On the Ground: Teaching the New Science TEKS Without Textbooks

Looks like I'm not the only one hyper concerned about the costs of the upcoming high school end of course exams (EOC's). I blogged yesterday about the less obvious costs the EOC's - costs of remediating failures, being my main point. The Statesman reports the enormous state budget shortfall may mean no new instructional materials to prepare students for the EOC's, which will be implemented next school year.

To which I say: SO WHAT? People! We have new Science TEKS this year. We are teaching these RIGHT NOW to high school students with no new instructional materials. Our textbooks are ten years old and they were inadequate for teaching the old TEKS. They sit at the back of classrooms as a class set, rarely used. 

COME ON. We are living the EOC's right now. We have no choice. While this year's freshmen have to pass four Exit TAKS in the spring of 2013 in order to graduate, teachers are in EOC teaching mode this year. We can't do a disservice to our students and lurch into action next year, doing a half ass job, scrambling to figure out how to get next year's freshmen prepared for twelve tests that determine their graduation. 

Where are we getting instructional materials to match the new Science TEKS, the basis for the upcoming end of course exams? Teachers are making their own powerpoints, devising labs, creating quick writes, exit tickets, foldables, graphic organizers, etc. We search the internet and go through our plethora of lab books, cooperative learning activities and other materials to find instructional activities that closely match the language of our new TEKS. 

Folks, we have Promethean boards (interactive white boards.) We have student response systems. We have document cameras. We have digital projectors in every room. Textbooks are old technology. Teachers are evaluated on their use of NEW technology! 

The State Board of Education spent an enormous amount of time and effort ensuring our new Science TEKS have creationist language - and probably more egregiously, adding many additional TEKS to our already overloaded list of things we have to teach - and now one of the ringleaders, David Bradley, is whining and ringing his hands:

"Either the Legislature needs to find a way to provide new instructional materials or they need to consider postponing end-of-course exams on the new standards," said State Board of Education member David Bradley, R-Beaumont. "It would be patently unfair to test students on materials that aren't available."

Please. The schedule for new TEKS development, new textbooks, and EOC implementation was has been public for at least two years. The SBOE has been too focused on their religious agenda to pay attention to what really matters with real instruction with real children. No worries. Texas teachers are smart, hard working and caring. We are already doing right by our students - without any help from the Legislature or the State Board.

What we would really like are Kindles or iPads or digital notebooks to take our instruction to the next level, with hyperlinked text and instructional videos in the hands of every kid - not to mention science lab facilities and materials to ensure the lab requirements of the new Science TEKS are met.  Skip the hand wringing over textbooks and get us what we need to go along with the new TEKS aligned lessons we are creating right now, so we can ensure every Texas student has a fighting chance to pass their twelve End of Course exams and graduate.