Is English now “Honors for All” at mcps high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Great point

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

People do not understand that learning to use language (and handwriting) is training their brain. Those are relevant skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

DP.. as someone who has worked in high tech for the past 20 years, I agree that it's still important that people be able to function without relying on tech. HOWEVER, almost all work (whether it's at work or school) is done online, and almost all applications have spell check and grammar correction software. Heck, even dcum uses some kind of spellcheck -- dcum for example, is underlined in red even as I type this.

In the grand scheme of things, grammar and spelling are less important than critical and creative thinking skills. This is one of the reasons why I was willing to give 2.0 curriculum a shot, but of course, MCPS botched that.

Even so, it does bug me when I read my kids' essays and find all kinds of grammar mistakes. I have a thing about commas, and the lack thereof in their writing. It's become a running joke in our house. My kids are teens. Very smart, straight As, but the comma usage (or lack thereof) really bugs me. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of a sentence. I keep reminding my kids this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

DP.. as someone who has worked in high tech for the past 20 years, I agree that it's still important that people be able to function without relying on tech. HOWEVER, almost all work (whether it's at work or school) is done online, and almost all applications have spell check and grammar correction software. Heck, even dcum uses some kind of spellcheck -- dcum for example, is underlined in red even as I type this.

In the grand scheme of things, grammar and spelling are less important than critical and creative thinking skills. This is one of the reasons why I was willing to give 2.0 curriculum a shot, but of course, MCPS botched that.

Even so, it does bug me when I read my kids' essays and find all kinds of grammar mistakes. I have a thing about commas, and the lack thereof in their writing. It's become a running joke in our house. My kids are teens. Very smart, straight As, but the comma usage (or lack thereof) really bugs me. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of a sentence. I keep reminding my kids this.

We use Grammarly. You should try it. It taught my kids learn how to use commas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

DP.. as someone who has worked in high tech for the past 20 years, I agree that it's still important that people be able to function without relying on tech. HOWEVER, almost all work (whether it's at work or school) is done online, and almost all applications have spell check and grammar correction software. Heck, even dcum uses some kind of spellcheck -- dcum for example, is underlined in red even as I type this.

In the grand scheme of things, grammar and spelling are less important than critical and creative thinking skills. This is one of the reasons why I was willing to give 2.0 curriculum a shot, but of course, MCPS botched that.

Even so, it does bug me when I read my kids' essays and find all kinds of grammar mistakes. I have a thing about commas, and the lack thereof in their writing. It's become a running joke in our house. My kids are teens. Very smart, straight As, but the comma usage (or lack thereof) really bugs me. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of a sentence. I keep reminding my kids this.

And somehow, the creative people who invented computers had time to learn spelling, grammar and handwriting along with their "critical thinking" skills. We can do this people. Or we can watch IQs decrease and neurons shrink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

DP.. as someone who has worked in high tech for the past 20 years, I agree that it's still important that people be able to function without relying on tech. HOWEVER, almost all work (whether it's at work or school) is done online, and almost all applications have spell check and grammar correction software. Heck, even dcum uses some kind of spellcheck -- dcum for example, is underlined in red even as I type this.

In the grand scheme of things, grammar and spelling are less important than critical and creative thinking skills. This is one of the reasons why I was willing to give 2.0 curriculum a shot, but of course, MCPS botched that.

Even so, it does bug me when I read my kids' essays and find all kinds of grammar mistakes. I have a thing about commas, and the lack thereof in their writing. It's become a running joke in our house. My kids are teens. Very smart, straight As, but the comma usage (or lack thereof) really bugs me. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of a sentence. I keep reminding my kids this.

And somehow, the creative people who invented computers had time to learn spelling, grammar and handwriting along with their "critical thinking" skills. We can do this people. Or we can watch IQs decrease and neurons shrink.

How do you know the writing skills of the creative inventive people? They actually often have terrible writing skills. There is a reason why there are tech writers.

As for handwriting, seriously.. my kids learned it in ES, but it really is useless. They don't use it at all, anywhere. I never see handwriting script, ever, at work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

Yeah - I'm guessing that they were REALLY behind when they started using computers, right? Not. I'm glad that my own children can function without the assistance of a machine.

DP.. as someone who has worked in high tech for the past 20 years, I agree that it's still important that people be able to function without relying on tech. HOWEVER, almost all work (whether it's at work or school) is done online, and almost all applications have spell check and grammar correction software. Heck, even dcum uses some kind of spellcheck -- dcum for example, is underlined in red even as I type this.

In the grand scheme of things, grammar and spelling are less important than critical and creative thinking skills. This is one of the reasons why I was willing to give 2.0 curriculum a shot, but of course, MCPS botched that.

Even so, it does bug me when I read my kids' essays and find all kinds of grammar mistakes. I have a thing about commas, and the lack thereof in their writing. It's become a running joke in our house. My kids are teens. Very smart, straight As, but the comma usage (or lack thereof) really bugs me. A misplaced comma can change the meaning of a sentence. I keep reminding my kids this.

We use Grammarly. You should try it. It taught my kids learn how to use commas.

They do use grammarly. Some of the kids had it turned on while taking the AP tests during covid. The tests were all online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

People do not understand that learning to use language (and handwriting) is training their brain. Those are relevant skills.

A lot of people like to rationalize that none of it matters so they can pretend that all kids are cognitively equal. They're not. Otherwise, all students could perform siccessfully at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, etc..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

People do not understand that learning to use language (and handwriting) is training their brain. Those are relevant skills.

A lot of people like to rationalize that none of it matters so they can pretend that all kids are cognitively equal. They're not. Otherwise, all students could perform siccessfully at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, etc..

Many things other than cognitive ability determine academic success. But keep training your brain and maybe you’ll also be siccessful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

People do not understand that learning to use language (and handwriting) is training their brain. Those are relevant skills.

A lot of people like to rationalize that none of it matters so they can pretend that all kids are cognitively equal. They're not. Otherwise, all students could perform siccessfully at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, etc..

Many things other than cognitive ability determine academic success. But keep training your brain and maybe you’ll also be siccessful.

Of course. Nonetheless, cognitive functioning has much to do with it. Do you seriously think most students can do the work and meet expectations at MIT? Nope! No more than most students can practice and acquire the athletic skills of standout athletes. Like it or jot, there are wide differences in abilities among individuals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

I agree with you, but, why doesn't MCPS require kids to run their papers through a grammar checker? Teach kids that it is important to turn in quality work free of errors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the curriculum has been changed significantly, I just think there is a lot more "for completion" grading, peer feedback exercises rather than teachers reviewing assignments, and very little teacher feedback on writing assignments.

My English teachers in HS marked every grammar mistake in a paper (short or long) and you lost a .5 of a point for each mistake. They also provided feedback about structure and content.

If you are old enough to have grammar mistakes marked, then the curriculum has changed dramatically since then.

This. MCPS teachers at our MS are not correcting grammar. My kid has had grammar mistakes in her assignments and nobody is taking points off for it.

It became less relevant as a life skill with free grammar and spell check programs. Similar to cursive falling out of the curriculum. My two youngest learned cursive and diagramming sentences in private school, but not any computer skills. Guess which one of the three they use every day?

I agree with you, but, why doesn't MCPS require kids to run their papers through a grammar checker? Teach kids that it is important to turn in quality work free of errors.

How about speaking with good grammar?