Middle School is way too easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t all 7th grade honor and aap students required to write a personal narrative first quarter? That was the Prince William standard in sixth grade to write a 3 page typed personal narrative. My kid is in 7th and didn’t do it in 6th or 7th yet. They’ve never written more than a page of anything.

Because narrative writing is extremely low level. AAP and Honors students should be writing in more challenging formats such as persuasive and expository.

I start with narrative because it is familiar to them from elementary. It also lends itself to the unit theme we are supposed to teach first quarter. We do persuasive during 2nd quarter because it lends itself to nonfiction text analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One challenging history question to solve btw does not make up for a 5-page research paper or a 2-page fictional story of a historical figure. Less time equals less rigor most of the time.But regardless there are also no challenging questions.

My kid has already done essays in both her English and History classes. What MS is this OP?

My kid also has already written essays in English and history, and both teachers taught students how to write well, something that was not taught at all in ES.

The history teacher has students actually apply what they've learned about historical events, so they have to understand what they are learning, not just parrot back facts and dates.

My kid's English teacher also requires students to actually analyze literature they are reading, not just answer basic questions. She also teaches students to break down words to look for roots and other parts. My kid complained that this is hard, but I am ecstatic to see her struggle with this skill because she has to slow down, think, and analyze.

I am very happy with the level of rigor at our middle school, which is an excellent school (but not a TJ feeder).

PP. Yes I’m happy they are finally getting more intense with the LA. It did ramp a bit in 5th and 6th grade but still seemed lacking. My kid got tons of constructive feedback on her essay, including how to go beyond just restating things and analyzing stories. This is Kilmer-which isn’t considered a “top” MS by DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One challenging history question to solve btw does not make up for a 5-page research paper or a 2-page fictional story of a historical figure. Less time equals less rigor most of the time.But regardless there are also no challenging questions.

My kid has already done essays in both her English and History classes. What MS is this OP?

My kid also has already written essays in English and history, and both teachers taught students how to write well, something that was not taught at all in ES.

The history teacher has students actually apply what they've learned about historical events, so they have to understand what they are learning, not just parrot back facts and dates.

My kid's English teacher also requires students to actually analyze literature they are reading, not just answer basic questions. She also teaches students to break down words to look for roots and other parts. My kid complained that this is hard, but I am ecstatic to see her struggle with this skill because she has to slow down, think, and analyze.

I am very happy with the level of rigor at our middle school, which is an excellent school (but not a TJ feeder).

PP. Yes I’m happy they are finally getting more intense with the LA. It did ramp a bit in 5th and 6th grade but still seemed lacking. My kid got tons of constructive feedback on her essay, including how to go beyond just restating things and analyzing stories. This is Kilmer-which isn’t considered a “top” MS by DCUM.

As much as people want it to be, teaching will never be systematic or manipulated into being “better” by administrative management. It’s all about the individual teacher and what he or she is willing to give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you should consider sending your kid to private school.

Most of the privates are much easier than FCPS AAP. We moved one from private back to FCPS and the curriculum in FCPS was far more challenging. Have heard the same from several others.

Name the private, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One challenging history question to solve btw does not make up for a 5-page research paper or a 2-page fictional story of a historical figure. Less time equals less rigor most of the time.But regardless there are also no challenging questions.

My kid has already done essays in both her English and History classes. What MS is this OP?

My kid also has already written essays in English and history, and both teachers taught students how to write well, something that was not taught at all in ES.

The history teacher has students actually apply what they've learned about historical events, so they have to understand what they are learning, not just parrot back facts and dates.

My kid's English teacher also requires students to actually analyze literature they are reading, not just answer basic questions. She also teaches students to break down words to look for roots and other parts. My kid complained that this is hard, but I am ecstatic to see her struggle with this skill because she has to slow down, think, and analyze.

I am very happy with the level of rigor at our middle school, which is an excellent school (but not a TJ feeder).

PP. Yes I’m happy they are finally getting more intense with the LA. It did ramp a bit in 5th and 6th grade but still seemed lacking. My kid got tons of constructive feedback on her essay, including how to go beyond just restating things and analyzing stories. This is Kilmer-which isn’t considered a “top” MS by DCUM.

As much as people want it to be, teaching will never be systematic or manipulated into being “better” by administrative management. It’s all about the individual teacher and what he or she is willing to give.

I am a teacher and this is a very true statement. Teaching is not standardized, it all depends on the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My AAP 7th grader has a couple hours of homework a night and several major tests and projects.

Are you in a TJ feeder? Can you name the school? Maybe I’ll mention this to my kid’s school

Does this middle school still read full length novels?

Novels used to be read at home and then discussed in class. I think they have some novels but now they just read in class I guess

In our district the teachers read the novels aloud during class since the kids mostly can’t read grade level texts. They can’t figure out why these students don’t do well on state tests. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

Nope. I’m right there with you. I love it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids were never in AAP and they never had a ton of homework in MS; however, they managed to learn what they needed to learn, developed good study habits, and tested well on their SATs and AP exams. They rarely asked for my help, and we never arranged for outside tutoring or supplemental learning. FCPS absolutely prepared them for college.

Homework does not necessarily equate to a good education.

But your experience is not current. We just want for our kids what your kids got. Is that unreasonable?

I have a kid on MS now — 7th grade — and his experience is the same as my older kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

Nope. I’m right there with you. I love it!

And that’s great but other kids want more challenge which is why there are supposed to be three levels of instruction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

Nope. I’m right there with you. I love it!

And that’s great but other kids want more challenge which is why there are supposed to be three levels of instruction

I think he is challenged. His assignments are just done mostly in class which I like. How much homework kids get doesn’t correlate with “challenge.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

Nope. I’m right there with you. I love it!

And that’s great but other kids want more challenge which is why there are supposed to be three levels of instruction

I think he is challenged. His assignments are just done mostly in class which I like. How much homework kids get doesn’t correlate with “challenge.”

Agree. That's a pretty outdated view.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you should consider sending your kid to private school.

Most of the privates are much easier than FCPS AAP. We moved one from private back to FCPS and the curriculum in FCPS was far more challenging. Have heard the same from several others.

Name the private, please.

NP here. I think it is pretty well known in this area that FCPS middle and high schools are generally more rigorous than the standard private schools (in grades 7 through 12), especially in math and science. Temple Baptist, Dominion, Trinity, Oakcrest, GW Community, etc. Certainly, there are some private high schools that are arguably better and offer more options than FCPS high schools, but there are very few of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you should consider sending your kid to private school.

Most of the privates are much easier than FCPS AAP. We moved one from private back to FCPS and the curriculum in FCPS was far more challenging. Have heard the same from several others.

Name the private, please.

NP here. I think it is pretty well known in this area that FCPS middle and high schools are generally more rigorous than the standard private schools (in grades 7 through 12), especially in math and science. Temple Baptist, Dominion, Trinity, Oakcrest, GW Community, etc. Certainly, there are some private high schools that are arguably better and offer more options than FCPS high schools, but there are very few of them.

We have experience at two of the NOVA Catholic schools as well as FCPS and FCPS has been more rigorous for us (especially math).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one who is perfectly happy to have middle school be on the easy side? I also don’t care for homework and am glad my kids don’t have much.

Nope. I’m right there with you. I love it!

And that’s great but other kids want more challenge which is why there are supposed to be three levels of instruction

I think he is challenged. His assignments are just done mostly in class which I like. How much homework kids get doesn’t correlate with “challenge.”

DP A concern is that doing homework during class means there is less instructional time for covering new content, thus reducing the overall challenge.