Did anyone else go to the train wreck meeting at JWMS last night?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t expect a teacher to keep all the electives straight and explain it to parents. That is the job of the guidance department and perhaps admin.

This! And, MCPS should have quit changing sh*t around year after year for no reason. If it's something that will help the kids, that's one thing. But, if often ends up being useless changes that just wastes the time of admin and staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

Thanks for the clarification JW design teacher.

7th and 8th grade tech is one semester. What are their options for the other semester?

I am not sure. It depends on the grade level. I don’t much about the art or music courses. I know that 8th grade has a one semester programming class. I think there is a “theater 2” class for 7th grade. The Imagineering Tech course is a revamp of the current digital literacy course. I don’t know much about it. The name is confusing to me as well for various reasons. My very limited understanding is that a lot of the changes are driven by the increasing student population and because of the state requirements for a “well rounded curriculum” requiring all students to tech a computation thinking course as well as an art course. There is a broad list of county courses that fit the requirements and schools are trying to make sure that any electives offered are coming from that list.

Imagineering Tech is not a revamped Digital Literacy. It is about filmmaking. At least that is what the write up says. Digital Literacy is in place on a language elective.

Man, you would think JW would have a much clearer description of what is offered. Everyone here, including me is confused.

.
Thank you for correcting me.

? JWMS teacher is confused. Imagine how the parents feel. Dear me, they are incompetent. And normally, I defend JW.

Is the Imagineering class going to be like the other tech class where the kids play on the computer for most of the class? That's what my kids said they did.

Don’t place the blame on JW. MCPS starts these programs without giving teachers and staff adequate support and resources. Teachers are just going by what they know. Central Office in MCPS is a disaster.

No one is placing the blame towards JW on the curriculum. But it was presented terribly. The sheet was also awful.

My biggest pet peeve in all of this, is that in this day in age - they are forcing kids to take certain courses they have no interest in. I have seen other middle schools and how they do their rotations and you get to choose from more than this.

And kids shouldn’t pick an art rotation hoping to get robotics and computers and get stuck with culture and general music. While another kid was hoping for the art stuff and gets the opposite. At least have the kids pick their top classes if you are going to take away an entire rotation group/option for this incoming class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

Not for History. It was said that they are not differentiating them next year even if your child was picked for it in that letter. They will just get extra work and be tested harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

DP.. of course they are assigned books to read. My 6th grader at JW is currently reading 'Holes' (I think). It's just they don't have groups for reading. When I was in MS we didn't have reading groups either. That stopped in ES as the PP stated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

DP.. of course they are assigned books to read. My 6th grader at JW is currently reading 'Holes' (I think). It's just they don't have groups for reading. When I was in MS we didn't have reading groups either. That stopped in ES as the PP stated.

Holes is a 3-6th grade reading level. What do they advance kids read?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

DP.. of course they are assigned books to read. My 6th grader at JW is currently reading 'Holes' (I think). It's just they don't have groups for reading. When I was in MS we didn't have reading groups either. That stopped in ES as the PP stated.

Holes is a 3-6th grade reading level. What do they advance kids read?

All kids read the same books. The kids who test higher in Language Arts are expected to write at a higher level. But not much feedback for them anyway, so it’s somewhat a waste of a class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

Unfortunately, there is not much to MS English in MCPS. Very little grammar, if any.

My kid gets more detailed writing assignments in HIGH than in non-advanced Advanced English.

[Anonymous]

Most kids should be done learning to read by the end of ES right , otherwise they will be in Reading class instead of English i think

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

Not for History. It was said that they are not differentiating them next year even if your child was picked for it in that letter. They will just get extra work and be tested harder.

Yes they do have a separate Global humanities 6 for kids who got the letter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,
I am the JW Design and Technology teacher.

Let me clear some things up for 2020-2021 as far as the engineering courses go. All courses are aligned to IB:MYP and NGSS.

6th grade: Arts rotation. 1 quarter. "Robotics Programming and Design." We plan to be using the new Lego Prime Kits programmed on chromebooks. Depending on student interest we may also be building a hydraulic arm.

7th Grade: There is no more more arts rotation (rotation of one quarter electives.) The 7th grade engineering class elective is one semester. Called Living with Technology. Focused on design, structure, Forces, measurement, and data analysis. Some CAD and 3D printing as options.

8th Grade: One semester. Earth and Space Technology. Major focus on science of flight, design and related projects. We basically go through the history of human flight. CAD use required for all students.

Thanks for the clarification JW design teacher.

7th and 8th grade tech is one semester. What are their options for the other semester?

I am not sure. It depends on the grade level. I don’t much about the art or music courses. I know that 8th grade has a one semester programming class. I think there is a “theater 2” class for 7th grade. The Imagineering Tech course is a revamp of the current digital literacy course. I don’t know much about it. The name is confusing to me as well for various reasons. My very limited understanding is that a lot of the changes are driven by the increasing student population and because of the state requirements for a “well rounded curriculum” requiring all students to tech a computation thinking course as well as an art course. There is a broad list of county courses that fit the requirements and schools are trying to make sure that any electives offered are coming from that list.

Imagineering Tech is not a revamped Digital Literacy. It is about filmmaking. At least that is what the write up says. Digital Literacy is in place on a language elective.

Man, you would think JW would have a much clearer description of what is offered. Everyone here, including me is confused.

.
Thank you for correcting me.

? JWMS teacher is confused. Imagine how the parents feel. Dear me, they are incompetent. And normally, I defend JW.

Is the Imagineering class going to be like the other tech class where the kids play on the computer for most of the class? That's what my kids said they did.

Don’t place the blame on JW. MCPS starts these programs without giving teachers and staff adequate support and resources. Teachers are just going by what they know. Central Office in MCPS is a disaster.

No one is placing the blame towards JW on the curriculum. But it was presented terribly. The sheet was also awful.

My biggest pet peeve in all of this, is that in this day in age - they are forcing kids to take certain courses they have no interest in. I have seen other middle schools and how they do their rotations and you get to choose from more than this.

And kids shouldn’t pick an art rotation hoping to get robotics and computers and get stuck with culture and general music. While another kid was hoping for the art stuff and gets the opposite. At least have the kids pick their top classes if you are going to take away an entire rotation group/option for this incoming class.

+100
Why the random rotation ??? Is it like this in other MS? My other DC ‘s MS has Arts class for kids who want to do Arts, why unified Arts??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2E kid took digital literacy because we were concerned about a foreign language. Kid is off the charts in math/science but struggled with language. Digital literacy was a far better class for writing than the GT/Honors English class. GT English was disorganized and did a pretty poor job modeling effective writing styles and research papers. DL was very good and involved far more longer writing assignments and papers that in the end really made a difference for my kid. It also helped that the kids were writing about more contemporary topics.

What MS?

JW doesn’t have an Honors English class for 6th graders! There is no differentiation. All 6th graders take the same Advanced English class. No regular or Honors options.

So kids that aren’t advanced in English take it? Why call it advance? LOL

They don’t track in middle school? Good God. How pathetic.

Yes. Teachers are expected to differentiate within the class, just as in ES.

Not allowed to track for English or Science.

Most MS do offer a cohort for Math and History (History is a strange choice, IMO).

You would think with so many ESOL kids, they would at least differentiate for English. Do the teachers take reading groups too. I mean there are kids reading beyond high school level and kids that don’t speak any English. What literature do they offer them?

There are no reading groups in middle school English. They either take digital literacy or a foreign language or they have ESOL support. English class once you are done with elementary school is never again about reading groups and centers.

So there is no required reading? No literature assigned? My oldest two goes to private so this is new for us, but their middle school English was a combination of literature (required novels) papers, poetry, essays, grammar, and creative writing. What does public school teach with English? Man, I am getting depressed.

Unfortunately, there is not much to MS English in MCPS. Very little grammar, if any.

My kid gets more detailed writing assignments in HIGH than in non-advanced Advanced English.

But the HIGH kids are mixed this coming year. No cohort.