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Then perhaps he should ask the teacher questions about the packet. The new mantra in teaching is "be a guide on the side not a sage on the stage". In order to be a guide, you need kids asking questions about the material. The packets might be the starting point for that.
The problem here is this young man doesn't seem to think he has any responsibility for his own education. If he wants the teacher to teach, the fastest way to achieve that is to ask questions. Going on a rant about her not being enthusiastic enough and handing out packets achieved nothing other than getting a long term sub who probably doesn't even know the subject. FAIL.
What this kid needed to do was read the packet and come up with some good questions he wanted answered. Now THAT would have helped his education.
Assuming I actually have a job next year, this is the direction I'm going. The idea is you hand the packets out and the kids start working and the teacher guides them through their questions. In this model, the kids are active participants in their own educations (which means it's only as good as the effort the kids put in). This is not my preferred method of teaching but it seems to work (I think it's going to take longer to get through the material though and I think the bottom kids who don't work will learn even less than before.). I'll just have to adjust.
I would love to know what asinine methodology led the educators to think that the kids were going to study all the material on their own AND ask questions about it?
Are they out of their mind?
If you can't get kids to do normal reading at home, why would they think that suddenly they're going to want to do even more work?
Why should the student do the work for the teacher?
For all intents and purposes, a teacher who hands out packets essentially is a sub.
The idea is wonderful, but not grounded in reality.
All that does is water down the material for the smart kids and has the smart kids essentially do the lazy kids' homework since they just copy from the smart kids. And since the smart kids are sitting right there, it's hard to say "No, you're not copying." With homework, the smart kids could just not take it out.
Also, you mentioned that it will take longer to get through the material.
How do you purport to get through a world history curriculum in 9 months if it is going to take even longer than before?
But that isn't what teaching should be. Teaching should be opening minds to possibilities. And you aren't teaching things, you are teaching how to learn new ones. You are teaching how to look at tomorrows world with eyes wide open.
So if the teacher obediently pulls out packets of stuff that the state says is what they need to get test scores and sits at the desk, they are by defination NOT teaching. Schools today have been hijacked by non thinkers, non educators, and non questioneers.
What this 'teacher' should have said was calmly, and yet with conviction that he was right. That she was doing what the school tells her to do, that he needs to tell the admins and the people up the line that all they are doing is passing the buck. That if she did as they all wished she'd be gone and replaced with a new robot, but the students don't have to stand for that. That students should feel free to speak up when they feel they are NOT being taught
Yes, many jobs require that. That is why you have homework, and reptitus work, because even in the most challenging of jobs you have 'stuff' that has to be done. But you don't waste those precious hours in the classroom with packets of selected material. You engage the students when they are there, challenge them, ask questions which require time and thought to begin to answer. That is what *school* time should be for.
That is how you wake up the ones who will not be shuffing electronic paper and thinking about something entirely different. This is *when* you open up the possibility to the student you can do anything that you believe you can. Raise the bar, not lower it to the lowest level...
You know why high school and first year college classes have about the same content? Why the college classes are acceptable in many schools for both credits but colleges do not accept your high school ones without a do over? Because college classes are less about bean counting and more about thinking and learning and giving students an increased responsibility in their own education.
Back when schooling began, when the industrial revolution required children who could read simple instructions so they could work in factories with printed instruction, there was a two layer based on class. Children were observed and those who seemed to react properly were further tested with the goal of providing sufficently knowlegable and subserviant servants. It was an honored profession, to go into service, becasue it was one with upward mobility and self responsibility. Those who were not suited by personality to service went to factories. Those of sufficent class went to other schools, but even those who failed the 'thinker' were found places they wouldn't hurt themselves or get in the way.
Today we wouldn't want to do that, so we flatten the field. Make school about challenge even if it doesn't make the test scores soar. The ones who can't meet the challenge or are not ready to educate anyway. The more we know and the greater the variety the better, even if we don't 'use' it that we know of. But push enough the prime minds surface and they themselves find their direction.
If I had the choice of a school where they really taught but the test scores were iffy and one where they taught the test there would be NO question which would serve my kid in LIFE and which I'd choose.
We are not all square pegs and standardized minds and until we realize this only those really smart kids who go into programs like GATE where much is expected to come from themselves are really getting an education today. The rest are the equivilant of the factory workers of old.
I agree with you, but you have to understand what we are up against.
I had another poster claim that it is "unethical" to ask the students to submit feedback! Wow! Heaven forbid, they do something they aren't compensated for!
And, unfortunately, the average American adult doesn't have the attention span to read your whole post.
A politician might yell "He hates equality!" and the audience will cheer, even though that has nothing to do with what we're talking about.
He was interviewed on the national news. He had reasons for his frustration. He actually quit school thinking he didn't need it and went back a year later. He's seen whats out there. He doesn't see how packets and a passive 'teacher' are eductation. He didn't know he was being filmed and didn't post the you tube but is pleased at the discussion its provided.
He had reached his level of frustration because he didn't see any purpose in the time. Sometimes you have to yell to be heard. Seems he is being heard by a much wider audience than he anticipated but maybe it will wake a few people up.
I don't recall actually reading over any of the copied stuff a few of the classes I had way back then used. Then it was considered an addition to teaching. I barely skimmed the text book too. I did well and learned because even a boring teacher had something to say. And everything was discussed by the class.
I will say the teachers who were boring left a small mark on my thinking process. The ones who said read the book left none. The ones who challenged us to think by asking us questions had a great deal of influence. I learned to question the oft found thinking that we morally judge the past, for instance. Today this teacher, eleventh grade US History, students on a waiting list for his class, would lose his job for the questions he asked as he wanted us to question.
This is what education is about. Not passing tests. I passed all the tests well in the classes I was too bored by the lack of spark or a 'read the book' attitude, but remember little as I 'learned' it long enough to take the test. Tests only tell us how good someone is at the game, not what they actually learned.
I hope all these students DO go to college and take the basic classes since they are not catering to a test and they might be more fit to live a meaningful life that way.
What questions did that teacher ask, out of curiousity?
And lol, we both wish that would happen, but there's always community college for those students to water down the material again.
Is the teacher afraid of their lousy teaching methods being recorded to the public?
And yeah, I know it's possible, but if it's true, then the principal would know that said person is a good teacher and she would have nothing to worry about.
And giving no reaction gives the impression that you know the criticism is true.
I was thinking the same thing anyone who is worried about a recording is doing something wrong or has something to hide.
I had teachers who would just do packets I have been out of school for almost ten years, I can tell the ones that just use packets and don't go over it or don't teach at all other then doing paper work... you learn nothing. I had ones who mainly talked about the subject we were learning about rather then do book work or packets. I learned the most from them.
And how are you going to tell the bridge builder which bridge is correct if you know nothing about bridge building? I've got news for you, you can't. You just THINK you can because you don't know enough about bridges to know that you are dangerously deficient in your bridge knowlege. Ditto for teaching.
The push in education is towards student talk and things that encourage student talk. I've seen packets used to do this. You give the kids the packets and then have them work together to figure it out with the teacher acting as a guide instead of lecturing. I'm not a fan because I think that the brighter kids fail to attain higher knowledge and the bottom who don't do anything still don't do anything and learn even less but it's the way of the future I'm told.
No matter what system I choose to deliver my content, there will be round pegs in square holes.
And we're not cowards. We just know that no one is listening to us. We're public enemy number 1. We're what's wrong with education. They're gunning for us. Do you really think they'll listen to us? I'd say we're the last people asked about what works and what doesn't but we're actually not asked at all. Here in Michigan, they formed a secret task group to revamp education and deliberately excluded educators from the group because they want to do things new ways not the old ways. They felt we are too, financially, vested in the way things are done (yet they included tech company representatives in this group....the very companies that will profit handsomely if we go to online schooling...oh the irony...). Sorry but the only people who listen to us are other teachers. The rest of the world would just as soon we all quit our jobs because they're convinced we're the source of all evil in education.
Personally, I'm not a fan of packets and student talk because I happen to believe that the basics we need to teach are the same basics we taught 50 years ago so what worked then ought to work now because human brains haven't really changed in the last 50 years). However, I'm told I'm wrong. I'm told that times have changed (seriously, the math books and the chemistry books still have the same problems I learned in high school and kids are still reading A clockwork orange and the grapes of wrath... but who am I to tell the powers that be that things really haven't changed that much...) We're told that technology is the way to teach yet I see it as a distraction in the classroom. Kids text when they should be working, take pictures of tests and send them to their friends, copy and paste from wikipedia instead of writing their own papers, and just can't resist googling anything other than what the teacher told them to look up. A trip to the computer lab is an hour of pacing the room trying to keep students off of sites they don't belong on and, IMO, a waste of my time. Computers are tools, not the end all be all. But I digress...
I think if kids were good at doing packets and teaching themselves/each other, we would have done away with teachers and schools long ago...but what do I know? I'm just one of those teachers trying to protect my livlihood so I resist change because I might end up out of work...at least that's what they say. Sadly, teachers are not treated like the experts in education they are.
He still has the right to ask questions and demand answers.
Doesn't mean he knows which answer is right, but if the answer is just "Shut up, we have more experience," that usually shows that someone isn't properly preparing for their project.
lol, the "push" in education. That's the "push" that will push you right out of your job.
A robot could hand out packets. Why should they pay you a decent salary when they can hire someone for minimum wage to pass out packets?
If you keep doing what you're "told" and line up like robots to your orders, then why do you expect anything to change?
So you are willing to take orders from a secret task group and are OK with this? Don't you have pride in what you do?
I also think you're being a little biased in being a teacher.
Most people also blame parents and the media for crappy education. It isn't just teachers.
You're told you're wrong because it's more profitable for the school systems to pay the teachers less.
I remember a CVS that tried using a machine to make the customers check themselves out and an employee being all excited that she had less responsibilities now.
And I remember saying, "Why are you so excited about this? You DO realize they're going to fire you soon?"
I agree with your theory about teaching the basics.
However, you're fully willing to believe that you and I are wrong just because some mystery person says so?
Anytime someone says "times have changed" is an automatic clue as to the person is just talking out of their *****.
OF COURSE you should tell the powers that be what you feel! Stop accepting what they say just because they write you a paycheck.
Why do you keep saying, "What do I know?" The administrators don't know ****** either, but just happen to be in a powerful position. Stop sucking up to them.
If you don't have enough respect to consider yourself an expert as a teacher, why do you expect to be treated like one?
And how are you going to tell the bridge builder which bridge is correct if you know nothing about bridge building? I've got news for you, you can't. You just THINK you can because you don't know enough about bridges to know that you are dangerously deficient in your bridge knowlege. Ditto for teaching.
The push in education is towards student talk and things that encourage student talk. I've seen packets used to do this. You give the kids the packets and then have them work together to figure it out with the teacher acting as a guide instead of lecturing. I'm not a fan because I think that the brighter kids fail to attain higher knowledge and the bottom who don't do anything still don't do anything and learn even less but it's the way of the future I'm told.
No matter what system I choose to deliver my content, there will be round pegs in square holes.
And we're not cowards. We just know that no one is listening to us. We're public enemy number 1. We're what's wrong with education. They're gunning for us. Do you really think they'll listen to us? I'd say we're the last people asked about what works and what doesn't but we're actually not asked at all. Here in Michigan, they formed a secret task group to revamp education and deliberately excluded educators from the group because they want to do things new ways not the old ways. They felt we are too, financially, vested in the way things are done (yet they included tech company representatives in this group....the very companies that will profit handsomely if we go to online schooling...oh the irony...). Sorry but the only people who listen to us are other teachers. The rest of the world would just as soon we all quit our jobs because they're convinced we're the source of all evil in education.
Personally, I'm not a fan of packets and student talk because I happen to believe that the basics we need to teach are the same basics we taught 50 years ago so what worked then ought to work now because human brains haven't really changed in the last 50 years). However, I'm told I'm wrong. I'm told that times have changed (seriously, the math books and the chemistry books still have the same problems I learned in high school and kids are still reading A clockwork orange and the grapes of wrath... but who am I to tell the powers that be that things really haven't changed that much...) We're told that technology is the way to teach yet I see it as a distraction in the classroom. Kids text when they should be working, take pictures of tests and send them to their friends, copy and paste from wikipedia instead of writing their own papers, and just can't resist googling anything other than what the teacher told them to look up. A trip to the computer lab is an hour of pacing the room trying to keep students off of sites they don't belong on and, IMO, a waste of my time. Computers are tools, not the end all be all. But I digress...
I think if kids were good at doing packets and teaching themselves/each other, we would have done away with teachers and schools long ago...but what do I know? I'm just one of those teachers trying to protect my livlihood so I resist change because I might end up out of work...at least that's what they say. Sadly, teachers are not treated like the experts in education they are.
Actually, I don't have to know the details of bridge building. I have every right to expect that bridge builders do. It's a not one size fits all job. Just as building freeway ramps isn't either. In the 80's a company who pirmarily build them in Socal was hired to build them for a new highway in Michigan. It all went swimmingly until winter. Then it snowed and they iced over and became places to sled down. The company build more conventional ones that stayed open with snow as a freebie. If you say you know your job then you have to make up for it when you prove not to.
This self teaching method isn't new. It was used in the gate style classes a long time ago. For them it works. It wasn't in 'regular' classes because its too easy to slip out without notice. And its not just those who need the structure, but shy kids who won't speak up in a group where others dominate and other personality issues. Or 'different' kids who don't fit in. I took an advanced Biology class for a couple of weeks that took this approach. It had more 'hands on' stuff. It turns out I'm really really allergic to some of the chemicals so I didn't last long. But it would have been interesting. I don't see how it would benefit anyone with marginal skills, though. Instead, it would just 'teach' how inadequate you were.
And we owe *each* student a chance. You need an adult with enought hands on attention to see if someone is failing. I fear for a whole lot of students with this approach. They really NEED to have both, the traditional lecture method and this and others. Evaluate a student to see how they relate to 'groups' for one before you force them into one. I've worked as a programmer in one place where you got an assignment and went to your desk and worked. And one where they had 'project groups'. One person alone at a desk did a lot better. I would get the second or third meeting of mindless argument into a place where I really didn't care.
I know they'll always be round pegs, but it seems like they (us) are getting pushed off as an annoyance in society. That never every does good for it or its other members. And if this is 'the' way to do it then we're slipping back to where the 'right attitude' got you into service and a respectable place, and the 'wrong' one slaving away in a factory. Except we don't have factories anymore.....
I'm sorry, but I don't buy the idea that its okay to see students failing with this method since they are overlooked or don't learn this way (and method is genetically programmed) and just say we can't change it. Teachers are the experts at this, and need to sound out. And need to find the students who aren't making it and work with them personally even if its not in 'the rules' to call themselves teachers.
Make noise. Speak out, say its NOT working. Offer tutoring groups for those who get left by the wayside. Find a way or don't call yourself a teacher if your not really teaching.
I do agree about computers. They can help with rote things, but they don't have the capacity to look at individuals. My son was taught his numbers at home, and he learned easy math but it didn't really sink in. But he had a game which was an adventure when he was in the first few grades. The hero would stop and couldn't go on until you answered three things right. They could be basic math, spelling, language or word meanings. It adjusted as to age and how far the child had gotten. He suddenly didn't have any problem with math. And he caught up with English. And it was because it was just something he had to do with his game. And then, there was when he was five and waked in asking what the number below zero was. We told him about negative numbers. He got it immediately, and later ask his teacher when they would learn those. She was rather surprised.
I think our best idea is to lose the grade system and teach subjects. And involve kids with adults who know more to guide them but also give them the tools to learn on their own. So you might be ten and in different levels in your subjects but could move as slowly or fast as you were able to. Thus, the reader who is three grade levels ahead would not be limited by other things they were not.
Teachers should be in the forfront of providing a real education and be vocal about the things which do NOT work and take back their position and I believe that would be good for all of us. They are the ones who SEE the problems and know how it is. I have a relative who works full time as a math tutor and he's always busy so there are other ways of teaching than being a classroom 'supervisor'. I'm lucky mom didn't leave me to learn look see reading since I learned to love it and would have found a way my son learn that way if the school had not just reinstituted phonics. People care about their kids education and if teachers come across as genuine about caring that education is broken then the public would support them.
If they sit back and be scared they will have no reason to expect it. And the losers are most of the kids.
Because most of the kids won't read it at home. The sad truth is many kids won't do anything until we make them and for some we can't even make them in school.
I would LOVE to flip my curriculum (post my lectures on line and then use class time to do "homework" so kids have support while they try the problems) but can't because I can't guarantee that all kids will listen to the lecture at home. What do I do with the ones who didn't watch the lecture before they came to class who have no clue what we're doing because they didn't do their pre-work at home?
I agree with you that the old system worked. But I'm told I'm old fashioned when I defend it. The way I see it, we put a man on the moon with the education system we had in the 1950's and we did it without computers to help us. I'd call that success. Yet, I'm told that the human brain and how humans learn has changed so much in the past 50 years that we need to, completely, change education....(sarcasm as we all know the human brain has not changed in a mere 50 years). What has changed is computers are big business and there's lots of money to be made selling computers and software to go with them. Interestinlgy, they complain that teachers are trying to protect their livlihood yet cannot see the computer and software companies who are protecting theirs. It just seems like education would be better with computers. I'm in the "Can we, please, teach them basic math BEFORE we give them calculators" camp.... Yes, I know, I've been told I'm old fashioned and just don't appreciate how much has changed since I was in school. I know this, brains haven't changed and neither have the basics. I vote for doing what allowed us to put a man on the moon....but I'm outnumbered.
However, there is one thing that can be done. Our kids can take ownership of their educations (much the way kids did in the 1950's. No one blamed the teacher when a child didn't learn back then. They blamed the child which is where the blame usually belongs when a child does not learn.). They can read those darned packets and make a game of coming up with questions the teacher can't answer. That'll show them...actually that would work...
But at least with the reading assignments, you had real lectures in class.
Now you don't have any value in class at all!
In college, we had a full hour of lecture each week dedicated to just setting up the homework problems, so you would have liked that.
But stop accepting the nonsense that administrators lob at you. The more you "accept" what they say, the greater leverage they have to say, "Well no one objects to what I say in our meetings, so obviously I have full support of my faculty for packets."
How humans learn couldn't have changed much if they feel the need to make such sweeping changes.
That's a contradictory statement just to say that.
I'm fine with a wealthier district wanting to have a computer lab as a "research" or even a "recreational" student lounge if you like.
But there's no way students should be using them for class. Computers are fine for writing papers. (I'd hate to hand write a 15-page paper.) But they have no need in the classroom.
It seems like I'm a much younger than you. I appreciate the fact that we have graphing calculators now and don't have to graph cos^3(x) by hand, every time we want to do an integral.
Believe me. I'm super appreciative that we don't need to memorize ALL of that.
But until you're into at least Algebra 2, there's no need for a calculator.
Actually, I don't have to know the details of bridge building. I have every right to expect that bridge builders do. It's a not one size fits all job. Just as building freeway ramps isn't either. In the 80's a company who pirmarily build them in Socal was hired to build them for a new highway in Michigan. It all went swimmingly until winter. Then it snowed and they iced over and became places to sled down. The company build more conventional ones that stayed open with snow as a freebie. If you say you know your job then you have to make up for it when you prove not to.
This self teaching method isn't new. It was used in the gate style classes a long time ago. For them it works. It wasn't in 'regular' classes because its too easy to slip out without notice. And its not just those who need the structure, but shy kids who won't speak up in a group where others dominate and other personality issues. Or 'different' kids who don't fit in. I took an advanced Biology class for a couple of weeks that took this approach. It had more 'hands on' stuff. It turns out I'm really really allergic to some of the chemicals so I didn't last long. But it would have been interesting. I don't see how it would benefit anyone with marginal skills, though. Instead, it would just 'teach' how inadequate you were.
And we owe *each* student a chance. You need an adult with enought hands on attention to see if someone is failing. I fear for a whole lot of students with this approach. They really NEED to have both, the traditional lecture method and this and others. Evaluate a student to see how they relate to 'groups' for one before you force them into one. I've worked as a programmer in one place where you got an assignment and went to your desk and worked. And one where they had 'project groups'. One person alone at a desk did a lot better. I would get the second or third meeting of mindless argument into a place where I really didn't care.
I know they'll always be round pegs, but it seems like they (us) are getting pushed off as an annoyance in society. That never every does good for it or its other members. And if this is 'the' way to do it then we're slipping back to where the 'right attitude' got you into service and a respectable place, and the 'wrong' one slaving away in a factory. Except we don't have factories anymore.....
I'm sorry, but I don't buy the idea that its okay to see students failing with this method since they are overlooked or don't learn this way (and method is genetically programmed) and just say we can't change it. Teachers are the experts at this, and need to sound out. And need to find the students who aren't making it and work with them personally even if its not in 'the rules' to call themselves teachers.
Make noise. Speak out, say its NOT working. Offer tutoring groups for those who get left by the wayside. Find a way or don't call yourself a teacher if your not really teaching.
I do agree about computers. They can help with rote things, but they don't have the capacity to look at individuals. My son was taught his numbers at home, and he learned easy math but it didn't really sink in. But he had a game which was an adventure when he was in the first few grades. The hero would stop and couldn't go on until you answered three things right. They could be basic math, spelling, language or word meanings. It adjusted as to age and how far the child had gotten. He suddenly didn't have any problem with math. And he caught up with English. And it was because it was just something he had to do with his game. And then, there was when he was five and waked in asking what the number below zero was. We told him about negative numbers. He got it immediately, and later ask his teacher when they would learn those. She was rather surprised.
I think our best idea is to lose the grade system and teach subjects. And involve kids with adults who know more to guide them but also give them the tools to learn on their own. So you might be ten and in different levels in your subjects but could move as slowly or fast as you were able to. Thus, the reader who is three grade levels ahead would not be limited by other things they were not.
Teachers should be in the forfront of providing a real education and be vocal about the things which do NOT work and take back their position and I believe that would be good for all of us. They are the ones who SEE the problems and know how it is. I have a relative who works full time as a math tutor and he's always busy so there are other ways of teaching than being a classroom 'supervisor'. I'm lucky mom didn't leave me to learn look see reading since I learned to love it and would have found a way my son learn that way if the school had not just reinstituted phonics. People care about their kids education and if teachers come across as genuine about caring that education is broken then the public would support them.
If they sit back and be scared they will have no reason to expect it. And the losers are most of the kids.
Yeah, that's my main problem with this approach.
Even if the "packets" were actually just ways to engage the student alongside the lecture, it would only provide marginal benefit to the super involved student, who is already doing all of the homework anyway!
I would love to hear these educators who honestly think that making the kids do more written work will encourage them to work harder when they didn't care in the first place!
That makes no sense!
And when you say that, you get the usual baloney of "You're old fashioned. Times have changed. You don't have as much experience."
Yeah, I don't have experience conning people out of a proper education.
I agree with your ideas about education. I have ideas about sort of a mentorish role in that regard with working with middle school level kids to prepare them for work later. When they are ready, I would sign them to a big contract. Maybe take them through college and then we can renegotiate then.
When I present the basics of the idea to the board, I get shunned, saying, "This idea conflicts with what the establishment says is right and with professional boundaries."
I'm sorry, but sitting at your desk and concealing your true thoughts does not make you a professional! At some point, the definition of professional has been hijacked too.
And who cares what the establishment says? The establishment is providing HORRIBLE results and their answer is that we need to follow the establishment because they have more experience?
Huh? If a student was getting a 40% on ten tests in a row, would we tell the student that he should keep studying in exactly the same way forever?
It's like teachers have their own code of enforcing you to submit to their way or you are obviously immature/incompetent. How convenient. Either agree with us or you're crazy.
Of course you have the right to your opinion. And that means you have the right to voice that opinion and look like an ignorant dufas when you talk to experts about their profession.
I have the right to tell engineers how to build a bridge. They have the right to laugh at me for talking out of my butt or tell me go F*** off. But since I've driven on bridges, I have that right/knowledge to tell them how to, don't I?
Same goes for neurosugeons. I don't criticize those that carry this out since I've never had their training, but since I have a brain, shouldn't I have the right to discuss the specific details about it and tell them what they're doing wrong or how to improve their methods?
That's exactly the kind of logic some posters are using when justifying their rants about education. Yes, there are some bad eggs in every profession, and I'd say we all - well, most of us - can feel somewhat justified in our criticism. But just because you've sat on the student's side of the desk doesn't mean that you know what goes on on the teacher's side of that desk. This is called arrogant presumption.
Also, since we truly don't have the full picture - since we only see 90 seconds of one side of the issue - it makes one look foolish to criticize the teacher based solely on 1 student's opinion. I'm not saying either she was right or wrong, or that the kid was justified or an attention-grabbing lunatic. But to automically assume "truth" based on this small segment is moronic. And when people do such, they only embarrass themselves.
In response to your comment I don't spend my spare time building bridges or doing neurosurgery, so I'd have less expertise there to tell those folks what to do. However as someone who has worked in various healthcare related jobs, people do give opinions to health professionals frequently.
I can say while I am no expert in classroom management, I have been a teacher to my children. I can tell some of the methods that have been used in school that don't work. I've actually spent quite a bit of time with one of my kids when they didn't grasp the way things were being taught in school.
I really don't agree with your logic. If I have a plumber come to my house, and his repair doesn't work, does that mean I am unable to criticize him, because I have never been a plumber?
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The new mantra in teaching is "be a guide on the side not a sage on the stage". In order to be a guide, you need kids asking questions about the material. The packets might be the starting point for that. 
I'd say we're the last people asked about what works and what doesn't but we're actually not asked at all. Here in Michigan, they formed a secret task group to revamp education and deliberately excluded educators from the group because they want to do things new ways not the old ways. They felt we are too, financially, vested in the way things are done (yet they included tech company representatives in this group....the very companies that will profit handsomely if we go to online schooling...oh the irony...). Sorry but the only people who listen to us are other teachers. The rest of the world would just as soon we all quit our jobs because they're convinced we're the source of all evil in education. 
