Please help me understand middle school "Digital Literacy" class
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RedTailHawk
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Looking at the Frost middle school "academic planning bulletin", this course is listed in the "Special Programs" section with other intervention/support classes (e.g. basic reading, ESOL, academic support class, ...)
On the Frost 6th grade registration card (where students list their preferences for top four elective classes of which they will be assigned two) Digital Literacy is listed under "arts" category heading along with Art 6 rotation (art, FACS, specialty art & computers). The other elective categories are "world language" (French, Spanish, Chinese) and "music" (chorus, orchestra, band). The card also says "World Language is not a requirement for Middle School. Support classes take the place of elective courses." Digital Literacy is listed on the Frost registration card as course # 1057 but the description in the MCPS middle school course bulletin (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/middleschool/2016-2017MiddleSchoolCourseBulletin.pdf) is different than what is in the Frost academic planning bulletin (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/robertfrostms/news/2017-2018%20COURSEBULLETIN%20010917%20PROOF%2011316.docx). The first 2 sentences are the same but the Frost one continues with text that sounds (imho) a bit like a remedial class (e.g. "learn how to read and navigate websites, search engines...). Looking at the Parkland middle school "course bulletin", this course is listed under "6th grade electives" and the description is followed with "* Some students may be placed in a different Reading Intervention course based on student data and teacher recommendation." It looks like students are required to take the digital literacy if they opt out of taking a world language class. (Parkland world language class offerings are French, Spanish, Chinese or "Awareness of Academic Language and Culture".) -->> Is Digital Literacy an appropriate choice for a computer savvy student with very strong reading scores that *really* doesn't want to learn a new language in middle school. (DC is very interested in learning ASL but that is not a middle school class.) Also, if I am reading this correctly, 6th grade Parkland students are only allowed one science/music elective. It seems really strange to me that a science oriented magnet would force students to choose between taking instrumental music (guitar, band or orchestra) and taking a science elective. TIA |
Anonymous
| hmm, we are at Pyle and the choices for 6th grade were Digital Literary or Foreign Language and then Music (Band or Chorus) or Arts Rotation, and Engineering was one of the quarter classes in the Arts rotation. Do other schools do it differently then? |
Anonymous
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Ask the school counselor.
I was told that Digital Literacy is a remedial class. DS is in North Bethesda MS. Sign-up for my son said he could chose between one World Language plus an elective, or two electives. As he has special needs and needs a resource class every day, this takes the place of one elective, so my son can only take one elective (he already studies his native language on the weekend). He chose the general arts rotation. |
Anonymous
| digital literacy is not a remedial class at julius west. Its an elective. You can take it with a foreign language or without a foreign language. My son took it and loved it. It teaches them how to delve deeper into texts and write research papers. Its a great class. |
Anonymous
| It used to be reading for 6th graders. This is definitely handled differently depending on which MS you attend |
Anonymous
| It is not a remedial class at North Bethesda MS either. Students generally either take a foreign language or the digital literacy class in 6th grade at North Bethesda. Keep in mind that every foreign language class in middle school shows up on their high school transcript. Not every 6th grader is ready for that. |
Anonymous
| At SSIMS due to the block scheduling, 6th graders take 2 electives plus either digital literacy or world language. Most students who are reading at or above grade level take world language, not digital literacy. DD does not have any friends taking digital literacy, so I cannot speak to the class content. |
RedTailHawk
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OP here - thanks for the answers. It is helpful to see that I didn't imagine the "remedial" vibe in the digital literacy course description.
I knew middle school was different and had looked into magnet and choice options but am still surprised at basic differences like some schools saying "world language is not required in middle school" and other schools requiring digital literacy (which may or may not be considered "remedial") if you don't take a world language. I am also surprised at the variety of grade 6 computer offerings outside of the math/science magnets. E.g. Frost has 1 marking period in the arts rotation ("Computers 6") that is very introductory. Parkland has 1 semester ("Introduction to Computers") and then others (e.g. Wood, Argyle) have a different 1 semester course ("Information and Communication Technology"). Looking more closely, the computer science listings are different in the 2017 MCPS middle school course bulletin (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/middleschool/coursebulletin-2017.pdf) than the 2016/2017 I linked to in the OP. The newer one includes the "Introduction to Computers 2940" in addition to "Information and Communications Technology (ICT) 2913". Looking at individual school sites, I see other schools (e.g. Wood, Montgomery Village) have additional computer classes not listed in either version of the MCPS middle school course bulletin (e.g. Computer Aided Drafting and Design/Applied Robotic Engineering ) Don't even get me started on "advanced" classes - I don't know how it can count as "accelerated/enriched instruction" if the *only* English class option is "Advanced English 6" and the *only* social studies class is "Advanced Social Studies 6". |
Anonymous
| I think 'remedial' is too strong. My understanding is that teachers make recommendations for students based on their standardized test scores (I think MAP-R?). Students who hit a certain threshold (don't know what) are allowed to take foreign language instead of Digital Literacy. I think many students who hit the threshold still prefer not to start a language in 6th grade, so it's probably a pretty mixed group of students in the course. My 8th grader took the course's predecessor ('reading') in sixth grade. She said she didn't learn much. I would agree that it wasn't challenging for her, but I think she probably did improve her reading/writing skills... |
Anonymous
| Lol on the "advanced" courses. When my kid's first sixth grade report card came home I was confused and emailed the counselor saying I didn't think she has signed up for honors courses. The reply that they ONLY offer Honors courses at the school. I've mocked them for three years. Now that she is in high school I have a better understanding for what that means. I believe that for any given subject, there is a 'regular' and an 'honors.' The honors goes faster/deeper, etc. Our ms had chosen not to offer the 'regular' version of any of the courses--only honors. So the courses aren't advanced/honors in terms of their student composition (100% of students take them), but I think they're following a syllabus that moves faster than the syllabus of the 'regular' syllabus that may be available for schools in the county to offer. (This is a lot of guesswork, though.) |
Anonymous
| OP, I attended the Frost parent meeting night. They said Digital Literacy was web-based reading strategies for kids who were at or 1-2 yrs below grade level in reading comp. Good luck deciding! |
Anonymous
So interesting. At CJMS almost all the 6th graders take Digital Literacy. It was presented as a choice -- Digital Literacy or a Foreign Language. But, Digital Literacy was never presented as remedial. |
Anonymous
So, does that mean that almost no sixth graders at the school take a world language? |
Anonymous
At our middle school they offered honors and regular but they were not separate classes. The honors kids took slightly different tests and had slightly different assignments but the difference is minimal. You could see both options in the HW and assignments. Honors might have to use 3 supporting details and regular only had 2. I think in multiple choice tests the questions were the same but honors had more choices. The curriculum does not go faster. Some schools opt to only offer one version. In HS the differences are much bigger. |
Anonymous
| At Farquhar, 6th graders are required to take Digital Literacy and can't take a foreign language until 7th grade. |