Anonymous
Post 09/06/2018 12:50     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
At Winston the math is the least of problems, the art program is a joke, kids dont take gym and language like French and Spanish are treated like distant cousins. If anything too much focus on Stem
Anonymous
Post 09/06/2018 09:59     Subject: Re:Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Potomac Village has a tutoring service company with an office in the shopping center with Five Guys. You take your child there for the lessons.
Anonymous
Post 09/06/2018 09:36     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
My neighbor has kids in HS and has said her DD has 45 kids in her math class?? Really?

That seems large. Is that the average.

My kids are still in ES but that is brutal.
Anonymous
Post 09/06/2018 06:08     Subject: Re:Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
You can be tutored by. a math teacher at another MCPS high school. Your math dept chair might have a list. Otherwise call the chair at another school.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 22:09     Subject: Re:Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
How do you all find your MCPS tutors?

What’s the summer math program that you sent your kids to?
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 21:53     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ugh! It was just the first day, but math does not look good again this year at Churchill. My child's math teacher couldn't solve the problems he put up on the board. The kids in the class had to correct him and he was so unsure the whole time whether he did the calculations correctly. Getting my tutor in line now.


I've been one of the critics of Churchill math, but I do think we need to be careful in our attributions. Messing up basic math on a board in front of new students may just be nerves, not lack of math knowledge. Plus, we're hearing this stuff from our students, who may be overly-critical (at least, my kid is!).

Certainly, there are big problems in the Churchill math dept, but all parents should probably give it a week or two before making judgments about a particular teacher.


I a week or two, he will be asking the students to break up into small groups and teach themselves while he takes a nap. Seriously, a nap at his desk. My DD thought the teacher was high.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 21:51     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ugh! It was just the first day, but math does not look good again this year at Churchill. My child's math teacher couldn't solve the problems he put up on the board. The kids in the class had to correct him and he was so unsure the whole time whether he did the calculations correctly. Getting my tutor in line now.


Completely unacceptable. Perhaps it should be reported to the principal. This can't continue over there.


I think I know who the teacher is and we reported him 2 years ago. I am sure we weren't the only parents who had meetings with Benz. At some point, a letter must be in his employment file or at least a record of how many complaints this teacher gets.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 17:05     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:Ugh! It was just the first day, but math does not look good again this year at Churchill. My child's math teacher couldn't solve the problems he put up on the board. The kids in the class had to correct him and he was so unsure the whole time whether he did the calculations correctly. Getting my tutor in line now.


I've been one of the critics of Churchill math, but I do think we need to be careful in our attributions. Messing up basic math on a board in front of new students may just be nerves, not lack of math knowledge. Plus, we're hearing this stuff from our students, who may be overly-critical (at least, my kid is!).

Certainly, there are big problems in the Churchill math dept, but all parents should probably give it a week or two before making judgments about a particular teacher.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 11:51     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:Ugh! It was just the first day, but math does not look good again this year at Churchill. My child's math teacher couldn't solve the problems he put up on the board. The kids in the class had to correct him and he was so unsure the whole time whether he did the calculations correctly. Getting my tutor in line now.


Completely unacceptable. Perhaps it should be reported to the principal. This can't continue over there.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 11:47     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Ugh! It was just the first day, but math does not look good again this year at Churchill. My child's math teacher couldn't solve the problems he put up on the board. The kids in the class had to correct him and he was so unsure the whole time whether he did the calculations correctly. Getting my tutor in line now.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 10:56     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
The new principal seems to be making changes in some areas (traffic, security). Fixing the math department is a harder nut to crack, but hopefully is on her to-do list!
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 10:05     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Well we had a similar experience at Wootton. We have had to hire tutors for weekly tutoring for years. My DD really struggled with Algebra II. So much so that she school recommended she drop down from honors for precalc this year.
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 09:34     Subject: Re:Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
In the case of Churchill, there are some good math teachers and quite a few bad ones. They have to put the bad ones somewhere...
Anonymous
Post 09/05/2018 09:00     Subject: Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if anyone else has noticed that these math classes are poorly taught.
Friend of mine said get honors Geo at CJMS or Hoover, but do not take it at Churchill. Same is said about Algebra II.
They said that the curriculum and handouts stink (poorly written), and to compound the problem, the instruction is lackluster.
I have heard that the kids aren't learning as much as they would with the regular classwork, with more straight forward handouts and better teachers.
I wonder if it is a waste to put DS through this, maybe better to do regular Geo and Alg II and learn something?



Churchill parent here. I totally could have written this. Honors geometry was a mess. The teacher didn’t teach. Also honors Algebra 2 curriculum was a mess as well. Teachers also didn’t know the material.

We had to get a Math tutor to fill in the gaps. The math tutor was an MCPS math teacher from another high school. He was really surprised at how honors algebra 2 was being taught (or not taught) at Churchill. He had to teach my daughter what Churchill for some reason hadn’t. He also taught her math concepts that my daughter had asked for clarification on from her teacher could not teach her, but would not admit he didn’t know how to do it.

We decided to have her drop to regular precalc. We felt that she hadn’t mastered the honors algebra 2 material enough and she’d would probably also need a weekly tutor, which we did not want to pay for. My daughter is basically a straight A student and struggled. If you take the class, be prepared to get a tutor and put in a lot of extra time (if you want an A). We were lucky she got a B. It’s not because the kids aren’t smart or willing to work hard, it’s because the math concepts aren’t being taught and the math teachers don’t fully understand the material.


Wow, I also could have written this also. I have spent a small fortunate hiring math tutors (also other MCPS teachers) for my kids to get through math at Churchill. They have teachers who are given classes to teach that they have no background to teach. i.e. AP Calculus etc. We also took our kids off of the honors math track and are glad we did. Mostly the same mediocre teachers, but at least the pace was slowed down. I just checked the website and all of the bad apples are still there (also in other departments). Hoping the new principal will do some house cleaning, but guessing it may take some time.


Why? Why do they do this?
Anonymous
Post 09/03/2018 12:50     Subject: Re:Honors Math classes being poorly taught (Churchill)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This is horrifying. So glad we chose private over Churchill. And academics wasn't even the reason. Also love that DS has actual text books for all his subjects.


Why are you on this forum? Do you have a child in "MD Public Schools"?


Because there is this thing called "Recent Topics" which I occasionally check, and I couldn't resist reading about how bad Churchill is. It just makes me feel better about the tuition I pay, LOL!!