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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]There is a big movement to self responsibility that’s actually the most important a kid can learn in MS. More important than any of the underlying memorizing topics and the stupid grades. Focus on that transition. Your child absolutely needs to learn to advocate for themselves. Learn this now. Candidly, my reaction to your post was: sounds to me like this is your first or only child and you are too involved.[/quote]
Sometimes APS can go a bit hardcore on these messages.  I have a 5th grader this year and she's been in tears a few times with worry about how hard middle school is going to be based on speeches by her 5th grade teachers.  She's a kid who has never needed to be reminded to turn in homework, complete an assignment or even lost a water bottle.  She's super organized and consciousness. I keep reminding her that these speeches aren't meant for her, and she understands, but they can be pretty intense.  Hopefully middle school won't be 3 years of being beat over the head with the message that high school will be even harder and creating artificial hoops for kids to jump through just to prove they're ready.  Life is hard enough.[/quote]

She sounds very sensitive.  If she has her shite together, she'll be so completely fine in middle school.  What they ask of kids is not that hard for a motivated and neuro-typical kid.  It's just not.  A lot of the messaging in middle school is for the parents.  Stop doing everything for your kid.  Let them fail and make mistakes and sort it out.  Some of the parents struggle with this more than anything the kids are asked to do.[/quote]

Then say it to the Parents and not the kids. the kids who can handle it and will be fine are also the ones most likely hearing the message and worrying that some how or another they are going to be the ones who fall short. The kids who are struggling and identified as having learning issues or ADHD or some other issue that impacts executive functioning are going to worry that things are going to be even more of a struggle.

The kids who need to hear it are not paying attention, if they were paying attention then they wouldn't need to hear it. Those are the NT kids who could be doing better but who are not interested in school or would rather be doing other things. They have the ability to keep up but don't care enough too keep up. They are not listening to any of the warnings.

The parents of the kids who are on top of things are taking the messages that their kids hear and are worrying about what is to come because they know that their kid is on top of things, probably with a certain amount of parental support. The parents of the kids with IEPs and 504s hear the message and groan because things are going to be even harder for their kids and most schools use the change in levels as an additional excuse to not listen to a parent, which makes it harder to help their kids. And the NT kids who could be doing better but don't care will struggle a bit more but figure out how to get their  and continue to not care. Until something in them triggers and they decide to care and then they will get their act together and do far better in school. Or they will float on by with their C. [/quote]

OP and yes. This. Exactly. The year has been very much "float on by with a C."

Also, note, I'm talking about this year's 6th grade class experience, which I understand from other parents (and yes we've all talked) is very different from that of the previous few years that DHMS has been DHMS. I appreciate the poster who mentioned maybe the school is getting to big. I have thought maybe it's that the school is no longer new and shiny and teachers and admin are getting set in ways or frustrated with lack of whatever metric of success they may want to see, feel, experience after a few years of operating. But, in the end, yes, many of us and our children are unhappy and shocked at that fact as we all believed middle school couldn't possibly be as bad as what it's made out to be in pop culture/our own experiences.... [/quote]

The biggest change between last year’s 6th grade and this year’s 6th grade is the students. 
[/quote]

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