9th grader struggling with honors English

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs to be talking to his teacher about his confusion, not you.

Kids talk to parents. That is a good thing. Talking to the teacher can also happen.

Perhaps. But a lot of research shows that we as parents have been failing our children developmentally by constantly swooping in and solving problems for them.

OP should be pushing her son to have a conversation with his teacher. Not having the conversation for him. If he has an initial conversation with the teacher and it doesn't go anywhere, fine. Then you can intervene. But the first step is not for mom to take the wheel. This is why so many kids have adapted to this state of learned helplessness.

[Anonymous]

Foreshadowing and all the other concepts you mention are taught in MCPS middle school. The usual complaint about 9th and 10th grade Honors English is that it's way too easy. Not that it's too hard!

Perhaps your kid has a little ADHD/autistic tendencies going on, which is fine. One of my kids has that profile, and he needed a writing tutor in middle school, who taught him to close-read, pay attention to non-explicit hints in the text, understand actions in context, and re-explained literary concepts. By the time he arrived in high school, he didn't need the writing tutor anymore. He sailed through Honors English and AP Language, but then hit a wall in AP Literature, because he really needed a higher order of socio-emotional understanding that he just wasn't ready for. Again, typical for autistic kids. He's great at technical writing, though, and does a lot of it in college!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Foreshadowing and all the other concepts you mention are taught in MCPS middle school. The usual complaint about 9th and 10th grade Honors English is that it's way too easy. Not that it's too hard!

Perhaps your kid has a little ADHD/autistic tendencies going on, which is fine. One of my kids has that profile, and he needed a writing tutor in middle school, who taught him to close-read, pay attention to non-explicit hints in the text, understand actions in context, and re-explained literary concepts. By the time he arrived in high school, he didn't need the writing tutor anymore. He sailed through Honors English and AP Language, but then hit a wall in AP Literature, because he really needed a higher order of socio-emotional understanding that he just wasn't ready for. Again, typical for autistic kids. He's great at technical writing, though, and does a lot of it in college!

To be fair, MCPS middle school instruction is pretty crappy. So it's possible these concepts for glossed over or skipped....

[Anonymous]

These concepts are taught in MS and refined at home reading books at talking about them.

[Anonymous]

Does your DD have a phone? Maybe take that away and in their free time, have them read long form essays and books. Brain rot is real, especially due to short form video and algorithmic media (since it hasn’t been social for close to a decade).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your DD have a phone? Maybe take that away and in their free time, have them read long form essays and books. Brain rot is real, especially due to short form video and algorithmic media (since it hasn’t been social for close to a decade).

Stop it. This kid needs a tutor and very specific reading comprehension skills. They will catch up much quicker that way than just reading generally on their own.

[Anonymous]

kid is smart, they were in CES.....Snort....

Despite signs to the contrary?

Jokes aside kids hit road blocks at different points and maybe the teachers push them though maybe they don't but ultimately it is the parents responsibility to own the outcomes of their children. Hire out help or do it your self but the answer is obvious. Get engaged

[Anonymous]

Get a tutor is the right advice.
I studied Of Mice & Men in 7th grade in the 80s.
The whole of literature has slipped in terms of what is taught, it's not hard.

[Anonymous]

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/1301845.page

Here's the other thread complaining about how Honors English is such a dumbed-down class.

If your kid is struggling, he needs a tutor. This should be an easy class, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs to be talking to his teacher about his confusion, not you.

Kids talk to parents. That is a good thing. Talking to the teacher can also happen.

Perhaps. But a lot of research shows that we as parents have been failing our children developmentally by constantly swooping in and solving problems for them.

OP should be pushing her son to have a conversation with his teacher. Not having the conversation for him. If he has an initial conversation with the teacher and it doesn't go anywhere, fine. Then you can intervene. But the first step is not for mom to take the wheel. This is why so many kids have adapted to this state of learned helplessness.

Wow, no, as a parent I will step in with my kids and work with the teacher to figure out what we can do to help. Checked out parents who aren't involved are the bigger problem. I have smart kids and they struggled to as none of this was taught earlier. We had to get a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/1301845.page

Here's the other thread complaining about how Honors English is such a dumbed-down class.

If your kid is struggling, he needs a tutor. This should be an easy class, OP.

Its dumbed down in terms of not reading a lot of books, but it ramps up in curriculum with what is done with the limited books they read, which is why kids struggle as they aren't doing it enough/regularly.

[Anonymous]

I co teach honors english 9. From what I have seen through 12 weeks is that its not the content that is proving to be difficult for a lot of these students but rather the expectations and the amount of assignments. These kids can handle the curriculum, they just have some of the worst time management and work ethic I have ever seen. The middle schools are doing nothing to prepare these kids for the pace that is expected of them in HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I co teach honors english 9. From what I have seen through 12 weeks is that its not the content that is proving to be difficult for a lot of these students but rather the expectations and the amount of assignments. These kids can handle the curriculum, they just have some of the worst time management and work ethic I have ever seen. The middle schools are doing nothing to prepare these kids for the pace that is expected of them in HS.

What? Neither of my kids spent an ounce of effort for their English homework. All work was done in class. They did everything, got straight As. APUSH and AP Calc BC and such like were the classes that took some effort. No "Honors" class is hard in content or workload. AP is the new Honors, Honors is the new Regular, Regular is the new Remedial. I have found this to be true in MCPS.