Deal alums - writing skills?

[Anonymous]

Do you find that your Deal alums know how to properly write papers? My child went through Deal and is now in HS and I really don’t think they know how to write a paper. We were pretty involved with homework monitoring, and don’t recall them ever having to write a research assignment or any long essays in all three years.

Are we an outlier here?

[Anonymous]

My kids went through Deal and Banneker. They’re now in college and both have remarked that their English professors said they were good writers. I didn’t think they were great writers at Deal but I realized I expected them to write at a higher level (like age inappropriate level). It might be you expecting college level writing from a 7th grader or your kid may not like writing so hasn’t put much effort into it. Every kid is different.

[Anonymous]

Wanted to add: Deal didn’t have research papers either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids went through Deal and Banneker. They’re now in college and both have remarked that their English professors said they were good writers. I didn’t think they were great writers at Deal but I realized I expected them to write at a higher level (like age inappropriate level). It might be you expecting college level writing from a 7th grader or your kid may not like writing so hasn’t put much effort into it. Every kid is different.

I mean, I think it was Banneker that taught your kids to write.

Not at Deal but a different DCPS MS, and they definitely have much, much less rigor in the type and length of research and writing compared to what I did by 8th grade. I don't think my kid has ever really written a book report much less a research paper. Any writing he does is in class, not the kind of sustained focus that would be needed for an actual paper. If HS doesn't improve he is going to be a mess in college.

[Anonymous]

I have a Deal student who can write a standard 5-paragraph essay, which I feel is appropriate for MS. I do think they don'tdo as many written reports as I did, but they do more presentations. So, solid but not amazing.

[Anonymous]

Have your kid take APUSH in HS. My kid said that class taught her how to write at JR. All her English teachers sucked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have your kid take APUSH in HS. My kid said that class taught her how to write at JR. All her English teachers sucked.

Thanks. Op here. My kid is now in private school where there is generally more writing and the push to the end of the year is rough. They have definitely had to do more writing with citations to sources since starting private than before, but now facing down an end of year of research assignment that’s shining a light on some glaring holes in preparation.

[Anonymous]

Moved from Deal to private and my kid absolutely did NOT know how to write. It’s been an uphill battle catching up to peers in private.

[Anonymous]

Common lit is terrible for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have your kid take APUSH in HS. My kid said that class taught her how to write at JR. All her English teachers sucked.

Same for my DC at a different DCPS HS. It's maddening that so many of the ELA teachers are weak!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have your kid take APUSH in HS. My kid said that class taught her how to write at JR. All her English teachers sucked.

Same for my DC at a different DCPS HS. It's maddening that so many of the ELA teachers are weak!

It's not that they are weak, but the amount of work required to give decent feedback and editing for 100+ students is astronomical. All the other subjects can scale relatively well, but not English. Teaching writing simply demands more teacher hours per kid.

On the plus side, Deal math is decently strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Common lit is terrible for kids.

Can you say more?

[Anonymous]

I was told directly by a Deal English teacher that they were told to cut books in favor of short common lit passages. The only book assigned all year in 7th grade was Brown Girl Dreaming. Neal’s been around forever. Why she doesn’t use her position to advocate for strong curriculum is beyond me. The people downtown haven’t taught in years (if they’ve taught at all). We should be pushing back against their nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have your kid take APUSH in HS. My kid said that class taught her how to write at JR. All her English teachers sucked.

Same for my DC at a different DCPS HS. It's maddening that so many of the ELA teachers are weak!

It's not that they are weak, but the amount of work required to give decent feedback and editing for 100+ students is astronomical. All the other subjects can scale relatively well, but not English. Teaching writing simply demands more teacher hours per kid.

On the plus side, Deal math is decently strong.

Yeah, agree with this. BASIS just started a writing course this year for 6th and 7th graders (writing, separate from English) and it's because one of the veteran teachers realized BASIS students were not learning to write properly and she is willing to put in a tremendous amount of effort to read and make comments for all the students. Sooooooo much more work than scanning a multiple choice test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was told directly by a Deal English teacher that they were told to cut books in favor of short common lit passages. The only book assigned all year in 7th grade was Brown Girl Dreaming. Neal’s been around forever. Why she doesn’t use her position to advocate for strong curriculum is beyond me. The people downtown haven’t taught in years (if they’ve taught at all). We should be pushing back against their nonsense.

They don’t want a strong curriculum. I was told at a Deal open house 4 years ago that they don’t have much homework because “equity.” Writing a paper requires homework as does reading an actual novel.