Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/669580
T E A C H E R S R E LY I N G O N P E E R - D E V E L O P E D M A T E R I A L S In focus groups, teachers indicated that fellow teachers are a primary source for instructional materials. This is because districts lack them, as the State Board of Education is still adopting some standards-aligned textbooks and curriculum. So teachers have had to borrow or invent their own. "We implemented the standards early, so we had to create a lot of our own material the first year," recalls Marcia Varner, a first-grade teacher at French Elemen- tary School in Temecula. "We used materials from Teachers Pay Teachers [a teacher entrepreneurial website], Teacher's Clubhouse, and other websites. We visited other states' websites and used their materials. It was sometimes hard finding what we needed." Teachers pulled together and became learners together, says Varner, a member of Temecula Valley Education Association. "We looked at the end result — the test — and then worked backwards to decide, 'Is this where we need to be?'" Despite the hard work, it's been worth it. "I never want to go back to the old way," says Varner. "I think the Common Core gives us more ownership. It allows teachers — and students — to be critical thinkers." In Lennox Elementary School District, many teachers want to continue using the teacher-developed ELA units that were meant to bridge the gap between old materials and new ELA texts, says Brian Guerrero, president of the Lennox Teachers Association and district CCSS specialist. Moving forward, he says, educators will look for ways to integrate teacher-developed materials and whatever ELA series the district adopts. "We don't want to throw away these excellent teacher-created units," says Guerrero, also a mem- ber of the ILC partnership with Stanford. "We want to use our own lessons to dovetail with the newly adopted curriculum." 26 cta.org Marcia Varner and her colleagues at French Elementary School relied on teacher-developed instructional materials while waiting for the district to adopt textbooks and curriculum aligned to the new standards. Brian Guerrero talks with parents Luz Andrade and Felicitas Tovar about Common Core at Lennox Middle School. Common Core materials developed by teachers can dovetail with newly adopted curriculum, Guerrero says.