my sixth grader has not learned to write in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at a small private. They use Shurley English. In third grade she learned to write an essay. They started with a 3 point paragraph the 3 paragraph essay and after that 5 paragraph essay. It was a very good way to ease her in. They have free resources so maybe you can have her read through those to get her started. Good luck.

They do the same in MCPS. It just appears that OP didn't give a damn about her child's education until MS.

That really isn't fair to OP. Given her daighter's ES grades, she had every reason to believe things were fine. Ow she knows different and she's trying to figure out how to help get her daughter on track.

I'm not the pp, but I did respond about not keeping up with the kid's work. I do think OP gives a damn, but you have to dig deeper than just looking at the grades on a report card. That goes for everyone, not just OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is a sixth grader in MCPS. She went to a W cluster elementary school. She received all ESs and Ps is writing in 4th and 5th grades. However, she has never learned how to write an essay. Now she is in middle school, and the teachers in various subjects have been regularly assigning HW essays. DD is constantly in tears because she can't get started, and when she does finally get something down, I look at it and have a lot of comments because she is disorganized in her thoughts and she has many spelling and grammar mistakes. It is not as simple as saying that I should "stay out of it and let the teacher do the commenting," because when I do that, the teachers simply give a lower grade without constructive comments or suggestions on how to better organize the essay the next time (MCPS is all about the "grading rubric" - so DD will see where she lost points, but won't know how to do that differently the next time). She never has learned the basics on how to organize an outline before writing, how to structure an essay, etc.

Any tips for a website or book I can have DD read for basic essay instruction? When I try to help, she gets very frustrated and isn't open to my suggestions.

MCPS does not teach how to write.
I have home-schooled my child for long time due to the above (child struggled tremendously with anything related to writing.)

My advice:
Books:
1) Sentence Composing for Middle School: A Worktext on Sentence Variety and Maturity by Don and Jenny Killgallon - For daily practices
2) Paragraphs for Middle School: A Sentence-Composing Approach by Don and Jenny Killgallon -For daily practices
3) Write Source by Great Source Education (can use 6th grade, look at Amazon) - this is for reference with great examples when child does assignments

Three above will help your child with structure and good writing.

However, you need also a good tutor (for once a week).

As other people mentioned, you may need psychological testing. Some kids can focus for some subjects but not others.

Good luck. And yes I home schooled in W cluster! Our good rated ES is a joke... Kids just waste their life there.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you for those who posted helpful and/or supportive replies. I am going to start with some of the resources listed above - if it still appears that DD is struggling after another couple of months, I will look into engaging a tutor. I appreciate the direction.

To respond to a couple of the PPs, I certainly do care about my children's education - I am involved and I look over my kids' work and discuss it with them (that's how I observed this problem in the first place!). Spouse and I are not focused on grades per se but rather making sure that our kids understand the material, and to date we have not seen any evidence that they have not. DD just started middle school - in elementary school (again, a W feeder - and I say that not because I thought the school was so wonderful, but so you know I am not talking about an elementary school with a rating of 2), she had no homework and so I never observed the process of her writing an essay, or any writing. She seemed to have various longer term research/writing projects throughout fifth grade (as a pp pointed out, they were usually tied to history or another subject), and I did see her finished product. It always seemed on track, but honestly I based that somewhat on the teacher's comments and her grades (ESs and sometimes Ps) because DD is my oldest and I really didn't/don't have a frame of reference as to what to expect from her writing on an age appropriate level. I do know that they always started with a graphic organizer, and had teacher or peer reviewed editing before the final paper. Now in 6 weeks of middle school, DD has been given multiple essay assignments (admittedly, just a couple of pages) in English and world studies classes, and without the "crutch" of the graphic organizers and peer or teacher editing, her work product seems very disorganized and primitive to me. I did print a graphic organizer for her to use off the internet, but it doesn't always "match" the type of essay she is to write and she gets easily frustrated (she is also reluctant to use an organizer when the teacher didn't suggest it). She need to learn how to write a proper intro and conclusion, and how to organize and outline. She did not learn those skills in elementary school. I am very happy to kids who can figure it out on their own, but also as some pp's have said, it does not come naturally to all and my DD is one of those people. That doesn't make her dumb or me not caring.

I realize I am not showing the finest writing skills myself in this post but am scribbling this out at work!

[Anonymous]

My DC is in grade 9 and has never been taught to write in MCPS. I suggest you teach your child how to write an outline to organize her thoughts before starting.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is in 7th grade and writes very well. I have no complaints. My son, who's in 2nd, has brought home some impressive classwork that reinforces narrative and expository writing skills.

We are not in a W cluster.

To the Catholic school poster - 19:31 - we pulled our daughter from Catholic b/c they emphasized rote learning. She never brought home graphic organizers and therefore didn't understand how to structure her writing.

I tried, but kids often don't listen to their parents. (And both my husband and I are English teachers - although we are both in different positions now.) This isn't to crush Catholic ed. Perhaps our school wasn't the best. But by comparison, the instruction at our public schools is much more rigorous.

So it could be many things - a learning issue or low expectations at a W school or just a bad mix of teachers.

I would suggest a tutor. If that doesn't work out, have her tested - but go the private route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is in 7th grade and writes very well. I have no complaints. My son, who's in 2nd, has brought home some impressive classwork that reinforces narrative and expository writing skills.

We are not in a W cluster.

To the Catholic school poster - 19:31 - we pulled our daughter from Catholic b/c they emphasized rote learning. She never brought home graphic organizers and therefore didn't understand how to structure her writing.

I tried, but kids often don't listen to their parents. (And both my husband and I are English teachers - although we are both in different positions now.) This isn't to crush Catholic ed. Perhaps our school wasn't the best. But by comparison, the instruction at our public schools is much more rigorous.

So it could be many things - a learning issue or low expectations at a W school or just a bad mix of teachers.

I would suggest a tutor. If that doesn't work out, have her tested - but go the private route.

+1 I asked my now 6th grader if they were taught to write an essay. DC said yes, in 4th grade, maybe. DC told me the structure of an essay, so DC clearly knows how to do it. My now 3rd grader has been writing opinion pieces since 2nd grade, age appropriate sentence structures. Is the grammar and spelling perfect? No, but they are pushing critical thinking skills over technicality, which IMO, is great. Non W cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ding, ding ding. Another first poster of the:

"You need a tutor, psychiatric evaluation, or some medication" answer.


OP, many kids are struggling because ES does very little to prepare them and MS has such high ratios that the teachers comment very little. You aren't alone. It takes time. Try making her do a rough draft and meet with the teacher to have her look it over. It makes a big difference having that one on one time.

+1

This area must have more tutors than anywhere. It should be your LAST resource, not your first. Lazy, lazy parenting.

[Anonymous]

Empower your student! Have them go to their teachers during Tag or after school and ask for help with writing an essay.

My middle schooler's homework has still seemed fairly structured in terms of including structured questions or organizers, etc. Perhaps templates are available that the student is not sharing with you?

Btw, I don't think The formal five paragraph essay was introduced until eighth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at a small private. They use Shurley English. In third grade she learned to write an essay. They started with a 3 point paragraph the 3 paragraph essay and after that 5 paragraph essay. It was a very good way to ease her in. They have free resources so maybe you can have her read through those to get her started. Good luck.

They do the same in MCPS. It just appears that OP didn't give a damn about her child's education until MS.

That really isn't fair to OP. Given her daighter's ES grades, she had every reason to believe things were fine. Ow she knows different and she's trying to figure out how to help get her daughter on track.

I'm not the pp, but I did respond about not keeping up with the kid's work. I do think OP gives a damn, but you have to dig deeper than just looking at the grades on a report card. That goes for everyone, not just OP.

Somewhat OT, but this is exactly why the Achievement Gap won't close. If parents are expected to fill in the gaps of a public school education, then it ends up that more educated and higher SES parents will be able to do do that 'better' (either on their own or with tutors).

[Anonymous]

DS is now in a private high school and has finally learned to write. Before that the writing instruction in MCPS middle school was a joke. And we were at a highly rated W cluster school. DS got by with A's in English, but his writing sucked as far as we were concerned. We were constantly amazed at the wonderful grades he would get for mediocre work.

Once we moved him to private, it was a shock. We had to constantly work with him in helping him organize thoughts and learn to outline things before writing. Fast forward, he is now a junior and his writing is just fabulous now. I highly doubt he would be where he is if he stayed in the public school. The bar is set much higher at his private school when it comes to writing (and other subjects as well). So the answer to OP is try getting a tutor, but know that the demands for excellence in writing does not exist in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is now in a private high school and has finally learned to write. Before that the writing instruction in MCPS middle school was a joke. And we were at a highly rated W cluster school. DS got by with A's in English, but his writing sucked as far as we were concerned. We were constantly amazed at the wonderful grades he would get for mediocre work.

Once we moved him to private, it was a shock. We had to constantly work with him in helping him organize thoughts and learn to outline things before writing. Fast forward, he is now a junior and his writing is just fabulous now. I highly doubt he would be where he is if he stayed in the public school. The bar is set much higher at his private school when it comes to writing (and other subjects as well). So the answer to OP is try getting a tutor, but know that the demands for excellence in writing does not exist in MCPS.

Seriously. Pay to send your kid to private. It sucks but class sizes in public school are insane. Teachers responsible for 5 English classes with 30 students each (many of whom are varying kinds of awful)? God bless those teachers for even trying to teach essays!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for those who posted helpful and/or supportive replies. I am going to start with some of the resources listed above - if it still appears that DD is struggling after another couple of months, I will look into engaging a tutor. I appreciate the direction.

To respond to a couple of the PPs, I certainly do care about my children's education - I am involved and I look over my kids' work and discuss it with them (that's how I observed this problem in the first place!). Spouse and I are not focused on grades per se but rather making sure that our kids understand the material, and to date we have not seen any evidence that they have not. DD just started middle school - in elementary school (again, a W feeder - and I say that not because I thought the school was so wonderful, but so you know I am not talking about an elementary school with a rating of 2), she had no homework and so I never observed the process of her writing an essay, or any writing. She seemed to have various longer term research/writing projects throughout fifth grade (as a pp pointed out, they were usually tied to history or another subject), and I did see her finished product. It always seemed on track, but honestly I based that somewhat on the teacher's comments and her grades (ESs and sometimes Ps) because DD is my oldest and I really didn't/don't have a frame of reference as to what to expect from her writing on an age appropriate level. I do know that they always started with a graphic organizer, and had teacher or peer reviewed editing before the final paper. Now in 6 weeks of middle school, DD has been given multiple essay assignments (admittedly, just a couple of pages) in English and world studies classes, and without the "crutch" of the graphic organizers and peer or teacher editing, her work product seems very disorganized and primitive to me. I did print a graphic organizer for her to use off the internet, but it doesn't always "match" the type of essay she is to write and she gets easily frustrated (she is also reluctant to use an organizer when the teacher didn't suggest it). She need to learn how to write a proper intro and conclusion, and how to organize and outline. She did not learn those skills in elementary school. I am very happy to kids who can figure it out on their own, but also as some pp's have said, it does not come naturally to all and my DD is one of those people. That doesn't make her dumb or me not caring.

I realize I am not showing the finest writing skills myself in this post but am scribbling this out at work!

I'm 23:58, who lamented that her 6th grader had not been given essays until now, contrary to years past at his old elementary.

Thank you, OP, for coming back and explaining things!

I will inquire of our middle school what they're up to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at a small private. They use Shurley English. In third grade she learned to write an essay. They started with a 3 point paragraph the 3 paragraph essay and after that 5 paragraph essay. It was a very good way to ease her in. They have free resources so maybe you can have her read through those to get her started. Good luck.

They do the same in MCPS. It just appears that OP didn't give a damn about her child's education until MS.

That really isn't fair to OP. Given her daighter's ES grades, she had every reason to believe things were fine. Ow she knows different and she's trying to figure out how to help get her daughter on track.

I'm not the pp, but I did respond about not keeping up with the kid's work. I do think OP gives a damn, but you have to dig deeper than just looking at the grades on a report card. That goes for everyone, not just OP.

Somewhat OT, but this is exactly why the Achievement Gap won't close. If parents are expected to fill in the gaps of a public school education, then it ends up that more educated and higher SES parents will be able to do do that 'better' (either on their own or with tutors).

Very true.
I'm spending time on these threads and using resources I find without Any help from the school to help my son. If I ask the school what to do, it takes months for any feedback and even then it's not as good as what I've found on my own.

[Anonymous]

I'm a 5th grade teacher. I recommend finding some graphic organizers to help her organize her thinking. Google essay writing graphic organizers, or outline graphic organizers. I bet after she trains herself to organize her thinking, she will do great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OK, 23:58 coming back.

I've just confirmed with my 6th grader - he has 0 essays to write, which is concerning. He's at the North Bethesda middle school.

Would you mind giving me a little detail on the type of essays your child has to write? And which school, if you are prepared to share the name? I want to compare the standards here, and maybe prepare some hard questions for the teachers

I work at North Bethesda Middle School and know that 6th graders have had at least two essays so far, each related to the short stories they have read. These are different from the literature profiles and were accompanied by graphic organizers on paper and in google classroom.