Julie Chaicharee (top) presenting students’ culture maps and Deborah Brown (bottom) educating students on an ecology column project. Photo by Elise Tran.by John Le, Staff Writer
Teachers who instruct the same course have been known to share the same curriculum. Many teachers meet up and discuss ways to share the curriculum and match the district standards. However, should they be able to open up and teach their own curriculum in their own matters?
The Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) usually sets guidelines for teachers to follow on what they should cover. Those guidelines match with the state standards, and it is the teacher’s job to follow them. Those guidelines are usually set differently between subjects.
Teachers are allowed to be flexible within those guidelines. That gives them the freedom and opportunity to teach in their style. As long as all the material is covered, they all have the thumbs-up to teach within their own character.
Cathy Lichodziejewski, math department coordinator, said, “The district teams of math teachers from each site [school site] do come with a map for what topics should be covered in the curriculum over the course of a year and those maps [curricular maps] are based on California Standards. But then again, those are guidelines and teachers can be flexible with the timeline. They’re professionals and we trust them to get through the material.”
In addition, teachers have meetings to collaborate among one-another, notably with teachers of the same subject. Collaboration is a great concept for them, as teachers can open up on their lesson plans. It helps them overall improve their course, and it directly benefits the students themselves.
Amy Hollingsworth, English department coordinator, on the idea of collaboration, said,”We’re given time. When students arrive late on Monday mornings, teachers are meeting during that time.”
However, Lichodziejewski and Hollingsworth both agree that teachers should have more individuality to teach their own curriculum. Rather than following guidelines, teachers are able to show more of what they are capable of. Although teachers can be more flexible with what the district gives them to handle, teachers are not really able to showcase how they want to teach their school year.
Hollingsworth said,”I think that they [teachers] should be given freedom because as a teacher, I value being myself as a teacher in the classroom, and I feel like if I were forced to teach a certain way then that would be a disservice to students.”
