resources that address higher levels of learning than publishers who create a “one-size-fits-all” product for the entire nation. And for the person who claims TPT’ers create “Eurocentric” materials- you obviously haven’t been reading your textbook very carefully!
A high quality, trained, EXPERIENCED teacher can identify these types of items on TPT. I have a few authors that I love and several I know to scroll past. Being very familiar with my grade level standards before TPT came to be is key.
What a fantastic discussion and article! I agree with the author that a cohesive curriculum that is multi-cultural and integrated would be ideal. And, I think that teachers should design and continually refresh that curriculum. The problem is time. I have 50 minutes a day to run to the bathroom, make a few copies or prep a lesson, and then make the 5 1/2 minute trek to get my kids. I also have a 30 minute lunch. Barely enough time to breath! I spend my weekends and evenings pulling together the most cohesive experience for my students that I can. Like most of the other teachers I know, I turn to TPT because the materials I’ve been provided are sub-standard to say the least. Our math curriculum was written before the CCSS, our reading curriculum flies in the face of best practices, and our science and social studies curriculum are massive text books produced 20 years ago.
So, TPT fills a void and sometimes saves me time as I’m trying the create a cohesive experience for my students. That said, I agree with earlier comments that the cartoon-like representations on many resources for elementary students can be stereotypical and cutesy. However, there are some really wonderful, rigorous, high quality materials out there. You just have to be a wise consumer and analyze anything you buy – just like I analyze the district-provided curriculum in terms of the needs of my learners, and then modify and adjust to meet their needs. I am also a seller on TPT, and I have a very small store because I’m focused on creating high quality materials that fill gaps in my own curriculum. I’m grateful to the other teacher-authors who do the same. Until we have the paid time to do the work that should be done to create a cohesive curriculum, we’ll continue to turn to resources like TPT to get the job done for our students.
I have taught high school Spanish for 29 years and have seen the many changes in education. Something I have thought a lot about is the time teachers have spent trying to make class fun and engaging. A couple years ago I had my students complete a student interest inventory sheet in the first few days of class so I could gather some information about each of them to better understand them. One question I asked was “What is your favorite class?” The exchange student in my class from Thailand answered as follows: “I do not have a favorite class as every class I am in is my favorite as it is the only moment that is real and holds power.” WOW! This student was not looking for anyone to create his “fun”… he understood a remarkable truth that many do not. I had numerous conversations with him about culture, perception, joy snd living in the “NOW”…something he deeply understood and something that in my opinion would benefit all if taught at a younger age. I am not discounting a great, engaging lesson in any way but there is something deeper to be understood here.
As someone who teaches middle school science a quality well defined curriculum is a unicorn for which we are all searching. Even ones I like are not getting tiered as a 1 because it does not meet this rigorous standards. Textbook and established companies don’t know how to tackle this effectively and it is frustrating. We have nothing and are expected to make sure children pass a test with standards that can be interpreted 20 different ways, to different depths of knowledge. School systems and other entities do not always know where to stop teaching for a grade level and it is terrible and not their fault. This is why teachers go to TPT and pintrest even if they have some of the same issues. This is what is not being addressed the NGSS has been around for 10 years and is still not fleshed out fully from textbook companies and in the high quality curriculum rounds of review they are failing.
Thanks for taking the time to write that extensive missive. I am not a teacher. I am a dad who is keenly interested in how kids are educated. I have read ALL the feedback to this article. I loved reading the feedback.
Please do not underestimate how life-changing the websites like TpT, Pinterest, etc. have been for teachers. My daughter is one and from her feedback online, an exceptional one. She develops High School Science curriculums, loves doing it, and is keenly interested in perfecting them through ongoing feedback from other teachers, after they purchase and use them. In this way she collaborates and pays the shared knowledge forward to other teachers via curriculum tweaks.
Her customers give testimony that makes me tear-up at times because they are SO grateful for the resources she provides them. I LOVE teachers; it is one of the noblest professions. As one of you other commenters stated, let them review the online teaching resources and make their own decision about it. Especially if the material is outstanding and saves them many hours per week in preparation. Time they would much rather spend with loved ones.
All the best to everyone.
What a great dad! Sweet post.
I hardly ever have time to do anything outside of work. Always trying to find that great resource or idea that will engage kids and give them a positive experience and of course learn a little something!
One think that stuck with me regarding the study of pilgrims. Some kids learn about the pilgrims every year, the same information dressed up a little differently while there might be some who don’t learn anything about them. It’s a crapshoot!
Our new ELA curriculum spends an entire quarter on one subject. I know the research about being immersed and having texts overlap, etc. While drifting and bouncing all over the place is not good, spending over 2 months reading about space gets mundane.
I understand that everyone must make a living… just something about the term “customers” triggered something in me. Teachers already have small budges to spend on supplies, we shouldn’t have to spend on any supplies, or lesson plans. We do not get paid enough to do so, nor spend excessive time outside contracted hours to do more work. Hence is my understanding why some teachers are turning to TPT, can’t blame them. But a lot does need to change.
I taught 4 years at a Waldorf school and starting up in the public school system as a sub, now enrolled in the ARL program, was a shock to say the least. I went to public school in the U.S. but definitely different times then, only 15 years ago though. I hope to incorporate Waldorf pedagogy in my future classes because it is a beautiful, slow, rhythmic, compassionate, way of teaching.