MCPS High School 10th grade Honors English: Is there a more challenging option?
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Anonymous
OP here: he is in Spanish 5 |
Anonymous
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I hear you, OP. That's why so many students feel pressure, from themselves and their parents, to get into selective programs! Here's the silver lining: he can get rid of the busywork quickly, and focus on more challenging AP classes and extra-curriculars. |
Anonymous
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OP here: Thanks everyone for the feedback.
It is very interesting to discover that Einstein has a pre-IB English class. He is getting some challenge from a few of his other courses (AP Calc AB and Spanish 5). He is in AP Principles of Computer Science as well - but so far it isn't very challenging. I am hopeful that it will ramp up over the next few months. I also wonder if there is a more challenging first year of Chemistry option if you aren't at a Science magnet school. When we were choosing courses last year, his counselor mentioned that there was "guidance for supporting students who had never had Chemistry in AP Chemistry" - but they strongly discouraged it. Plus, AP Chem needed a 2 period slot that he didn't have open in his schedule. Last year he was in Honors Physics for about a week and a half before being put in AP Physics 1 (which targets students who haven't had Physics at all yet). |
Anonymous
| NP here - what are his extracurriculars? Is he doing the newspaper? Debate? Something else that might provide additional challenges relating to rhetoric and writing? If English is easy, he will have time to focus on these other things. AP English will be harder. That said, crappy classes and crappy teachers are a part of life, just like crappy bosses and crappy jobs. Handling things that are tedious and "easy" is a life lesson that gifted kids can benefit from. |
Anonymous
Sorry that you're having reading difficulties, I can see that comprehension may not be your strong point. Go back up and read OP's description of their kid, it's obvious he is doing well in other classes, and equally obvious his English class is in fact boring which means his teacher is not teaching anything interesting, Q.E.D. |
Anonymous
I'm certain then that you have a copy of the English framework in your hand, correct? for every grade level, yes? and that you are familiar with its writing tasks, its choice of texts, the rationale behind each task, and suggestions for instructional sequencing and practices??? If you do, then let's chat because for over 20 years I've seen how the English framework has changed - or evolved depending upon perspective. so regarding this line -
You didn't demonstrate anything to me . . . cuz if it ain't on the menu . . . |
Anonymous
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What is wrong with you people who think it’s okay for schools to offer year after year after year of unchallenging classes and expect highly able children to remain engaged and interested? Would you voluntarily sign up to sit in classes for six hours a day for many years in a row being lectured with information you already know?
The only reason this is happening is because no one knows how to fix the achievement gap, so the current solution is to keep everyone at the same level rather than group by ability so that more able children can, you know, actually find something interesting going on in their classes. Let’s at least be clear that this is a political decision rather than one designed by educational specialists who actually understand what children need. |
Anonymous
really on the chemistry thing?? Even I went straight to AP Chem back in the last 1990s, no chem then AP chem... Who has time for that in their transcript...? |
Anonymous
Blair SMACS students take "typical" Eng classes. Usually Honors, but that's probably what OP's kid is already in. |
Anonymous
Just want to challenge the above, specifically for BCC and thus, also for MCPS as a whole. Although BCC is an IB school and all BCC 9 and 10 English classes are MYP compliant, 10th graders can take AP Lang instead. At least half a dozen kids did so my DC's sophomore year (very recently). Some of them came from Westland, some from Eastern MS Magnet. All did quite well. A few were denied access to AP Lang in 10th grade because their 9th grade teacher refused to recommend them. I knew those kids personally, and I can tell you they all would have done well in AP Lang (2 of them came from Eastern magnet, where they basically had already done some aspects of AP Lang). Later we found out that some teachers refuse to recommend students unless they are sure they will get an "A". Since many bright kids are bored as crap in 9th grade English, they can be getting Bs due to boredom, and the teacher writes that off as stupid or unmotivated. My DC got a B one or two quarters due to extreme boredom; however, her teacher recommended her anyway even though other teachers had a different practice. AP Lang in 10th is not a well-advertised option at BCC. Ask or insist on it; get the counselor to schedule it. FWIW, AP Lang, according to College Board, has NO prerequisites and any student should be able to take it. At BCC, there is an "application" process, which is bogus IMO, as AP doesn't have any prereq's. It involves getting a "recommendation" from an English teacher and completing a timed, supervised essay. But, even though I think the application process is lame, I would advise following the application process, seeing what the feedback on the application essay is and proceeding/contesting from there. For example, some kids were turned away because they "didn't respond to the prompt". I see this all the time -- it's not bad writing, but the kid takes off in their own direction. Bright kids usually only need to have it explained once that application essays aren't free essays. Once they know, they don't make that mistake again. It's not a reason to keep them out of AP if they essay is otherwise well-argued and written. If you are not at BCC, use the above as leverage at your own school. There is no reason to tolerate disparities in opportunity between MCPS schools. If BCC kids can handle it, so can plenty of other kids at other schools. My DC was very glad she could take the AP class, did not find it hard and got As. |
Anonymous
I'm just curious - what is the path for a student who completes AP Eng Lang in 10th Grade? Do they generally take IB English in grades 11 and 12? Or do they take AP Eng Lit in 11th grade and then English electives in grade 12? |
Anonymous
They can do either, but they have to take 4 years of “english” credits. So, electives would be something like Journalism. |
Anonymous
Thank you for posting this information! |
Anonymous
But, does Journalism count towards the English graduation requirement? A student can't take Journalism instead of English 12 (or an AP/IB substitute). |
Anonymous
Journalism is an English elective. You can only use English electives to round out your English credits if you have taken the core English or higher. Check w/ your counselor about specific combos, but a kid who has done AP Lang and Lit often does so in 10 & 11 or 11 & 12, replacing the normal English 10, 11, 12 classes. If you do it in 11/12, then that just replaces English 11/12. If you do it in 10/11, you don’t have to take English 12 because those kids who took AP Lang or Lit in 12 grade were allowed to do it in replacement of English 12, so the same applies to kids who took it earlier. You could in theory take English 12, after AP, but, frankly, it is far below the level of an AP class, so kids are allowed to substitute an English elective instead. If you take IB English, it’s a two year sequence for 11/12 graders which is a more challenging substitute for English 11/12, so you could take journalism as an additional elective if interested. You can’t take just 1 yr of IB Eng., because you wouldn’t be prepared for IB Eng exam, which schools usually require as part of IB English. What you can’t do is take English 9, 10, 11 and then Journalism instead of Eng 12. Grey area would be if kid took Eng 9, 10, AP Lang and then wanted to take journalism instead of Eng 12 when AP Lit is still available. |