Compulsory Spanish as a Special for 5th-Graders in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I just returned from CCES Back-to-School night. There I learned that the computer-lab teaching position was cut, and the teacher who taught computer lab is now teaching writing to fifth-graders. From the description tonight, seems that the writing instruction will incorporate use of technology. It seems that computer lab was renamed "writing."

And I want to address the idea that kids get enough knowledge of computer technology from using computers at home. This is not necessarily true. My kids use the computer for fun at home, but we have Macs at home, and I got an e-mail last year from my DD's eighth-grade teacher telling me that DD was woefully lacking in skills needed to use the Microsoft-system computers at school, including making necessary Power Point presentations. I was shocked because DH is in the computer business and our house has the latest in computer technology. So, no, playing on the computer at home is not enough computer literacy.

Hi, OP. We are also at CCES, and I want to add that I am also under the impression that the 5th/Spanish as a special situation is a function of budget cuts specific to CCES. My understanding is that this "Spanish as a Special" is not going to be intensive academic language learning, but more of a broader intro to Spanish language and culture.

I encourage everyone to speak up to the principal if they are unhappy about the emphasis on Spanish and the unavailability of French language for 6th graders (as they would have if they were at Westland). I believe strongly in early language opportunities, but not for Spanish only.

OP here. Thanks for your post. I will speak to the principal about making French available for 6th-graders next year, and I hope you will as well. I had a 6th-grader at CCES a few years ago, and 6th-graders all had to take either Spanish or a sampler ("language lite") course of three languages because, after asking for responses from parents, CCES found there was not enough interest in French to offer a class. As I recall, only about six or seven 6th-graders were interested in French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any computer skills you teach kids today are going to be outdated in a couple of years. Couple that with the fact that kids are pretty good at teaching themselves to use technology in their free time and computer education in schools really seems like a waste of time.

You might want to check out this link. It is a study on the effects of the push toward computer-based education in schools called "Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood."

“The fundamental dilemma of computer-based instruction and other ITbased educational technologies is that their cost effectiveness compared to other forms of instruction — for example, smaller class sizes, self-paced learning, peer teaching, small group learning, innovative curricula, and in-class tutors — has never been proven.”—U.S. National Science Board, Science & Engineering Indicators — 1998.

http://drupal6.allianceforchildhood.org/fools_gold

I don't disagree with the authors' conclusions, but it's about 12 years old and is really more of an editorial than a study-mostly quotes from other studies. That said I hate that MCPS is so computer happy, it takes the place of face to face instruction.

[Anonymous]

I really wish MCPS had foreign language (any foreign language) for K-12. Even at our coop preschool we had foreign language. What a waste of an opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Completely agree, at age six and younger, children are able to absorb a second language without much effort, their brains are so open and it is the best time in life to introduce a foreign language.

MCPS should offer a foreign language to all elementary students.

I am aware that FLES is offered for a price, but it is not language immersion nor adequate exposure for the children to actually learn the language.