No longer writing in middle school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weird - my 6th grader just had to write a three page story for her English class. It was painful, but a good exercise and split into steps (characters, plot outline, rough draft).

She's in the advanced English class at a non-W feeder MCPS middle school.

That’s because the class is supposed to include writing generally and an Extended Writing project every quarter. Just like it is supposed to included at minimum one full text every quarter. So before assuming it’s a MCPS problem it’s best to start with the teacher and school.

[Anonymous]

There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself. And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

I’m a private school parent. Is this post for real? If so, it’s heartbreaking. How do so many public school parents on this website claim that their child is getting a great education?

[Anonymous]

I’m confused. CKLA is supposed to roll in for MS ELA this semester. Do parents/students see any improvements? It’s a renown issue that MCPS middle school ELA and science curricula are trash. Once entering high school, things become much better as AP curriculum sets the standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah- this is how you create racial equity- very low standards for everyone.

How does race come in this? Wouldn't it be best to say, "Yeah- this is how you create equity- very low standards for everyone."

Because of your statement, it drives me to think that you think a certain race is not high achievers. Could you please share with us which race this is, sir/madam?

Go check MCAP report card and filter by race, you will find the answer

But the white kids are doing much better than the black kids. Clearly, MCPS’s “racial equity” strategy isn’t paying off.

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself. And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

I’m a private school parent. Is this post for real? If so, it’s heartbreaking. How do so many public school parents on this website claim that their child is getting a great education?

Most of us are aware that our kids get subpar writing instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Also make sure you like their writing style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Unfortunately teachers have huge class sizes these days, so they have to grade 150 or more assignments at a time. Spending even 5 minutes giving feedback on each assignment would be over 12 hours of work for every single assignment..

If we want to fix this, we need to advocate for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers outside of class, and/or funding for writing grading assistants (I don't think any middle schools have this, and high schools often have just one person to help with all the English classes in the whole school.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Unfortunately teachers have huge class sizes these days, so they have to grade 150 or more assignments at a time. Spending even 5 minutes giving feedback on each assignment would be over 12 hours of work for every single assignment..

If we want to fix this, we need to advocate for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers outside of class, and/or funding for writing grading assistants (I don't think any middle schools have this, and high schools often have just one person to help with all the English classes in the whole school.)

This is why we moved our younger one to parochial with only one class per grade and avg of just 17 students per class. Writing assignments (and even non pure writing assignments) come back with red pen mark up and a requirement to correct or rewrite. This almost never happened at our old public, and I can now see that the bandwidth really wasn’t there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Unfortunately teachers have huge class sizes these days, so they have to grade 150 or more assignments at a time. Spending even 5 minutes giving feedback on each assignment would be over 12 hours of work for every single assignment..

If we want to fix this, we need to advocate for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers outside of class, and/or funding for writing grading assistants (I don't think any middle schools have this, and high schools often have just one person to help with all the English classes in the whole school.)

This is why we moved our younger one to parochial with only one class per grade and avg of just 17 students per class. Writing assignments (and even non pure writing assignments) come back with red pen mark up and a requirement to correct or rewrite. This almost never happened at our old public, and I can now see that the bandwidth really wasn’t there.

I’m the DIY mountain PP. That’s wonderful that’s an option for you, but it isn’t for the majority of learners (most kids are public school students and likely due to budget issues).

Did want to add that—while I appreciated getting the red pen mark up and requirement to rewrite treatment at my public school, I found the corrections to be confounding. Didn’t understand grammar terminology (eg, dangling modifier) and was afraid to approach the teacher regarding what I found to be an intimidating subject.

Consequently, I make sure to teach my child in an approachable manner and am happy it is effective. Upon reflection, I see it is probably best that I teach my kid writing myself (and not have a school teach it) so they can develop a love of language from early on. It would be nice though if I wasn’t basically forced upon me to do this due to the complete lack of writing feedback from teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Unfortunately teachers have huge class sizes these days, so they have to grade 150 or more assignments at a time. Spending even 5 minutes giving feedback on each assignment would be over 12 hours of work for every single assignment..

If we want to fix this, we need to advocate for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers outside of class, and/or funding for writing grading assistants (I don't think any middle schools have this, and high schools often have just one person to help with all the English classes in the whole school.)

This is why we moved our younger one to parochial with only one class per grade and avg of just 17 students per class. Writing assignments (and even non pure writing assignments) come back with red pen mark up and a requirement to correct or rewrite. This almost never happened at our old public, and I can now see that the bandwidth really wasn’t there.

I’m the DIY mountain PP. That’s wonderful that’s an option for you, but it isn’t for the majority of learners (most kids are public school students and likely due to budget issues).

Did want to add that—while I appreciated getting the red pen mark up and requirement to rewrite treatment at my public school, I found the corrections to be confounding. Didn’t understand grammar terminology (eg, dangling modifier) and was afraid to approach the teacher regarding what I found to be an intimidating subject.

Consequently, I make sure to teach my child in an approachable manner and am happy it is effective. Upon reflection, I see it is probably best that I teach my kid writing myself (and not have a school teach it) so they can develop a love of language from early on. It would be nice though if I wasn’t basically forced upon me to do this due to the complete lack of writing feedback from teachers.

* It would be nice though if it wasn’t basically forced upon me

I also agree with the other PP about advocating for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers, and adding writing grading assistants. These are good ideas if we want students to have a solid education in the core subjects. Teachers are overextended and need to have the time required to properly educate their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

+1

Had an middle schooler getting this "fill in the blank" template, then showing parents the final product without informing them that it was "fill in the blank" - like MadLibs. This in a cluster widely regarded for high performance.

The "draw a picture" was another kiddo's experience. Thankfully this one is now out of MCPS.

Gutting the current MS Humanities program will seal the deal - perhaps the last bastion of actual writing, research, and citations. Boo MCPS.

+2 The problem is not only lack of required writing but also no meaningful feedback or corrections. In ES, all writing was done at school so I could not help DC.

Now that DC is in MS, I can at least see the writing assignments because they are online. Dismayed to see DC writes like a 3rd grader. So what I have been doing is what my public teachers used to do for me: give DC guidance and corrections for every writing assignment (English and HIGH). I do not understand why I have to do this when—in my time—teachers used to do this. Before my intervention, DC didn’t know how to make citations, work in quotations, the list goes on. On the bright side, DC’s writing is finally rapidly improving.

If your kid is not getting a chance to write or get meaningful corrections (ie, if they are an MCPS ES or MS student), I suggest you add this to your DIY mountain. Help them first with short answers. Then when they get the hang of that, work on essay writing. If no one is a good writer at home, then consider outsourcing—but make sure you agree with the teacher’s approach. You don’t want the teacher to make your kid dread writing.

Unfortunately teachers have huge class sizes these days, so they have to grade 150 or more assignments at a time. Spending even 5 minutes giving feedback on each assignment would be over 12 hours of work for every single assignment..

If we want to fix this, we need to advocate for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers outside of class, and/or funding for writing grading assistants (I don't think any middle schools have this, and high schools often have just one person to help with all the English classes in the whole school.)

This is why we moved our younger one to parochial with only one class per grade and avg of just 17 students per class. Writing assignments (and even non pure writing assignments) come back with red pen mark up and a requirement to correct or rewrite. This almost never happened at our old public, and I can now see that the bandwidth really wasn’t there.

I’m the DIY mountain PP. That’s wonderful that’s an option for you, but it isn’t for the majority of learners (most kids are public school students and likely due to budget issues).

Did want to add that—while I appreciated getting the red pen mark up and requirement to rewrite treatment at my public school, I found the corrections to be confounding. Didn’t understand grammar terminology (eg, dangling modifier) and was afraid to approach the teacher regarding what I found to be an intimidating subject.

Consequently, I make sure to teach my child in an approachable manner and am happy it is effective. Upon reflection, I see it is probably best that I teach my kid writing myself (and not have a school teach it) so they can develop a love of language from early on. It would be nice though if I wasn’t basically forced upon me to do this due to the complete lack of writing feedback from teachers.

* It would be nice though if it wasn’t basically forced upon me

I also agree with the other PP about advocating for smaller class sizes, more prep time for teachers, and adding writing grading assistants. These are good ideas if we want students to have a solid education in the core subjects. Teachers are overextended and need to have the time required to properly educate their students.

It’s good where there is a good mutual reinforcement b/w school and home. It’s much easier to support at home when the school gives you something to feed off of, even if you — as good parents do if they can— extend and supplement on your own.

For me, given my disposition, I found it much easier to supplement in math with things like Beast Academy. I was less equipped to do so in writing, so grateful to have school be the spine for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no writing in middle school beyond filling in braindead templates for braindead essays where every single sentence is assigned a prescribed format.

The exception is the National History Day essay, which is national and not designed by MCPS. That's a long paper, that the kids are completely unprepared for, due to yearlong lack of instruction and feedback, which the teachers grade by eyeballing and then assigning a random score with no feedback on the essay itself.
And this is only for students who choose not to draw a picture as part of a group project instead.

Huh? My kid did a website for national history day last year (there's a category for group and individual entries). There's also options to do a short film, short story among other categories. It's certainly not that every kid is producing a "long paper."