Posts by urbantinker8

Back in the day, the lower elementary grades were always a chaotic whirlwind of coloring and drawing.🙄
But at least they were actually learning how to write.
Honestly, stripping written letters out of the first-grade curriculum feels like a total crime against education.☕

I mean, kids just don't get that sense of tangible progress anymore—so many of them have been stuck writing in block letters for a year or two now—and they end up incredibly bored, or worse, it’s just fundamentally bad for their fine motor skill development.

Carol Johnson4 said:So, even more work to do at home. Outside of school hours. Next up on the list: freelance writing tutoring. :nemamprikladansmajli:

I don't think it necessarily translates to more homework—it might just be extra work for those specific students who actually care about mastering the art of writing, though it feels like there are fewer and fewer of them these days, I guess.😁

Though, if you ask me, private writing coaching could actually turn out to be a pretty lucrative business in the future.🐔

Carol Johnson4 said:What shocks me is how they stop teaching handwriting skills starting in first grade. And I don't mean through mindless copying. 😁

Take science class, for example. It varies by teacher, sure, but in my experience, you just finish a worksheet and call it a day. Meanwhile, every textbook ends with review questions. It’s the perfect setup: go home, find the answers in the text, and write them in a notebook. At least then they’d have an actual science notebook for once.

Don't even get me started on English. My kid is in third grade and hasn't had a single assignment where he had to write anything out yet. Anything at all.

I know a kid who just started high school. By the end of elementary school, his handwriting was such a mess that his teachers basically had to ask him to translate his own tests. I can't wait to see how he survives high school. 😵

If this new curriculum reform means less writing, I'm definitely not looking forward to it.

Well, it definitely seems like that's the direction things are heading.
I mean, you have more gadgets, fewer actual assignments, a much slower pace—basically trying to offload work in every possible way, even where it doesn't make sense.
The kids' fine motor skills are probably going to absolutely tank because of it, I guess.
But then again, that's just the trend these days.
Who really cares about penmanship anymore, anyway?🙄

Susan James said:😕 😕

Wait a second... regardless of all the fluff and useless content, you're saying it's a good thing it became mandatory? 😕
When you consider that about 90% of the "smart stuff" is actually geared toward kids who already have advanced logical reasoning skills, it just doesn't add up. Between the poorly written textbooks and the fact that they can't seem to find—or properly pay—qualified professors, it’s a mess.

This was definitely one of the worst moves by the Secretary of Education (and let's be honest, that's a pretty long list of failures), serving as a textbook example of how to perform damage control for the public.

Another "innovation" popping up in our schools is this elective "digital literacy" for the younger grades. It’s not inherently bad to introduce kids to tech before we start demanding electronic presentations from them, but that's really only an option if you happen to have an after-school program teacher with extra tech training, or if you have the means to drive your child to a "better equipped" school district.🧐
(It isn't exactly groundbreaking, either; most parents could teach this themselves, or a kid could just pick it up on their own. But it gives us this nice little illusion that the school system is actually teaching them something useful.)

Well, I might actually agree with you for once.

Michelle Nelson4 said:Personally, I feel that Computer Science is something that absolutely ought to be a required part of the curriculum, which it hasn't been until now. We also need more digital resources available. In my opinion, providing every single student with their own tablet or laptop for classwork should be the bare minimum requirement. So, from my perspective, this is a step in the right direction. It’s far from perfect, but I wouldn't expect it to be. Honestly, I’m just surprised the direction is even somewhat decent. For context, I have an old Computer Science textbook from over ten years ago sitting at home, and this new version is definitely an improvement.

If there is some fluff in there, well, just like with any other subject, students will learn it, answer the questions, and promptly forget it. But if there is useful, intelligent material in there—and I am certain there is—those who want to learn it will retain it and keep using it.

P.S. Logical thinking is a skill that develops; nobody is just born with it. Therefore, they really ought to be practicing it.

Yeah.
The textbooks are what really matter here.🙄
And the fact that 90% of schools don't even have half the gadgets they actually need (like those "tech labs" that only have maybe ten prehistoric laptops)🤣—that doesn't seem to matter. They say the theory is what counts because... well, computer science... 🙂
which is basically just selling smoke and mirrors. It's just a way to grab more funding.
You'll have untrained teachers whose entire technical expertise is limited to Word and Excel, trying to teach computer science from a book using only five computers for a class of 25 students. There won't be any tablets, and internet access is always questionable.🤣
Wow, what a massive reform.🙏
but yeah, I suppose the big takeaway is just that "computer science has become mandatory for everyone now."🤦

Best of luck with everything!👍

silentraven6 said:Our fifth graders are being forced into this thirty-minute religious studies session on days when they already have six hours of classes. To make matters worse, they scheduled the elective German class during a different block on those exact same days, so my kid can't even make it to soccer practice—it’s either stuck in class at 8:00 AM or 2:00 PM if they're on the morning schedule.

So the schedule goes: school ends at 1:10, then there's religious studies at noon, a free period, and then German right after.

I've already submitted a formal request to withdraw them from the program.

If I had to take a guess... they didn't accept it?🙂

Susan James said:frupy, my question is whether "there are places where they combine kids from different grades for religious education if there are fewer than 15 per class"

How could you possibly know the answer to that? Do you work at the City Hall or something? Even then, it's totally possible for data to be fudged to make it look like 90% of the country is Catholic, making it seem like 90% of kids attend religious ed in every single classroom.

That’s exactly why this forum exists—it's one of those corners of the internet where someone can actually share what's happening at my kid's school (which is also my workplace). I'm just asking if they combined classes or not when there were fewer than 15 kids signed up.

And what am I supposed to do with specific info like "at Perdue Farms Elementary, they merged 5th grade B and 5th grade C"?

The point is really about whether this is becoming a standard practice in US elementary schools.
In a city like Chicago, it definitely isn't.
I don't have access to every single school's files, but I have a pretty decent handle on a good number of them.🙂
It doesn't mean they won't start merging classes in a year or two—in fact, things seem to be heading in that direction—but that isn't the case right now.
Schools that actually combine these small groups are more of an exception than the rule.

feralmoose32 said:It actually does happen over in Springfield 😬

That sounds pretty great, I suppose.

Susan James said:😍

so, it's possible to 🙂

I don't think anyone actually claimed that it couldn't be done, per se.
It just won't happen, I guess.

edit: in Washington, D.C. (just so there isn't any confusion again)

Quincy:

northerntiger9 As if I could just ignore what urbantinker8 was saying about that whole situation... though, I suppose there isn't much point in dwelling on it too much, really. It’s all a bit much, isn't it? I guess we could look at it from another angle, maybe, if one were inclined to spend that kind of energy, which I rarely am. I mean, you probably could have just said, "As far as I know, we don't really do things that way here in Washington, D.C.," or something like that, I guess. 😉

I guess there might be an issue here, though I’m not entirely sure yet. Maybe it's just me overthinking things, but it feels like something isn't quite sitting right.
Go ahead, lay it on me. Give me your best shot.

So, I was thinking about how things work in elementary schools over in Washington, D.C., and I guess I started wondering if it’s almost—or maybe even entirely—true that...🤔I guess it’s just not happening—there aren't any classes where fewer than 15 kids are signed up for religious studies, let alone having multiple sections where more than half the students are opting out of the curriculum entirely.
It seems like they aren't combining the classes, at least based on what I’ve seen so far, though I suppose that hasn't really been the standard practice up until this point.
I guess trends tend to shift from one year to the next anyway, so it’ll probably end up happening sooner rather than later, maybe.

I suppose this should be fine now, right? I think I might have finally gotten things sorted out, though I can't say for certain without seeing how it all plays out, I guess. Maybe it’s working, maybe it isn't, but we'll just have to see.🙂

northerntiger9 said:It works—of course it works. In my district, we have three classes of about 18 to 20 students each. More than half don't bother showing up for religion class, so they just bundle the ones who actually attend into a single session. Usually, it’s two classes combined—though there's one class where most of the kids are solo attendees.

Well, you're talking about a different area, but I’m referring to Washington, D.C. 🙂

In Washington, D.C., it’s pretty rare to find a school where fewer than 15 kids per class are signed up for religion class... assuming there are even any kids enrolled at all, I guess.

Susan James said:It’s never going to work perfectly for everyone.
Personally, my spouse and I find it much easier when there isn't a first-period class so we can all sleep in a little longer. My kid actually prefers having a free period where they can just hang out and do their own thing.🤣

However, looking at kids who stay for after-school programs—especially in schools that run on split shifts (where the religious ed teacher has to show up for both morning and afternoon sessions)—we could consider scheduling it during the after-school block. The after-school supervisor is already being paid to watch them, whether it's one kid or forty, so they could lead creative activities or take the group outside, rather than expecting the classroom teacher to stick around unpaid for supervision.
That would solve the issue of first-period classes being a struggle for elementary students who aren't early risers.

And while we're talking about after-school care, those teachers are working five straight hours in the sun sometimes, balancing a ton of different tasks and responsibilities, often with up to 40 students in a group. That's a huge contrast to religious studies, which stays on the schedule even if there's only one student signed up for the hour.
I'd love to know if there's any precedent for combining students from different grade levels for these classes if there are fewer than 15 per grade (to lighten the teacher's load), similar to how they combine kids for after-school programs.
Or even how they group kids for elective language classes like Spanish.

No, I don't think that's really a thing they do.

Ronald Chavez2 said:What Lord Byron mentioned below—visualization and interaction—is valid. Even though I'm not in the classroom myself, listening to teachers at my local school, it seems these devices can add a certain layer of depth to learning, especially when textbooks are designed specifically for them, featuring QR codes that link students to interactive content. Plus, teachers have the freedom to step outside the box by creating their own digital materials or pulling from existing resources to help drive home a lesson.

Of course, you shouldn't force tablets into every single subject just because the mantra is "Digitalization, fuck yeah," since they aren't equally useful everywhere. A lot of it hinges on the teachers themselves—how willing they are to embrace the tech and bridge the gap between digital tools and the curriculum. There is plenty of potential there, but it really comes down to individual effort. In my view, the push for digitalization and equipping schools is the brightest part of this entire reform, and I honestly hope this specific initiative survives its current role as nothing more than the Democratic Party's excuse to cozy up to the Republican Party.

Well, I suppose if you look closely, this is actually the biggest distraction in the entire reform—it’s basically just throwing bait out there so the public starts believing everything will be some kind of perfect utopia once school starts in September.
And, naturally, people have swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.🤦

We aren't going to fall for that particular story, that much is certain, which is probably why the unions are pushing back so hard.
(And it isn't because teachers are somehow incompetent or unprepared, despite how some villains over here might try to paint them.🙄)

Michelle Nelson4 said:It’s one of those weird situations where you technically have an internet connection, yet somehow, it feels like there’s absolutely no connection at all... 👍

there you go. now you see what I mean👍
it’s there in theory, maybe, but in practice? not really.

Michelle Nelson4 said:Has it ever crossed your mind to actually look into the details? It turns out these tablets come equipped with a SIM card and a state-subsidized data plan that includes 2GB of mobile internet. And honestly, if you happen to burn through that 2GB limit, topping up more data is actually quite affordable. I really have to wonder—where else in this country can you find people who have completed vocational training yet still live in areas completely lacking decent 4G coverage? It just doesn't make sense.

And who might that be? 😒 Am I uninformed? Well, that’s a bit of a loaded question, isn't it? I wouldn't say I'm completely in the dark, though I certainly admit there are plenty of nuances I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. I like to think I stay reasonably well-versed on the essentials, but I'm always open to being corrected if I've missed a beat!

Honestly, when I sit down and read these supposed "insider" posts from people claiming to be part of the system, it really hits home. It becomes pretty clear that whenever teachers start posting their takes on a subject, you can basically just tune them out. You shouldn't take anything they say seriously at all. It’s obvious they don't actually have a clue what they're talking about; they're just going through the motions and trying to look important.

Honestly, even if we were stuck in a world without a single kilobyte of data—or if schools completely cut off internet access—a truly bright kid would still find a way to make a tablet useful. They’re resourceful like that. Meanwhile, you just know some teachers will insist it's all just a distraction and try to force everyone back to using nothing but chalkboards and slate tablets. It feels like such a step backward.

You're heading down the wrong path again, I suppose.😵
You are the one who isn't informed.
I know exactly what kind of tablets we're talking about; I've gone through three different models in a single school year.
Schools don't have Wi-Fi, and the mobile data gets burned through so incredibly fast that nobody is going to pay to top it up.
And you were planning on doing some hourly work for those kids that requires internet on the 25th of the month and... well, good luck with that.
Five people might be able to participate, but the rest won't be.

Furthermore,
do you have any idea what kind of tablets are actually being bought through these public procurement contracts?
😂
The kind where, after the first semester, you can count on one hand how many are even functioning in a single classroom.

But fine, go ahead and keep doing things your way if that makes you happy.🙂

Michelle Nelson4 said:Well, if the curriculum is identical and the teaching methods remain the same, then at the end of the day, it’s effectively the same thing—it certainly isn't making things worse. I'm not quite sure what problems tablets are supposed to be "masking"; a tablet is just a piece of technology, much like any other gadget... except you can access the internet with them. That way, you can't make those silly excuses anymore about how kids can't look things up online because they don't have enough money for a $10 voucher (there have been plenty of those "arguments" floating around), or that they can't work on documents via email because not everyone has a computer at home or their school equipment is "ancient." So, if nothing else, that part of the excuse disappears. Though, of course, we Americans are now starting to come up with ridiculous rebuttals like "they don't have cameras" or "that's junk that's only used in Ethiopia while everyone else has moved on"—so why don't we just go back to using chalkboards until we find some mythical creature in a white-walled utopia that offers a perfectly ideal solution we can all adopt? For us, nothing ever seems good enough to even try...

PS Even if the government "just wasted money on tablets" (and besides, most of that was actually EU funding, not our own domestic budget)—I see it as a positive. I think it's wonderful that every child gets a tablet. We are living in the 21st century; this provides at least some tangible benefit to every kid.

PPS My daughter has a street backpack, and she's quite happy with it. Everything fits. Her art supplies (since they carry those), her gym gear, and her German books (since she has German class). And judging by how well it holds an umbrella, I'd say it's reasonably waterproof 😁 I have no idea what the bottom is like; nobody really cares how the backpack sits on the floor. Her books were mostly used anyway...

I mean, has it ever occurred to you that there might not actually be internet access at the school itself?😒

I suppose all those attempts at reform we’ve been seeing over the last few years just don't seem to have any kind of long-term sustainable vision or a coherent plan behind them, and they aren't even remotely "comprehensive" if you ask me; plus, with all these self-proclaimed messiahs popping up and pulling everything in their own little directions, the whole situation is starting to take on this sort of tragicomic dimension.
rather than actually moving upward, I guess we've somehow managed to hit rock bottom in such a short amount of time.

silentraven6 said:He really showed his true colors. I've been following him since the very beginning and I used to back him; I was always willing to actually sit down, read his stuff, and listen to what he had to say. But lately, it feels more and more like he’s just a malicious, corrupt guy who lives for self-promotion. He’s got this awful complex.

I watched his whole run on the fifth day and he came across as such a massive narcissist.

And that whole bit about reading a book every week? Yeah, that couldn't be further from the truth.

I might as well just say: I told you so. Back in early 2016...😛
No, I wasn't out in the middle of Times Square that day, and I wouldn't go back there again if I could help it.
I guess they all just love seeing their own faces on TV and hearing themselves talk, especially Jokić. 🙂

feralmoose32 said:So, one of my friend's little ones is in first grade, and they already have their first required reading assignment—plus a test on it!
It’s all just a blur right now...

Meanwhile, with my other friend, they don't even assign reading books in the first grade at all.

So, yeah... 😬

Personally, I’ve been reading Hedgehog the Hedgehog and Ugly Duckling to my little guy, and we’ve actually moved on to Harry Potter. We’re already halfway through the first book in just a week—it really shows how much of an impact parents can have on what their kids are reading.

I mean, it isn't exactly normal for them to be churning through a different book every single week like those high-pressure private academies do... though, granted, that usually happens in the higher grades.

What are you even talking about here? Where on earth is someone actually covering a new book every week?🙄

And it's not like you're the only person in the entire world dealing with "books" and "tests."
People really do seem to lose their minds over every little thing these days, I guess.🤣

I caught a segment on Jokić on TV the other night, and man, what a total demagogue—the people in Congress don't even come close to his level of manipulation.
It's all just noise, really; they probably should have stuck with me instead, but hey, look at them now.🐔

Kate Cox2 I suppose I should probably start by saying that...
I don't know, I guess he’s just really sweet, in his own way.😛 I mean, I guess his version of a reform would probably be ten times more effective than this current mess we’re dealing with, while we all just sit around passing the time and collecting little trinkets. 🙄

I have this nagging feeling that if things were different, we’d just be looking at the exact same mess, only it would probably go by a different name.
I guess I’m just not really into collecting things anymore. Maybe it's just a phase, or maybe I've finally reached that point where I realized how much clutter actually accumulates over time, but yeah, I think I'm done with it.🎉