I was excited to participate in a paid curriculum development workshop in my district this June. Content area teachers worked with their grade level counterparts from other schools to streamline existing curriculum, write aligned unit assessments, and create/pool the HQIM for the specific classes they teach. It was a pilot program funded with Covid 💲💲💲 but I hope it proves useful enough that it continues. Why pay some company millions for something that could be done better in-house?
I love this! I used to teach multisubject elementary school (5th Grade). The textbooks were appalling. When I first started, I used them as a guide to what I was supposed to teach, and occasionally as a reference book for the students. I chuckled in agreement when you wrote, "in 39 years, I never saw a grammar/usage/writing text that was worth the paper it was printed on." Nothing could be more true!
I specialize in teaching English for homeschooled kids now, and many of my clients have learning disabilities. I have developed my own way of teaching writing. I looked at some curricula and found that it was mainly a bunch of writing prompts or short assignments on "stating the main idea" and the like. Students need to be taught how to write, so I focus on that. I haven't found a curriculum that does that!
Focusing on the why is a great exercise for teachers to go through. My own children received the feedback, "He doesn't write enough," and, "He writes too much," respectively. Unfortunately, that was the only guidance teachers gave them. I didn't worry about it, and they are both excellent writers as adults.
I was excited to participate in a paid curriculum development workshop in my district this June. Content area teachers worked with their grade level counterparts from other schools to streamline existing curriculum, write aligned unit assessments, and create/pool the HQIM for the specific classes they teach. It was a pilot program funded with Covid 💲💲💲 but I hope it proves useful enough that it continues. Why pay some company millions for something that could be done better in-house?
I love this! I used to teach multisubject elementary school (5th Grade). The textbooks were appalling. When I first started, I used them as a guide to what I was supposed to teach, and occasionally as a reference book for the students. I chuckled in agreement when you wrote, "in 39 years, I never saw a grammar/usage/writing text that was worth the paper it was printed on." Nothing could be more true!
I specialize in teaching English for homeschooled kids now, and many of my clients have learning disabilities. I have developed my own way of teaching writing. I looked at some curricula and found that it was mainly a bunch of writing prompts or short assignments on "stating the main idea" and the like. Students need to be taught how to write, so I focus on that. I haven't found a curriculum that does that!
Focusing on the why is a great exercise for teachers to go through. My own children received the feedback, "He doesn't write enough," and, "He writes too much," respectively. Unfortunately, that was the only guidance teachers gave them. I didn't worry about it, and they are both excellent writers as adults.