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

[Anonymous]

That audit for whether "honors" English/lit courses in MS & HS are actually rigorous enough to keep the honors designation cannot come soon enough. If you care about that too, I would suggest contacting the Board of Ed members about it ASAP to make sure it gets funded, prioritized, and implemented this year, and/or planning to testify about it (there will be a vote that includes this at the 9/25 board meeting, I believe: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1290553.page)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is reading Mice and Men.
I’m confused by OPs post — is she saying these are the only options for honors English 9? That’s what mine is taking.

For our 9th grade honors English they read two books all year. I'm assuming their teacher hasn't started on books. We are AP English and no books yet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait a gosh darn minute.

They only read ONE of those?

I read the refrigerator curriculum handout and it was not at all clear that the teacher only picks one. I already thought it was a light lift with two below grade level and A Separate Peace (which is a quick read).

Good lord, MCPS is shortchanging our kids.

MCPS has been short-changing kids in English for a long time. It's such a shame, and also a pattern. They got rid of differentiated English in MS about ten years ago, I think? Then got rid of differentiated English in high school three years ago. Then got rid of ELC this year. Now they are seeking to make the Humanities magnets interest-based rather than criteria-based.

They literally show no interest in kids if their gifts are in ELA/Humanities rather than STEM, and it is an enormous shame.

And sexist to boot. (Yes, there are of course lots of girls who love STEM and are great at it, and lots of boys who love humanities/reading/writing and are great at it. But it's clear which way the averages lean, and that means that on average gifted boys are more likely than girls to get strong instruction in the subjects they're most interested in and qualified for.)

[Anonymous]

Is it typical of English curricula across the country to read one book per quarter and for that book to potentially be 3-4 grade levels below grade level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait a gosh darn minute.

They only read ONE of those?

I read the refrigerator curriculum handout and it was not at all clear that the teacher only picks one. I already thought it was a light lift with two below grade level and A Separate Peace (which is a quick read).

Good lord, MCPS is shortchanging our kids.

Yes, they only read ONE. There are some other background readings that go with it but they only have one novel/book per quarter -- and it is likely to be well below grade level, given that no one is saying their kid is reading A Separate Peace. It's great that MS now has a grade-level English curriculum, but high school English is a mess until AP/IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That audit for whether "honors" English/lit courses in MS & HS are actually rigorous enough to keep the honors designation cannot come soon enough. If you care about that too, I would suggest contacting the Board of Ed members about it ASAP to make sure it gets funded, prioritized, and implemented this year, and/or planning to testify about it (there will be a vote that includes this at the 9/25 board meeting, I believe: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1290553.page)

yes, because if the curriculum is not rigorous, what difference does it truly make with regard to actual learning, if you change the grading scale? The superintendent made lots of pronouncements about the grading scale, but here we are with undifferentiated classrooms and curriculum that is not rigorous as a result.

[Anonymous]

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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.

Why isn't it honors reading?

The book's content is secondary-school level interest, but its Accelerated Reader level is 4.9, i.e., 4th grade, 9th month. Take a look at a few pages of the text and make your own determination.

Thank you for the explanation. I read a few pages last night but I don't have the framework to determine what is on level, accelerated, etc.

Could you point me to a true honors 9 book?

Orwell's 1984 has a rating of Accelerated Reader level of 8.9 and has a complex theme.

That's read in 10th grade.

Well, there we are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine is reading Mice and Men.
I’m confused by OPs post — is she saying these are the only options for honors English 9? That’s what mine is taking.

For our 9th grade honors English they read two books all year. I'm assuming their teacher hasn't started on books. We are AP English and no books yet.

Is this syllabus current?:

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/wheatonhs/departments/departments/ap-english-lang-specter.pdf

[Anonymous]

Blair, 9th grader: All American Boys

Seems appropriate - no complaints

[Anonymous]

What bothers me the most as a teacher is not the level of the books but the lack of availability of them. We barely have enough for a class set so kids cannot take them home and supplement their reading at home. It means I have to spend 3 weeks basically leading independent and group reading instead of doing any actual analysis or instruction. My students with accommodations to include highlighting do not have their needs met. This year i finally caved in and bought a dozen used copies of All American Boys to provide for those students who need extra time to process and understand the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What bothers me the most as a teacher is not the level of the books but the lack of availability of them. We barely have enough for a class set so kids cannot take them home and supplement their reading at home. It means I have to spend 3 weeks basically leading independent and group reading instead of doing any actual analysis or instruction. My students with accommodations to include highlighting do not have their needs met. This year i finally caved in and bought a dozen used copies of All American Boys to provide for those students who need extra time to process and understand the material.

Education is broken.

[Anonymous]

What is the school system spending money on if not books?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait a gosh darn minute.

They only read ONE of those?

I read the refrigerator curriculum handout and it was not at all clear that the teacher only picks one. I already thought it was a light lift with two below grade level and A Separate Peace (which is a quick read).

Good lord, MCPS is shortchanging our kids.

MCPS has been short-changing kids in English for a long time. It's such a shame, and also a pattern. They got rid of differentiated English in MS about ten years ago, I think? Then got rid of differentiated English in high school three years ago. Then got rid of ELC this year. Now they are seeking to make the Humanities magnets interest-based rather than criteria-based.

They literally show no interest in kids if their gifts are in ELA/Humanities rather than STEM, and it is an enormous shame.

This. I have 3 kids in MCPS and the school system has zero interest in challenging students who are strong in ELA. I think there are multiple reasons for this - it doesn't help them close the 'achievement gap' so they want to teach to the lowest levels and also because of changing demographics and the push for not differentiating classes means that one classroom has a mix of levels (advanced readers to English language learners).

It's not great at all and ALL our kids, at ALL levels are being shortchanged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the school system spending money on if not books?

My kid got a free agenda book this year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think they do a disservice to the class by not making it two graphic novels to one novel. While I certainly think graphic novels can be well done and teach a lot, kids often don’t sit with the content long enough, so it becomes an easier more enjoyable read as compared to the novels.

They could have done The Magic Fish along with any of these : The Best We Could/Vietnamerica/Such a Lovely Little War.

Frankly I would suggest doing a novel and graphic novel.

An honors student should be able to read a page of text without a picture for every sentence.

Where did anyone say that they shouldn't? In fact I suggested a novel and graphic novel, because I understand that just because is a graphic novel doesn't means it's not a worthwhile text. I also understand the necessity to read other types of texts like straight novels.