Originally posted on August 9, 2016
You had to know this was coming. If you've read the rest of my Professional Pet Peeves, you just had to know I would make a post specifically about this. Please, oh please, do not tie yourself to a teachers edition, or a textbook for that matter. Do that, and you automatically tie your hands behind your back. Do that, and you relinquish your authority as an educator. Do that, and you are beholden to the megalomaniacal conglomeration of textbook frauds (I hope they weren't looking for me to represent them after I retire; that could've been a nice gig.).
You see, those books are just too scripted for me, and as a teacher I'm just not much of an actor. My teaching is real. I am real. My students are real. I am too passionate to shirk every last iota of creativity in my abilities and mindlessly follow that textbook.
Like often, I have to allow that everyone gets some things right, and that's obviously true of the textbook publishers. Obviously, with the amount of stuff they put in that TE, they're bound to get something right. Eventually. I just don't see any expediency in rifling through all the fluff when I can just as easily create it myself (or ask my peers for help, or even find it with a quick internet search).
Follow their script, and you'll soon find yourself behind. And you'll worry about it, won't you? Tie yourself to that teachers edition, and you'll miss the teaching of some very important skills or content.
So my advice to you - because I know you might long for some guidance - is to use the teachers edition only when you need it. Don't take it home, and don't leave it open to the next page. Don't follow along word for word or page by page. Use it, sparingly, when you're stuck.
And don't assume that it teaches the things you need to present! Far from it: that textbook does not know your students. It may even confuse you and your students, getting bogged in the mire of a so-called expert, doctor of educational discombobulation (DED). The DEDs believe your classroom is like a computer program. They sit in their university offices, and they create programs and flow charts that they think every student falls into:
If this, then goto there
If not, then goto another there
If neither, then return to there
If both, then stay here
The problem lies in the facts of nature vs. nurture - or rather the combination of the two. Those pesky kids of yours tend to come with their own quirks, strengths, and glitches, and no flow chart is going to scientifically work for them all. You have to know that's true! Do your students a favor: get your nose out of the teachers edition and look those kids in the eyes. See them as human beings and unique people - not as blips on your monitor to be systematically manipulated by the knobs and dials of a person who's not even in the room.
You see, those books are just too scripted for me, and as a teacher I'm just not much of an actor. My teaching is real. I am real. My students are real. I am too passionate to shirk every last iota of creativity in my abilities and mindlessly follow that textbook.
Like often, I have to allow that everyone gets some things right, and that's obviously true of the textbook publishers. Obviously, with the amount of stuff they put in that TE, they're bound to get something right. Eventually. I just don't see any expediency in rifling through all the fluff when I can just as easily create it myself (or ask my peers for help, or even find it with a quick internet search).
Follow their script, and you'll soon find yourself behind. And you'll worry about it, won't you? Tie yourself to that teachers edition, and you'll miss the teaching of some very important skills or content.
So my advice to you - because I know you might long for some guidance - is to use the teachers edition only when you need it. Don't take it home, and don't leave it open to the next page. Don't follow along word for word or page by page. Use it, sparingly, when you're stuck.
And don't assume that it teaches the things you need to present! Far from it: that textbook does not know your students. It may even confuse you and your students, getting bogged in the mire of a so-called expert, doctor of educational discombobulation (DED). The DEDs believe your classroom is like a computer program. They sit in their university offices, and they create programs and flow charts that they think every student falls into:
If this, then goto there
If not, then goto another there
If neither, then return to there
If both, then stay here
The problem lies in the facts of nature vs. nurture - or rather the combination of the two. Those pesky kids of yours tend to come with their own quirks, strengths, and glitches, and no flow chart is going to scientifically work for them all. You have to know that's true! Do your students a favor: get your nose out of the teachers edition and look those kids in the eyes. See them as human beings and unique people - not as blips on your monitor to be systematically manipulated by the knobs and dials of a person who's not even in the room.
