High schoolers can’t write

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Lang and AP Lit are the English classes where students are held to higher standards of writing. Unfortunately they don't come until 11th and 12 th grades.

Lol

That’s waaaaaaaaay too late.

Why not start in elementary school…like the Catholics do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AP Lang and AP Lit are the English classes where students are held to higher standards of writing. Unfortunately they don't come until 11th and 12 th grades.

I’m the teacher who posted above. IB English is also great for writing instruction. 3 of the 4 major assessments are essay-based, so teachers spend a lot of class time looking at strong writing samples and having students compose their own. (The 4th assessment is an oral component.)

The problem is students often aren’t prepared for AP or IB work at the start of 11th grade. The IB middle years program is one way to counteract this, but most schools don’t have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Lang and AP Lit are the English classes where students are held to higher standards of writing. Unfortunately they don't come until 11th and 12 th grades.

I’m the teacher who posted above. IB English is also great for writing instruction. 3 of the 4 major assessments are essay-based, so teachers spend a lot of class time looking at strong writing samples and having students compose their own. (The 4th assessment is an oral component.)

The problem is students often aren’t prepared for AP or IB work at the start of 11th grade. The IB middle years program is one way to counteract this, but most schools don’t have it.

“But most schools don’t have it”

^^^
Ding! Ding! Ding!

Mcps erroneously believes creating an educational system where only a select few have access to what should be the curriculum for all students makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should just learn how to use chatgpt

How does one pronounce that?

[Anonymous]

We did foreign language immersion for ES but then switched to Catholic school. So grateful. Reading reading reading is the way to learn writing. And no phones allowed in class!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Lang and AP Lit are the English classes where students are held to higher standards of writing. Unfortunately they don't come until 11th and 12 th grades.

Lol

That’s waaaaaaaaay too late.

Why not start in elementary school…like the Catholics do?

Not only Catholics. Every decent private school teaches writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not teach grammar, spelling, and writing skills depending on the teacher. Only a few give feedback and help kids improve. You need to pay attention as a parent and help your kids.

Last year, my DD asked the teacher if she could provide feedback, and she said that the ways she does it is through the rubric. No individualized feedback. Not even a sentence that says "good job with X but needs work on Y"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can it be you are just noticing it now? Thats what shocking to me? We worked with our kids in ES and MS to make sure they could write well.

This really is the school’s primary job. Really. Your point fails because there are plenty of parents who are not able to help identify, much less correct writing deficiencies for a variety of reasons.

Ultimately it’s the parents job to ensure their kids get an educated. If you wait for mcps it will never happen.

[Anonymous]

When would they have time to provide feedback? 120+ students and one planning period per day. They have to prioritize planning so grading is done on their own time. They are required to use the rubric so that's what they use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP Lang and AP Lit are the English classes where students are held to higher standards of writing. Unfortunately they don't come until 11th and 12 th grades.

I’m the teacher who posted above. IB English is also great for writing instruction. 3 of the 4 major assessments are essay-based, so teachers spend a lot of class time looking at strong writing samples and having students compose their own. (The 4th assessment is an oral component.)

The problem is students often aren’t prepared for AP or IB work at the start of 11th grade. The IB middle years program is one way to counteract this, but most schools don’t have it.

Do you recommend IB over AP for writing? Our school offers both....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am actually impressed with my MCPS daughter’s writing skills. I edit writing of adults, including lawyers, in the working world. My senior writes better than most that I see professionally. I don’t know when her writing became so polished. But it is 100% due to MCPS.

Why do you assume that?

Maybe it's due to Reddit or her secret DCUM account.

[Anonymous]

Every school teaches writing (and math). What worse schools do ia fail to demand more and larger projects.

What kids need is practice and feedback.
No large class size can give enough feedback.
It has to come from expensive small classes/tutors, parents, or smart literate peers (classmates or online forums).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS does not teach grammar, spelling, and writing skills depending on the teacher. Only a few give feedback and help kids improve. You need to pay attention as a parent and help your kids.

Last year, my DD asked the teacher if she could provide feedback, and she said that the ways she does it is through the rubric. No individualized feedback. Not even a sentence that says "good job with X but needs work on Y"

Ah, the rubric. "Diverse perspectives: 7/9" with no explanation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When would they have time to provide feedback? 120+ students and one planning period per day. They have to prioritize planning so grading is done on their own time. They are required to use the rubric so that's what they use.

Well, they have to read the essay. They could add a sentence of feedback. It's really not asking that much. And to say you get 2.5/3 on this part of the rubric is not helpful - where did the student miss the mark? And when a student asks for feedback and is told no, the teacher is not performing his or her job at a basic level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When would they have time to provide feedback? 120+ students and one planning period per day. They have to prioritize planning so grading is done on their own time. They are required to use the rubric so that's what they use.

Well, they have to read the essay. They could add a sentence of feedback. It's really not asking that much. And to say you get 2.5/3 on this part of the rubric is not helpful - where did the student miss the mark? And when a student asks for feedback and is told no, the teacher is not performing his or her job at a basic level.

Seriously. When I was in public school in the 90s, I always got feedback on my writing. My teachers had the same number of kids in their classes as MCPS teachers do.

We need to stop making excuses or acting like teachers are dealing with situations that have never ever happened before.