And 6 Tips to Help you FIX the Problem

Curriculum is anything that is provided for a teacher to teach from. The teaching books you are given and the student books that match are curriculum. School districts will buy curriculum from companies that sell it. Usually, a curriculum for reading or math will come with multiple teaching books, student books, worksheets, and even online material. All school districts buy curriculum and expect all teachers to use all materials (most of the time). Usually, there will be training from the company to teach the teachers how to use it.

Curriculum is the WAY we teach. It is the everyday lessons we will teach students. It guides everything that we do in the classroom. Curriculum is not WHAT we teach. The state standards are WHAT teachers teach.

Is there a need for curriculum? Yes

Can it be bad for the teacher? Yes

Most curriculums, especially for math and reading, have a ton of resources. There are resources for whole group, small group, intervention, and anything else you can think of. These are activities of all different types that would, many times, take more time than a teacher even has in a school year. Let’s be realistic if a teacher used every resource, worksheet, and activity attached to curriculum nothing would get accomplished. It can be extremely OVERWHELMING for the teacher. In my teaching career so far, I have had a curriculum change in reading, writing, math, science, and handwriting. For every new change came lots of trainings on how to use it all. For me, I was completely overwhelmed with how much STUFF was given to me with each new change.

What is the problem with curriculum?

The problem with curriculum is that it is made by companies that want to sell you a product to make money. The company makes a product that can be used by many different people, so they can have a bigger audience with a bigger profit. Therefore, most curriculums have way too much stuff in it that you don’t actually need.

In education, we have a timeline crisis. As teachers, we have a bunch of standards and objectives we have to teach by the end of the year. We are required to teach our students those standards so they are ready for the next grade. Most of the time, teachers run out of time and don’t get to teach all the standards. We, as teachers are really doing the best we can, it is just a challenge to fit it all in.

So, how is this related to curriculum? 

Curriculum has a lot in it. So many resources and lessons and ideas to teach. It is so jam packed with so many resources that it can be hard to teach it all. We have a crisis of resource overload, or call it an idea overload. Of course there are multiple ideas to teach each concept, but do we really need to use every resource before we move on? Teachers will start by teaching the first unit and move on from there. Usually, curriculum has a pacing guide, but it is hard to follow exactly. There just isn’t enough time in the day for everything they give you. There is NO WAY you can teach it all. We just don’t have enough time in the year.

So if you have a curriculum for math that has 30 Lessons or a reading curriculum with 30 Units, and you work straight through it, there is no way you can teach everything in the amount of time we have to teach. Not to mention, the science and social studies books with 30 chapters of information. There is just way too much to teach for a school year.

Not only is there a lot of content in curriculum, there are many things covered that are probably NOT in your standards. You can try to teach a book straight through from the first chapter or unit, but more than likely you are going to be wasting your time by teaching things that are not required for your grade level.

TRUE STORY: In college, I observed and taught a few lessons in a social studies classroom. When I was trying to write a lesson to teach to the class, the teacher told me to teach a lesson on WWI. I went and looked at the grade level standards and I could not find a standard that fit with WWI, but I finally found a standard that fit it but it was in a completely different grade. I asked the teacher why he taught WWI since it wasn’t in the standards, and he told me that it was in the book and he taught the book.

Now, I am not saying that all curriculums are bad or that you can’t enrich your students with things not found in their standards. I am just saying that as teachers, we need to take a look at what we are teaching and WHY we are teaching it.

I have to teach the curriculum, so how can I fix it?

I realize that school districts spend a lot of money on curriculum for teachers to use. As teachers, we need some kind of books to teach to our students. Curriculum is needed. I am not telling you not to use the curriculum provided. I have a few tips to help you use your curriculum in the best ways to help your students.

1. You do not have to teach EVERYTHING in the curriculum

Like I said earlier, curriculum has a lot of resources in it. The companies on purpose put a lot of stuff in it, so that you are able to use at least some of it and they can sell it to more people. Therefore, not everything in the curriculum may apply to you or your standards. It is OKAY to skip some things that are not part of your standards. Most principals will not care if you are skipping part of the curriculum for a reason such as it doesn’t align with your standards. They will completely understand. 

Pro for you: You will actually be teaching less and you will feel a little less overwhelmed if you focus on only teaching the standards. 

Pro for students: They are getting what they actually need and not extra filler or fluff.

2. Make sure you know the standards you are teaching.

I cannot stress how important it is to know the standards you are teaching. You are only teaching one grade, so you should know every standard for the grade level of every subject you are teaching. If you know your standards well enough, you will know if the curriculum aligns with your standards and if you are teaching everything you should.

Pro for you: You will actually be focused on the key skills and standards for your students and you will feel a little less overwhelmed. 

Pro for students: If you know what you are teaching, it increases the probability that students will know what they are learning, which is a big plus.

3. Don’t teach it if …

If you find a section in the curriculum that DOES NOT align with your standards, don’t teach it. If you find a section in the curriculum that you don’t agree with how they are teaching that specific thing, then change it and don’t do it that way. Unless the standard says to specifically teach it that way, you don’t have to use their strategy. Use what makes sense to you and your students.

TRUE STORY: One curriculum used an extremely confusing way to explain multiplying fractions. It was not helping the students at all. When looking at the exact language in the standard, this strategy was not specifically mentioned. So it is okay not to use the strategy. Just find another strategy that works for your students.

Pro for you: You don’t have to go through with teaching something that isn’t good for you or your students. This gives time for other core standards for your grade.

Pro for students: They are getting instruction that is relevant to them and more time to focus on reviewing and practicing relevant standards. 

4. Make sure you have a supplement. 

You can easily skip something that doesn’t align with your standards. BUT if you find that the curriculum doesn’t cover one of your standards, then you need to teach the standard some way. I would always Google search the exact standard. You will be amazed with the lesson plan ideas, videos, activities, and clarifying statements that you can find for one standard. The Internet is a great resource to use. Teachers share their great ideas all over the Internet. So, don’t reinvent the wheel! Save your self some time and use that time to focus on teaching.

Pro for you: This will give you the opportunity to be creative and meet your students’ needs so there are fewer gaps in the education system. 

Pro for students: Students are getting all essential skills without gaps as they move forward in the education system.

5. Take time to plan ahead.

When it comes to teaching, we do not have a lot of time to teach everything we need to teach. It is so important to take time to plan ahead. Please, read the entire curriculum way before you teach it. Know what is coming up and have a plan on which parts you will teach and which parts you are skipping. It will help you be better organized and you will be able to look up your standards to make sure it matches.

Pro for you: You will know exactly where you are taking the students academically.  

Pro for students: The students will benefit from a teacher that is organized and knows what students should learn in the coming year.

6. Only use parts of the curriculum.

Most curriculums will have whole group, small group, intervention, and differentiation sections. There are so many workbooks and extra resources all throughout. It is okay to only use certain parts. Use what works for you. In one curriculum I had, I really liked the whole group instruction. I would use everything it had. This curriculum also gave instruction for small group and intervention. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this content. I did read it and used some of the ideas, but I would supplement from other resources for small group. It is okay to use what works best for you and your students.

Pro for you: The teacher’s instruction overall will improve because the teacher is only incorporating the best ideas into their instruction. 

Pro for Students: Students benefit from more engaging ideas and lessons.  

Final thoughts.

Curriculum is necessary. Teachers need to have some type of curriculum to follow. There are also some really good curriculums that are completely standard based, which is great! Sometimes, we do not have the best curriculums available to us. As teachers, we just need to focus on the standards and make sure our students are learning everything they need to know.

Hopefully this will help you when you are overwhelmed with so many resources. Focus on what is most important: the students. 

Thank you for Continually Learning with us!

Kyle and Sarah