Recently in my school
there has been a lot of talk, both good and bad, about the Lead 21 literacy
curriculum the school is beginning to use.
The program was purchased after winter break last year for the 3rd-6th
classrooms and over the summer for the K-2nd classrooms to use at
the beginning of this year. It has been
really interesting to hear all of the mixed opinions about the program. Some teachers find it beneficial to have a
basal that step by step selects books and activities for students to complete
while other find it not applicable to their students or their needs. It seemed that at the beginning of the year a
lot of teachers were more open to the idea of using the curriculum as a step by
step guide. However, as they get to know
their classes better some are finding that the guided reading books and
materials are not beneficial to accommodate to their students.
I
personally don’t believe that scripted basal programs are the best form of
instruction. I think that those systems
do the best they can to create a comfortable middle ground for each grade level
that teachers can take in whatever direction necessary. However, a lot of
teachers don’t end up making accommodations which is problematic. There is no way that the creators of a basal
will know what the students in YOUR classroom need. So using the system as a scripted curriculum
really doesn’t do a whole lot for the specific needs of the students in your
classroom. On the other hand, some
teachers feel that the programs “fit” their students and there is no reason to
stray away from the day to day lessons. I
have been thinking a lot about the two sides of the “basal” coin with its
relevance in my school right now and it’s been very interesting to consider
different veteran teacher’s perspectives
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