The block schedule is also more humane for homework and testing! I think MCPS should mandate it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am already annoyed you have to pick between band and chorus. My older daughter in private was able to do handbells, chorus, and an art or theater class in middle school.

They should have letter days. A-F. On A, C, E days you take X class and B, D, F days you take Y class. Is it really that hard MCPS?

Not true belabor this, but that's exactly what Loiederman and the other MSMC schools do so kids get 8 total classes. There's not really a reason other schools can't do this, too, except maybe staffing?

SSIMS also has a block schedule with 8 classes. Periods 1, 3, 5, and 7 on odd days and 2, 4, 6, and 8 on even days.

Anonymous wrote:I am already annoyed you have to pick between band and chorus. My older daughter in private was able to do handbells, chorus, and an art or theater class in middle school.

They should have letter days. A-F. On A, C, E days you take X class and B, D, F days you take Y class. Is it really that hard MCPS?

Not true belabor this, but that's exactly what Loiederman and the other MSMC schools do so kids get 8 total classes. There's not really a reason other schools can't do this, too, except maybe staffing?

I am already annoyed you have to pick between band and chorus. My older daughter in private was able to do handbells, chorus, and an art or theater class in middle school.

They should have letter days. A-F. On A, C, E days you take X class and B, D, F days you take Y class. Is it really that hard MCPS?

My child is and incoming 6th grader and at the course registration night we were told that the state of Maryland was requiring fine art and tech courses in middle school. This prompted a reaction from parents whose kids may want to take band for all three years. The school administrators said they are trying to figure out options-- such as pulling kids out of band once a week for coding instruction. These new middle school requirements apparently only need to be a quarter credit each and so kids who take the arts rotation class (art/coding/theatre) would fulfill the requirements. Also, these are separate than the high school fine art and tech graduation requirements.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Digital Literacy count as a tech class? DD #1 is taking her tech class as a senior in HS.

No, Digital Literacy is not tech. It is a language arts class (when DS took it a few years ago).

It was mentioned in our school that it was a “tech” class.

I’m not sure what this class is supposed to be classified as(language arts or tech) but I know my child is bored to death with it and the teacher. Besides doing Wordly Wise and annotating digital articles, I’ve not been able to glean what else they are doing or learning. Even the teacher wasn’t able to clearly articulate where the class was going. I’d welcome anything that made this class more engaging for the students and actual dissected the many forms of digital communications that now exist and that kids need to be literate and functional users on.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who does not quite get Digital Literacy.

Anonymous wrote:This is in the Middle School Program Guide 2019-2020, page 2:

"Some elective courses may vary from school to school. During middle school, students are required to take electives that represent a well-rounded curriculum including fine arts and computer science/technology."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/middleschool/2019-2020MiddleSchoolCourseBulletin.pdf

I read that as your kid is required to take some electives but not that one of them HAS to be a tech class.

At my DD school they are changing digital literacy to Imagineering purely because Imagineering allows for a tech credit. No one call me the what Imagineering is so I assume it is just digital literacy with a new name.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Digital Literacy count as a tech class? DD #1 is taking her tech class as a senior in HS.

No, Digital Literacy is not tech. It is a language arts class (when DS took it a few years ago).

It was mentioned in our school that it was a “tech” class.

I’m not sure what this class is supposed to be classified as(language arts or tech) but I know my child is bored to death with it and the teacher. Besides doing Wordly Wise and annotating digital articles, I’ve not been able to glean what else they are doing or learning. Even the teacher wasn’t able to clearly articulate where the class was going. I’d welcome anything that made this class more engaging for the students and actual dissected the many forms of digital communications that now exist and that kids need to be literate and functional users on.

This is in the Middle School Program Guide 2019-2020, page 2:

"Some elective courses may vary from school to school. During middle school, students are required to take electives that represent a well-rounded curriculum including fine arts and computer science/technology."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/middleschool/2019-2020MiddleSchoolCourseBulletin.pdf

Anonymous wrote:I clarified with my kid’s 7th grade counselor and she said it is REQUIRED by the County as part of the well-rounded curriculum.

Any idea on how I can push back on this? We are at a nonW school, FWIW.

Call central office and ask for written documentation of the policy. When you can't get any, go back to the school. Then complain to the area superintendent

I clarified with my kid’s 7th grade counselor and she said it is REQUIRED by the County as part of the well-rounded curriculum.

Any idea on how I can push back on this? We are at a nonW school, FWIW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does Digital Literacy count as a tech class? DD #1 is taking her tech class as a senior in HS.

No, Digital Literacy is not tech. It is a language arts class (when DS took it a few years ago).

It was mentioned in our school that it was a “tech” class.