Chapter 8

This chapter prompted me to stop and think critically about the materials I use in my own classroom, and to identify the factors that influence decisions regarding classroom materials.

As a new 5th grade teacher, most of the materials I use in my classroom are commercially produced, and they are recommended by the school district. Although, I do not believe that commercially produced materials are the way to go all of the time, this is the best I can do with the time I have right now. Currently, the majority of my non-instructional time is spent familiarizing myself with the 5th grade curriculum and getting to know what my students are expected to learn. The thought of developing authentic materials to teach a curriculum I am not familiar with is more than I can handle, because there is only so much time in a day. However, I am confident that the more time I spend teaching 5th grade, the more likely I will be to develop and implement authentic teaching materials. I view this year as a starting point, and my goal will be to make each successive year better than the year before.

This whole discussion about authentic materials and commercially produced materials raises a debate in my head. Here, I am a first year 5th grade teacher using commercially produced materials that are recommended by our district. I know that these materials are designed to meet the academic needs of various populations (“one size fits all”). I am pretty confident that by using these materials I am preparing students for “success.” (They will be exposed to and taught the subject matter necessary to pass the spring testing). However, I also know that authentic materials are generally more specific to a particular cultural group. Authentic materials are generally more meaningful and appropriate, because they take the students specific backgrounds into consideration. To me, this results in a better education because the learning is more likely to be defined by the members of that specific group. The learning that must occur is not coming as an order from somewhere outside. These statements lead me to question my decisions about which classroom materials I use. Right now, it appears that my classroom materials are closely related to the standardized tests my students will take in the spring. That’s scary!

I realize that my teaching materials will become more integrated (a mixture of commercially produced and authentic materials) as I become a more experienced teacher, and spend more time getting to know the individuals who live in this community