APS to take a breather on new initiatives for next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"APS to take a breather on new initiatives for next year"

Someone needs to tell Planning re: school moves. We're all tired.

No one GAF if you pay attention to school issues or not. Feel free to tap out so the rest of us can deal with the real-world issues that need to be addressed.

[Anonymous]

It’s a bit concerning that going back to the way we taught reading and writing for decades is considered a “new initiative.” Did teachers not learn any of this in school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a bit concerning that going back to the way we taught reading and writing for decades is considered a “new initiative.” Did teachers not learn any of this in school?

The younger Millennial teachers did not learn it. Most of them learned to read and write with the Lucy Calkins method too, which is why they can't teach phonics now even if APS changes the curriculum. Listen to the "Sold a Story" podcast-- it was eye-opening for me and exactly what has been going on with APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess that’s my question: If the only exemption is literacy programming for secondary students, doesn’t that show how dire the situation is to change to something new for elementary LA?

Teaching phonics and background info isn’t a fad; it’s what makes sense.

I don’t want to burden teachers with more than they already take on. At the same time, we can’t keep failing these kids.

They already changed the elem ELA curriculum

Only some schools have adopted the new curriculum. APS hasn't required schools to switch.

Umm yes APS has required schools to switch. The only school not required to use CKLA is MPSA (Montessori).

[Anonymous]

Why did so many students come home with empty CKLA workbooks at the end of the year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess that’s my question: If the only exemption is literacy programming for secondary students, doesn’t that show how dire the situation is to change to something new for elementary LA?

Teaching phonics and background info isn’t a fad; it’s what makes sense.

I don’t want to burden teachers with more than they already take on. At the same time, we can’t keep failing these kids.

They already changed the elem ELA curriculum

Only some schools have adopted the new curriculum. APS hasn't required schools to switch.

Umm yes APS has required schools to switch. The only school not required to use CKLA is MPSA (Montessori).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess that’s my question: If the only exemption is literacy programming for secondary students, doesn’t that show how dire the situation is to change to something new for elementary LA?

Teaching phonics and background info isn’t a fad; it’s what makes sense.

I don’t want to burden teachers with more than they already take on. At the same time, we can’t keep failing these kids.

They already changed the elem ELA curriculum

Only some schools have adopted the new curriculum. APS hasn't required schools to switch.

Umm yes APS has required schools to switch. The only school not required to use CKLA is MPSA (Montessori).

No. Escuela Key used LC Writer's Workshop last year. Switching to CKLA was at the discretion of the principal.

[Anonymous]

Any chance this means standards based grading will be paused? - a teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any chance this means standards based grading will be paused? - a teacher

Hahahaha…. You made a funny!!
- another teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any chance this means standards based grading will be paused? - a teacher

NEW initiatives. SBG is already underway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Escuela Key is still using Lucy Caulkin's writers workshop. They absolutely need to switch to Core Knowledge. It's wrong that APS is letting the school continue to use a disproven curriculum that's been shown to harm students.

Core knowledge doesn't have much of a specific writing curriculum. It does ask kids to write a lot but doesn't have much in the way of specific writing instruction. There are programs that do (like The Writing Revolution, which is not the best but better than Caulkins workshop) and they need to use that. If nothing else, they should avoid anything branded Caulkins because she seems like such a fraud.

[Anonymous]

Happy to see Duran said some changes need to be made with secondary-school-level literacy.

Maybe this pause is needed because of all the other stuff going on like repurposing schools, moving programs and changing boundaries.

APS is really good at giving whiplash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Happy to see Duran said some changes need to be made with secondary-school-level literacy.

Maybe this pause is needed because of all the other stuff going on like repurposing schools, moving programs and changing boundaries.

APS is really good at giving whiplash.

I wish APS would focus on educating students rather than constantly shuffling deck chairs on what is quickly becoming the Titanic.