Anonymous wrote:The top students at private, charter, and public middle schools that my DD is friends with in DC do read on their own. Most of these kids were taken to the library when young and their parents continue to encourage reading as well as limit screens. Our observation: DCPS focuses a lot less on reading and writing than privates or many charters do during the middle school years.

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Anonymous wrote:My daughter, in advanced 7th grade English, was told to make an Instagram post about a book she read. NOT HAPPY. Too many powerpoint presentations, not enough essays.

Yikes!

Anonymous wrote:My daughter, in advanced 7th grade English, was told to make an Instagram post about a book she read. NOT HAPPY. Too many powerpoint presentations, not enough essays.

Anonymous wrote:Actually fairly happy from a writing standpoint. Kid has learned full grammar (parts of speech, sentence composition), etymology (root words), and written 5 paragraph essays since 3rd grade. He’s now in 6th.

Less happy from a reading perspective. He no longer enjoys reading because it’s all short snippets instead of fun novels.

FCPS

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned my kid is not going to read enough books for school or learn how to write with proper form and grammar the way things are headed with curriculum these days. They have the interest and aptitude to achieve much more than this (avid reader in free time, far above grade level in ELA currently, enjoys creative writing). Are you happy with what your middle or high schooler is learning in these areas, are they being challenged, and if so, where are they in school?

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Anonymous wrote:I have a middle school and high schooler, public school. Yes, instruction in writing is practically non existent until AP English.

I don’t understand posts like this. I believe you, but my question is how it’s possible? And how do students suddenly catch up or keep up in 10th or 11th, while also prepping for SATs and writing college apps? Because I’m assuming at least SOME kids are receiving some kind of writing instruction earlier than that (through tutors, better school curriculum, etc), wouldn’t they have a huge leg up?

I don't get it either. If students aren't writing, and they're not reading books, what do they actually do all day?

I know what they do (screens, group "work," SEL, "skills based work and assessments"), but I want to know how does this lead to top high school and college students? My area touts the public high schools as among the top 1000 public high schools in the country, but how can this be true if the kids are on Chromebooks for much of the day and not actually reading full books or writing essays until 10th grade?

what school is this? Our kids had to write paragraphs and essays since first grade and onward due to the stupid Calkins writing workshop. Our kids also have to read chapter books in book groups since fourth grade. They also read the boring 2 page passages with SOL questions afterward. So they do get reading and writing, but the writing instruction didn’t become structured and formal until 7th grade. And, they missed learning formal grammar so were not taught parts of speech and sentence diagramming. It’s a hodge podge and poorly taught English. —FCPS parent who has supplemented for a decade

Sentence diagramming?? I don't think that's been commonly taught in public schools in several decades. Parts of speech they will learn when they learn foreign language.

Not necessarily. Grammar is on the outs everywhere trendy, even for foreign languages that desperately require it. I was helping a cousin in LCPS with her Latin homework. Brilliant child, now working for a company that attracts brilliant people. Anyway, I asked her what noun declension she was on. "What's a noun?" she asked. At that point, she was midway through freshman year.

I supplemented my own kids until I threw my hands in the air and just sent them to a religious private that provides thorough grammar instruction, amongst other pleasant features.

I don’t believe the average high schooler doesn’t know what a noun is. It is the easiest part of the sentence. A person, place or thing. Your cousin obviously uses proper sentence structure, she was after all hired by a company that only hires brilliant people. She must have forgot the word. It’s the most basic of grammar terms but I get it. I can never remember the definition of adverb but I use adverbs.

Name one school that doesn’t teach the definitions of nouns, proper nouns that are capitalized, adjectives, etc.

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Anonymous wrote:I have a middle school and high schooler, public school. Yes, instruction in writing is practically non existent until AP English.

I don’t understand posts like this. I believe you, but my question is how it’s possible? And how do students suddenly catch up or keep up in 10th or 11th, while also prepping for SATs and writing college apps? Because I’m assuming at least SOME kids are receiving some kind of writing instruction earlier than that (through tutors, better school curriculum, etc), wouldn’t they have a huge leg up?

I don't get it either. If students aren't writing, and they're not reading books, what do they actually do all day?

I know what they do (screens, group "work," SEL, "skills based work and assessments"), but I want to know how does this lead to top high school and college students? My area touts the public high schools as among the top 1000 public high schools in the country, but how can this be true if the kids are on Chromebooks for much of the day and not actually reading full books or writing essays until 10th grade?

what school is this? Our kids had to write paragraphs and essays since first grade and onward due to the stupid Calkins writing workshop. Our kids also have to read chapter books in book groups since fourth grade. They also read the boring 2 page passages with SOL questions afterward. So they do get reading and writing, but the writing instruction didn’t become structured and formal until 7th grade. And, they missed learning formal grammar so were not taught parts of speech and sentence diagramming. It’s a hodge podge and poorly taught English. —FCPS parent who has supplemented for a decade

Sentence diagramming?? I don't think that's been commonly taught in public schools in several decades. Parts of speech they will learn when they learn foreign language.

Not necessarily. Grammar is on the outs everywhere trendy, even for foreign languages that desperately require it. I was helping a cousin in LCPS with her Latin homework. Brilliant child, now working for a company that attracts brilliant people. Anyway, I asked her what noun declension she was on. "What's a noun?" she asked. At that point, she was midway through freshman year.

I supplemented my own kids until I threw my hands in the air and just sent them to a religious private that provides thorough grammar instruction, amongst other pleasant features.

I don’t believe the average high schooler doesn’t know what a noun is. It is the easiest part of the sentence. A person, place or thing. Your cousin obviously uses proper sentence structure, she was after all hired by a company that only hires brilliant people. She must have forgot the word. It’s the most basic of grammar terms but I get it. I can never remember the definition of adverb but I use adverbs.

Name one school that doesn’t teach the definitions of nouns, proper nouns that are capitalized, adjectives, etc.

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Anonymous wrote:I have a middle school and high schooler, public school. Yes, instruction in writing is practically non existent until AP English.

I don’t understand posts like this. I believe you, but my question is how it’s possible? And how do students suddenly catch up or keep up in 10th or 11th, while also prepping for SATs and writing college apps? Because I’m assuming at least SOME kids are receiving some kind of writing instruction earlier than that (through tutors, better school curriculum, etc), wouldn’t they have a huge leg up?

I don't get it either. If students aren't writing, and they're not reading books, what do they actually do all day?

I know what they do (screens, group "work," SEL, "skills based work and assessments"), but I want to know how does this lead to top high school and college students? My area touts the public high schools as among the top 1000 public high schools in the country, but how can this be true if the kids are on Chromebooks for much of the day and not actually reading full books or writing essays until 10th grade?

what school is this? Our kids had to write paragraphs and essays since first grade and onward due to the stupid Calkins writing workshop. Our kids also have to read chapter books in book groups since fourth grade. They also read the boring 2 page passages with SOL questions afterward. So they do get reading and writing, but the writing instruction didn’t become structured and formal until 7th grade. And, they missed learning formal grammar so were not taught parts of speech and sentence diagramming. It’s a hodge podge and poorly taught English. —FCPS parent who has supplemented for a decade

Sentence diagramming?? I don't think that's been commonly taught in public schools in several decades. Parts of speech they will learn when they learn foreign language.

Not necessarily. Grammar is on the outs everywhere trendy, even for foreign languages that desperately require it. I was helping a cousin in LCPS with her Latin homework. Brilliant child, now working for a company that attracts brilliant people. Anyway, I asked her what noun declension she was on. "What's a noun?" she asked. At that point, she was midway through freshman year.

I supplemented my own kids until I threw my hands in the air and just sent them to a religious private that provides thorough grammar instruction, amongst other pleasant features.

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Anonymous wrote:I am finally thrilled this year (4th grade). The teacher is very old school and experienced, and happens to have been an English major. All the basic fundamentals are finally being covered. Grammar, spelling, reading comprehension, proof reading...

How old is the teacher? My worry is that this kind of teacher (old school, traditional, love of English) is dying out. Most teachers teaching K-5 right now were going through college or getting their ED degree in the Balanced Literacy / Workshop + EdTech way of teaching, not grammar, spelling, reading actual books kind of teaching.

You are right. She is probably mid to late 50s. My kid has generally had younger teachers up until now, and this is the first time he has had this type of direct instruction. Everyone else just seemed to phone it in.

what does ‘phone it in’ mean?

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Anonymous wrote:I have a middle school and high schooler, public school. Yes, instruction in writing is practically non existent until AP English.

I don’t understand posts like this. I believe you, but my question is how it’s possible? And how do students suddenly catch up or keep up in 10th or 11th, while also prepping for SATs and writing college apps? Because I’m assuming at least SOME kids are receiving some kind of writing instruction earlier than that (through tutors, better school curriculum, etc), wouldn’t they have a huge leg up?

I don't get it either. If students aren't writing, and they're not reading books, what do they actually do all day?

I know what they do (screens, group "work," SEL, "skills based work and assessments"), but I want to know how does this lead to top high school and college students? My area touts the public high schools as among the top 1000 public high schools in the country, but how can this be true if the kids are on Chromebooks for much of the day and not actually reading full books or writing essays until 10th grade?

The top students ARE reading and writing. We are in DCPS public and my highly academic MS student reads and writes extensively. We limit screens and fight the school on screen-based work (which is easy to do in elementary -- just say no to any homework on screens, they can't do anything about it and won't if your kid is above grade level in everything). A lot of the reading is on her own but we help guide what she reads and also encourage heavier engagement with the books we especially want to expose her to (like she read Little Women on her own, and then we watched the movie, and then she voluntarily did some writing when I suggested she create a newspaper like the one the girls created in the book).

We have her do a creative writing camp every summer. She's also done journalism and creative writing clubs during the school year.

In other words, we emphasize it and encourage it and we remove the biggest obstacle to it (screens, including a personal phone or tablet device, and all social media).

I am a writer. This matters to me.