Humanities, essays and critical reading

[Anonymous]

I've been to a few open houses and tours for middle schools for my kid and have noticed that some seem to be less focused on essays and analytical writing and reading and more into multimedia presentations and projects (dioramas, posters and other fun crafty activities). While I am sure the kids enjoy these projects I worry about the lack of real writing. We have been to a bunch of privates but not sidwell/cathedral.

If your kid is at Burke or field or other similar schools what has your experience been with 6th grade English and history? I love the idea of kids having fun in these classes but i remember writing 5-8 page essays in middle school. Thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Good question OP. My kids attend(ed) at St. Andrew's. When my oldest started in middle school years ago, they made them do more of these alternative type assignment than we expected but phased it out during 9th grade. By the time my next one came along a few years later, St. Andrew's had toned it down a bit in middle school. I think many of the classes still will require a few assignments like this per year but typically they do not count for a large part of a grade. They will have a few smaller assignment options like this even in some high school classes. I was very opposed to the mandatory alternative assignments in middle school years ago, and am glad that there were fewer of them for a second child. That said, let me explain that I am much more appreciative now of the value of a few of these assignments each year than I used to be.

We live in a multi-media world. Unless you are a novelist or an appellate lawyer, if you want to be persuasive in your field you probably need more than words. While some students may find these alternative assignments fun, my oldest did not. He is a very good writer but had weak fine motor skills, and these art like projects were terribly stressful and time consuming. But, as long as they are only once in a while, they also really challenged him to think differently -- out of the box -- and develop basic skills he avoided. By the time he hit 9th grade, he was getting the knack of them and they didn't take so long to do or cause as much stress. Kids need to learn to make persuasive PowerPoints for business, persuasive posters for scientific conferences, and the ones who can make good videos are well ahead of the game. But I agree with the OP, basic writing is the skill that is most useful and most valued in academics.

In the long run, trust me, it will have no adverse impact on your child's writing skills as long as there are more traditional written assignments than alternative types. I can't speak to the specific curricula at Field or Burke these days, but in the middle and high schools at St. Andrew's this works out fine.

[Anonymous]

That is SUCH a helpful answer. Occasionally at DCUM you get responses like this and it's so nice! As long as the Powerpoint and videos are not just production value but are REALLY tackling the main ideas and argument in critical way I am ok with them. thank yoU!

[Anonymous]

+1 very informative answer.

[Anonymous]

A slightly different parent perspective. For our kids, these multi-media projects are easy and sometimes, they are a cop-out for the teachers. Just as Snapchat is intuitive to our children while it is impenetrable to most of us over 30. These kinds of assignments take up lots of classroom time where the students talk among themselves and don't need a lot of engagement with the teacher. PP is right that they are useful to master working in a group and using multiple sources. But, most of our children don't really need more practice on pulling things off the web and dropping them in a slide presentation.

I am with you that one of the best aspects of independent schools is that they can assign more writing, read real literature and develop critical thinking in ways that aren't possible with 25 students in a classroom. In looking to judge the various independent schools, do it the old-fashioned way - ask what are they reading and what are they writing. If they read a particular piece, ask about the related assignments and learning goals.

[Anonymous]

I feel there is little of the old-fashioned essay writing with multiple drafts, red pen markups, etc. these days. It is beneficial to students, but time-consuming for teachers. My middle schooler at a va private has had 1-3 page essays that are critiqued by the teacher and it has improved his writing skills tremendously.

[Anonymous]

I'm an arts integration specialist (in a school outside of the DC area). So, of course, I'm all for the projects that lead to creative problem-solving, working in a group, non-traditional learning reaching all students, and so on.

BUT! I'm also a traditional learner who benefits most from reading, writing, and taking notes during lectures.

I think that much of the time, in an effort to "reach all students, teachers and schools who use this methodology miss out on educating the traditional learners who do best with rote memorization, logical math rules, note-taking, reading, and essay-writing. It's phenomenal that schools have found ways to reach out to students who might not learn best in traditional ways, and to make learning fun, teaching creative problem-solving and skills for real-world communication. But there absolutely has to be a blance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an arts integration specialist (in a school outside of the DC area). So, of course, I'm all for the projects that lead to creative problem-solving, working in a group, non-traditional learning reaching all students, and so on.

BUT! I'm also a traditional learner who benefits most from reading, writing, and taking notes during lectures.

I think that much of the time, in an effort to "reach all students, teachers and schools who use this methodology miss out on educating the traditional learners who do best with rote memorization, logical math rules, note-taking, reading, and essay-writing. It's phenomenal that schools have found ways to reach out to students who might not learn best in traditional ways, and to make learning fun, teaching creative problem-solving and skills for real-world communication. But there absolutely has to be a blance.

well said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an arts integration specialist (in a school outside of the DC area). So, of course, I'm all for the projects that lead to creative problem-solving, working in a group, non-traditional learning reaching all students, and so on.

BUT! I'm also a traditional learner who benefits most from reading, writing, and taking notes during lectures.

I think that much of the time, in an effort to "reach all students, teachers and schools who use this methodology miss out on educating the traditional learners who do best with rote memorization, logical math rules, note-taking, reading, and essay-writing. It's phenomenal that schools have found ways to reach out to students who might not learn best in traditional ways, and to make learning fun, teaching creative problem-solving and skills for real-world communication. But there absolutely has to be a blance.

well said!

I absolutely agree. I really want arts integration -- that is, a curriculum where music and art are not afterthoughts. I want out of the box. But I'm an analytical thinker and from my observation there's nothing in shorter supply than people who can write cogent 10-page essays with a strong, thoughtful perspective. My hope would be to see arts enrich and advance the "traditional" areas rather than supplanting them.

I recently took a school off our list for this reason. It's a really nice little school, and I liked it. But they seemed so reliant on group, artsy projects, which were in turn all tied into thematic units. Not everyone enjoys or can be assessed well on these measures. It would have been perfect for some people, but I couldn't shake the feeling it might not be right for our child.

YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an arts integration specialist (in a school outside of the DC area). So, of course, I'm all for the projects that lead to creative problem-solving, working in a group, non-traditional learning reaching all students, and so on.

BUT! I'm also a traditional learner who benefits most from reading, writing, and taking notes during lectures.

I think that much of the time, in an effort to "reach all students, teachers and schools who use this methodology miss out on educating the traditional learners who do best with rote memorization, logical math rules, note-taking, reading, and essay-writing. It's phenomenal that schools have found ways to reach out to students who might not learn best in traditional ways, and to make learning fun, teaching creative problem-solving and skills for real-world communication. But there absolutely has to be a blance.

Hi --23:14 here again and I actually agree with the above poster as well. The secret sauce is to force traditional learners to get some exposure to these other skill sets, while still having a curriculum that works for them overall. Some non-traditional learners may learn better with art projects, but for many kids these projects are about showing skills.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if you have a son or daughter applying but I can tell you that my Holton middle schooler has been asked to do a good but of essay and analytical writing for both history and English. They've had creative assignments too, and she loves those, but they definitely focus on the basics as well.

[Anonymous]

My college freshman who graduated from Burke got plenty of writing. In middle school it was more 1-2 page response papers, often more than one in a week. By senior year it was 5-15 page papers. Plenty of power points too. In college he can whip off a 5 page paper easily, but also did power points and videos this semester.

[Anonymous]

For those of us who are a few years away from Middle school, could you please share the names of places who seem to strike the right balance, and those which are a little light with the writing?

[Anonymous]

At Field, the middle schoolers focus on writing single paragraphs. It was explained at the 7th grade back-to-school night that there is little point to proceeding with the 5-paragraph essay until everyone can master the single paragraph. There is one exception -- a 10 page paper in 8th grade in history class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Field, the middle schoolers focus on writing single paragraphs. It was explained at the 7th grade back-to-school night that there is little point to proceeding with the 5-paragraph essay until everyone can master the single paragraph. There is one exception -- a 10 page paper in 8th grade in history class.

Do they get good feedback to make those paragraphs really, really good?