Middle school- continuing band and language through 8th grade

[Anonymous]

I saw a 2020 thread on this but wondering if anyone has more recent info on the issue of an MCPS middle schooler wanting to take band and language for all three years of middle school, which we've been told is not possible because they need a tech credit elective. Has anyone gotten around this?

[Anonymous]

My 9th grader didn’t take a tech class in middle school. I don’t think the tech requirement was ever mentioned. They’re registered for AP Computer Science Principles for next year, which will fulfill it.

[Anonymous]

I'm so annoyed at the fact that they're communicating all this so ppoorly! We literally got an email the day of the Middle School meeting from my 5th grader's teacher that the meeting was going to be that evening. No brochure or clear overview, just a typical convoluted MCPS presentation and Q and A. It was actually ridiculous that they kept going on about SSL hours before saying what they were, and dozens of parents with their first kid in MCPS (many non-Americans) were like "What exactly is this??" I don't remember anything about a tech elective requirement but I know I was very confused about several things at the end of it...

[Anonymous]

I’m not aware of any MS that even offers the tech credit. I would speak directly with the MS band director at your school. They can tell you what’s true or not and they should know of these kinds of rumors deterring kids from staying in their program.

[Anonymous]

No tech credit required at our MS. There is a tech credit for HS graduation, and if your MS offers it, that is probably an option a lot of kids take. But required? Probably not.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if this varies across schools but I'd imagine all schools have a workaround. My kid is in band all three years (and also language). One quarter of the band class is 'tech' where they are doing some musical tech stuff-- I haven't really followed it but I'm pretty sure she did some music mixing and composed a song on an online tool. That kind of thing. These are woven throughout the year (so not a solid quarter doing tech stuff rather than performance stuff).

I'm pretty sure they allow (and band directors encourage) participation all three years.

[Anonymous]

My kid dropped French to tach her tech class in MS.

[Anonymous]

I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

[Anonymous]

OP, what MS are you at. People from that school can give you specific advice. Each middle school emphasizes different things and offers different electives.

[Anonymous]

Check with your school. There is no tech requirement in our middle school. However, there are certain tech electives that kids can take to get the credit they need for HS. Both my kids are at MCPS and took language/band all three years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check with your school. There is no tech requirement in our middle school. However, there are certain tech electives that kids can take to get the credit they need for HS. Both my kids are at MCPS and took language/band all three years.

And my understanding is that MCPS (non-specialized schools) have the same requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

call their counselor; that doesn't make much sense unless they are in some type of magnet program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

call their counselor; that doesn't make much sense unless they are in some type of magnet program.

NP here, but it does make sense -- there was some kind of requirement implemented to the state report card in recent years to show a "well rounded curriculum" that included some tech in middle school. See this previous thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/855948.page

Different schools handle it in different ways. As one poster above said, some schools incorporate a tech component into music classes. Other schools seem to ignore it, at least not requiring it for every student. Your best bet is to ask the music and language teachers and the counselor at your school, as suggested above.

[Anonymous]

My DC is in 8th grade taking orchestra and Spanish all 3 years. Band/orchestra is required if the students want to audition for all state. And taking world language in 6th and 7th then dropping in 8th does not make sense for learning purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

call their counselor; that doesn't make much sense unless they are in some type of magnet program.

NP here, but it does make sense -- there was some kind of requirement implemented to the state report card in recent years to show a "well rounded curriculum" that included some tech in middle school. See this previous thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/855948.page

Different schools handle it in different ways. As one poster above said, some schools incorporate a tech component into music classes. Other schools seem to ignore it, at least not requiring it for every student. Your best bet is to ask the music and language teachers and the counselor at your school, as suggested above.

So this isn't the same thing as the Technology credit requirement for graduation? That's only satisfied by a handful of specific classes. But it sounds like this is a different animal altogether.

Presumably that tech stuff in band won't tick the Technology credit box for their graduation requirements, and they'll still have to take Foundations of Computer Science or whatever in HS.