Pyle or eastern Humanities/communication program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The integration of World Studies and English at Eastern is amazing, and there is an explicit focus on the pragmatics of writing that you won't get at Pyle (or any other non-magnet program).

Pyle parent here. OP this caught my eye, especially the pragmatics of writing. As PP said, this is a weakness at Pyle (and apparently other MCPS middles).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm sorry this thread couldn't be more productive, but please look through older threads and more importantly, talk to families currently at Eastern. I talked to someone who was kind enough to give me more than an hour of her time and it was that conversation that helped me decide to send my child to Eastern. And I'm happy I did. I wish I could pay it forward, but this being DCUM ... Perhaps you could leave a message with Ms. Goldstein. I can email her and ask her to connect me with anyone who would like to talk to a current parent. If you're interested, let me know by responding to my post.

It's not productive to you because others have different experiences from yours, and anybody who disagrees with you must be wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this thread tells you a lot about the parents. It mirrors real life. They tend to be prickly.

You find parents at Eastern prickly? Honestly, how much interaction with other parents do you have? Being so spread out, we didn’t have a lot. The ones we did meet were very into their child being in a magnet program and the “rigorous curriculum”.

[Anonymous]

We have not seen a focus on the pragmatics of writing. What are you talking about? There's the paper but it's really more about research and there is more of a sink or swim approach to the writing part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
It's just common sense - how your child does academically in the program is going to color your overall experience.

Ah, we've moved from anecdata to "common sense." Now we're on firmer ground. I see that in your world academics is everything (nothing else could possibly color a child's experience), yet you also don't have a very good sense of what exactly academics means.

So takeaway here is that Eastern will be great for the children of those who think they're getting a top-notch education because they lack the critical thinking skills to tell otherwise. Now I'm beginning to understand all the rah-rah going on here.

Let's calm down and think about this more rationally. I said how a child does academically is going to color their overall experience. I did not say it was the only thing that could color their experience.
And yes, I have a very good sense of what academic means. DH and I both have graduate degrees, and we're impressed by the level of instruction at Eastern. DH, a HYPS grad, says he wishes he was in a program like this when he was in MS.
Yes, Eastern can be rough. Our child has mentioned that fights have broken out, and sometimes kids throw things in the halls. Friends at our higher SES home MS tell us similar things happen in their cafeteria and halls. It's middle school after all, and kids this age are far from angels.

I’m curious if your child at eastern is an only child so you don’t have anything to compare it to? Or you just wear rose colored glasses?
Your last paragraph is just dismissive. The behavior at Eastern isn’t comparable to other middle schools in the county, nor is it “kids will be kids”. It’s a problem.

NP DC1 went out to TPMS and DC2 at Eastern now, I hear similar things from them regarding lunchroom, PE and hallway behaviors

Maybe TPMS is problematic too?
Robert Frost doesn’t have the same issues as Eastern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm sorry this thread couldn't be more productive, but please look through older threads and more importantly, talk to families currently at Eastern. I talked to someone who was kind enough to give me more than an hour of her time and it was that conversation that helped me decide to send my child to Eastern. And I'm happy I did. I wish I could pay it forward, but this being DCUM ... Perhaps you could leave a message with Ms. Goldstein. I can email her and ask her to connect me with anyone who would like to talk to a current parent. If you're interested, let me know by responding to my post.

It's not productive to you because others have different experiences from yours, and anybody who disagrees with you must be wrong.

Do you see what we mean, OP? How does that previous message merit this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm sorry this thread couldn't be more productive, but please look through older threads and more importantly, talk to families currently at Eastern. I talked to someone who was kind enough to give me more than an hour of her time and it was that conversation that helped me decide to send my child to Eastern. And I'm happy I did. I wish I could pay it forward, but this being DCUM ... Perhaps you could leave a message with Ms. Goldstein. I can email her and ask her to connect me with anyone who would like to talk to a current parent. If you're interested, let me know by responding to my post.

It's not productive to you because others have different experiences from yours, and anybody who disagrees with you must be wrong.

Do you see what we mean, OP? How does that previous message merit this?

I don't see how that statement is unproductive, it's stating a fact. You've been engaged in all sorts of gaslighting. You seem pretty comfortable blaming children, and making up assertions and "common sense" as if you know the experience of everyone. You seem pretty confident in your "know it all" attitude.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm sorry this thread couldn't be more productive, but please look through older threads and more importantly, talk to families currently at Eastern. I talked to someone who was kind enough to give me more than an hour of her time and it was that conversation that helped me decide to send my child to Eastern. And I'm happy I did. I wish I could pay it forward, but this being DCUM ... Perhaps you could leave a message with Ms. Goldstein. I can email her and ask her to connect me with anyone who would like to talk to a current parent. If you're interested, let me know by responding to my post.

What years did your child go?
This is good advice but I will say while some of the older threads can be helpful, there are lots of challenges to the program that aren’t addressed in them. Experience from more recent parents is particularly telling, even if some people may not care for what they have to say. The selection process has changed, the impact virtual learning has had, the impact of Covid on some of the projects/trips that can no longer be done…there have been lots of changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have not seen a focus on the pragmatics of writing. What are you talking about? There's the paper but it's really more about research and there is more of a sink or swim approach to the writing part.

I agree. I felt disappointed by this amazing writing instruction they are supposed to have. I think they just chose already talented writers who then “swam” at the “sink or swim” writing part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

OP, I'm sorry this thread couldn't be more productive, but please look through older threads and more importantly, talk to families currently at Eastern. I talked to someone who was kind enough to give me more than an hour of her time and it was that conversation that helped me decide to send my child to Eastern. And I'm happy I did. I wish I could pay it forward, but this being DCUM ... Perhaps you could leave a message with Ms. Goldstein. I can email her and ask her to connect me with anyone who would like to talk to a current parent. If you're interested, let me know by responding to my post.

It's not productive to you because others have different experiences from yours, and anybody who disagrees with you must be wrong.

Do you see what we mean, OP? How does that previous message merit this?

The previous message was merited when you said “I’m sorry this thread couldn’t be more productive”. No one has been nasty, you just don’t agree with what they’ve said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have not seen a focus on the pragmatics of writing. What are you talking about? There's the paper but it's really more about research and there is more of a sink or swim approach to the writing part.

I agree. I felt disappointed by this amazing writing instruction they are supposed to have. I think they just chose already talented writers who then “swam” at the “sink or swim” writing part.

the kids formerly got a lot of guidance on thesis selection, how to research, how to take notes on notecards with cites, how to develop an outline and how to write from the outline and then how to edit. They also got instruction on quotation, citation and bibliography. They got actual comments and feedback on the writing. There used to be checks and teacher peer conferences at each step. Does none of that happen now?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have not seen a focus on the pragmatics of writing. What are you talking about? There's the paper but it's really more about research and there is more of a sink or swim approach to the writing part.

I agree. I felt disappointed by this amazing writing instruction they are supposed to have. I think they just chose already talented writers who then “swam” at the “sink or swim” writing part.

the kids formerly got a lot of guidance on thesis selection, how to research, how to take notes on notecards with cites, how to develop an outline and how to write from the outline and then how to edit. They also got instruction on quotation, citation and bibliography. They got actual comments and feedback on the writing. There used to be checks and teacher peer conferences at each step. Does none of that happen now?

This was my child's experience with the research paper. Spread over the course of the entire first semester, with step-by-step support at each phase and time in class to work. It was still a lot of at-home work, but I felt like the process was well-supported and each step built on the last, until finally they were polishing a final draft around Thanksgiving. Not being able to visit UMCP was a bummer, but I thought the teachers did a good job helping kids figure out how to access various journals and resources.

I think we can all agree that the pandemic has messed things up, but in terms of this specific part of the program, I absolutely think my child came out of it with skills that would have been hard to develop at our home school and without the World Studies/English blocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The closer you live to the school, the more likely you are to accept an offer. This ends up, as they work through the waitlist, creating a class predominately from Silver Spring and immediately adjacent areas. You should talk to families who have done it from your area. Many of the Humanities Magnet kids go on to CAP at Blair or private schools for HS. Would you consider continuing to Blair for HS?

Can you provide more info on this. Why wouldn’t they go back to whitman after this program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The closer you live to the school, the more likely you are to accept an offer. This ends up, as they work through the waitlist, creating a class predominately from Silver Spring and immediately adjacent areas. You should talk to families who have done it from your area. Many of the Humanities Magnet kids go on to CAP at Blair or private schools for HS. Would you consider continuing to Blair for HS?

Can you provide more info on this. Why wouldn’t they go back to whitman after this program?

NP. They do, but for kids who live and breathe media and humanities, it's easy to see CAP as the logical next step. Although there are so many options for HS, both magnet and just accelerated tracks within the home school, that many kids return to their home schools and are perfectly happy.