Have you noticed kids aren't being require to read an entire book anymore?

[Anonymous]

What are you talking about? My DCPS kids all read books from start to finish with various assignments along the way. Occasionally, a teacher might use a section of a book for teaching purposes but in general, we are still reading entire books in DC.

Also, maybe you should read more... "aren't being require to read " really bad grammar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are you talking about? My DCPS kids all read books from start to finish with various assignments along the way. Occasionally, a teacher might use a section of a book for teaching purposes but in general, we are still reading entire books in DC.

Also, maybe you should read more... "aren't being require to read " really bad grammar.

Ahem. "Kids aren't being required to read" is perfectly fine grammar.

And if your child is in DCPS then clearly I am NOT ASKING YOU THE QUESTION.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new push in the CCSS is close reading of text which means that students basically dissect small portions of a text. It might be a page for older students or a paragraph or two for younger kids. I don't think it means they don't read the entire text but they sure will be spending a long time on one small section. Personally, I think this is ridiculous for students younger than 7th or 8th grade. I didn't dissect a text until high school and college. When kids are not reading on grade level and they are spending time doing this, something is wrong. If they want students to be "lifelong learners" who want to read on their own, this is not the way to go about it. Kids will think reading is a chore and will avoid it at all costs.

I'd be interested to hear more about why you think that close reading isn't appropriate until 7th grade. It's something I've used informally as a parent (e.g. when reading bedtime stories with a 3 year old and rather than reading 2 or 3 books, spending the 20 minutes, talking in detail about one photo on one page of a backhoe, reading all the text, connecting it back to the picture, comparing what's in the book with the backhoe we saw when we walked to the zoo last week, OR listening to Harry Potter on audiobook in the car with a 9 year old, stopping it at a crucial point, and having a long conversation about a single moment in time, rewinding to listen to it again, taking and defending a point of view etc . . .). As a teacher of young kids, we use close reading techniques as well from a very young age.

I'm not sure how creating enjoyable experiences where kids delve into texts to ask and answer questions discourages them from being "lifelong learners"?

I agree that it is important to discuss a text to a point. But to spend a 60 or 90 minute class on one or two paragraphs will lose the interest of most of the students. My neighbor's son is reading the same book from the beginning of the school year until the end of the first quarter. He is in 5th grade. My neighbor told me he hates reading this book because they are going through it too slowly. I would hate that pace too.

[Anonymous]

And if your child is in DCPS then clearly I am NOT ASKING YOU THE QUESTION.

The DCPS poster is relevant. Way to go MCPS.....you have now fallen below the level of the crime infested, gang ridden DCPS system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And if your child is in DCPS then clearly I am NOT ASKING YOU THE QUESTION.

The DCPS poster is relevant. Way to go MCPS.....you have now fallen below the level of the crime infested, gang ridden DCPS system.

It is not relevant, you jackass. I'm asking a specific question to MCPS parents: "Is xyz something you've experienced?"

Whether it's happening in DPS is irrelevant to this discussion. At this point, we don't know if it's really happening, if it's a policy, if it's a rogue teacher or principal ... that's the point of the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And if your child is in DCPS then clearly I am NOT ASKING YOU THE QUESTION.

The DCPS poster is relevant. Way to go MCPS.....you have now fallen below the level of the crime infested, gang ridden DCPS system.

It is not relevant, you jackass. I'm asking a specific question to MCPS parents: "Is xyz something you've experienced?"

Whether it's happening in DPS is irrelevant to this discussion. At this point, we don't know if it's really happening, if it's a policy, if it's a rogue teacher or principal ... that's the point of the question.

NP here. Several posters came on to tell you that it's *not* happening at their schools, not even at Blair where you thought it might be happening. Are we done now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And if your child is in DCPS then clearly I am NOT ASKING YOU THE QUESTION.

The DCPS poster is relevant. Way to go MCPS.....you have now fallen below the level of the crime infested, gang ridden DCPS system.

OP: Do you know about kids in MCPS who are not required to read the whole book?
Lots of PPs: Not in my MCPS school.
PP from DCPS: Not in my school either.
This PP: See? MCPS is worse than DCPS!!!!@!!11!!!!

Yeesh.

[Anonymous]

I teach another subject at an MCPS HS, and given the number of students who are currently cramming chapters of the Catcher in the Rye during my class when they think I'm not looking, I'd say our English teachers are requiring that the entire book be read.

[Anonymous]

On the listserv it was identified as 8th grade at MLK middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach another subject at an MCPS HS, and given the number of students who are currently cramming chapters of the Catcher in the Rye during my class when they think I'm not looking, I'd say our English teachers are requiring that the entire book be read.

Alas.

(NOT a fan of Catcher in the Rye.)

[Anonymous]

Yeah, me. I made my kids read a book a week all summer. Then tell me about it.