Why did you go private?

[Anonymous]

Our kids went to a highly-ranked MCPS elementary and then switched to private for middle and high school. In our experience class size makes a tremendous difference, even for outgoing kids who are good students. In English and history teachers are able to give more writing assignments and to provide more extensive feedback on the students' work. In foreign language, there are more opportunities for every student to practice speaking the language. In all classes there is more discussion and a greater emphasis on presentations and team assignments. Even though our kids are intellectually curious to begin with, the smaller class sizes seem to give them a stronger connection to what's happening at school -- both in and out of the classroom. Finally, students really get to know their teachers; as your children get older and start to separate from you, it's important that they have other adults in their lives who care about them. We owe a lot to our kids' teachers -- they've given our children encouragement when they needed it and read them the riot act where appropriate (and where they would have tuned us out).

And, BTW, we don't have a magnet on our car. (Who can afford one after paying tuition?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids went to a highly-ranked MCPS elementary and then switched to private for middle and high school. In our experience class size makes a tremendous difference, even for outgoing kids who are good students. In English and history teachers are able to give more writing assignments and to provide more extensive feedback on the students' work. In foreign language, there are more opportunities for every student to practice speaking the language. In all classes there is more discussion and a greater emphasis on presentations and team assignments. Even though our kids are intellectually curious to begin with, the smaller class sizes seem to give them a stronger connection to what's happening at school -- both in and out of the classroom. Finally, students really get to know their teachers; as your children get older and start to separate from you, it's important that they have other adults in their lives who care about them. We owe a lot to our kids' teachers -- they've given our children encouragement when they needed it and read them the riot act where appropriate (and where they would have tuned us out).


Well said.

[Anonymous]

What's is a "highly ranked" MCPS elementary? I thought they were all about the same.

[Anonymous]

And, BTW, we don't have a magnet on our car. (Who can afford one after paying tuition?)

Afford a car or afford the magnet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great - what school is that clearly not mine.

I did not say that was our schedule I was just saying there is room for breaks - which our public school does not have - kids can't play outside when it is cold or god forbid snow on the ground.

Lunch is 20 minutes - which is really like 10-15 once they are sitting - wolf the food down - to indoor recess 1/2 the time.

Wow - 2 hours of reading, writing and phonics - I hope they do some jumping jacks somewhere in there maybe at the hour mark. I was at a conference and even adults lose interest after sitting for 1 full hour.

And I was just explaining how your schedule doesn't work, anywhere. To say "here's a schedule that includes breaks, see it's possible" and then post a schedule as developmentally innappropriate as that one opens you up for criticism.

No, they don't do jumping jacks, they have reading, go to recess, come back for writing, do the read aloud a few hours later when they're back from lunch recess, phonics is after P.E.. You can have 2 hours of reading and writing without having kids sitting for 2 hours straight.

[Anonymous]

Because, we tried the local public for a year. Just so happened that the class was mostly boys, and many with language delays. No kids in our neighborhood, no one for DC to play with or talk to. So, went independent for a peer group. That's it. Never thought we'd take that route.

The public actually had a lovely teacher, a butterfly garden (despite being in a not great area) and some outdoor time. Kids who pushed and punched instead of speaking wasn't what DC, with no kids nearby, needed to grow some social skills. We found 1 school we were interested in, that was geographically possible, and made the change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great - what school is that clearly not mine.

I did not say that was our schedule I was just saying there is room for breaks - which our public school does not have - kids can't play outside when it is cold or god forbid snow on the ground.

Lunch is 20 minutes - which is really like 10-15 once they are sitting - wolf the food down - to indoor recess 1/2 the time.

Wow - 2 hours of reading, writing and phonics - I hope they do some jumping jacks somewhere in there maybe at the hour mark. I was at a conference and even adults lose interest after sitting for 1 full hour.

And I was just explaining how your schedule doesn't work, anywhere. To say "here's a schedule that includes breaks, see it's possible" and then post a schedule as developmentally innappropriate as that one opens you up for criticism.

No, they don't do jumping jacks, they have reading, go to recess, come back for writing, do the read aloud a few hours later when they're back from lunch recess, phonics is after P.E.. You can have 2 hours of reading and writing without having kids sitting for 2 hours straight.

I am sure you are a great teacher but don't you just get that what you do may just be great for 99% of the kids - and while "if I have touched one child's life today I have made a difference" translates to kids with learning issues - minor ones - "well that wasn't me" and can't it just be true that for that 1 out of 100 kids they need something different and it does not mean that your school or class or anything is bad it just means it's not good for certain kids.

Do you really not understand that? and you are a teacher? you should talk to the learning specialist in your school and ask her what happens to a kid that is in the 70 percentile preforming in the 40 percentile - still getting C's - what they do for a kid like that - with no measurable LD's. How that affects him in middle and high school.

What kind of training do you have in teaching a kid with dyslexia, or aspergers, or tourettes. These seem to be the kids that are fleeing the public schools.

[Anonymous]

We fled public because our child was bullied. It was a great school, but there were only aides on the playground, not teachers, and my child was bullied on the playground. The principal of the lower school at the private school was out on the playground ever day and they had an anti-bullying program that actually worked. No regrets, except that we have no spare money, and had to dig into our savings to do it. Oh well, our child's future is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The car magnet.

It's 100% worth 30K price tag to be able to drive around with my X sticker on the back (actually, on the gas cap part) of my Mercedes wagon.

Yes, that is why we applied also.

I just had a friend grab an extra car magnet for me. That way the $$ We save in a year's private tuition for 2 kids can pay for my MB wagon.

You are so smart. I should have done that, too. Too bad our contracts are already signed. There's always next year. Do you think your friend could grab me one, too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's is a "highly ranked" MCPS elementary? I thought they were all about the same.

Test scores vary considerably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am sure you are a great teacher but don't you just get that what you do may just be great for 99% of the kids - and while "if I have touched one child's life today I have made a difference" translates to kids with learning issues - minor ones - "well that wasn't me" and can't it just be true that for that 1 out of 100 kids they need something different and it does not mean that your school or class or anything is bad it just means it's not good for certain kids.

Do you really not understand that? and you are a teacher? you should talk to the learning specialist in your school and ask her what happens to a kid that is in the 70 percentile preforming in the 40 percentile - still getting C's - what they do for a kid like that - with no measurable LD's. How that affects him in middle and high school.

What kind of training do you have in teaching a kid with dyslexia, or aspergers, or tourettes. These seem to be the kids that are fleeing the public schools.

I'm the PP you replied to, and am entirely baffled by this response. I am a teacher, and I'm also a parent. I'm on this board because my own child is at a transition stage, moving from one school to the next in the fall of 2013, and so each time that happens I take the time to evaluate my options and make sure I'm making the best choices for him. Public and private are both on the table. I have no idea how you could draw conclusions from what I posted about what kind of teacher I am, what I know or understand, or how I serve the kids in my classes.

Someone posted a schedule, a schedule that was supposed to be evidence that public schools could easily do something, and yet the schedule wasn't realistic. It was missing things kids need, including things like art and music that the person proposing it claimed are important. It had more hours in it than exist in the school day. So I responded, to that particular post.

I don't have a problem with parents choosing private schools for their child. Like I said, it's possible I'll do the same for my child. I do have issues with parents choosing private schools based on misperceptions about public schools, and then not doing the research to clear up those misperceptions. So, when I see those misperceptions I'm going to correct them.

I happen to be a special educator, so I have substantial training and experience in the disabilities you listed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less kids in the classroom. More teachers in the classroom. A more structured education. Recess daily, PE daily.

This 100 times over. Research supports small class size is especially important for all kids, especially through grade 2.

http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/05_02_08.pdf

Thanks for sharing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am sure you are a great teacher but don't you just get that what you do may just be great for 99% of the kids - and while "if I have touched one child's life today I have made a difference" translates to kids with learning issues - minor ones - "well that wasn't me" and can't it just be true that for that 1 out of 100 kids they need something different and it does not mean that your school or class or anything is bad it just means it's not good for certain kids.

Do you really not understand that? and you are a teacher? you should talk to the learning specialist in your school and ask her what happens to a kid that is in the 70 percentile preforming in the 40 percentile - still getting C's - what they do for a kid like that - with no measurable LD's. How that affects him in middle and high school.

What kind of training do you have in teaching a kid with dyslexia, or aspergers, or tourettes. These seem to be the kids that are fleeing the public schools.

I'm the PP you replied to, and am entirely baffled by this response. I am a teacher, and I'm also a parent. I'm on this board because my own child is at a transition stage, moving from one school to the next in the fall of 2013, and so each time that happens I take the time to evaluate my options and make sure I'm making the best choices for him. Public and private are both on the table. I have no idea how you could draw conclusions from what I posted about what kind of teacher I am, what I know or understand, or how I serve the kids in my classes.

Someone posted a schedule, a schedule that was supposed to be evidence that public schools could easily do something, and yet the schedule wasn't realistic. It was missing things kids need, including things like art and music that the person proposing it claimed are important. It had more hours in it than exist in the school day. So I responded, to that particular post.

I don't have a problem with parents choosing private schools for their child. Like I said, it's possible I'll do the same for my child. I do have issues with parents choosing private schools based on misperceptions about public schools, and then not doing the research to clear up those misperceptions. So, when I see those misperceptions I'm going to correct them.

I happen to be a special educator, so I have substantial training and experience in the disabilities you listed.

How are you able to implement Orton-Gillingham in your classroom? or what method do you use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
How are you able to implement Orton-Gillingham in your classroom? or what method do you use?

I use a variety of methods, depending on what's in a child's IEP or what their age, and profile call for.

I've used Orton-Gillingham in the past but don't currently have any students for whom it's the best fit. For kids with dyslexia as their core disability, my go to choice for phonics programs is Phonographix for Pk-1st, and the Wilson Reading System beyond that. Wilson is heavily OG influenced, Phonographix less so. Whatever I choose, I also pull from other resources. I might, for example, do a Phonographix type mapping activity, but draw on the keywords from Wilson to help kids make connections. Or I might use some of the materials or concepts from Lindamood LiPs to help a child make the connections between what his articulators are doing and the sounds he hears.

As to "how" I implement it. Again, it depends on their IEP. Some kids need small amounts of intervention, paced to keep up with the gen ed curriculum. For them, this might mean a second dose of phonics a few times a week, with activities and methods chosen to (this is one reason I like Fundations, it meshes well with the program used in gen ed, and the materials aren't so tightly sequenced, so you can flex it to match the classroom instruction). Some kids need an alternative curriculum to replace the phonics program in the classroom, or continue phonics after it ends in 3rd grade. They might receive Wilson or another intervention 1:1 or in a small group 3 to 5 times a week, usually in a pull out setting, although sometimes in a push in setting, but attend the rest of the reading block in their classroom with modifications and support. Some kids have reading disabilities that are significant enough that their entire reading curriculum needs to be modified or replaced. They generally spend their reading and/or writing block out of the classroom, or in a co-taught (gen ed/special ed classroom) receiving small group instruction with the principals of Wilson or whatever phonics curriculum they're using woven throughout all the activities they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less kids in the classroom. More teachers in the classroom. A more structured education. Recess daily, PE daily.

You mean fewer.

I had no idea that I could not post without my language being picked apart. I meant LESS. You may mean fewer. I still meant LESS.

FYI- http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/less-or-fewer

Who cares. You know what the poster meant. In these days of texts without capitalization/punctuation and spelling short-cuts it's a new world out there. This kind of minutiae in this medium is as outdates as white gloves, hats and "hose". You date yourself poster, or you need to get a job, some volunteer work or some counseling.