Reply to S/O MCPS HS "Honors" English 9/10 courses

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In most schools it is only Honors English 9A. A few schools may still have the on-level course, but that's rare. And there are no standards for what constitutes the honors version of the course. A kid could take it and read mostly below-grade level texts.[/quote]

I wish I could figure out 9A vs H9A.  My kid is in Bridge and he is enrolled in 9A and I’ve been told no H9A.  I want someone to explain the difference.  What is going on in the H9A class that warrants the extra .5 gpa bump?  More in depth text analysis, more writing, higher expectations?

My kid has already complained that English is silly and it’s very easy.  For now, I’m looking at outside tutoring.[/quote]

Ugh, I'm sorry. There is no guidance as to how honors is different from regular. It's completely up to individual teachers. [b]And given that people are saying that honors classes are including graphic novels, it doesn't sound like it's rigorous at many schools[/b]. Can you meet with the department head at your school to ask that he move up to honors?[/quote]

Let’s not demonizes a book format that you clearly don’t understand.  Just because a book is a graphic novel doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of inclusion in a honors class.[/quote]

The graphic novel in question, the Magic Fish, has a Lexile level of 400HL. https://hub.lexile.com/find-a-book/book-details/9781984851598

HL is intended to be high-interest books for struggling readers. And yet MCPS is offering this to kids who were in CES and humanities magnets in 9th grade "honors" English, with no guidance to say that this should not be available in honors sections. Says all you need to know about MCPS.[/quote]

Just because a book has HL attached to its Lexile, doesn’t mean it can or should only be read by struggling reading.  [b]It just means it will be appropriate for struggling readers.  The content of the book can and likely is of interest and appeal to a particular audience which in this case is Middle School.  [/b]And it can be used to illustrate both visually and in language a particular theme or idea that is being explored in the English class.

Should it be paired with other texts? yes.  Should additional work be given? Yes.  But again, it being a graphic novel doesn’t make it not worthy of the class.  Further, the PP didn’t specify a particular graphic novel, they made a generalization that because a graphic novel was included in the curriculum it couldn’t be on grade level.  That generalization is wrong as there are lots of graphic novels that cover an array of topics and themes that are perfectly in grade level.  That generalization would be like saying because a story is delivered in film format it can’t possibly have as much value as a book.[/quote]

You have made my point. This is a book appropriate for middle school and for struggling readers.

It is not appropriate as the anchor text for an honors high school English class.[/quote]

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