Pacing Guides are an area of contention for many teachers. The dilemma is when the “guide” becomes a dictated timetable, that pressures teachers to rush through content, in order to cover everything in a set time period. Pacing Guides were originally intended as a helpful instructional tool in how to navigate a year-long (or other timeframe) course of instruction.
Original Intent
The intent was to give teachers an overview, or sequence of teaching, so that the most important topics were covered. It was meant to be a helpful tool in preparing students for the next level of instruction. Prior to pacing guides, many teachers, asked to teach a new subject or grade level, had little guidance on how to go about this. And teachers, often teaching in the same school and subject, had different content without common goals. Students often had different learning experiences depending on the teacher they were assigned. So, pacing guides originally gave teachers the same vision and a common plan.
The Downside of Pacing Guides
However, the downside of pacing guides is that they have often been changed from being a “guide”, to a dictated sequence, requiring teachers to be on a certain lesson on a certain day. The definition of “guide” is to direct the motion of something, or to lead the way. In many cases now, pacing guides are used as a way to get students to perform better on state testing. This is a different purpose than was originally intended.
What is Best for our Students?
The most important decisions we make as teachers are finding what is best for our students. Racing through content without giving students a chance to reach mastery, or explore through hands-on activities, is really doing a disservice to our students. When the pressure is on, teachers tend to drop those enrichment activities and teach to the test. Afterall, enrichment lessons do take longer. It’s not what any of us want to do. But, we are constantly torn between pushing through content as is expected of us, and relaxing to enjoy the process of discovery with our students.
Can Teachers be Trusted?
In my opinion, it comes down to trust. Can teachers, most of us with years of college, training, and experience, be trusted to make those decisions? When the message is that we can’t be trusted, it undermines our relationship with our district leaders, and takes much of the joy out of teaching. Let’s hope our leaders get this message and we can return to using pacing guides as they were meant to be used.