an Elementary School ESL Teacher
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Pro
Was Consulting worth it?
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Summer affirmations for educators
Chief
i feel like I bombed my observation :((((
Pro
When is too young for kids to learn to read?
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Schools will never be equitable. Every student is unique and wears their own luggage. We cannot create a perfect education scenario for all. Taking away the classes that challenge the more gifted (and usually hardest working) students is hard to justify.
We have to continue challenging all students, not Waterdown all of the standards.
Chief
Advanced classes should be required to be offered to our brightest, not removed from schools.
Pro
I’ve been teaching 6th grade honors ELA for the last six years in a district that sounds very much like the one described in this article.
I’ve been arguing that the entire honors system should be dismantled for the last five years- at least at this level.
Students in my district are identified for the program in 2nd grade. They allow anyone to test at any time after 2nd grade, too, but the tests are very difficult and very few students actually make it into the program at any age. However, there is an appeals process that parents or teachers can initiate.
My honors class usually has about 28 kids in it. Maybe 5-10 of them are actually “gifted”, while the rest of them just have helicopter moms that greased lots of wheels during the appeals process. It’s ridiculous.
I’m fully convinced that every 6th grader in my school would be better served if we took the ten gifted kids and spread them out into all of the “regular” ELA classes.
Chief
It sounds like a bad process, but I'd argue for reform, not removal.
My oldest son took AP classes throughout high school, honors in some classes and regular class for the rest. He got a full academic scholarship. No way should these be removed. Let students learn at their highest level; we are doing a disservice to these students. If not being able to take these classes hurts someone's feelings, they can always study harder, go online to learn, etc. We need to overhaul our education system completely.
Why take away from those academically ahead? Build up those behind instead. I've worked with middle schoolers who could barely read and needed extra help. We are failing as a whole.
Chief
My daughter did the same thing!
Free college in high school!
This is heading our way in CA with special education- they are pushing inclusion for special needs students, effectively removing the extra supports they need and have relied on to learn and succeed in school. It's insane. Next year they are adjusting English Language Learners courses to be more inclusive, too. I don't understand HOW anyone thinks shoving ALL kids into one learning environment is helpful. My brother had an IEP- he never would have graduated high school without his special ed courses. I was in Honors/AP and would have probably been bored and felt unchallenged in general English courses. I never used AP to leverage myself (I went to a community college after graduation)- I was just stronger in certain subjects and enjoyed the challenge. The high school I work at is "open access" meaning any student can request Honors/AP if they want- even if it's questionable that they'll be successful. It's not a perfect system, but it provides a variety of learning environments to hopefully meet a variety of learning types. Bureaucrats and bloated Ph.D.'s in yuckity-yuck need to stay out of education when they have no clue what they're talking about.
I'm tired of this argument. I've been watching in Ca as they've been pushing this universal access talking point. Now that I've seen it in action for about 4-5 yrs, I see that all that's happened is that many Honors and AP type courses have been dumbed down to include the others, little by little, and influenced by admins looking at grades. They don't have the skills to be there and that includes also the ability to think abstractly. Its unfair to the top performers in these subjects to have watered down content and instruction and slower paces.
What opportunity exactly are they missing when they can't compete with? Those kids are not going to go out and get a high level job if they don't kick their own asses. And they might. But if they aren't doing it in school, they should be placed where they belong. They always have to OPPORTUNITY to work hard and get there.
I agree wholeheartedly, it's extremely unfair!!