What in the world is happening at Carson?

[Anonymous]

You know they get read all they want to independently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

[Anonymous]

My kid read the Outsiders and Taming of the Shrew at Carson as a 7th grader.

As an 8th grader, they are reading short stories and writing essays on those short stories, there seems to be lots of grammar and vocabulary tests. They have at least one book they will be reading.

I wouldn’t mind them reading more but I appreciate the grammar and vocabulary units that they are doing.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I know it’s getting old to keep pointing to Covid, but I genuinely think this particular cohort—mostly the current 7th graders, also likely some current 6th and 8th graders—missed a key window of social development after spending a full year in virtual school (for today’s 7th graders, that meant the second half of 1st grade and almost all of 2nd). At my DC’s elementary school, the administration could not wait for that 6th grade group to move on because their collective behavior was the worst they’d seen, and that same cohort came back noticeably more challenging in 3rd grade than they had been in 1st. I don’t have a student at Carson, but at another FCPS middle school, horseplay seems to be pretty common. This isn’t to excuse the behavior, just to offer a possible explanation for why it seems to be increasing.

Nope. Get a new excuse.

Next!

We will get a new excuse when you stop using the online materials from virtual learning.

No one is using 99% of the Covid materials. Try again.

+100, those materials aren’t even available anymore.

np. We have teachers at Longfellow that use those materials.

Well, you should let them know that the material that was created during Covid has been removed/updated countless times and they should go and pull down the new material.

You’re thinking about the canned lessons created by gatehouse for virtual learning. That’s not what I meant. I mean just using the computer in general for turning in work (submitting on schoology), finishing slides, creating something on canvas, creating a slideshow. Teacher rely too much on the computer now and that obviously was worse in the years after Covid. We even have elementary schools administering all math tests on the computer which is preposterous.

You have a gross misunderstanding of "lessons created during Covid" if you think digital literacy and digital proficiency lessons are "lessons created during Covid."

---> Submitting on Schoology= learning how to submit files digitally, which is a real-life skill.

---> Creating something on Canva= learning media literacy, use of text features for purpose or accessibility, and functional skills on a computer, all of which are real-life skills.

---> Creating a slideshow= learning presentation skills, evaluating main idea, adapting to audience and purpose, use of text features, and supporting a claim, all of which are real-life skills.

The best teachers are teaching using both paper and the computer, for both are important to learn to use effectively.

Those are pretty minor skills though and are fine for summarizing rather than being detail oriented.

I'd rather they read full books rather than passages.

Write out equations on paper.

Produce detailed information with original observations rather than sumarization.

Daily math, PE and foreign language class instead of block scheduling for those types of classes.

7th grade is finishing up The Outsiders in every middle school. You clearly don't have a child in middle school let alone at Carson.

Have an aap 8th grader. It took them forever to finish that book last year and then they did a midsummers night dream. Then they watched the movie for the outsiders

Supposedly they're reading a total of 2 books in 8th grade which is far far less than I did. Animal farm and the giver. After 4 months, mid kid still hasn't finished the giver. They mostly read short stories and passages. The book statement in general is across FCPS.

Good lord. My dd read the giver in one month for her sixth grade book club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s getting old to keep pointing to Covid, but I genuinely think this particular cohort—mostly the current 7th graders, also likely some current 6th and 8th graders—missed a key window of social development after spending a full year in virtual school (for today’s 7th graders, that meant the second half of 1st grade and almost all of 2nd). At my DC’s elementary school, the administration could not wait for that 6th grade group to move on because their collective behavior was the worst they’d seen, and that same cohort came back noticeably more challenging in 3rd grade than they had been in 1st. I don’t have a student at Carson, but at another FCPS middle school, horseplay seems to be pretty common. This isn’t to excuse the behavior, just to offer a possible explanation for why it seems to be increasing.

Nope. Get a new excuse.

Next!

We will get a new excuse when you stop using the online materials from virtual learning.

No one is using 99% of the Covid materials. Try again.

+100, those materials aren’t even available anymore.

np. We have teachers at Longfellow that use those materials.

Well, you should let them know that the material that was created during Covid has been removed/updated countless times and they should go and pull down the new material.

You’re thinking about the canned lessons created by gatehouse for virtual learning. That’s not what I meant. I mean just using the computer in general for turning in work (submitting on schoology), finishing slides, creating something on canvas, creating a slideshow. Teacher rely too much on the computer now and that obviously was worse in the years after Covid. We even have elementary schools administering all math tests on the computer which is preposterous.

You have a gross misunderstanding of "lessons created during Covid" if you think digital literacy and digital proficiency lessons are "lessons created during Covid."

---> Submitting on Schoology= learning how to submit files digitally, which is a real-life skill.

---> Creating something on Canva= learning media literacy, use of text features for purpose or accessibility, and functional skills on a computer, all of which are real-life skills.

---> Creating a slideshow= learning presentation skills, evaluating main idea, adapting to audience and purpose, use of text features, and supporting a claim, all of which are real-life skills.

The best teachers are teaching using both paper and the computer, for both are important to learn to use effectively.

Those are pretty minor skills though and are fine for summarizing rather than being detail oriented.

I'd rather they read full books rather than passages.

Write out equations on paper.

Produce detailed information with original observations rather than sumarization.

Daily math, PE and foreign language class instead of block scheduling for those types of classes.

7th grade is finishing up The Outsiders in every middle school. You clearly don't have a child in middle school let alone at Carson.

Have an aap 8th grader. It took them forever to finish that book last year and then they did a midsummers night dream. Then they watched the movie for the outsiders

Supposedly they're reading a total of 2 books in 8th grade which is far far less than I did. Animal farm and the giver. After 4 months, mid kid still hasn't finished the giver. They mostly read short stories and passages. The book statement in general is across FCPS.

Good lord. My dd read the giver in one month for her sixth grade book club.

Well gold star for her! Can we get back on track?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s getting old to keep pointing to Covid, but I genuinely think this particular cohort—mostly the current 7th graders, also likely some current 6th and 8th graders—missed a key window of social development after spending a full year in virtual school (for today’s 7th graders, that meant the second half of 1st grade and almost all of 2nd). At my DC’s elementary school, the administration could not wait for that 6th grade group to move on because their collective behavior was the worst they’d seen, and that same cohort came back noticeably more challenging in 3rd grade than they had been in 1st. I don’t have a student at Carson, but at another FCPS middle school, horseplay seems to be pretty common. This isn’t to excuse the behavior, just to offer a possible explanation for why it seems to be increasing.

Nope. Get a new excuse.

Next!

We will get a new excuse when you stop using the online materials from virtual learning.

No one is using 99% of the Covid materials. Try again.

+100, those materials aren’t even available anymore.

np. We have teachers at Longfellow that use those materials.

Well, you should let them know that the material that was created during Covid has been removed/updated countless times and they should go and pull down the new material.

You’re thinking about the canned lessons created by gatehouse for virtual learning. That’s not what I meant. I mean just using the computer in general for turning in work (submitting on schoology), finishing slides, creating something on canvas, creating a slideshow. Teacher rely too much on the computer now and that obviously was worse in the years after Covid. We even have elementary schools administering all math tests on the computer which is preposterous.

OK, sweetie, using technology to submit assignments and shared google docs for group projects is very different from "online covid lessons". Two VERY different things. You are also confusing "all math tests" with the required performance matters assessments. Two totally different things. Most math is on paper. Talk to the teacher instead of making up BS about using materials from 5 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

Why is that a bad thing? It's a great book that is very appropriate for this age. I read The Outsiders when I was around this age, too. I re-read it with my daughter this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s getting old to keep pointing to Covid, but I genuinely think this particular cohort—mostly the current 7th graders, also likely some current 6th and 8th graders—missed a key window of social development after spending a full year in virtual school (for today’s 7th graders, that meant the second half of 1st grade and almost all of 2nd). At my DC’s elementary school, the administration could not wait for that 6th grade group to move on because their collective behavior was the worst they’d seen, and that same cohort came back noticeably more challenging in 3rd grade than they had been in 1st. I don’t have a student at Carson, but at another FCPS middle school, horseplay seems to be pretty common. This isn’t to excuse the behavior, just to offer a possible explanation for why it seems to be increasing.

Nope. Get a new excuse.

Next!

We will get a new excuse when you stop using the online materials from virtual learning.

No one is using 99% of the Covid materials. Try again.

+100, those materials aren’t even available anymore.

np. We have teachers at Longfellow that use those materials.

Well, you should let them know that the material that was created during Covid has been removed/updated countless times and they should go and pull down the new material.

You’re thinking about the canned lessons created by gatehouse for virtual learning. That’s not what I meant. I mean just using the computer in general for turning in work (submitting on schoology), finishing slides, creating something on canvas, creating a slideshow. Teacher rely too much on the computer now and that obviously was worse in the years after Covid. We even have elementary schools administering all math tests on the computer which is preposterous.

You have a gross misunderstanding of "lessons created during Covid" if you think digital literacy and digital proficiency lessons are "lessons created during Covid."

---> Submitting on Schoology= learning how to submit files digitally, which is a real-life skill.

---> Creating something on Canva= learning media literacy, use of text features for purpose or accessibility, and functional skills on a computer, all of which are real-life skills.

---> Creating a slideshow= learning presentation skills, evaluating main idea, adapting to audience and purpose, use of text features, and supporting a claim, all of which are real-life skills.

The best teachers are teaching using both paper and the computer, for both are important to learn to use effectively.

Those are pretty minor skills though and are fine for summarizing rather than being detail oriented.

I'd rather they read full books rather than passages.

Write out equations on paper.

Produce detailed information with original observations rather than sumarization.

Daily math, PE and foreign language class instead of block scheduling for those types of classes.

7th grade is finishing up The Outsiders in every middle school. You clearly don't have a child in middle school let alone at Carson.

The Outsiders is definitely NOT read in every middle school. Every middle school is supposed to do book clubs with choice texts, not a whole-grade-level text.

My bad, I have friends with kids in three FCPS middle schools - all three are reading The Outsiders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it’s getting old to keep pointing to Covid, but I genuinely think this particular cohort—mostly the current 7th graders, also likely some current 6th and 8th graders—missed a key window of social development after spending a full year in virtual school (for today’s 7th graders, that meant the second half of 1st grade and almost all of 2nd). At my DC’s elementary school, the administration could not wait for that 6th grade group to move on because their collective behavior was the worst they’d seen, and that same cohort came back noticeably more challenging in 3rd grade than they had been in 1st. I don’t have a student at Carson, but at another FCPS middle school, horseplay seems to be pretty common. This isn’t to excuse the behavior, just to offer a possible explanation for why it seems to be increasing.

Nope. Get a new excuse.

Next!

We will get a new excuse when you stop using the online materials from virtual learning.

No one is using 99% of the Covid materials. Try again.

+100, those materials aren’t even available anymore.

np. We have teachers at Longfellow that use those materials.

Well, you should let them know that the material that was created during Covid has been removed/updated countless times and they should go and pull down the new material.

You’re thinking about the canned lessons created by gatehouse for virtual learning. That’s not what I meant. I mean just using the computer in general for turning in work (submitting on schoology), finishing slides, creating something on canvas, creating a slideshow. Teacher rely too much on the computer now and that obviously was worse in the years after Covid. We even have elementary schools administering all math tests on the computer which is preposterous.

You have a gross misunderstanding of "lessons created during Covid" if you think digital literacy and digital proficiency lessons are "lessons created during Covid."

---> Submitting on Schoology= learning how to submit files digitally, which is a real-life skill.

---> Creating something on Canva= learning media literacy, use of text features for purpose or accessibility, and functional skills on a computer, all of which are real-life skills.

---> Creating a slideshow= learning presentation skills, evaluating main idea, adapting to audience and purpose, use of text features, and supporting a claim, all of which are real-life skills.

The best teachers are teaching using both paper and the computer, for both are important to learn to use effectively.

Those are pretty minor skills though and are fine for summarizing rather than being detail oriented.

I'd rather they read full books rather than passages.

Write out equations on paper.

Produce detailed information with original observations rather than sumarization.

Daily math, PE and foreign language class instead of block scheduling for those types of classes.

7th grade is finishing up The Outsiders in every middle school. You clearly don't have a child in middle school let alone at Carson.

Have an aap 8th grader. It took them forever to finish that book last year and then they did a midsummers night dream. Then they watched the movie for the outsiders

Supposedly they're reading a total of 2 books in 8th grade which is far far less than I did. Animal farm and the giver. After 4 months, mid kid still hasn't finished the giver. They mostly read short stories and passages. The book statement in general is across FCPS.

They're reading 1-3 chapters a week in my child's regular English class. They started the 2nd week of November and have their last quiz this week. My dyslexic child had no problem with the pace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

Why is that a bad thing? It's a great book that is very appropriate for this age. I read The Outsiders when I was around this age, too. I re-read it with my daughter this year.

It is a good book, but doing a whole-grade novel is a very old-school method of teaching and is not aligned with FCPS's philosophy on literacy instruction. It should absolutely be a book students can choose to read, but it shouldn't be the only choice. It's laziness to continue to do the same thing for 20+ years without changing it.

[Anonymous]

Fact: Oakton is slightly over capacity and the new construction is in progress. They are around +100 from last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fact: Oakton is slightly over capacity and the new construction is in progress. They are around +100 from last year.

Ma'am, this is the Carson thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

Why is that a bad thing? It's a great book that is very appropriate for this age. I read The Outsiders when I was around this age, too. I re-read it with my daughter this year.

It is a good book, but doing a whole-grade novel is a very old-school method of teaching and is not aligned with FCPS's philosophy on literacy instruction. It should absolutely be a book students can choose to read, but it shouldn't be the only choice. It's laziness to continue to do the same thing for 20+ years without changing it.

breaking up a class into mini-classes is dumb

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

Why is that a bad thing? It's a great book that is very appropriate for this age. I read The Outsiders when I was around this age, too. I re-read it with my daughter this year.

It is a good book, but doing a whole-grade novel is a very old-school method of teaching and is not aligned with FCPS's philosophy on literacy instruction. It should absolutely be a book students can choose to read, but it shouldn't be the only choice. It's laziness to continue to do the same thing for 20+ years without changing it.

breaking up a class into mini-classes is dumb

Yep. And then the teacher can’t meet with all the groups at once and the other groups are all off task and fooling around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is at a different MS. In grade 7 last year they only read one book called ‘Refugee’. The questions were all multiple choice. The rest of the year was very short passages and articles.

In grade 8 they have read independently one book from the library. No book club. No group book.

That's really sad. In seventh grade ELA, my kid had zero multiple-choice tests except the SOL. He also had book clubs. He hasn't had book clubs yet in eighth grade, but I hope they are coming up soon.

My best friend is a middle school ELA teacher and she has told me what the expectations are from FCPS. Book clubs is one of the expectations. The schools were given a list of books they could order, and those were supposed to be used for book clubs.

My two youngest siblings went to Carson in the early 2000s, and they read The Outsiders even back then. My nephew went to Carson in 2016-2018, and he read The Outsiders. According to a post above, Carson is still having students read The Outsiders. That means Carson has been reading The Outsiders for at least 20 years without changing their approach.

Why is that a bad thing? It's a great book that is very appropriate for this age. I read The Outsiders when I was around this age, too. I re-read it with my daughter this year.

It is a good book, but doing a whole-grade novel is a very old-school method of teaching and is not aligned with FCPS's philosophy on literacy instruction. It should absolutely be a book students can choose to read, but it shouldn't be the only choice. It's laziness to continue to do the same thing for 20+ years without changing it.

breaking up a class into mini-classes is dumb

Yep. And then the teacher can’t meet with all the groups at once and the other groups are all off task and fooling around.

And then mom comes on here and complains about how her kid was on YouTube during English class, LOL!