Hi everyone 👋

So my second semester as a middle school teacher just started, and I am more and more surprised how little really good teaching material is actually available to me.

Because I teach a German, English, French, History, Geography and German as a second language I already deal with a wide variety of teaching material. The style and quality of the options available for each subject differ widely, and each has its own issues. I’d say its almost comical, if it wasn’t something so important.

I’ll use this mail to share a bit about the struggles in each subject.

🇫🇷 French

I start with French because here the situation is really the worst. The teaching material for middle school (dis donc) assumes that my students already know all the basics of French from elementary school. In reality they barely know how to say “bonjour” and “merci”.

When I started teaching, I first tried to follow the suggested material, then slowed down massively, and now for the second semester I decided to abandon it and use material designed for elementary school students. (ironically my predecessor already left me her elementary-school class-books, because apparently she also ran into the same issue 😅)

🇬🇧 English

In English I use New World 3.

It is another tough subject to teach because the range of ability between the students is vast. In my class, two or three students speak English fluently, whereas others barely know a word. Either the class is impossible to follow for my weak students, or my strong students almost fall asleep.

“Individualized learning” sounds like a solution, but that only works if students are motivated to learn and have a certain level of independence. Unfortunately that’s not given for every student in my class. Also a lot of exercises in New World 3 are group exercises, which of course do not go well together with differentiated learning speeds.

So what do I do? I try to use content that is hopefully easy enough for everyone to follow, but at the same time interesting enough for everyone to stay engaged. It works more or less ok for most students, but providing ideal lessons for everyone remains a challenge. (I think for English in particular, Singapore style subject-based banding would be a potential solution, but that’s out of my control)

🇩🇪 German

I did originally like Deutsch Sieben, but it turned out that this material is also too difficult for my class. The reason is, that these books are designed for mixed low-mid performance student classes (which are common in the canton of Zürich), whereas I have a pure low performance student class. This means I lack the stronger students who could pull the class through many of the more challenging exercises in the material.

Additionally, the exercise material is too little and also too challenging.

As I am writing this, I am thinking I should perhaps also look at elementary school material as an alternative option. I’ll order some and check them out next week.

🌍 History & Geography

In my school all other teachers use separate books for history and geography, but I decided that I make my life easier by using an integrated one for both: Durchblick Geografie Geschichte 1.

The book is actually alright and very helpful because it helps me to structure my topics and lessons during the semester. Unfortunately the texts are often too difficult for my class and the same is true for the exercises. Again I have no choice but to create my own, simplified material. It is fortunate that I have AI to help me here, because it makes my work a lot easier and faster.

🏫 Overall

Overall I really wonder why the material available to me and other teachers is so bad that many of us just make up our own stuff. In my view this is really not a good use of our resources as educators.

On the other hand I do appreciate the freedom to make my own decisions and learn from mistakes. I think many other teachers do so as well. And perhaps if many teachers prefer to teach with their self made material that fits their style, this has its upsides too.

The only thing I’d advocate for is more sharing. Why does every teacher need to start from zero or ask other teachers individually for their material? It’s something I might want to bring up with my colleagues at some point. Not anytime soon now, because first I need to learn and figure out many more things myself.

The journey remains very interesting!

Warm greetings from Olten and a great week everyone!

Gregor