Anonymous
10/15/2018 11:03
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
So why bother to run the class?
The whole goal of the classes was to keep high-performing kids together. When there was all that uproar about MCPS using the "peer cohort" criteria for admissions to magnets MCPS argued that the enriched classes would provide a magnet-lite experience within their regular schools by keeping the cohort together for those classes.
The only justification for this, IMO, is if everyone at Pyle scores in the 99th percentile for reading/English. Do they?
No, and the poster misunderstood what was said at BTSN. DC is at Pyle. There are several sections, but far from "all".
Anonymous
10/15/2018 08:30
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
So why bother to run the class?
The whole goal of the classes was to keep high-performing kids together. When there was all that uproar about MCPS using the "peer cohort" criteria for admissions to magnets MCPS argued that the enriched classes would provide a magnet-lite experience within their regular schools by keeping the cohort together for those classes.
The only justification for this, IMO, is if everyone at Pyle scores in the 99th percentile for reading/English. Do they?
Anonymous
10/15/2018 06:29
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
Wow. I'm surprised that a couple of books I read in the minor enrichment class in my elementary school (5th grade) class in the late 80s (*cough*) have been demoted to middle school magnet level now. That being said, a couple others I didn't read until AP English in high school.
It's a shame that 6th graders are reading these books. There's no way they can fully grasp the meaning.
I think it's ok for 6th graders to read things they don't fully grasp the meaning of. But I agree that they can't fully grasp the meaning of several of these works, particularly Animal Farm and Twelfth Night.
And the sexism in Watership Down, in my opinion, is not balanced by literary merit (or scientific accuracy about rabbit society), so I regret to see it on a reading list for 6th graders.
Anonymous
10/15/2018 06:08
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
Wow. I'm surprised that a couple of books I read in the minor enrichment class in my elementary school (5th grade) class in the late 80s (*cough*) have been demoted to middle school magnet level now. That being said, a couple others I didn't read until AP English in high school.
It's a shame that 6th graders are reading these books. There's no way they can fully grasp the meaning.
Anonymous
10/15/2018 04:16
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
Wow. I'm surprised that a couple of books I read in the minor enrichment class in my elementary school (5th grade) class in the late 80s (*cough*) have been demoted to middle school magnet level now. That being said, a couple others I didn't read until AP English in high school.
Anonymous
09/17/2018 17:10
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
everyone is gifted at Pyle!
They're all in the top 3% according to their parents at least.
Are you a Pyle admin? That's been the attitude in administration at Pyle. A counselor said it too.
Anonymous
09/17/2018 10:55
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
everyone is gifted at Pyle!
They're all in the top 3% according to their parents at least.
Anonymous
09/16/2018 22:44
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
Was the reading for the above books done at home?
If so, I'm seeing in our low income school that homework has nearly been eliminated given that many students don't have support at home.
And, to PP, I care what my kids are reading in ES. It shows what the expectations will or will not be in MS.
6th grade students in EMS’s magnet are reading Watership Down at home. They read Gathering Blue over the summer.
Anonymous
09/16/2018 10:30
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
Was the reading for the above books done at home?
If so, I'm seeing in our low income school that homework has nearly been eliminated given that many students don't have support at home.
And, to PP, I care what my kids are reading in ES. It shows what the expectations will or will not be in MS.
Anonymous
09/16/2018 10:04
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
Does that upset you? Does this appease parents if all kids have access to the enriched curriculm or do parents really only care about the quality of the peer group?
well the K-8 curriculum has sucked the last few years so they need to do something to improve things, everywhere!
I think it's great that Pyle is doing this. The "gifted" kids are still in a separate class, but all kids get access to the enriched curriculum. When Pyle still had advanced and on level classes they constantly had parents of average and struggling students electing to have their kids placed in the advanced classes against teacher recommendations. The only kids in the on level classes were learning impaired, very low, or typical students with parents who weren't complainers. Disaster.
How do you know they’re still in the advanced class with the cohort? Something seems off here. Also what did the earlier comment about the principal being tough mean—that he’s not supportive of the gifted stuff? What difference does it make if he’s forced to go along with it?
Anonymous
09/16/2018 08:44
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m not quite sure why you are so argumentative, but she did read the books in a W feeder in the 5th grade.
NP here: people on this board love to tell people what they presume to know about other people's experience. If it happens at their school or in their kid's class, they assume every other school in the county is doing the same thing.
I'm the pp poster and what you say rings true. I usually don't come to this board because some people are so insecure that they have to feel like there situation is better than everyone else and it seems to extend to their DC. Honestly, who cares what kids are reading in the 5th grade as long as your child is challenged and doing well? I can't imagine a situation where I would argue with an anonymous poster about what their elementary school kid is reading!
Anonymous
09/15/2018 23:12
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:I’m not quite sure why you are so argumentative, but she did read the books in a W feeder in the 5th grade.
NP here: people on this board love to tell people what they presume to know about other people's experience. If it happens at their school or in their kid's class, they assume every other school in the county is doing the same thing.
Anonymous
09/15/2018 22:46
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
I’m not quite sure why you are so argumentative, but she did read the books in a W feeder in the 5th grade.
Anonymous
09/15/2018 20:35
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I posted this on the other thread. These are the books my child read in 6th grade at Eastern MS:
Gathering Blue: Lois Lowry
The Giver: Lois Lowry
Messenger: Lois Lowry
Watership Down: Richard Adams
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury
Animal Farm George Orwell
Children's Homer
Red Scarf Girl Ji-li Jiang
Good Earth Pearl S. Buck
Twelfth Night Shakespeare
Our Town Thornton Wilder
Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee
Various short stories and Greek Myths
How does your child's new enriched humanities class compare?
My DD read several of these in 5th grade so I hope they are not being repeated in the 6th grade. Either way, it is a humanities/history class starting with the Neolithic Revolution so not all the books are appropriate. Also, this appears to be more of a hands on class with the students engaging in activities such as Model UN. The course is new so no one can comment yet on whether it is challenging or not.
I doubt she read any of these books in any MCPS elementary school class, more likely on her own. This is vastly different than in middle school with written assignments and projects.
Anonymous
09/15/2018 20:33
Subject: Re:Which MS are doing the pilot program for enriched studies?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We were told at BTS night that Pyle is having everyone in 6th grade use the curriculum from the new humanities course so I am not sure if the course is truly advanced. They did not say the same thing about the advanced math class.
Does that upset you? Does this appease parents if all kids have access to the enriched curriculm or do parents really only care about the quality of the peer group?
well the K-8 curriculum has sucked the last few years so they need to do something to improve things, everywhere!
I think it's great that Pyle is doing this. The "gifted" kids are still in a separate class, but all kids get access to the enriched curriculum. When Pyle still had advanced and on level classes they constantly had parents of average and struggling students electing to have their kids placed in the advanced classes against teacher recommendations. The only kids in the on level classes were learning impaired, very low, or typical students with parents who weren't complainers. Disaster.
How long before the same thing happens with this class?