Reply to How to help MCPS' lowest performing students?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Grouping by ability and dedicating the entire math and reading block to active instruction rather than forcing the teacher to race through multiple groups while kids mostly “work” independently.

Adjusting the schedules so there is time for actual grammar instruction. It’s critical for a solid foundation.

Investing in the spelling/vocabulary workbooks that private schools use. This is useful busy work in the classroom or independent homework.

Slow down the math. Private high schools start with Algebra 1.

Instead of wasting a special on the Media room, offer Spanish. Foreign language instruction must start in Kindergarten, not middle school.

Essentially model the curriculum on what private schools do. It works. [/quote]

I agree with a lot of this. Especially the math grouping. Small groups are tough and don’t accomplish a lot, especially in classrooms with behavioral issues. Though the Chromebooks are handy for keeping kids quiet during this time.

Re Spanish, I’d love to see this but it would be difficult for three reasons. One, money. The librarian is already on payroll - media special is a teacher break that’s close to free. Two, we can barely find able Spanish teachers for middle and high school schools so hiring would be tough. Three, the kids only get media once a week for a short time so it’s not consistent language instruction. Better than nothing though. But they still need some media center time to check out their books. 
I’m guessing they could do online Spanish lessons - like a twenty minute daily lesson on the Chromebook. That might be worth exploring. [/quote]

Spanish class once a week is what I had in catholic elementary school K-6; then we had it twice a week for 7 and 8 which was enough to cover Spanish 1. I went into Spanish 2 freshman year of HS.

I recognize the cost issue. Fwiw, hand me the mcps budget and I’ll find the money.

As a longtime mcps parent, I’ve been shocked by the subpar Spanish teachers who have been a mixed bag of white Americans who learned Spanish as a second language and cannot pronounce words correctly OR Puerto Ricans who speak the language far too quickly to teach it. Bizarrely, they rely on online learning with videos that also go too fast and often use vocabulary that comes from Mexico or El Salvador rather than a more traditional vocabulary.

With this in mind, it would be rather easy to develop a video-based curriculum that could be shown during media. Supplemental handouts and classroom activities would be cheap and easy—and effective when it comes to learning basic vocabulary. Think: a worksheet where you read then write then color pictures of a dozen fruits and veggies or household items.

I’m so depressed by how far mcps has devolved.

While we are focused on fixing schools, will someone for the love of god please do something so students feel comfortable using bathrooms in middle and high school? The bathrooms are disgusting and unsafe. At this point I’d be thrilled if they hired bathroom attendants to retrain delinquents about proper bathroom etiquette. ICYMI: we didn’t have such issues in private schools.

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