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I teach second grade in a public school setting. I have been teaching for 14 years. As I have progressed through my career, I have noticed that teaching has changed drastically over the years, and in my opinion, not for the better. As a teacher, I am required to teach certain skills and standards. To teach those skills and standards, I am required to use curriculum programs that include basals. These curriculum programs have become more and more scripted over the years. As a result, I feel I have lost a lot of freedom in how I teach the required skills and standards. I have noticed that these curriculum programs are not developmentally appropriate for my second-grade students. I have also observed the negative impact these scripted programs have on ELLs, below grade-level students, and students with learning disabilities. It is true that these programs have leveled materials and materials for ELLs. However, these materials are so above these students’ level that they do not aid in learning. Students struggle to understand and master the content and standards if I teach directly from the basals as I have been asked to. I see more children struggle immensely each year to master the required skills and standards needed for state, end-of-year assessments, and apply those skills in independent reading. Due to this struggle, a lot of students do not enjoy reading. Rather, they see reading as “a four-letter word.” For this reason, I want to use these books to incorporate more novel studies in my teaching. Kids need to get off the computers and into more books.

About my class

I teach second grade in a public school setting. I have been teaching for 14 years. As I have progressed through my career, I have noticed that teaching has changed drastically over the years, and in my opinion, not for the better. As a teacher, I am required to teach certain skills and standards. To teach those skills and standards, I am required to use curriculum programs that include basals. These curriculum programs have become more and more scripted over the years. As a result, I feel I have lost a lot of freedom in how I teach the required skills and standards. I have noticed that these curriculum programs are not developmentally appropriate for my second-grade students. I have also observed the negative impact these scripted programs have on ELLs, below grade-level students, and students with learning disabilities. It is true that these programs have leveled materials and materials for ELLs. However, these materials are so above these students’ level that they do not aid in learning. Students struggle to understand and master the content and standards if I teach directly from the basals as I have been asked to. I see more children struggle immensely each year to master the required skills and standards needed for state, end-of-year assessments, and apply those skills in independent reading. Due to this struggle, a lot of students do not enjoy reading. Rather, they see reading as “a four-letter word.” For this reason, I want to use these books to incorporate more novel studies in my teaching. Kids need to get off the computers and into more books.

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