Why Teachers Must be Curriculum Creators

Cindy Blackburn, Director of Learning and Engagement, Toddle - Your Teaching Partner

I’m one of those people who knew they wanted to be a teacher since preschool. I can still picture it: sitting at snack time, crackers in hand, when it suddenly clicked that my teacher’s job was to be there with us, to learn, to play, to guide. I was hooked.

Along the way, I had incredible educators who nurtured that spark. Eventually, I found myself standing at the front of a classroom in Florida as a student teacher, ready to bring that lifelong dream to life. But something felt off.

When I took the lead in the classroom, I was handed a thick binder, a scripted curriculum and told that the principal expected me to be on the same page as the teacher next door, literally. Every word, every question, every activity was prescribed. I remember thinking, this can’t be it. Surely, there’s a better way to help students think, question and create.

That question—what could it look like if teachers had more ownership over their curriculum? —has guided me for nearly two decades. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of earning a master’s degree, teaching and leading in schools around the world and exploring how educators can design learning that is both rigorous and deeply human.

But when I moved back to the United States four years ago, I was surprised to see that many schools were still locked into the same pattern: scripted lessons, rigid pacing guides and little room for teachers’ professional judgment. In some places, the trend had even intensified. Coming out of the pandemic, with mounting challenges and a teacher shortage, many systems doubled down on standardization. The pendulum, it seems, is swinging back toward control instead of trust.

“Teachers who design curriculum are not just delivering content; they are curating experiences that reflect their students, their communities, and the world those students will inherit.”

And that’s what worries me. Because the question of whether teachers are curriculum creators isn’t just about lesson plans. It’s about the heart of teaching.

When teachers have ownership of what and how students learn, everything changes. Modernizing assessment, differentiating instruction, personalizing learning, making it more meaningful and connected to the world. All of it begins with teacher agency. Teachers who design curriculum are not just delivering content; they are curating experiences that reflect their students, their communities and the world those students will inherit.

My favorite metaphor for this comes from my friend, education researcher Tom Guskey. He describes the curriculum as a skeleton, the essential bones of learning. We don’t want students leaving school missing an arm or a leg. Those core standards and goals matter. But the skeleton alone isn’t enough. It’s teachers and students together who build the body, adding the muscles, heart and creativity that bring learning to life.

That’s what makes teaching an art. It isn’t about reciting a script; it’s about reading the room, responding to curiosity and adapting to the humans in front of you. The best teachers design with intention and flexibility. They balance structure with imagination, standards with authenticity.

If we want to keep talented teachers in the profession, and reengage the next generation to join it, we have to make space for that artistry again. We have to trust teachers as designers, thinkers and co-learners. Because when teachers feel empowered to shape learning, students feel empowered to own it.

That’s the classroom I dreamed of back in preschool, the one where learning felt alive. It’s the one worth fighting for now.