Most teachers are given a textbook or some type of curriculum to follow. Many teachers worry that they will not be able to cover all of the material that they need to be teaching within the course of the school year. However, simply covering each lesson in a textbook from cover to cover does not mean that you are truly teaching.
Teaching is about much more than regurgitating information from a book. Some teachers struggle between teaching what the students need and teaching what is needed for the tests. There are teachers who lean on both sides of this struggle.
Some teachers teach a lesson a day to get through all the material and leave behind whoever falls along the way. Other teachers stop and adjust and move along at a pace that is more suitable to the needs of the students.
The first case may produce good test scores from some students but will leave many at mediocre and below. The second cases will likely give a few at the top and a few at the bottom but many with average scores.
The best thing to do when being faced with a new text is to carefully compare your state standards and your book. In some cases the book may contain lessons that are not in your required state standards. That is not to say that you cannot or should not teach this material but if it is not in the state standards then you are not required to teach it. Therefore it will not be on a state test.
After comparing standards and text, carefully choose the sections that you feel contain the meat of the subject. Where and what are the key elements? What skills do you feel are essential to the students’ futures? Teach those thoroughly and first. Ensure that all of the students grasp the basic concept of each skill. Then build on those skills.
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