Minneapolis teacher: One-size-fits-all approach of Focused Instruction doesn't work
Minneapolis Public Schools teacher Pia Payne-Shannon (Photo by Sarah Lahm)
Minneapolis Public Schools teacher Pia Payne-Shannon works at Nellie Stone Johnson Elementary School in north Minneapolis, where she teaches English Language Arts classes to 6th and 7th graders. Recently, I spoke with her about the impact of the Minneapolis Public School district’s implementation of Focused Instruction on her classroom.
Can you tell me what Focused Instruction is?
Focused Instruction, in my opinion, is an attempt to implement a one-size fits all, standardized curriculum across the district. It is also being promoted as a scripted curriculum in which novice teachers, with no classroom or curriculum experience, can come in and teach units without any prior knowledge. It is a form of test prep curriculum with very little creativity.
Why haven’t you participated in making Focused Instruction materials?
Before Focused Instruction came around, teachers worked collaboratively, by grade level, on planning for their classes. We shared assignments and created model units and lesson plans. All of these materials were part of a collection of resources for teachers, sort of like model units. Then, Focused Instruction came, and these model units are now part of a script being given to teachers. No one at the district told us that the materials we had created, as part of our usual collaboration time as teachers, would be imported into Focused Instruction. Instead of a collection of resources, Focused Instruction seems like a guide book for novice teachers who are inexperienced and need all of the units, with lesson plans, links, and resources, given to them. I would say this kind of teaching is modeled on what is happening in “beat the odds” charter schools.
What are your main objections to Focused Instruction?
I teach some of the neediest kids in the Twin Cities, and Focused Instruction feels like a one-size
