FCPS Summer School program for ES and MS-are they really sticking the kids on laptops to do ST math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the summer school curriculum on line anywhere?

Yes, it was given to the teachers. (By the way, FCPS doesn't use a "curriculum" for their grades/subjects. It is just a Google HyperDoc with a list of state standards with miscellaneous files and websites listed as "resources". It has been this way for a very long time.)

Not sure what all the people on gatehouse are doing if thats all they can come up with.

That's part of what makes FCPS a good school district. Each school, each principal, and each teacher/team of teachers has a lot of autonomy to teach as they think best. All of these people complaining that teachers are (or are not) robots who do everything that Gatehouse tells them to do - it doesn't work like that.

The flip side of that is the kids with the weak teachers/admins will end up on laptops all day long and not learning anything.

[Anonymous]

The teacher is most likely using ST Math as a station activity so they can pull small groups. I used to use it during my math workshop so I could differentiate my math instruction. I doubt the teacher is sitting around while all students are on the computer.

[Anonymous]

Certainly a good teacher could come up with something more valuable then the complete waste of time that is st math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The teacher is most likely using ST Math as a station activity so they can pull small groups. I used to use it during my math workshop so I could differentiate my math instruction. I doubt the teacher is sitting around while all students are on the computer.[/quote

You think anyone is differentiating math lessons in 3 weeks of half day summer school?

[Anonymous]

Are some of the SOAR classes mixed grade levels? And approximately how many kids are in a classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are some of the SOAR classes mixed grade levels? And approximately how many kids are in a classroom?

In some schools they are mixed. The class sizes varies from 12 to 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the summer school curriculum on line anywhere?

Yes, it was given to the teachers. (By the way, FCPS doesn't use a "curriculum" for their grades/subjects. It is just a Google HyperDoc with a list of state standards with miscellaneous files and websites listed as "resources". It has been this way for a very long time.)

Yes, and as a teacher, I can tell you that it's awful. So much time is spent looking through the resources and trying to figure out which ones are good and which aren't. It's overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Certainly a good teacher could come up with something more valuable then the complete waste of time that is st math.

We are strongly encouraged by our Instructional Coaches to use ST Math. Even if we don't think it's worthwhile. For some reason they do, and they cite statistics that prove its worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certainly a good teacher could come up with something more valuable then the complete waste of time that is st math.

We are strongly encouraged by our Instructional Coaches to use ST Math. Even if we don't think it's worthwhile. For some reason they do, and they cite statistics that prove its worth.

I didn’t use ST Math all year. The kids hated it. If the kids aren’t getting anything out of it, then it is a bad program. It was confusing for me as a teacher! I much prefer Khan Academy. I don’t plan to use ST Math next year either. I teach AAP though so no one bats an eye.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certainly a good teacher could come up with something more valuable then the complete waste of time that is st math.

We are strongly encouraged by our Instructional Coaches to use ST Math. Even if we don't think it's worthwhile. For some reason they do, and they cite statistics that prove its worth.

I was called out 2 years ago because I wasn’t assigning it to my students.

[Anonymous]

I asked for the summer school curriculum.

I was told it was proprietary and they sent me a link to ST Math. I kid you not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Certainly a good teacher could come up with something more valuable then the complete waste of time that is st math.

We are strongly encouraged by our Instructional Coaches to use ST Math. Even if we don't think it's worthwhile. For some reason they do, and they cite statistics that prove its worth.

There are no statistics or data to support using ST Math for kids WITHOUT learning disabilities

Math coaches love it because it spits out reams of data automatically, which they can wave around and pretend that they compiled and act like they did something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I asked for the summer school curriculum.

I was told it was proprietary and they sent me a link to ST Math. I kid you not.

How is public school curriculum proprietary? Paid for by tax dollars? I'm stumped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked for the summer school curriculum.

I was told it was proprietary and they sent me a link to ST Math. I kid you not.

How is public school curriculum proprietary? Paid for by tax dollars? I'm stumped.

Do you ask the sheriff’s department, DMV, or county court house for access their systems? No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I asked for the summer school curriculum.

I was told it was proprietary and they sent me a link to ST Math. I kid you not.

How is public school curriculum proprietary? Paid for by tax dollars? I'm stumped.

Do you ask the sheriff’s department, DMV, or county court house for access their systems? No.

I don't want access to their systems....I want the outline for the curriculum that will be covered. I can get information from the courthouse without having a login to the internal courthouse database.