How quickly can MCPS fix the curriculum nightmare?

[Anonymous]

Our 4th grader gives presentations she makes on her chromebook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never do ambush style questioning where you choose names out of a container. It increases anxiety in the classroom.

It actually doesn’t—but you’d have to know how to do it correctly. Done well, it builds trust and takes the pressure off of being “right.”

I would never do that to my ESOL students. If I do call them when they are not participating, I prepare them for the question ahead of time and give them a sentence starter. I hated the teachers who cold called on students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you think privates schools don't integrate technology into the classroom you are oblivious. In a well-known private school in this area, the students use iPads for everything. iPads go back and forth from home to school. I'm hesitant to name the school though.

Yes we did tours and sat in classes of privates too. very impressed with the class discussions and how the teacher was able to get each kid to raise hands, contribute to the discussion (Let's talk about things with the number 5). Sally would talk about her hand, Sam would talk about # of weekdays, etc.
Also noted that math, english and reading are 50 minute times slots, alongside a designated science small group class, social studies, 'Choice time', PE most days, 1-2 recesses, Art most days, Music/dance most days.

Right because public school teachers do not call on kids with questions. At my kids ES they have a container with all the names in it. The teacher calls on whose ever name comes out until they are all gone to make sure no one is not contributing.

They're called equity sticks.

Used properly, they make sure that the teacher is not calling on the same students over and over, while ignoring or not noticing other students.

[Anonymous]

How does a teacher forget WHO has been raising his/her hand during the day? Really can't mentally track that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a teacher forget WHO has been raising his/her hand during the day? Really can't mentally track that?

Probably no one, but if names are drawn from a hat, it demonstrates that the teacher isn't playing favorites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does a teacher forget WHO has been raising his/her hand during the day? Really can't mentally track that?

It is not as much about who is raising his or her hand, as it is about who the teacher is calling on.
Haven't you ever read about studies, heard parents complain about boys monopolizing class discussion, girls monopolizing class discussion, minority students not getting called on, etc? We all have biases (race, gender, personality type, etc), teachers too. One way to combat unconscious bias is to actually keep track of who the teacher is calling on. The stick overrides the teachers' tendencies to pick on the same kids to speak over and over. It also helps kids learn to respect when it is someone else's turn, and not feel entitled to answer every single time.

[Anonymous]

Nope. Our kids' classroom has two teachers and both make sure to coax the quiet kids into answering questions on the topic and class discussion at hand. The flow of discussion is quite good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Realistically. If I have a 12 year old, should I start looking at private school?
But IS THERE ANYTHING that we parents can do to get the ball moving faster?
Young minds don't have time for them to strategize and plan forever.

Pull the details MAPS, request all homework, look for patterns of errors or misunderstanding, go to science camps, try multi-sport camps as well since your kid had minimal PE class. You could try a WISC or SSAT test to see where your kid stands nationally, not just in MCPS curriculum/standardized testing soup.

[Anonymous]

http://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-will-seek-public-input-moving-new-curriculum/


MCPS WILL SEEK PUBLIC INPUT BEFORE MOVING WITH NEW CURRICULUM
Montgomery County Public Schools will seek out input from parents and school system employees before it drafts a request for proposals for a new elementary school curriculum.

“We want some feedback from the community,” MCPS spokesman Derek Turner said. That feedback, he said, would ensure “we’re getting the right product for our community.”

In the following video, Jill Ortman-Fouse, a member of the county Board of Education, describes the reasons why the school system is looking for a new curriculum. The new lessons will not mean more testing for students, she says.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, so where is the feedback form for the public?
I've heard for years that they'd like feedback but then there is no true forum or loop for feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, so where is the feedback form for the public?
I've heard for years that they'd like feedback but then there is no true forum or loop for feedback.

A form wouldn’t be a great way to solicit feedback. People working for Pearson’s could just say: buy Pearson’s curriculum. You need something more meaningful than a form.

[Anonymous]

Regardless where is the feedback loop between Parents/Teachers -- Principal -- Super -- Central Office - Board?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The recommendation is rollout a new K-8 ELA and math curriculum within three years. Sounds like the MCPS goal is to begin procurement this summer. I really don't see why there can't be workbooks or something equivalent available by the fall. I understand that it would be too much to demand teachers fully implement this, without training, on that time frame. But how could it hurt to have these materials as a back-up by the fall?

The separate question is what to do about student deficiencies. I don't hear that being broached.

What do you mean three years? It takes MCPS three years while paying John Hopkin's for the curriculum reccomendation to fix C2.0. So for three years kids have to continue to have errors in the handouts and an ineffective curriculum?

Rollling out a proven, tested ES curriculum should not take three years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recommendation is rollout a new K-8 ELA and math curriculum within three years. Sounds like the MCPS goal is to begin procurement this summer. I really don't see why there can't be workbooks or something equivalent available by the fall. I understand that it would be too much to demand teachers fully implement this, without training, on that time frame. But how could it hurt to have these materials as a back-up by the fall?

The separate question is what to do about student deficiencies. I don't hear that being broached.

What do you mean three years? It takes MCPS three years while paying John Hopkin's for the curriculum reccomendation to fix C2.0. So for three years kids have to continue to have errors in the handouts and an ineffective curriculum?

Rollling out a proven, tested ES curriculum should not take three years.

Yep, the plan is to roll it out incrementally over 3 years. They'll start with 30 school this fall, then expand it each year until all schools get it 3 years from now.

I agree it's ridiculous to expect some of the kids to have to suffer through a failed curriculum for years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent who has posted on this forum for years. Regardless of what MCPS was doing - pre 2.0 and during 2.0 - we have always bought textbooks for Math, Science and Foreign language for all the grades for all my kids, I am surprised that people did not do that, Mcgraw Hill, Houghton Mifflin, pearson, prentice hall, glencoe. There are textbooks galore. Pick one, any one textbook and teach that to your kid.

My parents didn't do that for my sister and me in the 90s, and they definitely valued education. I don't remember having any academic supplementation at all. We definitely did extracurriculars (music, mostly, for us, just based on our interests), but no textbook work outside of school.

Have things changed so drastically that this is now a given?

I don't know anybody who does this.

For the life of me I don’t understand the obsession with text books. It seems parents want them as a crutch so they can help their kids, but if that is the case why don’t they just google the issue.