EP. 108 How Teaching with a Scripted Curriculum Changed Me

Welcome educators! Before we get started I want to share with you an amazing free tool I have available to you. It is “The Ultimate Guide to a Successful School Year”. In this guide, I walk you through how you can take those nervous jitters to have undeniable confidence throughout the school year. All because you started with these basic steps in the guide.

To download the guide go to myadventuresinesl.com/ultimateguide.

We are going to start off today’s episode with your reflection question.

How do you feel about the current curriculum or lack of curriculum you currently are using in your classroom?

Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer yourself honestly about where you stand.

There are so many ESL teachers that are teaching without a curriculum. On the flip side, there are educators who are currently teaching with a scripted curriculum. They are being told this is the script and not to deviate from it.

This can have an educator feeling frustrated, and unheard because they truly know what is best for the student. They are sitting in meetings and trying to do everything they can to advocate for their students.

The solution to this dilemma came at a week-long training I attended. During this training, there was a lot of resistance to the curriculum. Teachers were there and brought up valid points about the curriculum we were tasked with teaching the students.

I kept hearing over and over again that the curriculum was just too difficult. Many of you know how I feel about educators saying “it’s too difficult” instead of showing how they can support the students. I took this opportunity to explore the curriculum and determine how I plan on making it work for my students. With the support of my co-workers and amazing ESL administrators at my school district, I was able to launch the scripted curriculum in my classroom.

While doing so, I realized that I can make this work for my students. I began to understand the importance of standards and aligning my lessons to the standards.

I started to introduce data binders and more intentional assessments in my classroom. I also started looking at the whole picture of the quarter instead of focusing on just a small piece.

You are able to teach the four domains of language through the curriculum. I was able to use the curriculum as structure in my classroom. It provided me with the tools I needed to determine the topic I was teaching and it also provided me with guidance on how I can support the students in reading, listening, writing, and speaking. For example, a lot of the scripted curriculums curate reading lists at different levels for the students based on whatever the topic is for that learning module.
The standards and goals are already provided. The standards and the learning goals are already laid out for you in the curriculum. This helps greatly in determining your assessments for the week, month, and even year.
You can take what you need from the curriculum and leave out what doesn’t fit your needs. In other words, adapt the curriculum to fit the needs of your classroom. I have seen how this works in many different situations. For example, some teachers adapt the assessments. There are some educators who chose to read the recommended books from the curriculum but switch up how it is taught.

There are some amazing FREE scripted curriculums that I will be sure to link. I want to encourage you all to explore some of them if you are one of the many educators who teach Language Learners and do not have a set curriculum.

Core Knowledge

EL Education

Are you currently using a prescribed curriculum? If so, how are you making it work for your classroom? Share your ideas in the comments.

Download transcript here.