Things I wish I didn’t know about TRSD
Teach just posted a comment on the BS Could Work story that everyone should consider carefully. It’s so similar in tone and content to the comments captured in View from the Top that I wonder if Teach isn’t one of the featured speakers. Regardless, it’s clear that the SAU is unaware or in denial of the reality that much of what goes on in our schools is not teaching. Despite this, my complaints about weekly viewings of The Apprentice resulted in change. At least some on Greenough Road are listening.
For the benefit of the teachers and administrators who are listening, I’d like to start a list of problems that need to be addressed. I’ve created a topic on the forums for collecting these. Comments will be allowed so that people who do not want to register for the forums can contribute, but I’m going to copy the comment to the forum and delete it.
Please be as specific as possible — date, teacher, class, event.
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Concerned parent of two children in the TRSD school system who pays taxes and is not employed by -- or contracted to -- the town or the SAU...one of the Rest of Us
July 7th, 2008 at 6:22 am
I wish I didn’t read the summer reading lists for the High school. (On the HS website)
Little House on the Prairie is listed as a reading book for 11th grade.
My HS student is embarrassed to be going to a school which has this bookon its summer reading list. This was read by many back in Elementary School.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
Have you considered how a parent of a student with severe special needs would feel if s/he saw that his/her child could not read anything on the list? Let’s be serious. To be upset over the book list is outrageous. If your student is above that, then that is great! However, please be considerate of the learning levels of all students. ALL students are expected to complete summer reading. This means even students with MR. How disrepectful and condescending of you to insult Timberlane and students with special needs in that way.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Are you suggesting that we teach at a level a special needs student can succeed at to preserve the feelings of the student or the parent?
That emotion may be a large part of our problems at the SAU. We should be grouping the kids by ability at a very early age so that each child can reach their potential instead of teaching at a level every child can manage.
This is done in athletic programs and music programs, why not academics?
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:29 am
So would you rather have students with special needs not be mainstreamed? Are you suggesting that they be kept in a separate wing of the school as to not “interfere” with the learning of other students? No student learns the same as another. No student has the same exact abilities as another. It is the teachers responsibility to reach all students. That’s the purpose of the reading list. A good student would not read at a grade level that is below him/her. However, a student with special needs would find that s/he is not being singled out and can find his/her own niche within the list. As for your response to “athletic programs and music programs” – those are by choice. Those are things that students sign up for, they are not compulsory like education.
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Yes. Absolutely. I want each child to reach their potential and to do this we have to teach children to their ability. This is not the same as locking the special needs kids is one part of the school (which, ironically, the SAU just asked us to prepare via warrant article). In fact, teaching kids to their ability may be more diverse than teaching them by the first letter of their last name since bad math students might join good math students in a science, music, gym, or reading class.
Change math to football and tell me how you would handle things. Would you ask a senior training for a college football career to play at a level an autistic kid can compete at? Who would benefit from that? The autistic kid may enjoy the experience and the kid’s parents would certainly enjoy that, but neither kid would develop the skills to compete professionally. Why would you demand excellence in athletics but tolerate mediocrity in academics?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:00 am
The reading list is not only at a low-reading level. It includes Henry James and John Steinbeck. Students are being taught to their ability. Why can’t you understand that? It’s not as if the reading list is dumbed-down. There are choices there for those who want to excel, too. Get over yourself.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Our HS, our MS, and one of our elementary schools are all in need of improvement. Is that the ability of our children? I don’t think so. My third grader completed an eighth grade ‘review’ missing only three answers. When I asked why middle schoolers were being taught at this level, the teacher responded, “I’ve been teaching here for 20 years so please don’t assume that kids can add, subtract, multiply and divide integers without problems. Especially subtraction, as I found that many have trouble with.”
What happens between 3rd and 8th grade in our schools? Do you really believe that kids being taught at their ability learn nothing in five years? The reading list is part of a body of evidence.
Please constrain your comments to the subject matter. There’s no need for name calling and it’s not welcome here.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:29 am
Kacee said “A good student would not read at a grade level that is below him/her. ”
Are you sure about that? I know kids who would choose that book to read and their reading level is college level. It is on the list an easy read, and not challenging.
Also, teachers are not having the kids in Acclerated Classes read at grade appropriate reading level during class time. Why should they during the summer?
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:35 am
My comments were entirely on subject. My response was to the reading list only. I will restate my opinion: It is for readers of ALL abilities. It does not cater to one ability or the other. I consider it an insult to parents of students with disabilities and to the district to demean the list because of its selections which are entirely appropriate for the student body.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
“Laura” – If that student is not reading at his/her ability, s/he is NOT a good student. Good students are those who are intrinsically motivated to learn, not those who are only motivated by an easy A.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Kacee , I was referring to…
“Get over yourself.”
Play nice.
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’m sorry, but when you make remarks like “Change math to football and tell me how you would handle things. Would you ask a senior training for a college football career to play at a level an autistic kid can compete at?” it seems absurd. That’s not what the reading list is doing at all. It’s not mandating that everyone read at the level, it’s giving people choices as you are well aware. Also, please do not connote autism to low-ability as you are clearly mistaken with that as well.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Leveling is a solution.
If there was leveling, kids would not be bored doing the same work in MS each year while their peers were trying to catch up. Reading lists could be geared to the levels of the kids and not have to be all inclusive. BAck a few years ago, my student who was a college level reader had to sit in a class and have a book with a 4th grade reading level read to them. To add insult to this, the child had read the book in 3rd grade. I was told the book was read for the “social issues”
I know there are books at all levels with social issues so my only guess is the book was at a reading level that even the lowest demoninator could understand easily.
I can see my student getting to the end of the summer and needing to read a book and choosing Little House knowing is it a quick enjoyable read. A few days sitting pool side and the book is done. Some of the other books would take weeks of reading. In the mean time, my Good student has spent the summer, working, taking an online class, doing summer work for other classes, and traveling abroad.
If good student was given grief about reading such a simple book, their first answer— It is on the list, if you didn’t want me to read it why put it on the list.
Then good student would have to explain to much younger sibling why their reading list has books at a higher reading level.
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I just don’t see why people are so upset. It’s not as if the list does not offer challenging reading selections. Also, why would the best of students even need to consult a suggestive list posted on the school’s site? Wouldn’t they read the NYTimes and google the books listed or read reviews of books of interest to them? …Or would that be too much work? We criticize the school which doesn’t challenge our brightest, but yet we want things hand fed to them at the same time. It just doesn’t seem right.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 am
As a parent who has had kids in TRSD for years now, I am well versed in monitoring my childs education and taking steps to challenge them when the school doesn’t. When your child doesn’t want to go to school because they are bored with math in 7th grade which has been a review since 5th grade and they tell are in disbelief they have to sit in a class still struggling with basic math, as a parent I go to the school and fight for them.
Part of the problem with the Little House being on a Junior Reading list is perception. As a parent I have to wonder why it is on the general reading list. Special Needs kids have IEPs and their education program is spelled out. If Little House is on the reading list it tells me that there are mainstream children who are reading at that level(4th grade) as Juniors in HS. It is a continuation of the school showing movies in English class rather than reading Novels or watching the Apprentice in Economics class.
I’ve heard underclassmen wonder why they don’t have something like Little House on their reading list.
I am willing to consider it is an editing oversite. In one of my kids English classes in MS they could bring in English errors found in everyday life for a “Board of Honor” . Perhaps Len can start one here for papers from the school. The release forms for HS kids watching movies are always a good one. There is one format of the form which asks parents to sign off on a movie and lists the reasons why, like violence, language, but there is no place on the form to tell the kids which movie their kids are seeing,
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:02 am
I’m sorry that you’ve had that experience. I have never. I’ve only seen the film sheets, which are standard, that has the title of the movie, reasons why it is rated R, with alternative assignments if a parent doesn’t want the student to watch it. You must have some pretty bad luck. Also, the Apprentice is not shown weekly. Maybe twice in the year. Again, I can’t share your experiences.
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:07 am
Also, IEPs do not dictate books for summer reading. In fact, IEPs share the reasons why the student is receiving services and modifications that a teacher must perform. Its unnerving that people do not understand students with special needs. I beleive that those students too deserve the right to have books suggested in the same format that other students do. It’s a list of reading suggestions, not mandates. If your child does not want to read the books on it, then s/he doesn’t have to.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
dmh, I can start such a list. I’m going to move these comments to the forum as well so that comments posted here are limited to the actual things people wish they didn’t know.
Kacee, my kid watched the Apprentice weekly as a freshman until I complained. Are you a teacher at the school?
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
No, the movie form is on the website. I’m just resourceful.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Again you have had different experiences that I. My kids were told to pick a book off the list to read from in past years. This year my kids tell me that they don’t really have to even read a book.
Little House on the Junior list would not be so bad if the other grade levels also had books of the same reading level. To point out the differences in the list. The Freshman list has a book that is required for English AP work.
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Again, you are missing the point of the list. The list is designed to reach students of ALL abilities! So if a freshmen can read at the level of an AP English student then that book would be most appropriate. Secret Life of Bees is also on the 9th grade list and that is a 4th GRL.
My student read Nickel and Dimed in Economics and that is at 12th grade reading level. My accelereted student was challenged and didn’t watch the Apprentice.
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
You have been very fortunate. My child have not had these opportunities. In fact, one teacher told me that the reading level of the kids in the class was such that they had to show movies as the students couldn’t read classics at grade level.
This HS list unlike the reading lists my kids got in Elementary school gives no indication of reading level. In fact, the last time I was told what my kids reading level was, was back in MS. I took my student’s reading level and asked principal if they tested my student to be reading at college level why they continued to have him read at elmentary level. I also asked for a list of reading level appropriate books for my student. The best they could come up with a list of books they suggest to their students. Unfortunately, my student had read the books prior to MS.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
“I’m just resourceful”
LOL. I wasn’t wondering about the movie form. You seem to have insight into the SAU that is beyond what I normally encounter…
– This means even students with MR
– I’ve only seen the film sheets, WHICH ARE STANDARD
– the Apprentice is not shown weekly. Maybe twice in the year
– IEPs share the reasons why the student is receiving services
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Reading list from other NH schools.
http://www.coebrownacademy.com/SummerReadingList.htm (They even have a list of books not to read)
http://www.salemschooldistrictnh.com/reading/
http://www.londonderry.org/
Another interesting thing is most of these school have additional reading besides English class.
It looks like for some of these schools the kids are reading 3-4 books atleast.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Kacee,
what is the link to the standard movie form? I’ll let you know if tht is the one I saw.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Back to reading lists. IMHO reading lists for the summershould be grade specific not for all students. The reading list should include books that spark the students interest to read more, challange the students with new ideas, expose them to new concepts, improve there reading skills, relelvant to topics to be taught in the upcming fall or meets multiple endpoints. Giving them book titles to read that they should have mastered at a younger grade level does not make sense in forwarding the education of the students. If a student has an IEP then there summer reading list should come from their IEP. Let’s not get going on IEP’s and the stories of parents getting kids IEP’s just so they can get a good GPA.