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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I was a little disappointed. I feel they were talking all the fun fun things, seems they were trying hard  to sell this program.
I didn't hear anything about the writing curriculum at the English section. I was looking forward to hearing how they help kids to develop writing skills, instead they had a little drama presentation.
How's the writing instruction there? [/quote]

The writing instruction is fantastic.  They write a 10 page fully-researched paper in seventh grade, giving them all the scaffolding that they need to understand what is truly needed to be able to accomplish something like that.

They were selling the program because, unlike in years past where the kids chose themselves and applied,  this year kids were chosen with no application.  The 8th graders wanted to highlight all the good parts so people could understand how good the program is.  They didn't, however, highlight the New York trip, which is a big thing in 8th grade.  [/quote]

+1.  Eastern has without a doubt the best writing instruction in the county. 7th grade IDRP paper is the bane of every 7th grader’s existence and they all want to burn their papers by the end of the year, but they have all learned to write papers for college and beyond. [b]DC declined HS IB program, because required paper structure/teaching by comparison was worse than Eastern, so no point doing[/b].

In HS, due to Eastern experience, DD had no problem knocking out class papers and essays effortlessly w/ good grades.  Frustrated though because she got LESS comment and instruction on papers than at Eastern.

Now in college, DD has written papers that drew the attention of professers and provided her unique opportunities.

There were definitely things I did not like about Eastern, but, on balance, DD says it was the best educational experience she had in MCPS.

BTW, DD’s closest friends still are from Eastern program.

So socially and academically - a win. [/quote]

Just wondering - can you elaborate on the bolded part above? Did you mean that the IB program would have had a lot more of the same (writing), so no point doing? Or, by "worse than" did you mean it would have been easier than the Eastern program? (Genuinely curious about if the IB program would be a good fit for students from Eastern program.)[/quote]

IB has a requirement to write a 4000 word (16 pp) paper called "extended essay".  It is supposed to be an independent research paper.  When the student does this, they also have to take a class called "TOK" or Theories of Knowledge in which they get the instruction and time to write.  IB is very process-oriented, so in addition to writing a substantive paper or essay, students are frequently asked to accompany that paper with various sub-essays about the process of essay-writing and thinking.

TBH, DD viewed TOK and these IB process essays as sort of BS busywork where you could say anything.  DD had already written a 10 page paper as part of IDRP.  As is common, the draft IDRP was even longer than 10 pages, and she had to cut it down.  During IDRP, kids got good substantive feedback about their topic, their thesis and their reasoning in the paper in addition to explicit instruction in how to take notes, use a card system, write biblio and footnotes, quote, line edit and organize the paper overall.  By contrast, by the time IB selection came around, DD had heard thru the grapevine that teachers almost never engaged substantively with the paper topics nor did they give much in the way of constructive comments on the organizational writing.  DD ultimately decided that she had already learned to write a paper at Eastern and that it was not a challenge to write a slightly longer paper than the IDRP.  Plus, the TOK class effectively knocks out time for an elective and the IB program is pretty rigid in terms of what you must take.  DD decided she would rather choose more classes of interest and took a mix of IB classes and AP classes.

I think IB can be a good fit for Eastern students and other of DD's friends from Eastern did do IB.  The extended essay was not a big deal for them, while by contrast it was a struggle for students who never had good explicit writing instruction in MS.   I think it comes down to where you want to go after high school (IB test scores do provide easy entry to many global universities, many of which are significantly less expensive than US universities and just as well regarded), and what the student's interests are in terms of the subject of IB classes v. other available classes.  I personally thought IB Film Studies sounded cool, but DD did not and was interested in other AP topics not available in IB.

So, YMMV.  [/quote]

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