1st grade sheet is titled "Cloze [sic] the gap"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If it's a public school, then yes she is. You seem to be very confused about democracy. We are all in an oversight capacity of the teacher and the school. We all vote the Board of Ed in and out. We, as parents, absolutely DO need to make sure that our kids are being taught properly. Does this one silly use of jargon on a worksheet merit any real attention? Of course not. Even if it were a typo, as an isolated mistake it wouldn't matter. But saying that parents aren't in an "oversight capacity" is wrong.

Well, no, we're not. We (meaning everybody, not just parents) vote for the Board of Education. The Board of Education hires the superintendent. The superintendent runs the school system. The teacher does not work for you; the teacher works for the school system.

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read this ignorant post and think, "THIS is why teachers feel constantly under attack. They ARE constantly under attack."

No wonder few people want to go into the profession and so many people leave.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If it's a public school, then yes she is. You seem to be very confused about democracy. We are all in an oversight capacity of the teacher and the school. We all vote the Board of Ed in and out. We, as parents, absolutely DO need to make sure that our kids are being taught properly. Does this one silly use of jargon on a worksheet merit any real attention? Of course not. Even if it were a typo, as an isolated mistake it wouldn't matter. But saying that parents aren't in an "oversight capacity" is wrong.

Well, no, we're not. We (meaning everybody, not just parents) vote for the Board of Education. The Board of Education hires the superintendent. The superintendent runs the school system. The teacher does not work for you; the teacher works for the school system.

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

+1

And to whoever swung this conversation around to 2.0, there's a big difference between having concerns about a curriculum and raising a beef with an individual teacher. I am absolutely entitled to an opinion on something which will affect my child for thirteen years and, no, I don't express that by badgering the classroom teacher. Just look at any of the materials MCPS has put out with the rollout, it is all so completely devoid of content. The phrase 'deeper understanding' plastered everywhere with nothing to back the claims. It just panders to the math-phobes of the world, we won't bother you with the details, you can't understand grade school math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm trying to figure out why one of my first grader's worksheets on sounds is titled "Cloze the Gap" (the exercise is to fill in blanks in the sentences with words that use the sound combination being taught, like "ch" or "ing." Everything else on the sheet is spelled correctly other than this heading.

Can teachers weigh in and tell me if this misspelling is some kind of intentional thing that a layperson wouldn't know about? I'm not trying to be a jerk, which is why I'm not asking the teacher, but it's really bugging me. There's a copyright on the bottom that says 2009, so this thing has been kicking around for a while. Usually when there's a typo on the children's worksheets I just shrug it off but this one is so ridiculous I'm hoping there's pedagogic intent behind it.

Did you Google "cloze?" It is exactly what you described ... filling in the blank. SMH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, people. “Cloze” has been used for years in education. When you do cloze activities, you fill in words that make sense that are missing in sentences.
It was a play on words that was obviously missed by you all.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/cloze-procedure-technique-and-definition.html

I've never heard of it and my youngest is currently in 2nd grade. So maybe it has been "used for years" but that certainly doesn't mean that every parent has heard the term. There's no need to be a dick about it.

The OP is the one being nasty. Out is ignorance they automatically assume the teacher made a mistake. Without doing additional research. Come on!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on, people. “Cloze” has been used for years in education. When you do cloze activities, you fill in words that make sense that are missing in sentences.
It was a play on words that was obviously missed by you all.

http://study.com/academy/lesson/cloze-procedure-technique-and-definition.html

I've never heard of it and my youngest is currently in 2nd grade. So maybe it has been "used for years" but that certainly doesn't mean that every parent has heard the term. There's no need to be a dick about it.

But it's interesting to see how OP reacted, jumping to the conclusion that it was a misspelling. Parents jump to the same conclusions about the way they teach math now. All these parents, thinking they know better than trained teachers, challenging them at every turn, prattling on about Pearson, etc. Like parents are education experts or something. It's truly baffling.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, it's a teacher in-joke? I mean no one's teaching first graders education theory and the technique can be put to use without a label. Not the best place for a pun. Petty point, but still.

I agree with this point. I don't think OP was jumping to a conclusion, as another suggested. She even started here first, saying she was hoping she could get an answer without bothering the teacher. If I got something like this, I'd be baffled on "why do they have Cloze?" My youngest is in 6th grade and we didn't get anything like this.

Interestingly, Dictionary.com lists the word as either an adjective or noun but not a verb. The use of this word in a worksheet is a terrible pun.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cloze

So you are saying that rather than going to Mr. Google she should have come here instead to accuse the teacher of being stupid? OK!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

Presumably you do get number sense. What you don't know much about is teaching math.

In certain parts of Montgomery County, everybody thinks they're an expert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

I've never heard anybody in MCPS say this. Whom did you hear say this, and when did you hear it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

I've never heard anybody in MCPS say this. Whom did you hear say this, and when did you hear it?

Not PP, but this is the implication of all the fluff promo material parents were subjected to with the roll out of 2.0. My ES had a back-to-school presentation introducing PARCC and the math content specialist flashed up two slides, one problem from the MSA one from the PARCC, his only point was look at that wall of text in the PARCC question, clearly it's superior and aren't we all glad we don't have to take it, big laugh expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

Presumably you do get number sense. What you don't know much about is teaching math.

In certain parts of Montgomery County, everybody thinks they're an expert.

But if I have number sense and the assignments don't make sense to me, and my child went from loving math to hating it, then that is a valid point of view. Disregarding parents because "we know better" is a dangerous level of arrogance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

I've never heard anybody in MCPS say this. Whom did you hear say this, and when did you hear it?

I've heard it by both 2.0 defenders and more politic versions of this from our principal. Who I guarantee has 1/100th of our number sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

I've never heard anybody in MCPS say this. Whom did you hear say this, and when did you hear it?

I've heard it by both 2.0 defenders and more politic versions of this from our principal. Who I guarantee has 1/100th of our number sense.

Of course you are smarter than him or her. He or she is just a principal. You are...whatever you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, we are. In the same way that we are oversight of Congress and the President and every appointee thereof. They are, ultimately, accountable to their public constituency. Does that mean one parent is the "boss" of them? Of course not. But it means that we, the public as a whole, are indeed their ultimate overseers. As it should be in a democracy. Which is why this "so it looks ridiculous and everyone hates it, just trust us the "new math" way is better, because you don't have number sense" is ridiculous.
I also have to admit I find it funny when I hear people with M.Ed.'s tell parents who have STEM degrees which require a lot of higher math that we just don't understand "number sense". Okay. I fully admit, I have less of a sense of how to manage a classroom and less understanding of child development and education than most elementary school teachers. But "number sense", I think I get.

I've never heard anybody in MCPS say this. Whom did you hear say this, and when did you hear it?

I've heard it by both 2.0 defenders and more politic versions of this from our principal. Who I guarantee has 1/100th of our number sense.

Of course you are smarter than him or her. He or she is just a principal. You are...whatever you are.

Not smarter than. But certainly have a stronger math background. The principal shared her background and we know ours. Nothing controversial about it. We have graduate degrees in math-intensive fields. She doesn't. That doesn't negate her qualifications to be principal. But it does negate her superior "number sense".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Former teacher here.....

As many have stated, the close technique is used often in teaching. Cloze is not misspelled.

OP - when presenting this sheet to the students, did the teacher explain the use of the word “Cloze” in the title?
He/she may have explained to students the meaning of this word and your child didn’t convey that information to you.

I think the thing that bothers me here is that too many people have chosen to criticize the teacher, and education in general, instead of doing a simple google search to discover that the teacher was not in error.

As we have determined, cloze is not misspelled. However "close technique" is not the correct term for the worksheet.

I did not criticize the teacher, MCPS, or education in general. I did criticize the use of a pun on a worksheet for 6-year-olds. A parent should not need to Google terms for 1st grade lessons.

You seem to be confused about your role here. You're not in an oversight capacity of the teacher and the school.

If it's a public school, then yes she is. You seem to be very confused about democracy. We are all in an oversight capacity of the teacher and the school. We all vote the Board of Ed in and out. We, as parents, absolutely DO need to make sure that our kids are being taught properly. Does this one silly use of jargon on a worksheet merit any real attention? Of course not. Even if it were a typo, as an isolated mistake it wouldn't matter. But saying that parents aren't in an "oversight capacity" is wrong.

No, we're not. You don't know better than the teacher. You're just a parent. Stop thinking you know more better than the teacher. You don't..