Why, oh why, do the schools still ask students to read so much fiction?

[Anonymous]

fiction is harder to read.

i'm 30 and trying to read game of thrones and find it tougher to read than any graduate level economics, physics, history, or IR text.

[Anonymous]

@13:18, while they do a "topics" approach to history before grade 4, it is somewhat done in chronological order. At least at our school(s).

Grade 4 is definitely a history survey, but just Virginia history. Grade 5 is a loose world history survey where they jump around the world. My kids has a text for grades 4 and 5, but they never brought it home. If they needed it, they used the on-line version.

Grades 6/7 are a 2 year US History survey with an SOL at the end. There is an on-line text for home.

Grade 8 is Civics and definitely a text, but no "survey".

That's as far as we've gotten in FCPS.

I have seen different math teachers use texts to different extents. Algebra and Geometry teachers used the text a lot more than in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:fiction is harder to read.

i'm 30 and trying to read game of thrones and find it tougher to read than any graduate level economics, physics, history, or IR text.

That's because you are trying to read Game of Thrones. There is a lot of fiction that is not Game of Thrones.

[Anonymous]

Is the Game of Thrones that highbrow?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is the Game of Thrones that highbrow?

What? Highbrow? There's a lot of highbrow fiction that's very easy to read. That's not the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:57 At the elementary school level that is what's happening.
You can see the FCPS elementary social studies curriculum yourself
http://www.fcps.edu/is/socialstudies/elementary/index.shtml#third
2nd is Indians, Explorers, Mali, and contemporary Mexico
3rd is Ancient Civiliations
4th is US history 1607- present
5th is Ancient Civilizations, Greece and Rome, Middle Ages, and Post Classical East and SW Asia
6th is US history up to 1865

Middle School is divided into two subjects
http://www.fcps.edu/is/socialstudies/middleschool/index.shtml

These are the approved textbook materials. I have no idea what FCPS Trademark Bundle includes. The list includes approved textbooks however each school gets to decide whether they'll use any of them and is in charge of their own purchases.
http://commweb.fcps.edu/programprofile/materials.cfm?ProgramID=84

Those are all year-long courses, in which the subjects are studied chronologically. They are not skipping around from day to day. This is the way children are exposed to history over time in ways that are age appropriate. It's a pretty classic way to teach history and not that different from the way my own school taught in a different state more than thirty years ago. Some school districts switch up fifth and sixth, and most states require a focus on their state history in fourth, but overall this is a pretty standard grade to grade curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For myself--and I am in favor of textbooks for history--I learned far more from fiction than from texts. However, I was an avid reader and my first choice was historical fiction. Not all kids will choose that.

Actually I think that historical fiction for elementary school kids is far more effective for teaching history than non-fiction about history for kids. Non-fiction about history for kids is usually dull, oversimplified, and unmemorable.

I agree. My child read a work of fiction to coordinate with each period of American history and he learned so much more than just following a text and doing worksheets!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The kids don't necessarily need to be able to access the internet in order to benefit from the other resources - the teachers do and I'm sure teachers in FCPS have access to the internet. The teacher can have these resources available for the kids to use in the classroom and bring home. The use of boring black & white dittos is outdated and shows an incredible lack of creativity on the part of the teacher. There are a number of resources that teachers can access for free (or very little money for a subscription which the school system may already have a subscription for anyway….) - it only takes investigating and finding the numerous things out there. Unfortunately, it sounds like the teachers you're dealing with are set in their ways and don't want to try anything new and interesting. Lacking a desire to try new things is something which happens in every profession, but it's hard for me to see with teachers since there is a lot out there for teachers…they just have to look for it.

You are incredibly naïve. Teachers are not free to send just anything they find home. Plus, this all costs money.

I'm not naive. I have teenage children who have been exposed to and benefited from everything that i have listed. They have had incredible teachers who have used a variety of resources available to them which provided a rich and interesting level of learning. Unfortunately, you are part of the problem since you continue to let teachers off the hook to continue the same, boring routine. There is plenty of information available to teachers through various resources - the county system alone should have strong resources. And I'm not sure where I ever said that the teacher should bring anything they wanted into the classroom - there are obviously rules and regulations that need to be followed, but to suggest that the same old thing needs to be done is pathetic. In fact, the last thing I would ever want is for a teacher to decide what he/she will teach in class since that is where some crazy stuff happens. That is why all teachers should be working as a collaborative team! Also, there are plenty of free resources for teachers! But, they have to seek them out!

[Anonymous]

I'm not naive. I have teenage children who have been exposed to and benefited from everything that i have listed. They have had incredible teachers who have used a variety of resources available to them which provided a rich and interesting level of learning. Unfortunately, you are part of the problem since you continue to let teachers off the hook to continue the same, boring routine. There is plenty of information available to teachers through various resources - the county system alone should have strong resources. And I'm not sure where I ever said that the teacher should bring anything they wanted into the classroom - there are obviously rules and regulations that need to be followed, but to suggest that the same old thing needs to be done is pathetic. In fact, the last thing I would ever want is for a teacher to decide what he/she will teach in class since that is where some crazy stuff happens. That is why all teachers should be working as a collaborative team! Also, there are plenty of free resources for teachers! But, they have to seek them out!
[Report Post]

Did someone suggest the same old thing be done?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm not naive. I have teenage children who have been exposed to and benefited from everything that i have listed. They have had incredible teachers who have used a variety of resources available to them which provided a rich and interesting level of learning. Unfortunately, you are part of the problem since you continue to let teachers off the hook to continue the same, boring routine. There is plenty of information available to teachers through various resources - the county system alone should have strong resources. And I'm not sure where I ever said that the teacher should bring anything they wanted into the classroom - there are obviously rules and regulations that need to be followed, but to suggest that the same old thing needs to be done is pathetic. In fact, the last thing I would ever want is for a teacher to decide what he/she will teach in class since that is where some crazy stuff happens. That is why all teachers should be working as a collaborative team! Also, there are plenty of free resources for teachers! But, they have to seek them out!
[Report Post]

Did someone suggest the same old thing be done?

Yes - continued use of only textbooks…haven't you followed the discussion…?

[Anonymous]

21:50 There is no one on this forum advocating for the continued use of textbooks only. I've read the forum many times. We are in FCPS and I only pointed out that there are no textbooks in elementary and middle, so it would be nice of there was a mix of both textbooks and other works for children to read in all subjects. Currently my child only reads stuff like that Time for Kids four page newsletters and fills out black and white dittos that the teacher or an assistant has to make copies of each day. There are pages and pages on the VA forum which say the same thing is happening at other schools. This to me is not a superior method to textbooks and workbooks because it takes time and money to make the copies and information seems to be presented in a less organized manner. There are one or two people who are advocating for no textbooks. One of them teaches college and doesn't seem to be from the area. That person eventually said textbooks were fine as a framework as long as there are other works too. So we're both in agreement. The problem in the DC area though is the lack of textbooks more than the lack of other resources. No one on this forum has been able to point out even one school that only uses textbooks or even uses them the majority of the time.

[Anonymous]

I am all for more textbooks.
I also feel that if we are going to read a lot of fiction, it should be more applicable to todays world. Greek mythology is NOT applicable. However, for those who must hold out, can we cut the Greek stuff back by say 80%?

[Anonymous]

What's your beef against Greek mythology? My kids loved it. I'll have to admit that I don't particularly like it, but I wish I had paid more attention when it was taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am all for more textbooks.
I also feel that if we are going to read a lot of fiction, it should be more applicable to todays world. Greek mythology is NOT applicable. However, for those who must hold out, can we cut the Greek stuff back by say 80%?

You only feel this way because the Greek mythologies has been thoroughly absorbed into the Western culture. You probably need to read something that explain the relevance. In that sense, you do need to read more nonfiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's your beef against Greek mythology? My kids loved it. I'll have to admit that I don't particularly like it, but I wish I had paid more attention when it was taught.

Why?