I am in my 20th year with the DOE. Increasingly, we have assigned curricula for each subject. I am fine with teaching curricula chosen by my district, but it has to be sound and doable. One serious problem with many of these curricula is the ridiculous length of lesson plans.

The English language lesson that I am trying to plan today is 15 pages, single-spaced. That is for one hour of instructional time! It takes longer to read the lesson plan than to teach it. Our most recent Amplify science lesson plan is 22 pages. I have to teach multiple lessons a day. I simply do not have time to read 100-plus pages of lesson plans each week.

I call on the UFT to demand that all DOE-approved curricula limit the length of lesson plans. A lesson plan for one period should never be more than five pages. I should not have to rewrite every lesson plan to condense it. That is the job of the curriculum company the DOE pays millions of dollars to. New York City public school teachers deserve teachable curricula!

Molly Dobkin 
PS 361, Manhattan