High schoolers can’t write

[Anonymous]

My DH is an MCPS History teacher. He's not allowed the grade for grammar since he's not the English teacher. It's so stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is an MCPS History teacher. He's not allowed the grade for grammar since he's not the English teacher. It's so stupid.

It must be school specific as we've had science and history teachers, especially in middle school work on writing skills. They were stronger with writing than some of the English teachers.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

See, this is where I get confused! I already spend at least 15 minutes helping them with their homework. Are you talking about an extra 15 minutes beyond that? That's really all that is needed? How do you condense all the subjects into 15 minutes?

The homework is a joke in elementary in less you got a good teacher. We did a variety of workbooks to supplement. Either one subject a day or mix it up. Even a few pages is better than nothing.

Are you saying they should skip the school homeowrk for outside workbooks? What are the good workbooks? There are so many. I don't want to pick one that isn't helpful. Thank you.

No, they should do both. You do the school homework first, then the workbooks. For little ones I liked Kumon, dollar tree, target dollar spot (does that still exist?), and Brain Quest, but plenty of good options on Amazon too. I liked the handwriting joke books someone mentioned here years ago for print and cursive. For vocabulary, there are fun cartoon books for SATs (we got for a much younger kid). For older kids, its a mix of Kumon, Spectrum and other brands depending on what I wanted to work on. My favorite were the Kumon (not the class, just the workbook - they used to have packs at Costco, not sure if they still do). And, lots of fun apps that are educational only. We only allowed educational games for reading and math when ours were little bu they have probably changed in the past few years. My favorite app was Endless Reader.

It's a pain and not fun, but it's worth doing. It can just be a few days a week, even once a week is better than nothing. But, the big things we worked on were math facts and just doing basic math problems without strategies, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, handwriting, and typing (important in 4th grade and up). We reviewed all homework before it was turned in and anything that got returned home (which was rare). And, if your kid is struggling to read, that should be the #1 priority as they cannot do anything without reading on grade level.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a Mathnasium for writing. You can get your kid extra help in math--but unless you shell out big bucks for a tutor, it's harder for writing.

Try the institute for excellence in writing...it's affordable amd very systematic

Someone keeps suggesting this and it looks like it is a very Christian curriculum. No thank you.

Please fact check yourself. This is their website. https://iew.com/

Please find me a quote that says their curriculum is “very Christian.” They have some Christian themed units if you want to purchase those but the rest/mainstream is secular. News flash… You can be a Christian and write good curriculum. Just like you can be Muslim or Jewish or Atheist and write good curriculum. I did this program in HS and can’t remember anything “Christian” about it. Made me a much better writer. What makes it ok for you to shit on something just because of a founder’s religious belief?? Sounds like hate to me. What if someone said… nope, that writer is a Muslin… Boy you would be canceled so fast..

It may be a good curriculum if you share the beliefs but you should be able to understand why a Jewish or Muslim family would not want that as their curriculum.

I’m a conservadox jew. During the pandemic, I enrolled both kids in IEW courses. The methodology for writing was very methodical and scaffolded. Each week grew just a little bit and asked the student to do a little more. I added in the grammar module as well. There was a thesaurus of more interesting words and adjectives.

There are multiple texts that you could select. We used Fairy Tales and Fables, an older robotics text, and modern world history for my older child. I choose not to use the Narnia texts. Nothing in the texts we used was offensive to me as a Jewish family.

I am Jewish, but not religious so I would not pick a curriculum with any religion. But, during the pandemic we used the free tutoring which was great and helpful when you got a good tutor.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

Ahh yes. All of those Spanish speaking immigrant mothers should be responsible for proof reading their kids’ English papers.

Again, what exactly do you think the role of the *school* should be in terms of educating children?

Kids can go to teachers and others for extra help. You speak English so stop using them as a talking point NOT to help your kid. Just because they don't speak English doesn't make them bad or uninvolved parents. They can help in other ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish there was a Mathnasium for writing. You can get your kid extra help in math--but unless you shell out big bucks for a tutor, it's harder for writing.

Try the institute for excellence in writing...it's affordable amd very systematic

Someone keeps suggesting this and it looks like it is a very Christian curriculum. No thank you.

Please fact check yourself. This is their website. https://iew.com/

Please find me a quote that says their curriculum is “very Christian.” They have some Christian themed units if you want to purchase those but the rest/mainstream is secular. News flash… You can be a Christian and write good curriculum. Just like you can be Muslim or Jewish or Atheist and write good curriculum. I did this program in HS and can’t remember anything “Christian” about it. Made me a much better writer. What makes it ok for you to shit on something just because of a founder’s religious belief?? Sounds like hate to me. What if someone said… nope, that writer is a Muslin… Boy you would be canceled so fast..

It may be a good curriculum if you share the beliefs but you should be able to understand why a Jewish or Muslim family would not want that as their curriculum.

I’m a conservadox jew. During the pandemic, I enrolled both kids in IEW courses. The methodology for writing was very methodical and scaffolded. Each week grew just a little bit and asked the student to do a little more. I added in the grammar module as well. There was a thesaurus of more interesting words and adjectives.

There are multiple texts that you could select. We used Fairy Tales and Fables, an older robotics text, and modern world history for my older child. I choose not to use the Narnia texts. Nothing in the texts we used was offensive to me as a Jewish family.

Agree. Just because something was created by a Christian AUTHOR doesn’t mean all their stuff is Christian. You can write good curriculum no matter your religion. Jesus Christ. (Pun intended).

IEW has multiple DIFFERENT (good) programs. Not all of them include Christianity.

Do some of these posters not realize that HS students read different books throughout the year with authors that sometimes directly promote their own belief / lifestyle / religion? Students still have to read them but can discern for themselves what their personal belief is. Avoiding using IEW because the author is a Christian is the same as saying, “I won’t let my kid read Kite Runner because some or the characters practice Islam.”

The other poster’s view is discriminatory and immature. Grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Our early elementary teacher at BTSN said the new curriculum is great - and the phonics works very well with what they did last year with RGR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

Now they just need to replace the MS curicullum.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

Why can’t they just find a curriculum and stick with it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

Ahh yes. All of those Spanish speaking immigrant mothers should be responsible for proof reading their kids’ English papers.

Again, what exactly do you think the role of the *school* should be in terms of educating children?

Kids can go to teachers and others for extra help. You speak English so stop using them as a talking point NOT to help your kid. Just because they don't speak English doesn't make them bad or uninvolved parents. They can help in other ways.

It’s a simple question that you either can’t or won’t answer:

What do you think the role of the *school* should be in educating children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

Why can’t they just find a curriculum and stick with it?

I'd rather have them move to a high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum than stick to one that is bad. Ideally, of course, they would choose the good curriculum the first time around, but when that doens't happen, they should switch.

The worst curriculum of all, of course, is 2.0. And they are still using that in high school. They even doubled down on it this year by "revising" the 2.0 HS English curriculum and made it worse. I don't understand why they don't just use external curricula, especially when some of the best are available for free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DH is an MCPS History teacher. He's not allowed the grade for grammar since he's not the English teacher. It's so stupid.

Because Language Arts skills are only used in English Who comes up with these rules. I know we have ELLs and a history teacher shouldn't fail a student putting in real effort for grammar, but taking away any ability to grade for it is ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

Why can’t they just find a curriculum and stick with it?

Because research comes up that show different things work. Teachers, students, and families may not like a particular curriculum. Results may show it is not delivering as expected. For example, the reason we have a new ES ELA curriculum is because despite showing slighted improved test results, everyone agreed using a curriculum with better K-2 phonics and more/better aligned with Science of Reading would be better for students. Plus many teachers didn't like the curriculum.

Also, cost of curriculum isn't constant over time. If you can get something similar for less or for slightly more and it address other areas of need.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:You should have been working with them at home OP. Everyone knows that.

Parents shouldn’t be the primary instructor for foundational skills like writing.

Yes they should. If you refuse to stop complaining. It’s part of parenting.

Are you a trained educator? What are you specifically doing with your kids at home to teach them to write properly?

You don’t need to be an educator to teach your kid the basics.

The problem is that this refrain comes up for everything- phonics, spelling, writing, history, math, etc. "You should have been working with your child at home." WTF are they doing all day at school if we're expected to do this much supplementing at night in addition to their assigned homework? If they're not even getting "the basics" at school than what is the point.

Exactly! I'm a prosecutor. I'm protecting you all from criminals committing crimes in your neighborhoods. Then I should also teach all school subjects when I get home? Do the teachers prosecute crimes when they get off of work? GTFOH.

I think you should be a parent and part of being a parent is education. It is your job to help educate your kids and ensure they get what they mean. If you are too busy to spend even 15 minutes a day you have no business having kids.

DP but if you think you can teach your kids all their subjects in even 15 minutes a day you have no business in this conversation.

As a PP said, if parents are expected to provide the education, WTF is the point of sending the kids to school all day?

In preschool and Es we heavily supplemented. If your kids are not strong in a subject and you will not help, stop complaining. We still help out older kids and proof read their papers.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question- but if your child is receiving mostly As and the teacher says they're doing great, how do you know what they aren't strong at? We supplemented our older DC with phonics before MCPS introduced RGR because the 3-cueing method wasn't working for him. But that was an obvious hole. As he gets older it is less clear to me what he needs- everyone says the curriculum is bad. I don't want to get to high school and find they can't write, but if they are already meeting MCPS grade-level benchmarks what benchmarks should I be using instead to identify the deficiencies?

Again, I'm really sorry if this is a dumb question. I did not grow up in an American educational system, where I went to school teachers were highly respected and did the teaching. My parents were not expected to do all this extra teaching at home....

The new ELA curriculum being implemented this year is very good. It was the one they retired at the end of last year that was bad.

I have a friend who is an MCPS teacher in lower elementary. She hates the new ELA curriculum. She told me the way they’re now forced to teach phonics makes no sense.

Can you briefly explain what it is/how it’s bad? We were planning to transfer to MCPS next year.

She told me that the way the curriculum presents groups of phonics concepts is haphazard and includes little explanation about why various digraphs and blends, for example, operate the way they do in English. She said the kids are expected to just spit out phonetic patterns without really understanding the concepts.

She said the accompanying texts the kids are supposed to read for the lesson include phonics concepts the kids haven’t learned yet, so they aren’t equipped to be able to read the text.

This is for 2nd grade, so they’re very much still in the process of learning to read.

That's because they are starting it for the first time this year. In 2 years the 2nd graders will have had K and 1st with the curriculum and will be in much better shape.

This curriculum is much, much more challenging than the one they used previously. It's going to be a rough transition for kids/teachers used to the slow pace and simpler content from before. But younger kids in particular are really going to benefit in that they will have many years with the new curriculum.

Why can’t they just find a curriculum and stick with it?

I'd rather have them move to a high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum than stick to one that is bad. Ideally, of course, they would choose the good curriculum the first time around, but when that doens't happen, they should switch.

The worst curriculum of all, of course, is 2.0. And they are still using that in high school. They even doubled down on it this year by "revising" the 2.0 HS English curriculum and made it worse. I don't understand why they don't just use external curricula, especially when some of the best are available for free.

It's not that there aren't using external curricula in HS. They aren't using external curricula exclusively.