HB-- focus on writing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

So one English teacher at HBW has about 100 students. Therefore, if the other high school teachers had 100 - ?? 120?? students, they would no longer be able to blame # of students for not being able to assign more, and more significant, writing? Thank you. I'm glad to finally get an idea of a feasible student load, since no teachers have ever offered a number that would allow them to do this.

That's a much smaller number than they have though--right? Isn't average class size in high school more like 25, and they teach 6 periods? So more like 125-150 now?

75 rising 6th graders admitted and then about 25 new spots offered to rising 9th graders. So it seems like 100/grade is about right.

Yes, I'm saying that H-B has 100, but the other high schools are more like 150, so its a really big difference. It would be hard to get the other schools' class loads for English down from 150 to 100 per teacher, they would have to change the planning factors for that subject and hire half as many teachers as they have now.

That's the point. Teachers never say what student load would make these assignments feasible. Someone said they do it at HB. Extrapolating # students per teacher at HB sets an identifiable target for the other schools. Until a target is articulated, nobody can know what sufficiently "smaller class sizes" means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

So one English teacher at HBW has about 100 students. Therefore, if the other high school teachers had 100 - ?? 120?? students, they would no longer be able to blame # of students for not being able to assign more, and more significant, writing? Thank you. I'm glad to finally get an idea of a feasible student load, since no teachers have ever offered a number that would allow them to do this.

That's a much smaller number than they have though--right? Isn't average class size in high school more like 25, and they teach 6 periods? So more like 125-150 now?

75 rising 6th graders admitted and then about 25 new spots offered to rising 9th graders. So it seems like 100/grade is about right.

Except HB teachers don’t all just teach one grade. It’s sort of like this in middle school and for some subjects in high school but then that subject teacher will also teach additional different classes.

And yet, as comments above indicate, they are able to give their students writing assignments. So if it's actually more, class size is less of a credible excuse from teachers at the other high schools for not being able to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm disappointed in what I've seen and heard about writing instruction in APS. For parents of kids at HB, do you think it's any better? I thought that the smaller class sizes might mean more time for teachers to assign longer essays and give feedback on papers, etc, even while working within the same curriculum. Your feedback is appreciated.

Excellent question. I'd be interested in the answer to this, too. "Too many students" has been the main/sole excuse/reason for not being able to do more substantial writing. So a small school should theoretically be able to handle it, right? Or do HB teachers have the same # of students?

Even if they have same number of students, they have far fewer discipline problems, just look at the suspension data, they have about about 1/8-1/4 the number of suspensions of the mainstream high schools. Having involved parents really helps that, and the lottery opt in and logistics does just that.

https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Suspension-Data-2019-20.pdf

Entirely irrelevant to being able to assign and grade papers.

You are unaware of how much time teachers must devote to maintaining class order in these times. Send them to the office, they send them back. Being suspended or expelled takes a RIDICULOUS high bar of bad behavior and takes forever. It completely diminishes available instruction and administrative time as they must deal with it in class and document after to see any progress made.

Not buying that as an excuse for not being able to assign and grade writing pieces. Nonsense.

You need to sub for a few days in a school that has discipline issues.

Assignments can be done outside of class. Grading of assignments should take place outside of class. So if the teacher can't give any instruction because of such egregious behavior all class long every day all year, (1) maybe they shouldn't be a teacher and (2) they can provide instruction via comments on the writing assignments they grade. If students can't get the work done in class, they are expected to finish it as homework.

PP here. I would agree with you in a school situation with more typical students as regards behavior. A lot of schools have students who can barely express themselves verbally, much less in writing; and they think fighting is the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

So one English teacher at HBW has about 100 students. Therefore, if the other high school teachers had 100 - ?? 120?? students, they would no longer be able to blame # of students for not being able to assign more, and more significant, writing? Thank you. I'm glad to finally get an idea of a feasible student load, since no teachers have ever offered a number that would allow them to do this.

That's a much smaller number than they have though--right? Isn't average class size in high school more like 25, and they teach 6 periods? So more like 125-150 now?

75 rising 6th graders admitted and then about 25 new spots offered to rising 9th graders. So it seems like 100/grade is about right.

Except HB teachers don’t all just teach one grade. It’s sort of like this in middle school and for some subjects in high school but then that subject teacher will also teach additional different classes.

yes, English is one of those subjects

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

So one English teacher at HBW has about 100 students. Therefore, if the other high school teachers had 100 - ?? 120?? students, they would no longer be able to blame # of students for not being able to assign more, and more significant, writing? Thank you. I'm glad to finally get an idea of a feasible student load, since no teachers have ever offered a number that would allow them to do this.

That's a much smaller number than they have though--right? Isn't average class size in high school more like 25, and they teach 6 periods? So more like 125-150 now?

75 rising 6th graders admitted and then about 25 new spots offered to rising 9th graders. So it seems like 100/grade is about right.

Except HB teachers don’t all just teach one grade. It’s sort of like this in middle school and for some subjects in high school but then that subject teacher will also teach additional different classes.

And yet, as comments above indicate, they are able to give their students writing assignments. So if it's actually more, class size is less of a credible excuse from teachers at the other high schools for not being able to do the same.

That's fine, I'm just pointing out that I think HB teachers teach more than 100 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

It shouldn't take half a year or more to learn how to write a research paper, especially if you're in high school. It's been our experience so far in English and history classes at H-B that class time is wasted on this learning process when most of the research and writing could be done at home and reviewed with the teacher during class. In most cases, papers are submitted to an online black hole never to be seen or heard from again. Unfortunately my kids have learned from APS that there's no reason to review any work submitted online since the teachers never correct them and they'd just be looking at exactly what they submitted originally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each grade in high school has the same English teacher so that is the entire class load, you can see exactly how many students the teacher has based on how many kids are in that grade and all kids in a grade are getting the exact same instruction unless some are doing the AP track (which is usually offered the same time as the regular class, with extra assignments and some in-class breakouts). Some English teachers also teach an elective like film or Shakespeare.

H-B focuses a lot on research and writing. They do year-long projects where they break down how to write a long paper, they spend a whole year doing an English research paper in 9th and a whole year doing a paper on a historic person in 10th. They also spend a lot of time on different kinds of writing--persuasive, descriptive, argumentative, etc. Science classes also require papers.

But what I really appreciated was the very structured approach to writing in English classes, to help them develop the skills to develop college-length research papers: they had to develop a topic, come up with research questions, then an outline, then an introduction, then the body, write the paper, and do a presentation--all over two semesters with a very specific rubric and feedback at each step.

It shouldn't take half a year or more to learn how to write a research paper, especially if you're in high school. It's been our experience so far in English and history classes at H-B that class time is wasted on this learning process when most of the research and writing could be done at home and reviewed with the teacher during class. In most cases, papers are submitted to an online black hole never to be seen or heard from again. Unfortunately my kids have learned from APS that there's no reason to review any work submitted online since the teachers never correct them and they'd just be looking at exactly what they submitted originally.

Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

[Anonymous]

The new Virginia Standards of Lesrning are available for public comment. There are a lot of good things but I don’t like how the research standards are a separate thing. They need to be integrated into the writing standard so that they don’t become an afterthought. I also don’t like how there is an emphasis on technical writing in 12th grade. Seems like a downgrade on the emphasis on argumentative writing in 11th grade. Emphasis on argumentative writing should continue. For those worried about iPads you should comment on the importance of the mechanics of writing, writing by hand etc See this article on encoding https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/encoding-explained-what-it-is-and-why-its-essential-to-literacy/2023/01

Also there needs to be an emphasis on reading entire novels together in class and whole novel study. There is a lot to like in the new standards but definitely comment if you are concerned about academic rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new Virginia Standards of Lesrning are available for public comment. There are a lot of good things but I don’t like how the research standards are a separate thing. They need to be integrated into the writing standard so that they don’t become an afterthought. I also don’t like how there is an emphasis on technical writing in 12th grade. Seems like a downgrade on the emphasis on argumentative writing in 11th grade. Emphasis on argumentative writing should continue. For those worried about iPads you should comment on the importance of the mechanics of writing, writing by hand etc See this article on encoding https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/encoding-explained-what-it-is-and-why-its-essential-to-literacy/2023/01

Also there needs to be an emphasis on reading entire novels together in class and whole novel study. There is a lot to like in the new standards but definitely comment if you are concerned about academic rigor.

what difference does focusing on technical writing in 12th make when the SOL for reading and writing is taken in the 11th?
Do you have a link to the new standards? I fully agree with you about reading novels and all the work being done digitally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

Gee. It sounds like you are one of those pro voucher enemies of public education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

Yes, its so terrible that 98% of students go on to college every year (more than the other 3 high schools) and they have higher average SAT and ACT scores than the other 3 high schools. Clearly the tiny student body is full of kids many grades below the already low VA SOL standard/who have some form of disability (!) that are pulling down the average. Oh, wait.....

https://hbwoodlawn.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2019/10/2019-HB-Profile.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone else is complaining that there is no writing instruction or support in APS and you are complaining that there is too much?

This was in response to the pp talking about year-long projects at H-B. I just cut that time in half to make a general observation that it shouldn't take such a long time to write these papers, especially since most of that time is wasted. Personally, we've only experienced at most "only" quarter-year-long writing assignments which should only have lasted half of that time for a class that's supposedly at grade level or, as others half laughingly suggested on various H-B topics here, advanced by default at H-B because of small class sizes, fewer hours devoted to each class per week, self-directed learning, student-teacher ratio, etc.

Anonymous wrote:And do you look at Canvas or the class pages? Because the teachers definitely do give feedback on assignments, either on the papers or on the grading page.

Having a comment such as "interesting" or "you make a good point" on Canvas or ParentVue is not exactly what I would consider giving feedback on assignments. The fact is, smart kids generally know if their paper contains good ideas or if they're saying something insightful. What kids need are instruction on structure or grammar and spelling mistakes (even if they're just typos), and direction on how to better develop their thoughts in order to persuade the reader. This requires teachers to actually read and mark up papers. We've experienced almost none of that at H-B, and more generally at APS through the years. In fact, many assignment prompts and emails themselves are pockmarked with grammar mistakes and typos that a simple spellchecker should have caught.

Anonymous wrote:I really think you are just a troll, the things you post don't match our experience at all and H-B is so small our kids have to have the same teachers for all their core classes.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not uncommon for a class at H-B to contain kids that are many grades below the already low VA SOL standard and those that are several grades above grade level. If you can't understand the difference then look at how lessons are planned, who the intended audience is, and more importantly on which resources are used. Blame that on small student population, self-selection by many parents of kids who have some form of disability, and the dearth of classes both in block availability coupled with variety of classes at the AP level and electives. Yes, the kids have mostly the same teachers but not all kids are treated equally, and some are ignored or (un)intentionally shamed because they are "selfishly" trying to take up the time of kids in need—as if deeper learning is some type of entitlement. Yes this has happened multiple times when more than one TA was chosen specifically for their self-purported expertise and the advisee came to discuss said topic and was almost always turned away during TA, office hours, or some other free time because some deserving other kid(s) needed course help.

Gee. Sounds like HBW program should be dismantled since it's so sub-par.

Gee. It sounds like you are one of those pro voucher enemies of public education.

Gee, an assumption with no basis whatsoever. No. Very anti-voucher, actually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new Virginia Standards of Lesrning are available for public comment. There are a lot of good things but I don’t like how the research standards are a separate thing. They need to be integrated into the writing standard so that they don’t become an afterthought. I also don’t like how there is an emphasis on technical writing in 12th grade. Seems like a downgrade on the emphasis on argumentative writing in 11th grade. Emphasis on argumentative writing should continue. For those worried about iPads you should comment on the importance of the mechanics of writing, writing by hand etc See this article on encoding https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/encoding-explained-what-it-is-and-why-its-essential-to-literacy/2023/01

Also there needs to be an emphasis on reading entire novels together in class and whole novel study. There is a lot to like in the new standards but definitely comment if you are concerned about academic rigor.

what difference does focusing on technical writing in 12th make when the SOL for reading and writing is taken in the 11th?
Do you have a link to the new standards? I fully agree with you about reading novels and all the work being done digitally.

Here you go https://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching-learning-assessment/k-12-standards-instruction/english-reading-literacy/standards-of-learning/review-revision-of-the-2024-english-sol