7th graders have zero written assignments in LA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I’m not going to share the school (we aren’t in Arlington). There’s no written work hand written OR typed. Second LA teacher confirmed that there’s no time in LA for writing. Apparently they are working on boosting reading scores. I can’t believe though, that the school can just ignore writing standards. I asked on here to get a feel for whether or not this was happening in other school districts locally or not. Thanks for everyone’s input. I’m writing the principal and asking why the writing standards are being ignored this year.

Since writing skills are so important to you (rightly so), why don't you get your kids Evan Moore writing workbooks or other means of practice? This is referred to as "after schooling", which is, unfortunately, what parents have to do to fill the gaps.

[Anonymous]

I am very underwhelmed with APS middle school language arts curriculum and wished I kept my son in Catholic school where at least he read novels and wrote papers greater than 1 paragraph!

In my son's 6th grade "Reading" class, they watched video stories then answered questions about the video. They did eventually read library books in class... 15 minutes of quiet time for required reading followed by writing a few sentences in their reading log, WOW!

Son claims the teachers don't have time to read whatever it is he wrote in his log or turned in on Canvas.

[Anonymous]

OP is not in Arlington, so talking about what's happening in APS isn't that relevant to OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very underwhelmed with APS middle school language arts curriculum and wished I kept my son in Catholic school where at least he read novels and wrote papers greater than 1 paragraph!

In my son's 6th grade "Reading" class, they watched video stories then answered questions about the video. They did eventually read library books in class... 15 minutes of quiet time for required reading followed by writing a few sentences in their reading log, WOW!

Son claims the teachers don't have time to read whatever it is he wrote in his log or turned in on Canvas.

What are the teachers doing during the 15-minute quiet reading time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am very underwhelmed with APS middle school language arts curriculum and wished I kept my son in Catholic school where at least he read novels and wrote papers greater than 1 paragraph!

In my son's 6th grade "Reading" class, they watched video stories then answered questions about the video. They did eventually read library books in class... 15 minutes of quiet time for required reading followed by writing a few sentences in their reading log, WOW!

Son claims the teachers don't have time to read whatever it is he wrote in his log or turned in on Canvas.

What are the teachers doing during the 15-minute quiet reading time?

In the classes I've seen, they model what they want the kids doing. So they read during that time, write down their summary, share a bit from what they're reading, etc.

There is conflicting research about the benefits of sustained silent reading but it's not terrible.

[Anonymous]

They do a big read of The Outsiders which was published in 1967. Yes I did love reading it as a kid, but it does not sound like they are on the pulse of kid lit these days. So many other great books out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They do a big read of The Outsiders which was published in 1967. Yes I did love reading it as a kid, but it does not sound like they are on the pulse of kid lit these days. So many other great books out there.

It's still a good read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is not in Arlington, so talking about what's happening in APS isn't that relevant to OP.

Nothing is relevant to the OP since she never shared the school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is not in Arlington, so talking about what's happening in APS isn't that relevant to OP.

Nothing is relevant to the OP since she never shared the school district.

OP commented upthread that they aren't APS and was curious about other jurisdictions. So it's relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should ask what curriculum they are using. There is a good chance it is HMH into reading.

I really think parents need to learn about this HMH and rail against it. It is terrible. It's just a fire hose of reading and assignments that is impossible to get through, so schools have to make judgment calls about what is going to get left out. So yes, please complain, without blaming teachers because it's not their choice. Also there is so much evidence that academic writing boosts reading scores that it's absurd to dispute it. Here is just one of a million articles you can find on it: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-writing-directly-benefits-students-reading-skills/2020/01

OP here - it’s HMH into literature and I know the teachers are unhappy with it. I’m all for getting effective, high quality curriculum in schools, but this one seems to miss the mark.