How times change! When I was teaching in D65, teachers wrote the curriculum based on standards written by teachers. A telling moment in the email to 5th grade teachers revealed a date for teachers to initiate a certain unit. This puts distant publishers and administration in charge dictating day -by-day classroom learning. The teacher an…
How times change! When I was teaching in D65, teachers wrote the curriculum based on standards written by teachers. A telling moment in the email to 5th grade teachers revealed a date for teachers to initiate a certain unit. This puts distant publishers and administration in charge dictating day -by-day classroom learning. The teacher and students are no longer the center. It was an exciting and demanding part of my job to develop curriculum. D65’s current practice is suffocating.
Of course, there should be open access to all materials used
I retired after last year and the biggest change I saw over the last few years is that teachers have to teach to the calendar, not to what the students need. There is no freedom to adapt if the students are struggling, teachers are afraid to spend an extra class period on a concept lest they "fall behind" in the curriculum. The running joke in 65 has been, "sure we differentiate, it's just that everyone has to do it the same way." I believe that the ever-increasing lack of trust in teachers is what is driving so many to leave the District or leave the profession entirely. Teaching in D65 has become regurgitation of whatever JEH decides that the curriculum of the day is going to be.
How times change! When I was teaching in D65, teachers wrote the curriculum based on standards written by teachers. A telling moment in the email to 5th grade teachers revealed a date for teachers to initiate a certain unit. This puts distant publishers and administration in charge dictating day -by-day classroom learning. The teacher and students are no longer the center. It was an exciting and demanding part of my job to develop curriculum. D65’s current practice is suffocating.
Of course, there should be open access to all materials used
I retired after last year and the biggest change I saw over the last few years is that teachers have to teach to the calendar, not to what the students need. There is no freedom to adapt if the students are struggling, teachers are afraid to spend an extra class period on a concept lest they "fall behind" in the curriculum. The running joke in 65 has been, "sure we differentiate, it's just that everyone has to do it the same way." I believe that the ever-increasing lack of trust in teachers is what is driving so many to leave the District or leave the profession entirely. Teaching in D65 has become regurgitation of whatever JEH decides that the curriculum of the day is going to be.