Hi,
I was wanting to get some input from the community regarding your opinions on the Bellevue School Districts strike that is going on. As I understand it, they say they are striking because the curriculum is too scripted and that they deserve a pay raise based on wages for the area.
Curriculum Control
Hi MS. Jones!
You're understanding is correct as to why they are striking, still as of Monday Sept. 8th. The issue of pay is pretty simple; food and gas prices are on the rise, pay must be too. Though the highest paid in the state, the percent of pay increase is lower than other districts (who are trying to keep up with their pay).
For a person to understand the problem with a scripted curriculum a person must understand what a scripted curriculum entails. In this case, both the what is taught and the how it is taught is impacted, the curriculum (what) and the instruction (how). The what alignment is not nearly as significant as the how. As teachers we strive to give students with different interests, backgrounds and skill levels the same content knowledge and skill improvement, using a standard curriculum; this in and of itself can be a troubling one size fits all package. When the instruction, how we teach something, becomes scripted, the teacher cannot make instructional choices based on student needs, or differentiate for the many skill levels in one class, as we are trained to do. Even in a more affluent district, like Bellevue SD, students have different needs and skill levels and teachers must be able to adjust their instruction to meet those needs better.
No Differntiation?
Wow,
I wonder if there are built in levels of differentiation, it's hard for me to imagine that the prescribed lessons don't have any built in. I can imagine how stifling it would be to feel limited to a few options, let alone none. I too am in the Washington area, and I believe I heard a BSD administration representative on the radio talking about how teachers are allowed to modify the lesson plans, but that they are asked to submit the modifications to the district so that they may be analyzed and possibly incorporated into the lesson. It sounds reasonable, but it also sounds like they are adding work to an already overworked position. Even if one had the plan word processed, there is still the effort of submitting it to the district for review. I guess you can just add that task on to the multitude of other tasks we ask teachers to do. I can't help but wonder if there is a corresponding savings in time though when the lessons are so explicit. Teachers may save time by not having to "re-invent" curriculum, which as a new teacher sounds good to me. I really don't mean to assume that I know too many details about the situation, and I'm sure it is far more complex than I have expressed.vI would like to hear from BSD teachers about this.
Submit changes resonable?
I really don't think having to submit changes is reasonable. So much of being an Elementary teacher involves reacting to student comprehension, attention spans, time of day, etc. It isn't unusual for teachers to comment on how different their new crew is from last year's. Part of this is due to the nostalgia we have for students at the end of the year when we've trained them, but the fact is different groups have changes in group dynamics, ability, needs, etc.
One size simply does not fit all!
Even we teachers have our strengths that we should be able to use to balance out our weaknesses. The kind of changes teacher's make in their day aren't always the kind planned in advance and put in a lesson plan. While most teachers keep planning books, few write out many daily lesson plans. In Elementary Education, we have too many subjects to prep for. That's why no one has joined our Elementary Education Blog yet. ; )
Besides, districts are notorious for not responding in a timely fashion. How far in advance would a teacher have to submit the change and how formal of a lesson plan would they need.