Middle school- continuing band and language through 8th grade

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping that they can just make part of Band or another class to fulfill this requirement since I'm pretty sure we were never told this. Why is all this so poorly communicated? I just emailed my kid's future MS counselor to ask him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

call their counselor; that doesn't make much sense unless they are in some type of magnet program.

NP here, but it does make sense -- there was some kind of requirement implemented to the state report card in recent years to show a "well rounded curriculum" that included some tech in middle school. See this previous thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/855948.page

Different schools handle it in different ways. As one poster above said, some schools incorporate a tech component into music classes. Other schools seem to ignore it, at least not requiring it for every student. Your best bet is to ask the music and language teachers and the counselor at your school, as suggested above.

So this isn't the same thing as the Technology credit requirement for graduation? That's only satisfied by a handful of specific classes. But it sounds like this is a different animal altogether.

Presumably that tech stuff in band won't tick the Technology credit box for their graduation requirements, and they'll still have to take Foundations of Computer Science or whatever in HS.

Right, it's not the same as the graduation tech requirement. It's something that affects how the school is graded by the state, to the best of my understanding. And so it's up to each school how to handle it; my kids are at two different middle schools, and it wasn't communicated as a requirement at either of them, but it sounds like OP's school does it differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was calling it “tech “ but it’s the computational thinking elective requirement. They are telling me they have to have this for the “well rounded curriculum “ requirement and so it precludes a student from being able to take both band and a language for all 3 years- at some point you are forced to drop one. Good idea in asking band and language teachers if they’ve dealt with this.

call their counselor; that doesn't make much sense unless they are in some type of magnet program.

NP here, but it does make sense -- there was some kind of requirement implemented to the state report card in recent years to show a "well rounded curriculum" that included some tech in middle school. See this previous thread: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/855948.page

Different schools handle it in different ways. As one poster above said, some schools incorporate a tech component into music classes. Other schools seem to ignore it, at least not requiring it for every student. Your best bet is to ask the music and language teachers and the counselor at your school, as suggested above.

So this isn't the same thing as the Technology credit requirement for graduation? That's only satisfied by a handful of specific classes. But it sounds like this is a different animal altogether.

Presumably that tech stuff in band won't tick the Technology credit box for their graduation requirements, and they'll still have to take Foundations of Computer Science or whatever in HS.

Right, it's not the same as the graduation tech requirement. It's something that affects how the school is graded by the state, to the best of my understanding. And so it's up to each school how to handle it; my kids are at two different middle schools, and it wasn't communicated as a requirement at either of them, but it sounds like OP's school does it differently.

Ah, OK. Mine was at a Humanities magnet, so presumably all the computer work in the required Media class satisfied that component, which is why it was never mentioned when kids were choosing electives.

[Anonymous]

OP again- thanks all for the replies. We are not at a magnet. They did tell us this going in so I knew he might have to choose but the more I think about it and get closer to 8th grade registration, the more it upsets me that he would have to drop either. If anyone feels like dropping names of schools they are aware of getting around this I’d be interested!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again- thanks all for the replies. We are not at a magnet. They did tell us this going in so I knew he might have to choose but the more I think about it and get closer to 8th grade registration, the more it upsets me that he would have to drop either. If anyone feels like dropping names of schools they are aware of getting around this I’d be interested!

If you can't get around the requirement, is taking something over the summer an option?

[Anonymous]

My band kid also wanted to start the Project Lead the Way coursework in MS, which meant he had to wait to start foreign language. But you don't have to do the tech credit in MS, that can be in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My band kid also wanted to start the Project Lead the Way coursework in MS, which meant he had to wait to start foreign language. But you don't have to do the tech credit in MS, that can be in HS.

Be careful about the foreign language requirement, as 1 yr of FL is a requirement for many of the HS magnet programs. So if it’s a choice between FL or the Tech credit, definitely go for the Foreign Language. Also note that the tech class that fulfills the graduation tech requirement and the PLTW entry level tech, is a specific class (Intro to Engineering Design).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My band kid also wanted to start the Project Lead the Way coursework in MS, which meant he had to wait to start foreign language. But you don't have to do the tech credit in MS, that can be in HS.

Be careful about the foreign language requirement, as 1 yr of FL is a requirement for many of the HS magnet programs. So if it’s a choice between FL or the Tech credit, definitely go for the Foreign Language. Also note that the tech class that fulfills the graduation tech requirement and the PLTW entry level tech, is a specific class (Intro to Engineering Design).

I think for the IB magnet programs it’s two years? I’d suggest checking on that if your kid might be interested in one of those.

[Anonymous]

I don’t have anything to add but solidarity in confusion and commiseration. I don’t know why there is no road map, no communication of pathways, different requirements/offerings/procedures at all the different middle schools. I say this as a parent who has time and energy to stay informed and aware of these types of matters. Why does it need to be so complicated?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have anything to add but solidarity in confusion and commiseration. I don’t know why there is no road map, no communication of pathways, different requirements/offerings/procedures at all the different middle schools. I say this as a parent who has time and energy to stay informed and aware of these types of matters. Why does it need to be so complicated?!

Agreed. Advising needs to be better MS thru College. But, I also understand that someone would need to own this type of advising and often counselors who job it would be have many other competing priorities.