Honors English 9A, MP1: What is your child reading?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I was frustrated when my kid's "Advanced" English 6 class was reading Magic Fish. Now I can wait to be infuriated AGAIN when they get it as a high schooler.

My child went to private MS followed by MCPS HS, let me tell you...

I haven't heard of Magic Fish, but he read All American Boys in MS. Animal Farm was a repeat for him.

What were your child’s thoughts on the parallels between Animal Farm and early 20th century Russia? Was the Russian Revolution studied in Social Studies before or after?

World History is usually taken in 11th.

DP. You do not have to get that in history class when reading Animal Farm. You should be getting it in English class by through context readings so that you understand what the allegory and its relevance.

Allegory is killed by serving it backwards, explaining what everything means instead of relying on the reader's knowledge when they read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe they'd have the stamina to read books if they had actually been assigned them throughout their schooling and held accountable for demonstrating mastery of the content.

It's a chicken-egg situation.

I can agree with that but would add that we would also have to reinstate academic consequences at the earlier grade levels. Assigning appropriate novels for middle schoolers is great but when you auto promote them even if they don't crack open the book completely negates any benefit you are trying to achieve.

Auto promote is probably fine for on level. But honors should be for the kids that actually read the books. My kids did read all the books, definitely. Often the first day or days the books was assigned — not one chapter per week like they were assigned (who reads like that?!). Because the books are so easy, they are often ones they read in ES though.

No, because the books now are mostly political activism books for older students with low literacy, not classic kids' books

Your ES kids didn't read
the modern school canon of novels about about police brutality and high school sex in ES. These aren't best sellers for kids outside of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

My kids do what your suggest. But they are stuck in school with your remedial lessons and homework. (Not your fault! Curriculum's fault.)

[Anonymous]

It's actually hard to find classics in the library. That's not what they stock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

My kids do what your suggest. But they are stuck in school with your remedial lessons and homework. (Not your fault! Curriculum's fault.)

It's the curriculum forced by "Honors" For All, regardless of ability or interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach 9th grade honors english at a HS. Half my classes are reading The Magic Fish. The other half All American Boys

Is this just because there are too few copies of the book for every student to get the same one?

It may be due to English Learners in their class. If you are just learning English, the Magic Fish would be appropriate. All American Boy isn't honors reading level. Consider that this teacher has to divide their time between two student cohorts in one class.

Do tell - what makes AAB not an honors reading level book? Because it's contemporary and focuses on police brutality against African Americans? Seems pretty finger on the pulse of the nation to me. But I'd love to hear your opinion, PP. Do tell.

I don't have a problem with a couple carefully selected books that are at or below grade-level as far as lexile in an honors class if there's something else about the book that makes it challenging and helps kids grow and learn-- lexile isn't the be-all and end-all of challenge in English class. But there should be a solid number of high-lexile books mixed in, and the lower ones should be selected for a specific purpose, not just to make the class more manageable for kids who aren't up to honors-level work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

But saying "I can't assign challenging work in my honors class because 50% of the class won't do it" is a cop-out. Give 50% of the class a 'C' if necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

I agree but that doesn't stop 50 parents from e-mailing me after interims are sent out demanding that I somehow allow their kids to fix their grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

But saying "I can't assign challenging work in my honors class because 50% of the class won't do it" is a cop-out. Give 50% of the class a 'C' if necessary.

50% getting a C would be great. In one of my honors 9 classes I have 4 out of 22 kids currently above a D at interims time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

But saying "I can't assign challenging work in my honors class because 50% of the class won't do it" is a cop-out. Give 50% of the class a 'C' if necessary.

50% getting a C would be great. In one of my honors 9 classes I have 4 out of 22 kids currently above a D at interims time

That sounds tough. But I think it's great you're holding the line on a class labelled Honors, and giving out bad grades if necessary. If administrators see the number of kids getting these grades, maybe they'll rethink putting everyone into Honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All American Boys
But they will also be reading Of Mice and Men

Of Mice & Men is a choice in MP2. And it's super short. Why couldn't they read both of these in MP1?

Totally agree. My HS English class in 1986 probably read twice as many books. I remember we read Great Expectations, catcher in the rye, Frankenstein, a Shakespeare play, the Iliad, and I’m sure there were a couple more I’m forgetting now (maybe Huck Finn?) And I went to public school in a random state so I feel like it’s achievable for McPS.

Sorry to those of you who don't know this, but...these kids DO NOT READ! The vast majority of them, including your precious IB Magnet students, are not doing the reading. They are overwhelmed and/or do not have the stamina to read books the way you think they can.

I teach 9th grade right now. I've also taught AP Lang in the past. Their reading stamina, as previously stated, is in the garbage and has been for some time. I struggle to get them to retain information when we read books together, in class, using an audio book. It takes insane amounts of contextualization to get them to understand any text, so I've come to learn if it's going to to be challenging for them, it better be interesting too.

This year, we will do All American Boys (in Q1 - mind you, we have had significantly fewer instructional days this quarter because of various interruptions and non-instructional days), MARCH Book 3 in Quarter 2, Flowers for Algernon in Quarter 2, A Raisin in the Sun in Quarter 3, The Poet X in Quarter 4, and probably a literature circle book somewhere in there.

For anyone complaining that their kid isn't reading enough or isn't reading any "classics" - get a library card! No one is stopping you! As a matter of fact, it would be great if you and your kid read those "classics" together, and then they can have a discussion with you about the differences between those "classics" and the books they're reading in class

I wonder if this is part of honors for all. My kids have reading stamina. They regularly read books that are multiple hundred pages, and they often complain about the stupid filler stuff in English class. But they aren’t gojng to go to the library and get dickens or Steinbeck or Wharton. They are reading stuff like Dune or Ready Player One or the Leigh Bardugo stuff. Yes, I could force my kids to read something more canonical — but I guess I could also just homeschool them. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask the schools to teach them some of this stuff, particularly considering that’s what was done in school for many decades.

We're already the "bad guys" with chores and screen time.. We need school to be the "bad guys" for challenging literature, so we can offer way books as a treat

As a teacher, I will be more than willing to be the "bad guy" as long as parents don't completely undermine me the second their kid gets home by allowing their kid to not do any homework or supplemental learning we cannot possibly fit in a 45 minute class period.

You can only do your part. If kids don't do their homework or assigned reading, and their parents let them not do it, then they won't get good grades.

But saying "I can't assign challenging work in my honors class because 50% of the class won't do it" is a cop-out. Give 50% of the class a 'C' if necessary.

50% getting a C would be great. In one of my honors 9 classes I have 4 out of 22 kids currently above a D at interims time

That sounds tough. But I think it's great you're holding the line on a class labelled Honors, and giving out bad grades if necessary. If administrators see the number of kids getting these grades, maybe they'll rethink putting everyone into Honors.

We haven’t even started started reading AAB yet and these grades are so low that they will need to get 100% Q2 to avoid summer school

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Anonymous wrote:I teach 9th grade honors english at a HS. Half my classes are reading The Magic Fish. The other half All American Boys

Is this just because there are too few copies of the book for every student to get the same one?

It may be due to English Learners in their class. If you are just learning English, the Magic Fish would be appropriate. All American Boy isn't honors reading level. Consider that this teacher has to divide their time between two student cohorts in one class.

Do tell - what makes AAB not an honors reading level book? Because it's contemporary and focuses on police brutality against African Americans? Seems pretty finger on the pulse of the nation to me. But I'd love to hear your opinion, PP. Do tell.

DP. Its lexile is 770HL -- high interest book for struggling readers who are below grade level. The 9th grade fall median Lexile level is 1195L. It's not even at grade level -- let alone at honors.

To me, it sounds like AAB would be a good pick for on level. For honors, combine it with something more challenging on a related theme — Beloved, invisible Man, even something like a day in the life of Ivan denisovich (which I read on 9th grade in the 80s) if you want to take about misuse of government power. There’s just so, so much missed opportunity with this supposedly honors curriculum. This is the perfect age to read all sorts of stuff — once you are in college and have a full time job it’s so much harder, especially if you haven’t developed the habit. It’s just such a shame.

It is not an on-level book. It's not appropriate for a high school level course. Offer it to 6th or 7th graders. It's still below grade level, but at least closer to it.