What are kids supposed to be doing all day in school?

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that the BCR is taught so that children can respond to short written answer questions on standardized testing in a way that is easy to score and scores well. They are very formulaic. Think of it as a mini rubric for answering a question. My child has figured out that if you follow the rubric on any assignment you get a good grade. Often though, DC retains little of what DC learned in doing it. Unfortunately, DC's obsession with the rubric often clouds the exciting point of the project.

[Anonymous]

I understand why schools need to teach kids how to write BCRs for the MSA but some schools and teachers really seem to obsess about it. At our Bethesda school in 3rd grade last year, DS (labeled as gifted BTW) was pulled out of his regular class once a week to attend a separate class to teach him how to write a BCR. The kid can write quite well but I guess he was having trouble following the very prescribed format required by the BCR. So he missed an hour of real learning every week for about 8 weeks. Believe me, he would have had much more fun and learned more if he could have built an abacus!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't want him to be playing, send him to public school. There is rarely any of that going on. People pay money to send their kids to private school in part b/c they want to instill a love of learning as well as a deeper understanding of what they are studying. Publics tend to focus on the basics b/c that is what is tested.

Are you at all familiar with the public system?

[Anonymous]

Yes, PP. I was a teacher in the public school system prior to having kids. My friends who still teach tell me how much worse it has gotten since NCLB was implemented. Oh and as for the BCR, they begin teaching kids how to answer these type questions 2 years prior to when the MSA begins (in 3rd grade). When I taught, they were really big on ACEing a question. We drilled our kids on how to answer all questions this one way b/c it was how they were expected to answer it on the MSPAP (predecessor to the MSA). A year or two later, that went out the window and now the BCR is all the rage. My point is that the MSA and other state tests have completely narrowed what is being taught to kids and how it is being taught. I couldn't care less if my son could answer a question the way the state of MD expects him to. Why? Because in another few yrs, it will be a different way. And then maybe they get rid of the MSA altogether in favor of something else. I would actually love him to be able to think critically and creatively and not spend hours and hours teaching him how to answer one type of question on the MSA. Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

It appears from my completely unscientific survey that you would get more hours devoted to reading and math and fewer to "specials" in the public system than in my kids' private school. This obviously does not address differences in what is taught during those hours.

Second grade private (33.75 hour week) (my child’s class)

Language Arts 7.5 hours
Math 4.5 hours

Music 1.5 hours
Social Studies 1.5 hours
PE 1.5 hours
Library .5 hour
Spanish 1 hour
Science 2 hours
Computer .5 hour
Art 1 hour
Morning Meeting 1.5 hours
Chapel .75 hour

Arrival (you have 15 minutes within which to drop off) 1.5 hours
Dismissal (you also have 15 minutes within which to pick up) 1.5 hours
Snack 2.5 hours
Lunch 2.5 hours
Recess 2.5 hours

Second grade public (Laytonsville, Peters, picked at random from Google) (32.5 hour week)

Reading (including DEAR) 8.5 hours
Writing 3.75 hours
Math 6.75 hours

Music 1 hour
Social Studies/Science .75 hour
PE 1 hour
Library (only Week A)
Spanish 0
Science (see social studies above)
Computer .75 hour
Art .75 hour
Class Meeting .5 hour
Chapel 0

Morning work 2.5 hours
Lunch/Recess 5 hours
Dismissal 1.25 hours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, PP. I was a teacher in the public school system prior to having kids. My friends who still teach tell me how much worse it has gotten since NCLB was implemented. Oh and as for the BCR, they begin teaching kids how to answer these type questions 2 years prior to when the MSA begins (in 3rd grade). When I taught, they were really big on ACEing a question. We drilled our kids on how to answer all questions this one way b/c it was how they were expected to answer it on the MSPAP (predecessor to the MSA). A year or two later, that went out the window and now the BCR is all the rage. My point is that the MSA and other state tests have completely narrowed what is being taught to kids and how it is being taught. I couldn't care less if my son could answer a question the way the state of MD expects him to. Why? Because in another few yrs, it will be a different way. And then maybe they get rid of the MSA altogether in favor of something else. I would actually love him to be able to think critically and creatively and not spend hours and hours teaching him how to answer one type of question on the MSA. Just my 2 cents.

This is sad.

[Anonymous]

I too am very frustrated with the emphasis on these MD State Brief Constructed Responses. My son is in a MD public school and every so often has to answer a math question (such as 45 + 69 = ?) with not just the answer, but also "Describe in numbers and/or words how you know that your answer is correct." He has no patience with this type of question, and has started writing "Because it is the LAW of ARITHMETIC".

[Anonymous]

LOL. I'll have to start getting my child to use that response. Hey, it's brief!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I too am very frustrated with the emphasis on these MD State Brief Constructed Responses. My son is in a MD public school and every so often has to answer a math question (such as 45 + 69 = ?) with not just the answer, but also "Describe in numbers and/or words how you know that your answer is correct." He has no patience with this type of question, and has started writing "Because it is the LAW of ARITHMETIC".

I would be annoyed by this too. It's math, not English. His answer is perfect.

[Anonymous]

This is depressing!
I just so wish that I could be a third grader now. The things that I would say...

[Anonymous]

If anyone is interested here's a link to the MD state dept of education Released items for the MSA:

http://mdk12.org/assessments/k_8/pr_grade3_math_2008.html

The above link is four 3rd grade math.

Scroll down to the bottom and you will see a sample of the brief contructed response for third grade -- the conept kids need to show is that they understand 5x3 = 15 and 3 x 5 - 15. I think having 3rd graders show this by drawing pictures and circling groups is a bit babyish. By third grade kids shoudl just memorize their multiplication facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is interested here's a link to the MD state dept of education Released items for the MSA:

http://mdk12.org/assessments/k_8/pr_grade3_math_2008.html

The above link is four 3rd grade math.

Scroll down to the bottom and you will see a sample of the brief contructed response for third grade -- the conept kids need to show is that they understand 5x3 = 15 and 3 x 5 - 15. I think having 3rd graders show this by drawing pictures and circling groups is a bit babyish. By third grade kids shoudl just memorize their multiplication facts.

Is that a joke. OMG!
That is ridiculous. The questions are hard, plus they still are not asking the kids to show competency in the basic addition, multiplication, and so on.

[Anonymous]

But since schools have to show writing across the curriculum, they have to write these lame responses for everything. I understand that it is important for kids to actually understand what they doing in math but it gets ridiculous after a while. Even my son's PE teacher has to get the kids reading in every PE class and writing too. So they get 45 mins of PE per week but I'm sure at least 10-15 mins of it is reading off the chalk/whiteboard.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info, now I get it.
Still think it silly.
So PE is no longer down time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is interested here's a link to the MD state dept of education Released items for the MSA:

http://mdk12.org/assessments/k_8/pr_grade3_math_2008.html

The above link is four 3rd grade math.

Scroll down to the bottom and you will see a sample of the brief contructed response for third grade -- the conept kids need to show is that they understand 5x3 = 15 and 3 x 5 - 15. I think having 3rd graders show this by drawing pictures and circling groups is a bit babyish. By third grade kids shoudl just memorize their multiplication facts.

Is that a joke. OMG!
That is ridiculous. The questions are hard, plus they still are not asking the kids to show competency in the basic addition, multiplication, and so on.

Tell your congressman. Too bad Hillary wasn't elected. She understands how bad this NCLB stuff is.