MCPS Teachers Not Checking or Providing Feedback on Homework - How Common is this Practice?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With the new 2.0 curriculum, writing effects all subjects across the board. This is the 2nd year Math 2.0 has been introduced for High School and there is a lot more written explanations involved in Algebra 2.0 and Geometry 2.0 than under the old curriculum.

It is frustrating to see a child with 100% homework completion turn around and repeatedly fail the assessments. The teacher is not looking at the child's individual assignments before the tests so the "Practice and Prep" is useless. There are no online notes, textbook, or answer key for parents to even help their child at home.

When I went in for meetings to see what could be done and what resources could be gathered to help my child, the first answer is "perhaps this course is not right for your child." Did they realize my child was an A math student in the previous course at another school? What course do they think is suitable?

There are a number of serious problems in MCPS:

1) Teachers who cut corners with teaching - whether that is because MCPS micromanages them via meetings or they just clock out at 2:30 when school is dismissed doesn't negate the fact that their core responsibility for teaching the kids is being neglected

2) Lack of resources for parents and teachers and unequal resources throughout the county - some schools have more resources than others when it comes to the new curriculum; some schools get the training and materials while others are still waiting for instruction; there are no resources for parents to offer extra support for their child at home. This is a central office problem and no one from the central office is going to the schools to check whether schools are meeting the standards for the new curriculum. The Board of Education should be looking into why the central office is so hands off helping schools with rolling out a new curriculum and the Board of Education should be investigating whether students are better than before after 3 years of the 2.0 rollout.

3) Providing class notes. study guides, and answer keys is just good teaching practices, why don't all teachers do this? - At our high school, every classroom has a Promethean Board. This is a $5,000 piece of equipment that projects the teacher's presentation/work examples during class. Why aren't these computer files accessible online? Why does valuable class time get wasted for kids to copy down information that could easily just be given to them via the internet? For some kids, the act of copying is a mindless task that keeps them from being fully engaged in the instructional process. Couldn't the class run smoother and faster if the kids could just sit back and listen knowing that the notes will be provided as backup? If the notes were provided the night before or copied at the beginning of class, couldn't the kids do annotations on them during class? If teachers would utilize the Promethean Board to it's full capacity, wouldn't that free up class time for kids to start their homework and for teachers to go around answer individual questions and glossary check if the students are on track?

4) MCPS has turned into this oversized, wasteful government bureaucracy where people clock in and clock out but does anyone believe in its mission to teach kids? To say "I don't have time to look at every child's rough draft" or "I don't have time to check homework" or the central office doesn't make onsite visits to see what is happening in the schools are examples of the bureaucratic mindset in education. The goal is not to help students be successful and be prepared for life after high school but to punch in and punch out to earn their paycheck.

I'm sure there are many problems that other PP's can come up with so feel free to add to my list.

This is just wrong-headed and shows a lack of understanding about how the mind works/learns and how typical kids behave in class.

Writing is an important means of imprinting information in the brain. And it keeps kids focused on the task at hand.

[Anonymous]

My children have definitely learned about note taking through out middle school. In 6th grade it is very spelled out for them and much less so by eighth grade. There are notebook checks where the teacher take a quick peak to make sure the kids are keeping up. That said, my child has a 504 accomodation to receive class notes due to a LD. Even though he does get the notes, he still takes his own notes in class..because as others have pointed out it is a very important skill. I am sure the teacher above is not saying she does not give notes as required for special needs kids.

[Anonymous]

http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-using-pen-and-paper-not-laptops-boosts-memory-writing-notes-helps-recall-concepts-ability-268770

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-using-pen-and-paper-not-laptops-boosts-memory-writing-notes-helps-recall-concepts-ability-268770

Agreed - I have seen similar studies about the benefits of taking notes by hand. I would add that not taking any notes at all because your teacher gives you his or her lecture notes makes learning and retention even more problematic. It is not easy to learn how to take notes and students do need to be taught this important skill by their teachers. I am the previous poster who said that I never give my lecture notes to my students. However, I do give them topic outlines and I do give them handouts when the material presented in class is very different from what is in their textbooks. They need to walk before they can run, but I do expect them to take responsibility for taking their own notes in class as not everything I say will be in the handouts or in the textbook. The topic outline gives them a good idea of what the important themes are so they know what to pay special attention to/take good notes on. Once they get to college, they will have to do this without much help from their teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With the new 2.0 curriculum, writing effects all subjects across the board. This is the 2nd year Math 2.0 has been introduced for High School and there is a lot more written explanations involved in Algebra 2.0 and Geometry 2.0 than under the old curriculum.

It is frustrating to see a child with 100% homework completion turn around and repeatedly fail the assessments. The teacher is not looking at the child's individual assignments before the tests so the "Practice and Prep" is useless. There are no online notes, textbook, or answer key for parents to even help their child at home.

When I went in for meetings to see what could be done and what resources could be gathered to help my child, the first answer is "perhaps this course is not right for your child." Did they realize my child was an A math student in the previous course at another school? What course do they think is suitable?

There are a number of serious problems in MCPS:

1) Teachers who cut corners with teaching - whether that is because MCPS micromanages them via meetings or they just clock out at 2:30 when school is dismissed doesn't negate the fact that their core responsibility for teaching the kids is being neglected

2) Lack of resources for parents and teachers and unequal resources throughout the county - some schools have more resources than others when it comes to the new curriculum; some schools get the training and materials while others are still waiting for instruction; there are no resources for parents to offer extra support for their child at home. This is a central office problem and no one from the central office is going to the schools to check whether schools are meeting the standards for the new curriculum. The Board of Education should be looking into why the central office is so hands off helping schools with rolling out a new curriculum and the Board of Education should be investigating whether students are better than before after 3 years of the 2.0 rollout.

3) Providing class notes. study guides, and answer keys is just good teaching practices, why don't all teachers do this? - At our high school, every classroom has a Promethean Board. This is a $5,000 piece of equipment that projects the teacher's presentation/work examples during class. Why aren't these computer files accessible online? Why does valuable class time get wasted for kids to copy down information that could easily just be given to them via the internet? For some kids, the act of copying is a mindless task that keeps them from being fully engaged in the instructional process. Couldn't the class run smoother and faster if the kids could just sit back and listen knowing that the notes will be provided as backup? If the notes were provided the night before or copied at the beginning of class, couldn't the kids do annotations on them during class? If teachers would utilize the Promethean Board to it's full capacity, wouldn't that free up class time for kids to start their homework and for teachers to go around answer individual questions and glossary check if the students are on track?

4) MCPS has turned into this oversized, wasteful government bureaucracy where people clock in and clock out but does anyone believe in its mission to teach kids? To say "I don't have time to look at every child's rough draft" or "I don't have time to check homework" or the central office doesn't make onsite visits to see what is happening in the schools are examples of the bureaucratic mindset in education. The goal is not to help students be successful and be prepared for life after high school but to punch in and punch out to earn their paycheck.

I'm sure there are many problems that other PP's can come up with so feel free to add to my list.

This is just wrong-headed and shows a lack of understanding about how the mind works/learns and how typical kids behave in class.

Writing is an important means of imprinting information in the brain. And it keeps kids focused on the task at hand.

Research disagrees with your hypothesis. http://iteachem.net/2014/05/active-vs-passive-learning/

Copying information is a form of passive learning. http://www.ccsf.edu/dam/Organizational_Assets/Department/Learning_Assistance_Center/College_Success_PDF/G4-Active_Learning.pdf

[Anonymous]

I think this is also pertinent:

http://m.chronicle.com/article/Close-the-Book-Recall-Write/31819

[Anonymous]

Copying and notes taking are 2 different things..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Copying and notes taking are 2 different things..

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Copying and notes taking are 2 different things..

Different but overlapping things.

[Anonymous]

With my kids at an MCPS high school I've observed much of what's being complained about here.

Very little feedback is given on homework or drafts of papers,

note-taking isn't stressed,

many of the classes don't have textbooks,

county curriculum doesn't always align to what the kids cover in the classroom and then they're tested on it anyway,

most of the larger assessments aren't handed back to the kids so they, and the parents, cannot go over the test and see where they made their mistakes. This last issue is a source of frustration for my DD's tutor, who says going over answers gotten wrong is one of the best ways to learn.

I'm pretty frustrated with MCPS at the moment. It was fine for an older child who was a strong student and would excel regardless. For my younger child it's a total mismatch. Wish we could move to private but it's a bit late in the game to make the switch, so we do the best we can to supplement.

[Anonymous]

With my kids at an MCPS high school I've observed much of what's being complained about here.

Very little feedback is given on homework or drafts of papers,

note-taking isn't stressed,

many of the classes don't have textbooks,

county curriculum doesn't always align to what the kids cover in the classroom and then they're tested on it anyway,

most of the larger assessments aren't handed back to the kids so they, and the parents, cannot go over the test and see where they made their mistakes. This last issue is a source of frustration for my DD's tutor, who says going over answers gotten wrong is one of the best ways to learn.

I'm pretty frustrated with MCPS at the moment. It was fine for an older child who was a strong student and would excel regardless. For my younger child it's a total mismatch. Wish we could move to private but it's a bit late in the game to make the switch, so we do the best we can to supplement.[/quote]

Its not OK for a strong student either. The strong student doesn't learn either in this environment making college more of a struggle.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has a high school teacher who routinely does not return formatives (quizzes) before giving the class the summatives (unit tests). It's mind boggling that the teacher doesn't think kids need to see their mistakes and could benefit from studying the quizzes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has a high school teacher who routinely does not return formatives (quizzes) before giving the class the summatives (unit tests). It's mind boggling that the teacher doesn't think kids need to see their mistakes and could benefit from studying the quizzes.

This is so frustrating! I really don't understand how the schools think this is sound teaching practice. I've been to meet with my child's teachers and been denied the option of seeing my child's quiz, even when I explain my reasoning for wanting it to use for study review. I'm told "we review in class and the study packet is on Edline." Sorry, this isn't good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Copying and notes taking are 2 different things..

Yes

Simply copying down notes w/o any processing doesn't amount to much.

But of course, everyone on these forums is an expert b/c EVERYONE has gone to school.

[Anonymous]

To teach is to instruct.

When teachers don't check or provide feedback on homework, where is the check for understanding, where is the instruction?

Why aren't all assessments coming home so kids can review their mistakes as well as parents and tutors if the child needs extra help?

Who ever thought test security was a more important goal than actual instruction and learning from the feedback has lost the focus of what teaching means.