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I am a teacher, and I looked at those lesson plans the last time this was in the news. Most of the lesson plans were crap--I fear for a world in which many teac

I am a teacher, and I looked at those lesson plans the last time this was in the news. Most of the lesson plans were crap--I fear for a world in which many teachers pay money for crap like that because they aren't even able to make crap like that on their own. The main reason I can neither be a customer nor a seller in a marketplace for teachers' lesson plans is that I use rarely used (that is, actually good) curricular materials for teaching mathematics at the "prealgebra" level,[1] and few other teachers use those. Most other teachers who do use the same materials I use are both smart enough to specify using those materials and smart enough to write their own lesson plans individualized for the classes they teach day by day. [1] http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/store/item/prealgebra http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/store/item/prealgebra http://www.amazon.com/Math-Focus-Singapore-Teachers-Edition/dp/0547561008 http://www.amazon.com/Math-Focus-Singapore-Teachers-Edition/...

PretzelFisch 11y ago
My observation has been that for my wife even a good lesson plan is just a starting point that she will spend hours tailoring for her students. For the most part this site is selling ideas and outlines(which are already plentiful and free on the web or via co-workers). I would rather we spend our money on something that reduces her work load or removes some pain point from her job.
tiatia 11y ago
"Most of the lesson plans were crap--I fear for a world in which many teachers pay money for crap like that because they aren't even able to make crap like that on their own." They know that the lesson plans are crap. They don't buy them to teach (a good teach does not need a lesson plan) but to satisfy bureaucratic bullshit.
douche 11y ago
As opposed to the crap lesson plans from the twenty-year old programs the school already owns?
lghh 11y ago
My wife is a kindergarten teacher and absolutely loves TeacherPayTeachers. For younger kids, the quality of stuff she finds is much higher than what I guess you find for older kids' math. She uses is not because she can't make materials, but because the ~$1 it costs to purchase material cuts about an hour or two out of her several hours of planning and creating materials a night that she does between 5-10 on weeknights.

PretzelFisch 11y ago

My observation has been that for my wife even a good lesson plan is just a starting point that she will spend hours tailoring for her students. For the most part this site is selling ideas and outlines(which are already plentiful and free on the web or via co-workers). I would rather we spend our money on something that reduces her work load or removes some pain point from her job.

tiatia 11y ago

"Most of the lesson plans were crap--I fear for a world in which many teachers pay money for crap like that because they aren't even able to make crap like that on their own." They know that the lesson plans are crap. They don't buy them to teach (a good teach does not need a lesson plan) but to satisfy bureaucratic bullshit.

douche 11y ago

As opposed to the crap lesson plans from the twenty-year old programs the school already owns?

lghh 11y ago

My wife is a kindergarten teacher and absolutely loves TeacherPayTeachers. For younger kids, the quality of stuff she finds is much higher than what I guess you find for older kids' math. She uses is not because she can't make materials, but because the ~$1 it costs to purchase material cuts about an hour or two out of her several hours of planning and creating materials a night that she does between 5-10 on weeknights.