Anonymous
12/10/2023 16:20
Subject: Inspired Teaching?
Six years ago my DD went there for Grade 1 and it was a disaster. Teacher could have cared less, the administrators were out to lunch. That was 6 years ago so it may be totally different now, but that was my experience and we regret putting her there. We pulled her out at the end of the year.
Anonymous
12/05/2023 19:32
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ITDS’s way of handling kids with ADHD is to force them to leave.
Yep. And if you are okay with some pretty shocking treatment of such kids in your classroom, then I suppose it will be fine for your neurotypical child. For me (with one kid who is and one who isn’t), I was highly uncomfortable with the types of incidents that were never reported to parents (only because a teacher shared them on the way out did I ever find out). Any school can have issues with an inexperienced teacher in over her head, but to hide things from parents… let’s just say I would rather take my chances with our dcps now
8th grader from earlier here.
I AM A REAL 8th GRADER!!!!!
So, first of all, I am autistic and have ADHD, and the school treats me very well and helps me out a lot. Now I do get made fun of in a friendly way for my autism, but that is beside the point. There are a lot of kids in my grade who are on the spectrum or have ADHD and they have been here since pk-3. I don't think the school tries to remove people from the school. I think it is more of the fact that different kids fit at different places and some kids might not fit at ITDS. That is perfectly fine and true for all schools, I wouldn't fit at a boarding school because I would become a HOMESICK CRYBABY!!
By the way, I kind of have an addiction to Dc Urban Mom now...
-8th grader that is REAL
If you keep posting here, someone is going to tell your mom.
Anonymous
12/05/2023 19:31
Subject: Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m a MS parent at ITS and believe the previous poster is an 8th grader. Not my kid but probably one of his friends.
+1. I am a parent but not at ITS and have no dog in this fight but I think that's an 8th grader. Despite the comments about fights and kids who don't care, that comment is a pretty good endorsement of the school because I'm impressed with the writing level.
Hey, ITS kid -- how would you rate the writing instruction at ITS? Would love to hear what kind of writing assignments you get, their length, and how they help you develop as a writer.
Would also love to know what reading has been assigned to you in the last few years. Do you read entire books for school and if so which ones? Do you discuss books in class (themes, character and plot development, use of technique) or do you just write book reports?
Anyway, kudos to you, you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders. Sorry you had to deal with a dysregulated kid in school but sounds like you have a lot of empathy and navigated the situation well. Good work and best of luck to you.
I would rate it a solid 9/10.
We get to do very fun writing projects, for example we sometimes write fanfiction (what happens after) when we just finished a whole class book. Last year we would have 15-minute grammar lessons twice a week. This year sometimes for homework our teacher writes sentences that are intentionally flawed grammar wise, and we have to figure out what is wrong. We read a lot of whole class books, for example we are reading The War Outside right now (I just finished, it had a great ending) We have to take notes on the book and do a ton of analyzation.
Hope this helped
Anonymous
12/05/2023 19:23
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:ITDS’s way of handling kids with ADHD is to force them to leave.
Yep. And if you are okay with some pretty shocking treatment of such kids in your classroom, then I suppose it will be fine for your neurotypical child. For me (with one kid who is and one who isn’t), I was highly uncomfortable with the types of incidents that were never reported to parents (only because a teacher shared them on the way out did I ever find out). Any school can have issues with an inexperienced teacher in over her head, but to hide things from parents… let’s just say I would rather take my chances with our dcps now
8th grader from earlier here.
I AM A REAL 8th GRADER!!!!!
So, first of all, I am autistic and have ADHD, and the school treats me very well and helps me out a lot. Now I do get made fun of in a friendly way for my autism, but that is beside the point. There are a lot of kids in my grade who are on the spectrum or have ADHD and they have been here since pk-3. I don't think the school tries to remove people from the school. I think it is more of the fact that different kids fit at different places and some kids might not fit at ITDS. That is perfectly fine and true for all schools, I wouldn't fit at a boarding school because I would become a HOMESICK CRYBABY!!
By the way, I kind of have an addiction to Dc Urban Mom now...
-8th grader that is REAL
Anonymous
09/22/2023 13:17
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
I believe some sort of interpersonal scuffle in a stairwell. There was also some saying of bad words. My kid is too young to know much, but that's what was reported to me anyway.
I think a minor fight. Not a major fight. And not one that lasted very long.
My kid's takeaway from the community meeting was that intentionally spreading gossip to rile kids up who go on to fight will be punished as seriously as the fight itself. So take from that what you will.
Sigh. It just sucks to be a MSer. The only thing harder is parenting one.
Anonymous
09/22/2023 13:03
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
I believe some sort of interpersonal scuffle in a stairwell. There was also some saying of bad words. My kid is too young to know much, but that's what was reported to me anyway.
I think a minor fight. Not a major fight. And not one that lasted very long.
My kid's takeaway from the community meeting was that intentionally spreading gossip to rile kids up who go on to fight will be punished as seriously as the fight itself. So take from that what you will.
Anonymous
09/22/2023 13:00
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:How do they force ADHD students to leave? Pay for them to go to a private school??
I don't feel great about Algebra for all for my kid, but we'll see what it looks like a few years from now when they'll get there.
As a kid with fully diagnosed and properly medicated ADHD at ITDS for many years, our kid has been fine. Several other kids in the class have done well and also had ADHD.
The only kids I've seen forced out have been the bullies and that was clearly more related to anti-social behavior than any diagnoses. Two bullies left the school, and given that both of them gave my kid a hard time, I was glad to see them go.
Anonymous
09/21/2023 18:12
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
I believe some sort of interpersonal scuffle in a stairwell. There was also some saying of bad words. My kid is too young to know much, but that's what was reported to me anyway.
lol, like a fight?
I guess. But my kid is too little to be reliable and didn't actually see it, so I don't know much.
Anonymous
09/21/2023 18:05
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
I believe some sort of interpersonal scuffle in a stairwell. There was also some saying of bad words. My kid is too young to know much, but that's what was reported to me anyway.
lol, like a fight?
Anonymous
09/21/2023 17:50
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
I believe some sort of interpersonal scuffle in a stairwell. There was also some saying of bad words. My kid is too young to know much, but that's what was reported to me anyway.
Anonymous
09/21/2023 17:33
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
What happened in the Middle School yesterday that required teacher intervention?
Anonymous
09/20/2023 12:24
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:14:33 and the 'want to leave' poster -- did you pull an ADD kid out, and if so, was the next place better?
Our IB was better—more equipped to handle different learning styles, more loving environment. Not perfect by any means, but an improvement.
Anonymous
09/20/2023 10:58
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
14:33 and the 'want to leave' poster -- did you pull an ADD kid out, and if so, was the next place better?
Anonymous
09/18/2023 16:39
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How do they force ADHD students to leave? Pay for them to go to a private school??
I don't feel great about Algebra for all for my kid, but we'll see what it looks like a few years from now when they'll get there.
Crappy services and not much accomodations until their parents move them out.
And some pretty draconian punishments for adhd kids behaving in predictable ways. They don’t seem to have enough strategies to deal with all kids’ needs. They don’t make you leave, but they sure motivate you to leave.
This aligns with what a couple other parents have told me about their experience with kids that need a lot of services, and at least one who then sent kid to a private school. And I do think in general sometimes kids get punished inappropriately -- either too much or hardly at all. However, I will say that in my experience I'm happy with the related services and accommodations my kid receives, admittedly for pretty minimal needs comparatively, and I like and trust the professionals involved.
Yes-- it's a weird combination of leniency for sometimes really egregious behaviors, and other times having very little tolerance for documented special needs. I can't quite figure it out.
Anonymous
09/18/2023 16:36
Subject: Re:Inspired Teaching?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How do they force ADHD students to leave? Pay for them to go to a private school??
I don't feel great about Algebra for all for my kid, but we'll see what it looks like a few years from now when they'll get there.
Crappy services and not much accomodations until their parents move them out.
And some pretty draconian punishments for adhd kids behaving in predictable ways. They don’t seem to have enough strategies to deal with all kids’ needs. They don’t make you leave, but they sure motivate you to leave.
This aligns with what a couple other parents have told me about their experience with kids that need a lot of services, and at least one who then sent kid to a private school. And I do think in general sometimes kids get punished inappropriately -- either too much or hardly at all. However, I will say that in my experience I'm happy with the related services and accommodations my kid receives, admittedly for pretty minimal needs comparatively, and I like and trust the professionals involved.