Did anyone else go to the train wreck meeting at JWMS last night?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a digital tech class you could take instead of a language? Maybe that is it.

Do you mean that Digital Literacy class?

What is digital literacy?

It's the option kids take if they don't want to take a language. Both my kids took a language in 6th grade so never took Digital Literacy.

It used to be called "Reading"

Lol. This.

It’s a support class.

Read 180 is the support class. "READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program designed to meet the needs of students whose reading achievement is below the proficient level."

As opposed to Digital Literacy:
"The Digital Literacy 1 curriculum focuses on developing critical and creative thinking through reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing in a 21st century approach."

Before they called it Digital Literacy...it was reading...the class for 6th graders not taking a language. At first there was differentiation for kids that needed remediation, but then it became ungrouped. Glad to hear they have two options again now.

[Anonymous]

My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

[Anonymous]

Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

[Anonymous]

Digital literacy builds skills in doing research in an age where students use technology (that internet thing, you know) instead of hardback volumes of the World Book encyclopedia. Topics like how to figure out if a source is trustworthy.

Sounds like something many adults could use ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

Thanks for the clarification JW design teacher.

7th and 8th grade tech is one semester. What are their options for the other semester?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a digital tech class you could take instead of a language? Maybe that is it.

Do you mean that Digital Literacy class?

What is digital literacy?

It's the option kids take if they don't want to take a language. Both my kids took a language in 6th grade so never took Digital Literacy.

It used to be called "Reading"

No, they said it was something else. Reading was a separate option.

NP. I found it extremely confusing and sorry, the mixed classes but giving kids extra work separately to make it “advanced” is the laziest thing I have ever heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree! What I completely don't understand and never got an answer on is imagineering tech. My DC was interested, but it is only a semester option. And it is the only semester option for all the electives. Band, Chorus, and Art are all full year options. So what do you take the other semester when you are done imagineering tech? Study hall or something else? No one knew the answer. LOL.

You will randomly be assigned another semester class for your second semester. They are only trying to guarantee the first choice. What are the other classes in the arts rotation? I find it hard to believe all the other arts rotation classes are all a full year.

Art rotation (full year)
Band (full year)
Orchestra (full year)
Chorus (full year)
Imagineering Tech (semester)

You are to pick ONE option ranked 1 to 3.

+1 I said this up thread. My DC has the imagineering tech this semester; had a different art type class last semester. 6th grade.

What is this imagineering tech class? I'm the poster with the 6th grade DD at JW. She only had the option of Technology and Design when she registered for classes last year. I don't remember an Imagineering Tech class being on her list of classes to select. Sounds like a fun class and she would have enjoyed it!

It's part of the art rotation.. maybe it's the same class be re-branded?

I found this online. It's not JW but I think it's the same thing:

Sixth Grade Elective Courses
Unified Arts Rotation (9 weeks each course)
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/northbethesdams/news/NBMS%20Course%20Bulletin%202019-2020.pdf

We were told last night it is not part of the art rotation. Those are four 9 week courses.

Imagineering tech is a semester course. I can’t figure out what it is supposed to go with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

Thanks for the clarification JW design teacher.

7th and 8th grade tech is one semester. What are their options for the other semester?

I am not sure. It depends on the grade level. I don’t much about the art or music courses. I know that 8th grade has a one semester programming class. I think there is a “theater 2” class for 7th grade. The Imagineering Tech course is a revamp of the current digital literacy course. I don’t know much about it. The name is confusing to me as well for various reasons. My very limited understanding is that a lot of the changes are driven by the increasing student population and because of the state requirements for a “well rounded curriculum” requiring all students to tech a computation thinking course as well as an art course. There is a broad list of county courses that fit the requirements and schools are trying to make sure that any electives offered are coming from that list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

There is no "Honors English" in any MCPS middle school. There is English 6/7/8 or Advanced English 6/7/8. Some schools offer Advanced only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a digital tech class you could take instead of a language? Maybe that is it.

Do you mean that Digital Literacy class?

What is digital literacy?

It's the option kids take if they don't want to take a language. Both my kids took a language in 6th grade so never took Digital Literacy.

It used to be called "Reading"

No, they said it was something else. Reading was a separate option.

NP. I found it extremely confusing and sorry, the mixed classes but giving kids extra work separately to make it “advanced” is the laziest thing I have ever heard.

Not just lazy, but also ineffective. Sixth grade Advanced English is a huge waste of time for any kid who was reading and writing above grade level in 5th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

Thanks for the clarification JW design teacher.

7th and 8th grade tech is one semester. What are their options for the other semester?

From what I remember of my dd's choices, the other options are guitar, a computer class, semester of studio art and theatre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.