English class at middle school: Catholic schools vs FCPS (aap) in NoVa

[Anonymous]

Various sources seemed to indicate that the language class is taught better than public -- but given that many catholic schools we visited have fairly large class (25 for most), how is it done differently so that it's better than the public schools? We are enrolled at an AAP program (6th grade) and the language education is very, very poor. I doubt if the middle school will be much better at the 7th grade. We cannot afford the non-catholic privates.

[Anonymous]

It’s probably not a lot different. Parents at Catholic schools don’t have their kids there because the curriculum is all that much different. They do expect that their kids will receive the religious education they expect and that their values will be reinforced.

[Anonymous]

It will depend on the school (FCPS and Catholic)

[Anonymous]

They have books and require writing through homework. It is much better. Plus they teach handwriting and grammar and these are separate classes. Unless your child is a natural writer and reader they will not be prepared for high school through FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Seeing that you've already made it to 6th grade. 8th grade FCPS is the first time you will ever see decent language arts instruction. 7th grade is the same as 6th. The private schools just have more difficult assignments and homework and books and longer lessons for language arts.

[Anonymous]

There’s a big trade off to go to catholic school just for language arts. My kids are in Catholic school so I say this as a proponent for them. But a non catholic just there for the academics might be disappointed. It’s not honors level. It’s just typical language arts but with 25 kids who don’t have behavior problems and whose parents would theoretically the teacher if there was an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have books and require writing through homework. It is much better. Plus they teach handwriting and grammar and these are separate classes. Unless your child is a natural writer and reader they will not be prepared for high school through FCPS.

Middle school FCPS classes teach grammar. I'd like to know how their are enough hours in the day for English class, grammar class, handwriting class and the other core classes?

[Anonymous]

We're at a Protestant school (similar price to parochial), but just made the switch from FCPS AAP in 6th to private for 7th, with our younger kids also switching.

TL; DR - it's a combination of more scaffolding and direct instruction to help the kids really understand and higher expectations.

- In the elementary grades there is formal grammar instruction with a separate grammar block. My 7th grader is currently racing to catch up. The language arts teacher is able to use formal grammar terms to explain things to the kids about their writing.

- Five paragraph essays have been carefully taught since mid-elementary in our private, but are being reviewed again in 7th. My kid was never, ever formally taught how to do a thesis or topic sentence in AAP - we covered it at home when the concept was required by a project in 5th grade.

- The whole class studies a novel or play together and does related projects and writing. They really dive deeply into literary analysis as a class, instead of being given random short pieces or having a "book club" that only part of the class is doing (like in FCPS ES AAP). This allows for them to learn from both the teacher and each other. My 7th grader's teacher bribes them with a lot of food and follow-on movies to love the book. Plus I think reading something as a grade builds class cohesiveness, but maybe I'm just an English nerd. Again the kids have been reading whole class novels since elementary, starting with whole class read-alouds. They've been analyzing them since elementary in a stunning amount of depth as well. I've been impressed by the literary analysis my 5th grader is bringing home.

- The writing expectations are so much higher. My 7th grader was used to giving a passable attempt and easily earning a 4. For her most recent short story she revised several times and put a ton more thought and effort into it than she ever had before. It's possible this is just the difference between elementary and middle school, but I didn't get the sense that our FCPS MS was going to be that demanding on the quality of writing.

- To help with the writing expectations, there's a writing lab the students can visit during study hall. My kid took advantage of that and got some great feedback. And as a parent it was so nice to have someone else besides me giving her work a once-over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have books and require writing through homework. It is much better. Plus they teach handwriting and grammar and these are separate classes. Unless your child is a natural writer and reader they will not be prepared for high school through FCPS.

Middle school FCPS classes teach grammar. I'd like to know how their are enough hours in the day for English class, grammar class, handwriting class and the other core classes?

My 3rd and 5th graders have multiple different "English" blocks - for example the 3rd grader has spelling, writing/grammar, reading, and handwriting all broken out. The school day at our private is 20 minutes longer, so that's part of it. There's also less transition time (ex: lunch is in the classroom so you don't have to line up to go to and from) and no morning meeting, which puts back additional time into the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at a Protestant school (similar price to parochial), but just made the switch from FCPS AAP in 6th to private for 7th, with our younger kids also switching.

TL; DR - it's a combination of more scaffolding and direct instruction to help the kids really understand and higher expectations.

- In the elementary grades there is formal grammar instruction with a separate grammar block. My 7th grader is currently racing to catch up. The language arts teacher is able to use formal grammar terms to explain things to the kids about their writing.

- Five paragraph essays have been carefully taught since mid-elementary in our private, but are being reviewed again in 7th. My kid was never, ever formally taught how to do a thesis or topic sentence in AAP - we covered it at home when the concept was required by a project in 5th grade.

- The whole class studies a novel or play together and does related projects and writing. They really dive deeply into literary analysis as a class, instead of being given random short pieces or having a "book club" that only part of the class is doing (like in FCPS ES AAP). This allows for them to learn from both the teacher and each other. My 7th grader's teacher bribes them with a lot of food and follow-on movies to love the book. Plus I think reading something as a grade builds class cohesiveness, but maybe I'm just an English nerd. Again the kids have been reading whole class novels since elementary, starting with whole class read-alouds. They've been analyzing them since elementary in a stunning amount of depth as well. I've been impressed by the literary analysis my 5th grader is bringing home.

- The writing expectations are so much higher. My 7th grader was used to giving a passable attempt and easily earning a 4. For her most recent short story she revised several times and put a ton more thought and effort into it than she ever had before. It's possible this is just the difference between elementary and middle school, but I didn't get the sense that our FCPS MS was going to be that demanding on the quality of writing.

- To help with the writing expectations, there's a writing lab the students can visit during study hall. My kid took advantage of that and got some great feedback. And as a parent it was so nice to have someone else besides me giving her work a once-over.

in summary, nothing you wrote applies to either FCPS middle schools or Catholic schools. Am I missing something?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have books and require writing through homework. It is much better. Plus they teach handwriting and grammar and these are separate classes. Unless your child is a natural writer and reader they will not be prepared for high school through FCPS.

Middle school FCPS classes teach grammar. I'd like to know how their are enough hours in the day for English class, grammar class, handwriting class and the other core classes?

My 3rd and 5th graders have multiple different "English" blocks - for example the 3rd grader has spelling, writing/grammar, reading, and handwriting all broken out. The school day at our private is 20 minutes longer, so that's part of it. There's also less transition time (ex: lunch is in the classroom so you don't have to line up to go to and from) and no morning meeting, which puts back additional time into the day.

OP said middle school. Do they really have a separate handwriting class in middle school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have books and require writing through homework. It is much better. Plus they teach handwriting and grammar and these are separate classes. Unless your child is a natural writer and reader they will not be prepared for high school through FCPS.

Middle school FCPS classes teach grammar. I'd like to know how their are enough hours in the day for English class, grammar class, handwriting class and the other core classes?

My 3rd and 5th graders have multiple different "English" blocks - for example the 3rd grader has spelling, writing/grammar, reading, and handwriting all broken out. The school day at our private is 20 minutes longer, so that's part of it. There's also less transition time (ex: lunch is in the classroom so you don't have to line up to go to and from) and no morning meeting, which puts back additional time into the day.

OP said middle school. Do they really have a separate handwriting class in middle school?

No, because handwriting is expected to be learned in elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a Protestant school (similar price to parochial), but just made the switch from FCPS AAP in 6th to private for 7th, with our younger kids also switching.

TL; DR - it's a combination of more scaffolding and direct instruction to help the kids really understand and higher expectations.

- In the elementary grades there is formal grammar instruction with a separate grammar block. My 7th grader is currently racing to catch up. The language arts teacher is able to use formal grammar terms to explain things to the kids about their writing.

- Five paragraph essays have been carefully taught since mid-elementary in our private, but are being reviewed again in 7th. My kid was never, ever formally taught how to do a thesis or topic sentence in AAP - we covered it at home when the concept was required by a project in 5th grade.

- The whole class studies a novel or play together and does related projects and writing. They really dive deeply into literary analysis as a class, instead of being given random short pieces or having a "book club" that only part of the class is doing (like in FCPS ES AAP). This allows for them to learn from both the teacher and each other. My 7th grader's teacher bribes them with a lot of food and follow-on movies to love the book. Plus I think reading something as a grade builds class cohesiveness, but maybe I'm just an English nerd. Again the kids have been reading whole class novels since elementary, starting with whole class read-alouds. They've been analyzing them since elementary in a stunning amount of depth as well. I've been impressed by the literary analysis my 5th grader is bringing home.

- The writing expectations are so much higher. My 7th grader was used to giving a passable attempt and easily earning a 4. For her most recent short story she revised several times and put a ton more thought and effort into it than she ever had before. It's possible this is just the difference between elementary and middle school, but I didn't get the sense that our FCPS MS was going to be that demanding on the quality of writing.

- To help with the writing expectations, there's a writing lab the students can visit during study hall. My kid took advantage of that and got some great feedback. And as a parent it was so nice to have someone else besides me giving her work a once-over.

in summary, nothing you wrote applies to either FCPS middle schools or Catholic schools. Am I missing something?

The type of instruction that pp laid out is similar to what op will find at a catholic school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a Protestant school (similar price to parochial), but just made the switch from FCPS AAP in 6th to private for 7th, with our younger kids also switching.

TL; DR - it's a combination of more scaffolding and direct instruction to help the kids really understand and higher expectations.

- In the elementary grades there is formal grammar instruction with a separate grammar block. My 7th grader is currently racing to catch up. The language arts teacher is able to use formal grammar terms to explain things to the kids about their writing.

- Five paragraph essays have been carefully taught since mid-elementary in our private, but are being reviewed again in 7th. My kid was never, ever formally taught how to do a thesis or topic sentence in AAP - we covered it at home when the concept was required by a project in 5th grade.

- The whole class studies a novel or play together and does related projects and writing. They really dive deeply into literary analysis as a class, instead of being given random short pieces or having a "book club" that only part of the class is doing (like in FCPS ES AAP). This allows for them to learn from both the teacher and each other. My 7th grader's teacher bribes them with a lot of food and follow-on movies to love the book. Plus I think reading something as a grade builds class cohesiveness, but maybe I'm just an English nerd. Again the kids have been reading whole class novels since elementary, starting with whole class read-alouds. They've been analyzing them since elementary in a stunning amount of depth as well. I've been impressed by the literary analysis my 5th grader is bringing home.

- The writing expectations are so much higher. My 7th grader was used to giving a passable attempt and easily earning a 4. For her most recent short story she revised several times and put a ton more thought and effort into it than she ever had before. It's possible this is just the difference between elementary and middle school, but I didn't get the sense that our FCPS MS was going to be that demanding on the quality of writing.

- To help with the writing expectations, there's a writing lab the students can visit during study hall. My kid took advantage of that and got some great feedback. And as a parent it was so nice to have someone else besides me giving her work a once-over.

in summary, nothing you wrote applies to either FCPS middle schools or Catholic schools. Am I missing something?

The type of instruction that pp laid out is similar to what op will find at a catholic school.

And you know this based on your experience at a non-Catholic Christian school and at public school but no experience at a Catholic school, or did I misunderstand?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a Protestant school (similar price to parochial), but just made the switch from FCPS AAP in 6th to private for 7th, with our younger kids also switching.

TL; DR - it's a combination of more scaffolding and direct instruction to help the kids really understand and higher expectations.

- In the elementary grades there is formal grammar instruction with a separate grammar block. My 7th grader is currently racing to catch up. The language arts teacher is able to use formal grammar terms to explain things to the kids about their writing.

- Five paragraph essays have been carefully taught since mid-elementary in our private, but are being reviewed again in 7th. My kid was never, ever formally taught how to do a thesis or topic sentence in AAP - we covered it at home when the concept was required by a project in 5th grade.

- The whole class studies a novel or play together and does related projects and writing. They really dive deeply into literary analysis as a class, instead of being given random short pieces or having a "book club" that only part of the class is doing (like in FCPS ES AAP). This allows for them to learn from both the teacher and each other. My 7th grader's teacher bribes them with a lot of food and follow-on movies to love the book. Plus I think reading something as a grade builds class cohesiveness, but maybe I'm just an English nerd. Again the kids have been reading whole class novels since elementary, starting with whole class read-alouds. They've been analyzing them since elementary in a stunning amount of depth as well. I've been impressed by the literary analysis my 5th grader is bringing home.

- The writing expectations are so much higher. My 7th grader was used to giving a passable attempt and easily earning a 4. For her most recent short story she revised several times and put a ton more thought and effort into it than she ever had before. It's possible this is just the difference between elementary and middle school, but I didn't get the sense that our FCPS MS was going to be that demanding on the quality of writing.

- To help with the writing expectations, there's a writing lab the students can visit during study hall. My kid took advantage of that and got some great feedback. And as a parent it was so nice to have someone else besides me giving her work a once-over.

in summary, nothing you wrote applies to either FCPS middle schools or Catholic schools. Am I missing something?

The type of instruction that pp laid out is similar to what op will find at a catholic school.

And you know this based on your experience at a non-Catholic Christian school and at public school but no experience at a Catholic school, or did I misunderstand?

I’m the person you’re responding to. My kids are at Catholic school, and what pp described at her Protestant school is similar to the language education that I’ve seen at our Catholic school.