The absolute ignorance with which people are dismissing the HIGH books mentioned, and the repeated claims that historical scholarship challenge comes from how hard the source text is to read, not how hard the student thinks about the content, convinces me that these are excellent book choices, that have a chance at producing graduates far more capable of historical scholarship than their parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 8th grade
Political Change: Resistance and Revolution, 1754-1785.
Creating a National Political System and Culture, 1785-1823.
Geographic and Economic Change Shape the Nation, 1820-1853.
A Nation Divided and Rebuilt, 1850-1890.

8th read a novel study of Ona Judge. Forgot the title.

Will the MS Social Studies curriculum change next year?

Out of 150 years of American history - that was the person to focus on?

If you knew anything about Ona Judge, you would understand that her story illustrates a lot about the experiences of enslaved people during the early history of the US AND tells us some things about George Washington’s character that have long not been discussed in public schools.

I teach APUSH. This is a silly choice. Sorry.

Enlighten us.

Is this the sort of DBQ writing you teach to your students?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In 8th grade
Political Change: Resistance and Revolution, 1754-1785.
Creating a National Political System and Culture, 1785-1823.
Geographic and Economic Change Shape the Nation, 1820-1853.
A Nation Divided and Rebuilt, 1850-1890.

8th read a novel study of Ona Judge. Forgot the title.

Will the MS Social Studies curriculum change next year?

Out of 150 years of American history - that was the person to focus on?

If you knew anything about Ona Judge, you would understand that her story illustrates a lot about the experiences of enslaved people during the early history of the US AND tells us some things about George Washington’s character that have long not been discussed in public schools.

So not just that he couldn't tell or lie and liked to cut down cherry trees?

I think you are about 150 years out-of-date in your knowledge of public school history curricula.

30 at most. People on this board know that stupid but of propaganda, which proves it is pretty recent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they select new novels for this course for this school year?

Long walk ti water in mp1
Red scarf girl in mp2

Huh. My kid was assigned to read long walk to water in grade 5. We've relocated from another school district though.

Huh, MCPS doesn't coordinate its curriculum with an untsted school district.

Long Walk to Water is not a children's book. It's an activist book for a NGO, targeted at people of all ages.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Long_Walk_to_Water

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are they being enriched with???? Our read the same book this year that was read in 4th/5th grade Center for Enriched Studies.

You should tell your CES teacher to pay attention to what's happening in middle school to avoid duplicating their work. Middle school shouldn't have to change the whole curriculum to reflect the whim of one ES teacher who gave 20 kids the same book.

Or maybe the CES teacher did it on purpose so they the kids could get the experience of revisiting a book for deeper study later, and discovering that reading a book once is the same as being done with a book.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they select new novels for this course for this school year?

Long walk ti water in mp1
Red scarf girl in mp2

Huh. My kid was assigned to read long walk to water in grade 5. We've relocated from another school district though.

Read posts up thread. People have discussed that same novels are being read in ES and MS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do the kids get selected for this class? In my kid's school they have World history or Global humanities. One of mine was placed in the World History and the other in Global Humanities. Both were in Adv. English. This was in 6th grade.

Everyone is placed in advanced English - there is no on-level course.

HIGH placement is based on grades and MAP scores. Those who are waitlisted for the humanities MS magnets are placed by central office, and then schools have the discretion to pull more kids in. You could talk to the counselor if you want more info on how your MS approaches it.

Interesting. My kid did get into humanities magnet but rejected the spot for a whole school magnet program and got placed in HIGH. DC said that most of the kids in that class were not out of consortium.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they select new novels for this course for this school year?

Long walk ti water in mp1
Red scarf girl in mp2

Huh. My kid was assigned to read long walk to water in grade 5. We've relocated from another school district though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seemed like world history when DC took it. It was a fine course. I wish there were more courses like this in MS.

+1. Students need to be challenged and MS are not.

+2 This is one of only 2 middle school courses that my kid really enjoys and is challenged by. Teacher is great!

Anonymous wrote:How do the kids get selected for this class? In my kid's school they have World history or Global humanities. One of mine was placed in the World History and the other in Global Humanities. Both were in Adv. English. This was in 6th grade.

Everyone is placed in advanced English - there is no on-level course.

HIGH placement is based on grades and MAP scores. Those who are waitlisted for the humanities MS magnets are placed by central office, and then schools have the discretion to pull more kids in. You could talk to the counselor if you want more info on how your MS approaches it.

How do the kids get selected for this class? In my kid's school they have World history or Global humanities. One of mine was placed in the World History and the other in Global Humanities. Both were in Adv. English. This was in 6th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Did they select new novels for this course for this school year?

Long walk ti water in mp1
Red scarf girl in mp2

Did they select new novels for this course for this school year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the novels students will read in this track this upcoming school year?

The novels don't change. They are always the same, so ready from threads above. The problem in my view is that these are not actually advanced novels -- they are below grade level, not even at grade level. Given that this is how kids who did ELC/CES are supposed to receive enrichment outside of math, the HIGH class is really inadequate. Who selected the books, and how can we get them to add more challenge?

Appaling that the SAME novels as in 4-5th grades are read in this class. They could at least rotate the titles so it is not the same one. As with most things when it comes to the education piece around here, DIY at home. Sad.

Agree. And this is for the so-called enriched class.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the novels students will read in this track this upcoming school year?

The novels don't change. They are always the same, so ready from threads above. The problem in my view is that these are not actually advanced novels -- they are below grade level, not even at grade level. Given that this is how kids who did ELC/CES are supposed to receive enrichment outside of math, the HIGH class is really inadequate. Who selected the books, and how can we get them to add more challenge?

Appaling that the SAME novels as in 4-5th grades are read in this class. They could at least rotate the titles so it is not the same one. As with most things when it comes to the education piece around here, DIY at home. Sad.