This is pretty much what we do in my district. We have the standards and the last super brought the workshop model to everyone. Unfortunately, the WAY he implemented it was awful so it left many teachers hating all of it (instead of being able to sort out good teaching from bad implementation) So, I think starting next year we will be strongly encouraged to use the textbook. Which for me, is NOT a welcome change, but I guess for many it is.
Of course, I will continue to encourage teachers to use backwards planning and to use workshop and to use trade books, etc. (I'm a literacy coach at a middle school now). On 7/5/07, Caroline Mooney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > we don't have a curriculum either. when i first started teaching, 2 years > ago, the principal handed me a set of standards and told me to teach them. > we have a text book and a lot of material to go with the book, but our > reading dept. doesn't use them, except on rare occassion, like when we want > to have a shared text. > > dalton public schools embrased UbD, Understanding by Design. We now have > our own in house trainers, and every teacher must go through the program at > some point. We create our own units and use trade books for teaching. our > middle school just implemented a book room, hundreds of books (sets of 6 > each) from level S to Z. Actually, we got a lot of lower level books as > well. You can look up backwards design, understanding by design on google, > and it's an interesting read. you might also google literacy collaborative, > a reading/writing holistic type workshop that mirrors the work done by > fountas and pinnel, nanci atwell and lucy calkins. > > i like the idea of not having a curriculum; there's so much freedom > because we dont' have big money tied up in a package program. then, of > course, you could argue that our standards are the curriculum, and this is > pretty much true. the single most important thing for my students is for > them to read. using trade books makes them real world readers, and they know > it. all year long, students hear brief lessons about reading, and then they > read. > > i'm wondering this: do most of the school systems you all work for use a > specific program, or are you makiing up your own curriculum like we are at > dps? > > lynn, email me anytime at [EMAIL PROTECTED] i'd love to hear about your > progress. > > caroline > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > -- - Heather "The world of books is the most remarkable creation of man. Nothing else that he builds ever lasts. Monuments fall; nations perish; civilizations grow old and die out; new races build others. But in the world of books are volumes that have seen this happen again and again and yet live on. Still young, still as fresh as the day they were written, still telling men's hearts of the hearts of men centuries dead." --Clarence Day "While the rhetoric is highly effective, remarkably little good evidence exists that there's any educational substance behind the accountability and testing movement." —Peter Sacks, Standardized Minds "When our children fail competency tests the schools lose funding. When our missiles fail tests, we increase funding. " —Dennis Kucinich, Democratic Presidential Candidate _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
