9th grade honors English update

[Anonymous]

I can’t find the thread from earlier this year but just thought I’d note that we are 2.5 months into the school year and so far my kid has only read only one short novel in honors English. With no news as to whether or when they will read a second one. I heard another class at her school just started their third — I really don’t think it’s fair that there is so much variation between different sections of what is supposed to be the same class.
We looked recently at a private HS and they are reading 8-10 novels per year. I am sure those kids aren’t better readers than ours. I’m really perplexed by this because it doesn’t seem like it would be that much more work for the teachers to assign more books. Especially when they are such short ones.

[Anonymous]

That's actually a lot for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

The expectations in private school will always be higher. Students are expected to read and do assignments at home and that’s rare in public school due to equity. Of course they can get through a lot more.

[Anonymous]

I co teach with two different 9th grade Honors English teachers and one of them assigned a full novel to read while the other we read excerpts of a graphic novel in class. The class with the full novel had one student out of 20 earn an A for the MP and 14 of them failed for the quarter.

I get the feeling from my colleagues that we would like to assign more reading and work in general but it is difficult to explain to admin and parents that doing so will result in more than half the class failing the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t find the thread from earlier this year but just thought I’d note that we are 2.5 months into the school year and so far my kid has only read only one short novel in honors English. With no news as to whether or when they will read a second one. I heard another class at her school just started their third — I really don’t think it’s fair that there is so much variation between different sections of what is supposed to be the same class.
We looked recently at a private HS and they are reading 8-10 novels per year. I am sure those kids aren’t better readers than ours. I’m really perplexed by this because it doesn’t seem like it would be that much more work for the teachers to assign more books. Especially when they are such short ones.

I teach at a private high school. Our kids read a lot of novels, but they don't read any in the first semester of freshman year. They read Greek myth, world myth, and two classic plays, one ancient Greek and one Shakespeare. The honors kids substitute the Odyssey, which is an epic novel, for the ancient Greek play.

I think that starting with shorter texts, which provide lots of time for writing, is a pretty standard thing for freshman English classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The expectations in private school will always be higher. Students are expected to read and do assignments at home and that’s rare in public school due to equity. Of course they can get through a lot more.

It is more common in some private schools because the kid’s ability levels are more similar. Or at least there is an ability floor that everyone is above or they wouldn’t be admitted to the school.

MCPS has a broader range of students they need to teach to. If private seems like it makes more sense to your kid that is always an options. Wanting MCPS to be a private is not.

[Anonymous]

My 8th grader is now reading his first book, "Animal Farm" by Orwell. They were doing short stories before that.
My 4th grader is on his 4th book. He is cohorts enriched reding class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The expectations in private school will always be higher. Students are expected to read and do assignments at home and that’s rare in public school due to equity. Of course they can get through a lot more.

It is more common in some private schools because the kid’s ability levels are more similar. Or at least there is an ability floor that everyone is above or they wouldn’t be admitted to the school.

MCPS has a broader range of students they need to teach to. If private seems like it makes more sense to your kid that is always an options. Wanting MCPS to be a private is not.

MCPS = Moms can participate [in] studying. That is: studying how to teach their kids. Welcome to the largest school district in MD.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you have to understand that your child may be ready and willing to read multiple novels throughout the course of the year, but not all of the class is. Teaching a novel is great in theory, but it isn't reality.

You ask students to read the first 5 chapters by Friday. You send messages home (through myMCPS Classroom, Remind, and Synergy) about the assigned readings and to bring the book on Friday. Students know that they are supposed to read. Friday you have an amazing lesson in which students must use the reading to engage. Friday comes and only a handful of students have done the reading and only a few have the book with them. Now what do you do? Lesson is a flop. Or you ask students to read the novel and then complete an assignment at the end. But, again, only a handful of students read it, so the majority of the class can't do the assignment, so they earn a zero or a 50%. Okay, so reading the novel at home doesn't work. Let's try giving students time in class to read. But students goof around and talk throughout the time. So, you find the audio version of the novel and listen to it in class. Now you spends days and days listening to the novel. You can't teach the rest of the curriculum because you are listening to the novel. So, you finally give up and just read excerpts. This is the reality in many English classes across the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I co teach with two different 9th grade Honors English teachers and one of them assigned a full novel to read while the other we read excerpts of a graphic novel in class. The class with the full novel had one student out of 20 earn an A for the MP and 14 of them failed for the quarter.

I get the feeling from my colleagues that we would like to assign more reading and work in general but it is difficult to explain to admin and parents that doing so will result in more than half the class failing the course.

Sounds like a lot of kids should not be in Honors English.

[Anonymous]

What skills do you think your kid needs that they can’t get from reading excerpts? Honest question. Can they learn to interpret and analyze text and answer comprehension questions and look for symbolism in one chapter?

You can encourage your child to read the classics at home!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I co teach with two different 9th grade Honors English teachers and one of them assigned a full novel to read while the other we read excerpts of a graphic novel in class. The class with the full novel had one student out of 20 earn an A for the MP and 14 of them failed for the quarter.

I get the feeling from my colleagues that we would like to assign more reading and work in general but it is difficult to explain to admin and parents that doing so will result in more than half the class failing the course.

Sounds like a lot of kids should not be in Honors English.

My son is at a W and said the median MAP-R score in his English class was 86th percentile. So I'm sure they could do more than 1 novel per MP, the first being a graphic novel and the second a novel under 100 pages...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you have to understand that your child may be ready and willing to read multiple novels throughout the course of the year, but not all of the class is. Teaching a novel is great in theory, but it isn't reality.

You ask students to read the first 5 chapters by Friday. You send messages home (through myMCPS Classroom, Remind, and Synergy) about the assigned readings and to bring the book on Friday. Students know that they are supposed to read. Friday you have an amazing lesson in which students must use the reading to engage. Friday comes and only a handful of students have done the reading and only a few have the book with them. Now what do you do? Lesson is a flop. Or you ask students to read the novel and then complete an assignment at the end. But, again, only a handful of students read it, so the majority of the class can't do the assignment, so they earn a zero or a 50%. Okay, so reading the novel at home doesn't work. Let's try giving students time in class to read. But students goof around and talk throughout the time. So, you find the audio version of the novel and listen to it in class. Now you spends days and days listening to the novel. You can't teach the rest of the curriculum because you are listening to the novel. So, you finally give up and just read excerpts. This is the reality in many English classes across the county.

I definitely feel for teachers who have the impossible task of teaching to such a wide range of abilities and interest in a high school class. MCPS really needs to go back to offering a regular, on-level English 9 for most students. It's unfair to the students who are ready and interested in doing the work to be placed in a class full of students who either can't or don't want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What skills do you think your kid needs that they can’t get from reading excerpts? Honest question. Can they learn to interpret and analyze text and answer comprehension questions and look for symbolism in one chapter?

You can encourage your child to read the classics at home!

Reading stamina and attention span. Following a story or an argument over an extended period of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, you have to understand that your child may be ready and willing to read multiple novels throughout the course of the year, but not all of the class is. Teaching a novel is great in theory, but it isn't reality.

You ask students to read the first 5 chapters by Friday. You send messages home (through myMCPS Classroom, Remind, and Synergy) about the assigned readings and to bring the book on Friday. Students know that they are supposed to read. Friday you have an amazing lesson in which students must use the reading to engage. Friday comes and only a handful of students have done the reading and only a few have the book with them. Now what do you do? Lesson is a flop. Or you ask students to read the novel and then complete an assignment at the end. But, again, only a handful of students read it, so the majority of the class can't do the assignment, so they earn a zero or a 50%. Okay, so reading the novel at home doesn't work. Let's try giving students time in class to read. But students goof around and talk throughout the time. So, you find the audio version of the novel and listen to it in class. Now you spends days and days listening to the novel. You can't teach the rest of the curriculum because you are listening to the novel. So, you finally give up and just read excerpts. This is the reality in many English classes across the county.

I definitely feel for teachers who have the impossible task of teaching to such a wide range of abilities and interest in a high school class. MCPS really needs to go back to offering a regular, on-level English 9 for most students. It's unfair to the students who are ready and interested in doing the work to be placed in a class full of students who either can't or don't want to.

Agreed. Then have real honors English with kids who are capable of this! Why should kids that can do this be stifled in their learning?! It's no multivariable calculus, it's reading long form prose which is essential for an educated society.