Instead, the more I learn, the more I tweak, the more I realize how imperfect my curriculum really is. To be sure, it has improved dramatically from my first year teaching, and I’d even say it’s gotten better every time I teach. Yet I’m still discontent. I’m still frustrated that the level of student engagement and rigor I’d like to have doesn’t match the engagement and rigor that actually exists.

The last two weeks my frustration level has been pretty high. We’re not doing enough work in groups. We’re not doing enough meaningful projects. We’re doing too much question answering. I’m talking in front of the class too often and not spending enough time talking with students. I critically tear apart my teaching technique and the way I present the content.

I’m confident that the curriculum I’m using and the way I’m presenting it is at least “good.” My frustration comes from knowing that it’s not the best. It’s the difference between completing a marathon and winning a marathon. Completing a marathon can be pretty a pretty major accomplishment for a recreational runner like myself. However, if you’re an elite runner with the talent and training to be able to win a marathon simply finishing isn’t a major achievement.

While I don’t mind my status as a recreational runner I’m not happy being a “recreational teacher.” I have access to the knowledge and skills required to be an “elite teacher.” As such I expect myself to constantly strive for “elite” status.  I analyze my teaching and curriculum like that elite runner watching a video of herself in slow motion; trying to find inefficiencies in her stride that can be eliminated.

My frustration (I’ve only recently come to realize) is simply a manifestation of my desire to improve.

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Image Credits

• Jelena Prokopcuka by ReneS
• me myself and I on the road by adropp

I believe education related materials should open and available to use by anybody who has a use for them. Materials that are locked behind stringent copyright regulations or locked up on a teacher’s hard drive aren’t always able to be used by students, educators, parents, or others in ways that they may like.  If someone finds what I’ve created useful I want them to be able to use it in whatever manner they find it the most useful. Alec Couros has done a lot of thinking about what open teaching is all about, and I’ve come to take many of his ideas a challenge to think about how I choose to control the materials that I create (see his recent posts: Visualizing Open/Networked Teaching and it Revisited). The way I control media- and mentor that to my students- should reflect the values that I hold.

A timid step

Towards becoming an “open/networked teacher,” I’ve decided to release my curriculum resources to the internets. Curriculum Science is a wiki I’ve set up where I’ll be posting all my handouts, presentations, and projects under a GNU Free Documentation License (hat tip to Dan Meyer who planted seeds he posted his full geometry curriculum). Though it won’t matter to many people, I’ve also aligned them with the Connecticut standards for 9th grade Integrated Science. It’s a work in progress that will be updated as I make my way through this semester’s curriculum. Not all the material I would categorize as “my best stuff,” but it is “my real stuff.”

A little help

I don’t have this whole teaching/technology thing figured out. I’ve spent a lot of time considering how to be the most effective teacher possible, but that requires constantly revisiting what it is that I’m doing and how it is that I’m doing it. A few things I’d enjoy hearing my readers thoughts on:

• Is the GNU Free Documentation License the way to go for this? Would a Creative Commons license be a better match? I’m a little fuzzy on the specific definitions of the various licenses.
• If you have ideas for how to get at the content in a more effective manner than I’ve done in my curriculum please let me know. Lately I’ve been feeling that my ideas for new materials have been stale and not as effective as I’d like.
• If you use or remix anything I’ve created it’d make me happy to hear back on what you thought of it or how you changed it.

The Resources

Curriculum Science

I previously taught at a small high school in Michigan. If you were in 10th grade at Whitmore Lake High School, you had Mr. Wildeboer for Earth & Physical Science. I was the only teacher who taught Earth/Physical Science since it was introduced in 2002¹ (my first year). This situation meant that I was solely responsible for the content of that class. I developed all of its lessons, projects, labs, and activities myself.

I was given the freedom to experiment, create projects, swap out exams for cumulative projects, cut back on breadth and focus on depth, and do pretty much whatever I felt would be best for the students. Freedom to do what I personally saw as best was the advantage of being a “lonely” teacher. The disadvantage was that I never really had anyone to work through ideas and struggles with. Sure, I could talk to other teachers who could provide valuable feedback, but it’s something different entirely to collaborate closely with another teacher while developing lessons or other curricular materials.

This year there are three other teachers who have the same classes I do. When I was hired, I was quite excited at the prospect of being able to collaborate with other teachers. I knew that might mean I wouldn’t have the same degree of freedom as I had enjoyed previously, but I figured I could live with the trade. I didn’t start the year working with the other teachers very well (several old posts explain why), but that was more the fault of Central Office than anything. As time when on however, I found we weren’t working together as closely as I would’ve liked. At lunches and meetings we’d talk about what we were currently on, where we were going next, and what supplies we each needed. Unfortunately, that was about it. We shared a little back and forth, but I wasn’t thrilled with the worksheets being sent my way. I would take some time to tweak them, then use my own presentations (which were shared, though I don’t have reliable intel that they were ever used outside my room).

I tried to replicate what the other teachers were doing as best as I could while only making design and other minor changes to improve the quality (IMHO) of what I was setting down in front of students. This was frustrating. In hindsight it seems foolish.  I provided what I consider sub-par curriculum materials to my students because I wanted to stay at the exact pace of the other teachers. I did this even though we really weren’t collaborating with each other, and looking back, I realize that I was really replicating was teaching style². No wonder I was frustrated. What I was doing was trying to do was suppress the style I had developed over several years of practice, research, and experimentation. It was foolish of me, and I now regret it.

Coming soon: What happened when I decided to stop worrying about keeping up…

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¹ Interestingly enough, due to changes in the state curriculum, the school decided to switch up the science curriculum starting the year after I left. The class I taught was replaced with something different- meaning the class started and ended with my tenure.

² I don’t mean to suggest here that the other teachers were ineffective. I have a certain reperatoire of activities and projects that have proven to be effective and mesh well with my personality. I’m happier when I teach within my personality, and happy teaching leads to happier students.

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Image Credits:

Power Law of Participation by Ross Mayfield
Streeter Seidell, Comedian by Zach Klein

My first teaching job saw me getting hired only one week before students rears hit chairs in my classroom. As a rookie teacher lacking in experience, I found that extremely intimidating and overwhelming. I was excited that for my new position, not only would I be bringing six years of experience, but also that I would have most of the summer to prepare.

My calls to the high school rang without being answered. I stopped by the high school once to seek out someone who would help me. Upon entering the building, I felt I should’ve been wearing a hard hat. There was heavy construction throughout much of the building. The offices were gutted. Besides the gruff looking workers, I couldn’t find any administrators or anyone else in the building to help.

This week I started the “Teacher Academy” for new hires. School starts next week Thursday, and I was excited to get in and finally get some information on my curriculum and who I’ll be teaching with. As a fairly experienced¹ teacher this time around, I felt I still had plenty of time to effectively prepare for the school year. Arriving at the “academy” on Wednesday, I was dismayed to find no time set aside to find our rooms, go over our curriculum, or meet the colleagues we’ll be teaching with. In fact, there was no official plan at all for getting the new teachers access to our rooms, curriculum, or colleagues.

We were all told all about the district improvement plans, the data teams that meet to help improve instruction, and on, and on. The district’s plans for improvement sound really good. I’m excited that they’ve made a serious commitment to make their schools highly effective for the students. But…how could they possibly overlook the fact that we haven’t even seen the curriculum yet? I’ve seen my room once. I have a textbook for the classes I’m teaching only because one happened to be laying around and I took the initiative to snag it. The only reason I’ve accomplished either of these things is because a few of the high school new hires got together and more or less “demanded” a meeting with someone at the high school to give us a clue what was going on.

My favorite quote of the entire teacher academy, in response to my (and others) inquiries into what scope and sequence the teachers teaching the same class as me use:

Don’t worry, take some deep breaths. All you need to do is make it through the first two days of school, then you have the long weekend to figure out what to do next. Remember, whatever happens, you’ll get paid every two weeks in American dollars.

O.K. I’ve ranted enough, and I’m sure you’ve gotten the point by now. I am excited to work in this district (really!). I’m excited that this time around in a new position I have skills to bring to the table. I sincerely hope the lack of foresight I’ve seen so far is localized in the central administration and isn’t systemic. To look for the positive in the situation, I’ve already overcome my fear of questioning the status quo and have learned that I may need to make a more conscious effort to push for change in this district. All I want to do is be the best teacher I can be for my students, my colleagues, my school, and my district. I sincerely hope that desire doesn’t fly in the face of the professional culture here.

I just want to be like Akeelah, an achiever.

- Common, “The Game”

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¹ If you consider six years as having much experience

Image sources:
Brickage by Asten
Challenge by amsterdamfan