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Education « Zen5.me Zen5.meWell-nighZen5.me   RSS   Archive for the ‘Education’ Category How to get wonted to NCSUHigherEngineering 23 Jan Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion without research and wits with the college. I was a former counselor at the higher a long time ago. TheHigherof Engineering is very competitive. You have to be a top student to attend. Students who get wonted usually have unweighted GPA’s virtually 3.8 and Weighted GPA’s 4.8 and higher (these will retread lower with NC’s new quality point scale). So good grades is a must. Additionally, you must have a strong standardized test score. Many students with good grades will get deferred if their SAT or ACT scores are not strong enough. You want to see an ACT be at least 30 (a 29 might do it but I would suggest a 30 or higher) and it’s equivalent in SAT (1375 or so). Without a good score here, you severely limit your chances of acceptance, many deffered students are kids with SAT’s in the 1200’s or ACT’s like 26. Numbers are not the only things the school looks at though. If you have unconfined grades but only took the vital math track: Math 1,2,3, andHigherMath and has never taken any physics classes, they are not going to be as competitive with a kid who took Math 3,Pre Calc, Calc AB, Calc BC, and AP Physics C and AP Chem, plane with the same or slightly lower scores. The moral of the story is fill up on all the STEM classes in upper school. You should take: Calculus AB and BC or Calc 1 and 2 at a polity college, take Physics 1 and 2 (preferably, AP Physics C, if not offered, take Calculus based Physics 1 and 2 at your polity college), take AP Chem or CommunityHigherChemistry, Showing up with 2 years of Calculus, 2 years of Physics, 1 year of Chemistry shows the higher you are ready for engineering. It moreover gives you lots of credits to requite you a throne start in your undertow work. Remember the EC’s, be well rounded, join things that use engineering, like Robotics team and join things that showcase who you are, a unconfined musician, actor, artist, etc. Show personality in your essay, tell a story that shows who you are, make it fun and detailed but moreover link it to something that shows your passions. Remember your junior year is the most important year! Make your grades shine that year.   No Comments Posted in Education   What if… we did math right? 24 Oct What if we made developmentally sequencel goals that we want our children to reach. what if these goals includes procedures and concepts? what if we designed learning material to help students unzip these goals and had multiple approaches to teaching permitting the child to work with the easiest tideway for their learning style. What if the students got lots of practice and teacher feedback. what if students could pretest themselves to see if they need increasingly time or are ready for a test. what if we provide increasingly time and resources when a child isn’t yet ready instead of just having then goof a test. what if they take a test and we spend time afterwards, helping them correct and understand what they got wrong. what if we don’t move on to the next unit until we have a unrepealable level of mastery with the current unit. what if we protract to include previous material in new units so students don’t forget older topics and retain their mastery. why don’t we focus on quality over quantity and not worry well-nigh kids memorizing formulas but instead can they correctly use and wield them. teachers can be guides and facilitators  in the classroom, kids who are remoter withal can help requite lessons to their peers, online resources can be used to self-ruling up the traditional approach. Assessments can contain questions that require many variegated types of learning, procedural, conceptual, appplications, theorical, experimental, etc. why can’t we transpiration how we do math? It seems so simple.         No Comments Posted in Education   Quality over Quantity: A New idea for Math Education 08 Aug “I can’t do Math,” you hear this said over and over by children and adults alike.  It is plane “acceptable” to tout that “math isn’t your thing.  You don’t hear people saying, “I can’t read,” yet it is okay to scrutinizingly brag that you can’t do mathematics.  Why is math such a nonflexible subject for our country?  When and how does it fall apart?  As a math educator, I see so many solutions to our national math slipperiness that have just never been tried.  We unchangingly seem to just play virtually with the ideas of “the basics,” learning the concepts overdue the mathematics (conceptual learning, new math, mathematical modeling), and procedural learning (very similar to the “basics” in many ways.)  All those things are important and we have a problem of tending to lean to one side vs. the other rather than keeping a reasonable wastefulness between the two.  However, what I see as the biggest problem is looking at, “what is our ultimate goal?”  When I read an vendible that says a CaliforniaHigherhas washed-up yonder with the requirement that all students must show mastery in Intermediate Algebra for higher considering non-STEM students don’t need math, it gets me thinking.   If non-STEM majors don’t need math, then do STEM majors no longer need to take literature classes and humanities classes required in the unstipulated education classes, these are not “needed” for their majors?  Why do undergraduate degrees require students to take unstipulated education classes in wing to their major focus?  We know the answer. It is the same reason why upper schools require 4 English classes, 4 Math classes, 3-4 Science classes, 3-4 History classes, etc., in order to make a well rounded educated person.  Just like English, knowing math provides a level of competence for getting virtually in the world, it allows you to think critically, math is used in many places that kids don’t realize until they get to be an adult.  Adults who truly understand Intermediate Algebra, will be worldly-wise to make increasingly sound financial decisions in their own personal financial choices.   Additionally, Intermediate Algebra as a prerequisite for a higher level math course, shouldn’t be too nonflexible since Intermediate Algebra is a matriculation that should be mastered in upper school.  So, why is a upper school math giving higher students so much trouble that a higher has to waif a upper school remedial math matriculation requirement?  This is considering how we currently teach upper school math is a failure.  Let’s squatter it, some students will struggle increasingly with mathematical concepts and others will move on and take Calculus 3 surpassing graduating upper school.  There is nothing wrong with either student but we act like there is and we need to stop this.  We need to stop putting on kids on the same math trajectory and expecting it to work.     My feeling is that the goal for graduation of upper is to pass, with a B or better, Intermediate Algebra (which should replace tedious useless work with real world knowledge like understanding the Normal Distribution so you can talk intelligently well-nigh IQ scores and statistical research as well as linking concepts to real world like amortization tables for car loans and mortgages, these ideas are increasingly important that long semester of polynomials and subtracting rational fractions which is tedious.)  Students should be worldly-wise to take the “slow path” to math if they need it where they learn the main topics in Algebra 1, some lighter topics in Algebra 2, and some of the vital ideas of Geometry (no geometric proofs).  The goal would be mastery of these topics at a B level.  Anyone graduating should be ready to prove their understanding to a higher prerequisite test and be ready for a Pre-Calculus class, although, if they are not a STEM major, they may segregate Statistics or Financial Math.     Right now, in NC, we require students to take 4 years of math.  They start learning Algebra 1 concepts as early as middle school so that once in upper school, they are once learning topics in Algebra 1, Geometry, and some starter Statistical topics.  By Math 2, they are stuff introduced to Trigonometry, Algebra 2, Probability, increasingly Geometry, including proofs, and a small value of what used to be in Pre-Calculus.  By Math 3, the students are finishing Algebra 2, finishing Geometry, taking on increasingly topics from Pre-Calculus, and subtracting in increasingly Statistical topics.  After Math 3, students must take a fourth math course.  Most non Honors students take Intro toHighermath, which ends up stuff a review of Algebra topics or Discrete Math, which goes into Probability, Statistics, andVisualizationMaking.  If students were mastering all these topics, this would be wonderful but students are barely grasping all of this.  We need to slow it lanugo and cut out the fourth class, cut stuff from Math 1-3, and although still require 4 full years (not semester blocks) of math for the non-Honors track but focus on QUALITY of instruction and MASTERY of learning, rather than QUANTITY of material we can “say” they were exposed to.  We will have students who learn more, are less stressed, and have a higher success rate in future math courses in college.   Students who are on the Honors track, can protract to be on their own schedule as they should not be slowed down.  They can meet that upper school requirement while in middle school, take the “test” showing mastery and once they get to upper school, they can be moving on to learning the missing pieces from Algebra 2, Geometry (with proofs), and move into modeling classes or Pre Calculus, Calculus, Statistics, and beyond.   Written by: Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D. Mathematics Education   No Comments Posted in Education   Freshman year for free… pay for only 3 years of higher 11 JulHigheris expensive.  It can be a lot of work too and for many, they get stuck taking classes that just don’t interest them to meet their unstipulated education requirements.  IS there a way that you could either  only need 3 years of those upper higher bills go four years but with 20% less work each semester so you have time for a job, higher theater, sports, or other interests. stave many of those gen ed classes you are not interested in The wordplay is yes!  Just follow this easy plan.  Depending on the type of student and opportunities available, you may need to pick and segregate which options work weightier for you. My first recommendation is that you, as a student, know what school you want and what major your looking to do.  This helps target the plan and makes it increasingly successful. Secondly, squint at the school or schools on your list and see what credit is given for: CLEP test, AP tests, and any other wide credit options Next, squint at what courses are required at your school and see if the classes you plan to work on will be worldly-wise to receive credit and at what score.  If you are considering dual enrollment, squint to see if the classes you are taking will transfer. Once you have all that information (mostly found on admissions page), you can squint at your program of study and see how you can replace required classes with test or dual enrollment. Lets do an example:  In  the Colleges of Engineering at NCSU, they  have a worldwide first year for all COE majors. R. Wants computer science which is in the higher of engineering.  He will need all those courses plus unstipulated education classes, some of which are specifically for his major, like Economics has to be taken as your social science. To get a throne start, he takes the Calculus CLEP test.  Passing this gives him 4 credits and allows him to sign up for dual enrollment and take Calc 2 at the polity college.  He could have taken Calc AB and BC and then took the exam but he felt dividing it up into 2 variegated test situations was better, rather remember 2 full classes for one test.  He moreover needed As to get into the computer science major.  Additionally, he took AP computer science (not offered at his school but found it online) the year surpassing and scored 4.  This will indulge him to skip the first CSC matriculation at NCSU. Next, he notices NCSU required Calc based Physics 1, 2, Chemistry 1, and flipside science undertow vastitude that.  So, although he chose to just take Honors Earth Science, he knew unbearable to take the AP Environmental Science test, scored a 4 and gets his “extra science ” matriculation out of the way.  The AP Physics matriculation offered in his school was not Calculus based, so he took it as an overview and then self-studied the Calc based Mechanics class, scoring a 4.  This gives him credit for Calc Physics  1 and its Lab.    He tried to do the AP Chem test but his score was not upper enough, he needs an A (5) in order to meet requirements of the computer science major. Now R. hates non – STEM classes, so it is in his weightier interest to get those washed-up quickly and painlessly.  Therefore, he chose to get some things of his social science washed-up with CLEP testing.  First he chose sociology.  This just requires you to memorize vocabulary and then be worldly-wise to relate those words to an example.  It was a quick study of two weeks and his test was passed. The other social science matriculation required by engineering is Microeconomics.  R. Has been self studying for that test, although it has s harder since it isn’t just memorizing, you have to have a sense of the relationships between variegated parts of the supply and demand concepts.  Hopefully, the plan for s that R. will CLEP out of microeconomics as well.  You don’t get a grade, it is just pass /fail.  And a C is passing.  He gets to stave all the homework and only has one test to focus on and if he doesn’t pass, he can moreover retake it then in two months or he will be well prepared for the very class. Finally, R. Has time in his upper school schedule to take some spare classes.  If they were 3 credit class, it would be easier to schedule and he might make two but with 4 credit classes, it doesn’t leave you much else, so he usually take one 4 credit matriculation plus two upper school classes and if time, self studies other things.  For the coming year R. Will take Calc 3 and Physics 2. Assuming he passes all, this is how it will squint when he applies to and attends NCSU. NCSU first year coursess  Calc 1. MET English 1 Enginnering / computers 1 Gen ed matriculation – Sociology- MET Chemistry 1 calc 2 – MET Physic 1 with lab – MET  Csc 116 – first computer matriculation –  MET Microeconomics –  METVitalSxience elective  – MET plus he will have Physics 2 and Calc 3 which are softmore classes met. Total Credits: Calc 1,2,3 — 12 credits Physics 1, 2 — 8 credits APES – vital science- 4 APCS – first csc class- 3 sociology – 3 Microeconomics – 3 ————————- Total: 33 credits This will indulge him either to graduate in three years or take 12 credits instead of 15-16 per semester. A second example, C. had AP credit for English Composition, he didn’t want to do all the uneaten work required to take an AP class, so he self studied and got a 4.  He moreover took AP Computer Science and got a 3. He took APES and got a 4.  But he only has 3 AP tests.  He did take a lot of dual enrollment classes, he was going for a stratum in simlation and game diamond and took two iintroductory classes in this but they did not transfer.  He did take both Calc 1 and Business Calculus.  He took Macroeconomics and two programming classes one in C ++ and the other in Java.  He had 29 credits to transfer.  He went in as a freshman but took 16 credits his first semester and tha numbers him to a second semester sophomore.  He was worldly-wise to graduate in 3 year and save his family an unshortened tear of tuition, room, and board.  If C. Had known well-nigh CLEP tests, he would have tried coming in with increasingly of his gen ed courses met. Stdents can manage plane increasingly than one year but I think one year is good, it gives them options, doesn’t put them too far superiority of their peers, is doable during the four years that f upper school without overloading the child to try and do a year of upper school and higher at the same time unless they are in an early higher program that has them all in higher classes full time by senior year. Remember, if you don’t get a merit scholarship, taking a semester or a year from payments can offer similar financial advantages.       No Comments Posted in Education, Financial   EarlyHigherCredit through North CarolinaPolityColleges, CCP, Dual Enrollment 03 May Have you heard well-nigh dual enrollment?  Dual enrollment allows your upper school student to take higher classes at one of the polity colleges for self-ruling and get both upper school and higher credit for the class.  Many kids can enter higher with 1 semester well-constructed or a full year complete, a few can plane do increasingly than that. The program as it stands in Wake County is tabbed the Career and Collge Promise program.  It is mostly designed for juniors and seniors in upper school.  Students have to have a unrepealable GPA and permission from their school.  They can split heir time between upper school and college. I have had two children do the program.  My kids earned higher credits through a mix of AP exams, CLEP exams, and dual enrollment classes.  My first son took AP Environmental Science and AP computer science classes, he passed those tests earning credit.  He also,self studied for AP English and got credit for that.  Through dual enrollment, he took C++ programming, Java Programming, Economics, Calc 1, Business Calculus, and all these gave him 29 credit hours, permitting him to start as 1 credit short of a freshman and he was just considered a transfer.  He got largest housing, older registration, etc. My other son now is in the program although they reverted how they do it and limit the classes you can take.  He just started this semester.  He had taken AP Calc AB at school in the Fall but AP exams are not until spring, so to get higher credit for what he learned, he took the CLEP Calculus test, he had not plane finished the undertow yet but skimmed the remaining lessons and went for it as he needed a passing score to register for Calc 2 at the polity college.  Even though he took it a month surpassing his matriculation ended, he still scored a 68. 20 points whilom passing on their scale.  So he was unliable to take Calc 2 as a upper school junior with all the higher students at Wake Tech.  It was a unconfined wits for him.  He made friends with his classmates and teacher and he was wonted by everyone, they all were amazed at how well he did as a 16 year old!  He got an A and is ready to protract in the program. Navigating your upper school and higher classes and without school activities can be difficult.  Normally, you would take 2 upper school classes and 2 higher classes but since this was a 4 credit matriculation rather than a 3 credit class, it met increasingly often and caused conflicts with most other classes.  We decided to use the uneaten time to self study AP exams.  So my son sel studied Environmental Science and Physics C Mechanics.  He had taken AP physics 1 with Algebra but the leap to Calculus was a lot and he neede Calc based physics for his higher classes, not the Algebra ones.  So he self studied to take that AP test as well.  As of this writing, he took his APES exam and next week is his Physics test and then in July the scores come out. So, we are getting ready to register for his senior year.  We hope he gets a 4 or 5 on the AP Physic c  Mechanics, if so, we can have him take Physics 2, if he doesn’t, he will need to take Physics 1 but at least he will be prepared and should get an A.  Registration is this week and we need to find classes that will moreover work with his upper school schedule again.  The nonflexible part is that we don’t plane know his upper school schedule, so,we are just guessing at this point. Our top pick would be Calculus 3, so he can finish all his Calculus at the same college.  But, we don’t know if it will work with his upper school schedule and you have to consider teachers.  There may be a time that fits with a poorly rated teacher and it is not worth taking a matriculation with a poorly rated teacher.  Other options would include Physics or English and Chemistry or Linear Algebra. we are moreover planning on having him study sociology and Microeconomics this summer and hopefully get CLEP credits for those.  Three full weeks of study should be unbearable and then take it he test and one less matriculation in college. His goal is to enter as a sophomore and since it is a very taxing degree, only have to,do 4 classes instead of 5 each semester so he can do well on them. So, overall, I love the program.  I love that my kids enter higher with a year well-constructed and they can graduate in 3 years (first son did), segregate a,double major and still only forfeit me four years of tuition, do a masters for the same forfeit as an undergraduate degree, or take a lighter load to make sure they do well if they are in a competitive school and major. i prefer very higher classes to AP exams considering it largest prepares the for real college, some AP classes are unconfined and other are terrible (we had a terrible one or two), would rather my kids self study for AP,exams unless I know their teacher has students unceasingly getting 4’s and 5’s.  This is not the specimen at my son’s school, very few kids plane pass the AP tests, so I would rather he take the higher matriculation than the upper school AP matriculation with the exam.  Our first wits with AP was Chemistry, my son was doing well, understood stuff but teacher was out so,much, they never finished the course, never did practice exams, and self-ruling response practice, my son got a 2.  That is when I knew we needed to transpiration things! Instead of doing an art project like his fellow peers are doing in AP Calc BC (instead of studying for AP exam), my son was in a real higher Calc 2 class,with higher students, earned an A and doesn’t need to take a single test to determine his grade and his future higher will weight a 3 as a C 4 as a B and a 5 as a A, so he would need a 5.  He has that now, the traditional way without having to make comic strips and art projects.   No Comments Posted in Education   Getting your upper school student ahead, self-ruling higher credits 30 Apr is your child ready to throne off to upper school ?  Exciting isn’t it ?  Just three short years ago, my son was heading into his freshman year and now without what seems like a twinkle of an eye, he is going to be a senior in a couple weeks.  My daughter will be a he new inward Freshman now. These aren’t my first two kids to do upper school.  I once had two other upper school graduates.  Their years flew by too.  I have learned some things though.  First, is a question for you, how do you finger well-nigh college?   We pass a lot of how we finger onto our kids, sometimes that’s a good thing, other times it is not.  College has wilt a debated issue lately, it is expensive, s it necessary?  Well, that depends on a few things:  You finger strongly your child should go to college. your child feels strongly that he or she should go to higher your child’s career goals match one where a higher stratum is expected you or your higher want higher for maturity and growth and the higher wits Now, if your child wants to do a job that doesn’t really require a higher degree, like work a restaurant, be a fed ex driver, be in sales, etc. higher isn’t worth it except for the growth, maturity, and experience.  You can moreover get training from vocational programs that don’t require higher like hvac repair, eyeful school, ekg tech. Lets say that higher student son the plans, your child wants to be an engineer or computer programmer.  Most jobs want a four year degree.  So, what does that have to do with freshman year of upper school? Remember how fast I said these years would fly by, well, freshman year is not a huge deal but plane then it can be setting you up…. Sttin you up for what?  For future classes, the big plan… th enigma plan unquestionably starts to come together Freshman year when you select classes.  Students need to start thinking long term, start thinking well-nigh higher and goals. Here are some examples:  Case wants to be a computer programmer and wants to get in a competitive college.  He needs to be taking the right classes now,that lead him to the weightier classes latter: Freshman year, he takes Hon Eng, Hon World His, Hon Math 3, Hon Bio, PE, intro programming 1, Spanish 1, intro Engineering **These set him up for future classes Sophomore year:  Hon Eng 2, Hon US Hist, Hon Pre Calc, Hon Chem, AP Chem, Spanish 2, programming 2, Engineering 2 *** Notice he took his first AP matriculation and serried it to follow Honors Chem Junior Year:  AP Eng, Hon US Hist 2, AP Calc AB,HigherCalc 2, AP Physics c AP Computer Science, AP Environmental Science, ** notice now we have, AP English, APES, AP Calc AB, AP Physics C, AP CS tests…. that is up to 16 credit hours plus 4 higher transfer hours Right now, his transcripts show 2 full semesters of Calculus with higher credit, one aken at a college, 1 Calculus based Physics class, a Computer Science class, flipside regular science, a Chemistry credit, and Engineering she credit (if allowed).  This all looks unconfined to a prospective college. Additionally, over the summer between Junior and Senior year, I would suggest taking two gen ed CLEP courses and getting credit.  It is just memorizing and asking a test.  This will requite you flipside 6 credits. Finally, senior year, take increasingly AP and or higher classes.Specimenmight take:  Senior year:  Hon Eng 3, Hon Civics, Theater, AP Statistics, Calc 3’atnthe college, Physics 2 at the college, When he graduates, not only will he have met most of his freshman classes for college, he will over 30 hours and start higher as a sophomore, saving money or with the worthiness mtomtake a lighter load.         No Comments Posted in Education  Upperschool choices for gifted students in WakeUpperSchools 27 Feb Your child is academically gifted and you want to maximize their potential. Great, good job stuff proactive in your child’s life, strengths, and sensation of their needs.  I would be remiss to not point out that academics is not everything and a good well-turned person is ideal.  Someone who is smart but do not make  others finger dumb, someone who can connect socially with many variegated types of people,  and someone who appreciates that other people can have fantastic gifts that are not intellectual. So, what hgh schools offer the most for children?  Let’s squint at the pros and cons of a few:    STEM EARLY college…I often like this project gram, it has a very set theme, kids earn higher credits while in upper school, however, all electives are in science, math, computer science,and engineering somthta largest be your passion.  Now a con, it is very difficult to get a spot. 2,  Raleigh CharterUpperSchool, a unconfined school for the basics. There is very little offered in electives and the ones they have are weak.  So, if you segregate this, is you can expect a no bellls,r,whistle learning environment for math, science, English,and social studies.  The kids are very studius and don’t interact the same way you see  a traditinal highschool. They get lots of HW but go to school 1.5 hr less per day.   3.  Southeast Raleigh MagnetLeaseHS…. they have lots of academies like Engineering, Bimedical, and IT.  These are good programs but there has been a lot of turn over in sense in these academies and the school as a whole.  I aslomfind that some teachers are unconfined and some are lazy.  I have not been pleased with the AP classes at the school, I wish I knew the word-for-word number but I would guess only 10% pass the math and science exams.  The teachers are terrible at teaching AP classes.  My child ghastly enjoyed stuff the big fish their but we have had to supplement to alimony him on track academcally for the competitive higher matriculation of engineering  at NCSU that he wants to go to.   4.Cardinal Gibbons HighmSchool….l word-stock say too much considering I have only had a small wits with students from there.  What I found is that they are academically weak. For example, there Math unchangingly a year overdue ours.  When kids taken Algebra 2 there, they learn what we taught in Algebra 1.  There precalc be is like our math 3.  They never win national merit scholarships or get n weightier upper school list so it is academically weak. 5.  Enloe will be the last school I talk about.  It has a good reputation.  it offers lots of unconfined electives, a strong cadre and I hear good things well-nigh their AP scores. There is decent level of diversity, but the it does start at 7:25!   *sorry for typos, ipad keypad is vicarial up.   No Comments Posted in Confessions from worldwide cadre math teachers, Education   Wake County School choices, Magnet andLease2016 12 Dec It is that time of year when you start looking at school choices for your children.  Most of you will select the wiring school and not squint back.  What are the benefits to that?  For one, convenience.  It is tropical to home.  Two, most of the other kids are doing the same.  If your child has once been a wiring school student, you will hear, “I want to stay with my friends.”  Valid?  Maybe.  It depends on the wiring school.  In Wake county if Green Hope or Panther Creek were my wiring schools, I might be increasingly inclined to go with the base.  Green Hope, especially, has a good reputation.  Other schools have less to offer and if you are really invested in your child’s wonk experience, you may want to consider other alternatives. Overall, any wiring elementary will requite you a good start.  I don’t have a magnet wits from elementary school but the wiring schools were good, although a bit slow for a gifted child.  For a highly motivated gifted child, you might try Sterling Montessori or Poe Montessori.  They can work at their own pace.  Poe is magnet and Sterling is charter. Your next big window for a spot comes in sixth grade but don’t forget to consider stealing a spot in fifth grade.  With many families not willing to move their kid during their final year of elementary school, it may be a time to grab a spot when competition is low. Middle school is a unconfined time to get into magnets.  Your child (in their head, they will be fine in any case) will survive making new friends easier from fifth to sixth than from eighth to ninth.  In wiring middle schools, you typically get to segregate from 4 electives, things like band, PE, the wheel (learn well-nigh career choices), and keyboarding.  It isn’t really a choice, since you have to take keyboarding.  In seventh and eighth grade you can add a language as a nomination but you see how limited your electives are. In magnet schools, you choose,from 60 electives and the choices are wide and interesting, pet vet, math patterns, mythology, sculpture, piano, volleyball, dance, robotics, fantasy football, etc. There are still classes in keyboarding (required), health (required), and the option to take three (instead of 2) years of a foreign language.  Additionally, there may be a theme, like field trips, Academically Gifted, Leadership, Languages, etc. There are moreover many lease schools that go from K to 8 and they usually have a theme, like Sterling Montessori or Exploris Elementary and Middle, etc. ; visit these schools and see if they fit your child.  We have had kids at both.  We were very happy at Sterling and had a good first year at Exploris (6th grade) but it reverted too much with the new director for a good fit for us but could be a good fit for others.  Be sure to fully investigate though do two reasons, one is that Exploris does not use a traditional tideway to teaching, make sure your child learns that way, it is not uncontrived and that was nonflexible for my ADHD son, second, sometimes lease schools are  over run with a special needs population that they are not equipped to handle.  Sterling unquestionably excelled in that zone where Explois failed.  Just things to alimony in mind.Planewhen if your child is only in fourth grade or sixth grade, you need to be thinking well-nigh the path that includes upper school.  High school is the biggest and most important decision.  If your child is considering a traditional path that includes college, where they go to upper school is very important.  Choosing a place that they can be academically successful, meet strong wonk goals and moreover have a unconfined social wits should be the goal.  One is not good without the other. There are a few lease schools that are good, RaleighLeaseHS, Research Triangle HS, Longleaf School of the Arts are some examples.  There is Triangle Math and ScienceSeminar(not to be tumbled with the state funded School of Science and Math in Durham) that is highly focused on academics but from what I know, lacks the social component needed so I don’t recommend it.  RaleighLeaseis known for stuff rigorous and considering of that seems to have a reduced social undercurrent (I had a child go there).  Research Triangle is supposed to be a STEM school but offers scrutinizingly no STEM electives.  This is moreover a problem with most charters, the choices in electives is very small. As for magnet upper schools, you will find many increasingly electives.  Base schools offer some but in many cases they are over crowded and nonflexible to get into the popular ones so kids take your vital ones like foods, teen life, weight training, and other random classes they get put in considering it is all that is available.  In the magnets, you will find a much wider variety, increasingly sections, and increasingly interesting classes.  Enloe is known as the strongest wonk magnet.  They offer scrutinizingly every AP matriculation and from what I hear do a good job with those classes.  They have a four year computer programming sequence and a biomedical program in wing to many classes in the arts. In the past, I had written positive reviews of Southeast Raleigh upper school as a magnet choice.  They have Engineering, Biomedical, Cybersecurity, and a good arts program.  The teachers my son had the first two  years were unconfined but we lost scrutinizingly all his teachers this year (administration issues I hear).  I have not been as happy this year academically.  He s now taking many AP classes with teachers who are not qualified to be teaching AP.  The good news is he gets no homework so I am worldly-wise to use that time and supplement what he should be learning if it is a subject we can teach (Calculus and Physics) but he was on his own in AP Chemistry so although he got a B in the class, he only scored a 2 on the AP exam (which was probably one of the upper grades).  Instead of taking Calculus 2 with his teacher, however, they are letting him take it at Wake Tech next semester.  He enjoys the flexibility, the students are very nice, and he has been very involved in theater and for that aspect, I can still requite it a upper rating but academically right now, it is not something I would recommend to someone unless they want to supplement their child’s education.  To put it in perspective, though, I would still segregate it over my bases school (Apex). There are many benefits to looking outside of your bases school.  The window to squint is now, magnet registration opens in January and most lease school lotteries are in February or March. Good Luck. Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D,   oldest went to: Sterling Montessori (K-6), wiring (just 7th grade), RaleighLease(9-10), homeschool (8th and 11th), wiring (2 classes senior year), Dual enrollment WTCC, graduated UNCC, stratum computer science next went to : Sterling Montessori (pre K -8 th), wiring (9-12) next went to: base, Exploris, homeschool (3rd and 8th), Southeast Raleigh Magnet, Dual Enrolled WTCC youngest: went to: base, Sterling Montessori, base, Moore Square Middle, considering Enloe for high,school   No Comments Posted in Education   Moving to North Carolina, want to know well-nigh the schools in the Triangle area? Reviews here, Magnet, Charter, Public 11 Aug Wake County Schools, Research Triangle Schools, North Carolina School System, Magnet Schools,LeaseSchools, Public Schools – how good are they, what you need to know. As a blogger, educator, and owner of a tutoring center, I will from time to time get emails or phone calls from parents who are moving to the zone or have just moved into the zone who want to know increasingly well-nigh schools in North Carolina.  You will find some individual reviews of schools on my blog but I wanted to write a increasingly unstipulated review to help guide new families.  Many families do not know the difference between public, charter, magnet, and private schools, so I will start with that and get increasingly specific. Public Schools:  North Carolina Public School system is not ranked in the top 10 nor is it ranked in the marrow 10 of schools in the United States.  However, so much depends on WHAT schools you are talking about, specifically in what county and at what level.  Also variegated individual schools have largest reputations than other individual schools.  If you want to consider a public school and have not bought a house yet, then looking at what schools are prescribed for that zone would be important, although, these lines can change.  Since North Carolina is growing rapidly, expressly in the urban areas, new schools are constantly stuff built and hence students are stuff shifted, so you cannot seem you will be at the school you planned on unless you are in the magnet or lease system. The public schools, however, are funded by the State of North Carolina.  Teachers in our state are no paid very well, however, and we have upper teacher turnover.  We have some GREAT teachers but we moreover have some teachers who are just collecting a paycheck (small as it is) and many who leave for other states or other jobs in unstipulated considering they cannot live off the salary.  As a unstipulated rule, however, most elementary teachers are all very good and I have never seen an elementary school in Wake County (my county) do a bad job.  Once you get to middle and upper school, however, you really need to be increasingly selective.  The content and expectations of learning have increased and with poor teachers, students get lost and it has a negative impact on their future.  This is not to say we don’t have good middle and upper school teachers, but you need to be enlightened of the schools that are largest and those that are not and if needed, get a tutor when you get bad luck and get a bad teacher in a subject like math that builds on itself. A few schools, although you cannot segregate to shepherd these, you have to have this as your wiring school AND you have to wield and get selected by a lottery drawing will have an seminar within the school.  One school has an AOIT academy,Seminarof Information Technology, flipside has AOE,Seminarof Engineering.  These are kind of like a minor at the school where you take 1-2 required classes in theSeminarrelated to that field and do an internship surpassing you graduate.  Examples for the AOIT might be taking classes in Microsoft Office Suite and Programming.  In AOE, you would take classes tabbed Project Lead the Way and take Introduction to Engineering and Principals of Engineering, etc.  Each seminar has 4-6 matriculation undertow requirements plus the internship. As far as wonk knowledge, North Carolina sets the bar very high.  Many students coming from other states end up BEHIND considering our expectations and standards are high.  This is both good and bad.  The good is that smart kids get the endangerment to live up to those expectations and be well prepared academically for college.  The bad is that students who struggle academically, get pushed through the system and everything falls untied for those kids. We moreover have woodcut scheduling in most upper schools which may not be worldwide in other states.  Block scheduling is where upper school students take classes similar to the way a higher student would take classes on a semester schedule.  The year is divided into two 18 week semesters.  Each semester, upper school students take 4 classes that meet for 90 minutes, so four classes in the Fall and flipside 4 in the Spring.  People not used to this think it is terrible but personally, I like it a lot.  For one, it gives increasingly time in matriculation to focus on content, second students are only dealing with and studying for 4 classes at a time so they have increasingly time to devote to those studies, and third it allows students to take 8 classes a year which gives them wondrous elective choices in wing to the cadre courses which are not possible with a traditional schedule. Magnet Schools:  Magnet schools are part of the public school system except that they tend to be in poorer socioeconomic zone (but we are not talking upper treason or bad neighborhoods).  Part of the school is made up of a regular wiring population, just like your normal wiring school but a unrepealable percentage of the school is saved for “magnet” students.  The word magnet is used considering the school has special themes and resources used to vamp students from greater distances to this school (in this lower socioeconomic area) to attend.  There are magnet schools at the elementary, middle, and upper school levels.  Examples of elementary school magnets might include:  Montessori, Leadership, Academically Gifted (AG), Gifted and Talented (GT), IB, Language Immersion, or a combination of these.  Examples of middle schools are some of the same although there is not a Montessori or Language Immersion at the middle level (in Wake County) but they have schools that are located in downtown Raleigh that are AG/GT/Museums , this ways it is a combination of all three and the museum speciality is that students often get walking field trips to all the museums in downtown Raleigh due to its proximity.  There is moreover an all girls and all boys seminar that flows into the EarlyHighermodel for upper school that starts with 6th grade.  (North Carolina middle school are grades 6,7, and8).  High school examples include:  EarlyHigheroptions such as a Health Science Early College, the Girls and Boys EarlyHigherAcademies, and a STEM Early College; all of these have students shepherd upper school for 5 years instead of 4.  They partner with a higher and during grades 11, 12, and 13, the students shepherd higher classes and graduate upper school with both a upper school diploma and an Associates Degree.  Other upper school options include a 4 year TechHigherpartnership for those interested in Cosmotology, Airconditioning Repair, Computer GameDiamondand Development, and more.  These students take higher courses in grades 11 and 12 and graduate with at least a years worth of higher credit in wing to their upper school diploma.  All the EarlyHighercosts are covered completely, so if your child attends, there is no forfeit to you.  More traditional magnet schools will be Leadership and Technology or Academically Gifted / Gifted and Talented, IB Schools, and more.  These schools will have programs such as specific academies within school like a Biotech Academy, Engineering Academy, or Cyber Security seminar that your child can take part in where it is like a school within a school.  These are similar to the ones mentioned in the wiring public schools but are much easier to get into if you are a magnet student.  They moreover have a significant number of elective choices that you won’t find at the wiring schools.  The AG/GT/IB school will have multiple languages, every AP and IB matriculation possible, as well as piano classes, guitar, dance, many increasingly art classes than one would normally have, and things like an unshortened department of classes in computer programming. Can anyone wilt a Magnet Student?  First, not all counties have magnet programs.  I can only speak well-nigh Wake county (those mentioned here are from Wake County).  I doubt there are much in the way of Magnet schools in any rural counties.  Second, you must wield to get into the magnet program and you may or may not be selected.  It depends on what school you want to go into, there is VERY upper demand for some schools and less demand for others.  Once you ARE a magnet student, however, it is easier then to transfer to a variegated magnet school, you will have priority over new students applying to get in.  The process is to usually go to the Magnet pearly that is held the first weekend in November every year and then go take tours of the magnet schools.  You then make sure you are signed up to shepherd the wiring school and put in an using with a list of choices for magnets.  You get to list your top 3, increasingly if you list an early higher as they select those surpassing the rest.  Early Colleges are the hardest to get a place in although I believe the Health Science EarlyHigheris the easiest of all the early colleges to get a spot at.  We did wield to two early colleges and did not get a spot but got a spot in a regular magnet for 2 of my children.  If you have twins and wield with both, you have a much largest chance!  Applications have to be sometime in January or early February, I believe (don’t hold me to that!) and results come out in early Spring.  If you get a spot, you have to take it (at least as of now, it didn’t used to be that way, although I believe you can just not show up!) What are your chances of getting selected?  I will wordplay in a little increasingly detail.  It is NOT just a straight lottery.  They have a system and requite priority to many variegated things.  Siblings, of course, get first priority, then other magnet students, then students who are coming from schools that are upper performing (they want your upper performing kid!), and then overcrowded schools, and then anyone else not in those categories (or something withal those lines…).  Of course, if select a school where they have plenty of unshut spots, there won’t be a problem at all, if you select a school with only 3 unshut spots and you fall into the “someone not in one of the upper priority categories,” your chances are slim to none. So what school have unshut spots if you just want to get INTO a magent (and then maybe move to a largest magnet in a year)?  I would undeniability and ask, they will usually tell you, they want to fill those spots.  I remember once getting a letter saying that CONN elementary had spots and if we wanted one, we could have it but we were once settled at that time so we didn’t move into magnets until middle and upper school.  As I said, at the elementary level, the wiring schools do a decent job! What well-nigh SAFETY at these Magnet Schools?  I have washed-up unshut houses for my son’s magnet.  The racial makeup of the schools can vary depending on the school, the number of magnet spots, and the location of the wiring population.  Some will be well-turned racially (50% white, 50% non-white) and others will be less well-turned (20% white, 80% non-white).  My son is at a school that is less racially balanced, we heard all sorts of rumors, etc.  So, we took it upon ourselves to go there during a school day and be in the hallways.  We plane got some teachers to let us go in their classrooms, we talked to other parents of magnet students, and we talked to kids (magnet and nonmagnet) that went to the school.  Nothing felt unsafe or negative.  In fact, plane the superintendent said, this school has less fights and issues than other schools with increasingly well-turned or a more-white student makeup.  I haven’t met one kid at that school that wasn’t super friendly and nice!  My son feels unscratched and has a ton of friends of all colors and I am very glad to have chosen the school.  So, don’t let race be an issue and as for safety, trammels out the individual school yourself and make your own judgment, don’t listen to rumors!!  All the negative ones we hear are from people who “would never send their kid there,” who are they to judge vs. those of use with kids at the school who all say it is a safe, friendly place. My wits has moreover been that teachers at magnet schools as a whole are largest than teachers at wiring schools.  Now there are good teacher and bad teachers at ALL schools, however.  After running a tutoring part-way and seeing kids with teachers from all zone schools, I am much increasingly impressed with the teachers from magnet schools.  The only negative and this is all of NC, is the teacher turn over rate and that we lose teachers!LeaseSchools:  So what is aLeaseschool and how is it variegated from a Magnet school?  Both school types are under the rules of North Carolina and must meet North Carolina standards and use NC curriculum and testing requirements.  However, Magnet schools (and wiring public schools) are moreover governed by the county they are in.  As I mentioned, most of my wits is in Wake County Public Schools.  So, all the schools in Wake County (ApexUpperSchool, Holly SpringsUpperSchool, Green Hope High, Cary High, Wake Forest High, etc. AND the magnets, Southeast Raleigh MagnetUpperSchool, Enloe, Stem Early College, etc.) all follow both the rules of NC and the rules of Wake County.  Charter Schools only follow the rules of North Carolina, they are their own LEA (forgot what that stands for.. Local Education Area, I think…).  Charter schools get funding per student from the state put the state does not pay for their towers expenses, etc.  So they have to come up with a lot increasingly resources than a public school.   They still have to follow the state guidelines but if you live in Wake County you can ONLY go to Wake County schools.  You cannot decide you want to go to Chapel HillUpperSchool.  However, since lease schools are not county specific, you can live in a variegated county and go to a lease school.  I can live in Wake County and go to a lease school in Durham County or I can live just over the line in Chatham County but not want to put my kids in Chatham County schools, so I send them to a lease school in Wake County or plane in Durham County. What doLeaseSchools offer?  Well, besides the location flexibility, they are similar in many ways to magnet schools.  They are theme based and you usually pick a lease school that has a theme that matches your educational philosophy.  For example, one of my kids went to Sterling MontessoriLeaseSchool from Preschool through 8th grade (that is where it stops).  Many families with special needs kids find lease schools to be unconfined as they tend to be largest at providing increasingly reliable services to special needs students, although this is not true for ALL charters.  In our case, Sterling offered wondrous 1:1 resource help for our son with an IEP!  He would have sank in a traditional setting!  However, on the other hand when my other son went to ExplorisLeasemiddle school, there were so many kids with “issues,” he had a nonflexible time really finding his groove and making good friends.  The school was moreover very “granola” for lack of a largest word, which fits many families and kids but not mine, we ended up leaving part way through 8th grade as doing daily Yoga, instead of traditional PE, just didn’t fit him.  So, it is important to really squint for a good fit with the lease schools.  My oldest attended Raleigh CharterUpperSchool, it has been ranked as one of the top ten wonk upper schools in the country year without year.  He was very typesetting smart and he did well there.  However, we knew that it would have been the wrong fit for flipside one of my kids, plane though it is a highly regarded school and instead he is excelling in the magnet school in the EngineeringSeminarand having options like Theater and Robotics. That is flipside drawback toLeaseschools, they are a lot smaller.  This can be good and bad, your child will be in a smaller matriculation and get to know teachers well but there will a lot less electives to segregate from.  One of the really good charters in Durham County is undeniability Research TriangleUpperSchool.  My son, the one in the Magnet school, was wonted there and we had to make a choice.  RTHS is known as a STEM lease but has no electives in any STEM areas and only 1 STEM club, it is not the school’s fault, it is just that the school is so small.  If he went there, he would have gotten some really good solid academics (I really liked the teachers) but he wouldn’t have had any electives he would have enjoyed, he wouldn’t have been in any plays, he wouldn’t have had as many people to meet to find the “right” ones to click with.  So, although the teachers seemed amazing, the unshortened environment was too limiting so we chose the magnet and it was unmistakably the right choice.  Making wonk choices requires one consider lots of things and is a personal decision, my own thoughts on the matter is that school is not only well-nigh academics but well-nigh learning, growing, and experiencing new things – so I try to alimony this in mind as I consider what option will weightier fit my kids. Private Schools:  In many areas of the country, parents immediately plan on sending their kids to private schools considering there are no other good options.  I don’t finger this is true in the Triangle zone of North Carolina, expressly Wake County.  I often tell people that Wake County is the weightier county to segregate for schools considering we have the most options – all the lease schools are options, we have magnets, wiring schools, and there are unchangingly private schools.  I will talk increasingly well-nigh areas in a moment but when to private schools. Many families that are well off, segregate Cary Academy.  I hear it is very good, it moreover financing as much as or increasingly than it financing to send your kid with room and workbench and a meal plan to a public four year NC college. Since personally, I only have funds to get my kids through higher once, it isn’t on my radar – but if it is for you, the campus is trappy and I believe it is a decent school but I can’t say too much. Other private schools people segregate are often religious based, if you have a desire to go that route for religious reasons, you don’t really need to be reading any of this since that is probably your number one driving factor.  *Stop reading now as I am well-nigh to requite an honest review based on wits and I don’t want to be negative well-nigh something you are moving towards doing*  If you are just considering it as an option for wonk reasons, I will tell you that you will get a largest ACADEMIC education by choosing a magnet or lease school or one of the stronger wiring schools.  I have tutored children from some of the religious based schools and they are not rigorous.  The kids, when compared to public school kids, are academically behind, so if you want a increasingly rigorous nomination that will largest prepare your child, I would not select one of the religious based institutions.  Now, if a religious based institution is important to you, your kid can still do fine but I don’t see any National Merit Scholarships coming from our CatholicUpperSchool, etc.  He or she will still go on to higher and if studious, make it in the world and as I said surpassing academics are not the only reason to select a school. Areas to live in  So, do you segregate Wake County, Durham County, Chapel Hill, Chatham County or somewhere else? As I mentioned, I don’t know much outside the triangle, so I can not speak too much on that.  However, most of what I have heard says Durham County schools are not good, everyone I know who lives in Durham seems to have kids that are past elementary school age in a lease school or private school.  Everyone I know who lives in Chatham County, puts their kids in lease schools.  I have heard good things in unstipulated well-nigh Chapel Hill schools but the taxes in Chapel Hill are very expensive, they have less choices and if you have a child gifted in math, they will be forced to stay on the slow track until they are a junior in upper school (unless they make changes in the future). Currently in Wake county, a student can be single subject velocious and work one grade level superiority in math or Language Arts OR by the time they get to 6th grade they can take 6th grade Compacted math which is 6th/7th and half of 8th all in one year, then in 7th grade they takeUpperSchool Math 1 – moreover finishes math 8 (Alg. 1) and in 8th grade they takeUpperSchool Math 2, so by the time they start upper school they have two upper school math credits and start in Honors Math 3 as a freshman. In Chapel Hill, they will not let students fast forward through middle school math until 8th grade, wide 6th grades take 6 PLUS math, 7th grades take 7 PLUS math (which I believe is 7 and half of 8), and they can’t take the first level upper school math until 8th grade where they take Math 1 (and finish math 8).  In 9th grade they enter with only 1 upper school credit and take Honors Math 2.  They can speed up in their junior year by taking Honors Math 3/Pre Calc philharmonic class. My kids would have been BORED in the Chapel Hill tideway but that is what they finger is important.  As a Ph.D. in Math Education, I think some kids are just ready older and we shouldn’t make them bored, it just makes them dislike the subject. So, my vote for areas to live in is Wake County considering it gives the most options.  You should moreover consider looking at which upper schools are weightier rated if you are not going to do a magnet or charter.  Green Hope and Panther Creek have really good scores and I would personally squint to live near the weightier upper school rather than worry well-nigh an elementary school. I hope this information is helpful and Welcome to all of you who move to North Carolina!  It is a unconfined place to live! Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D. Mathematics Education   No Comments Posted in Education   Mandarin Chinese 1 North Carolina Virtual Public Schools Online undertow Review 08 Nov Review of Mandarin Chinese 1 North Carolina Virtual Public Schools OnlineUndertow2015   I have written well-nigh NCVPS courses surpassing and a little well-nigh Mandarin 1 Chinese, but I wanted to write a increasingly solid review for those who are considering it.  I think having the option to take other languages besides just 2 or maybe 3 choices at all schools is wonderful and NCVPS makes that possible for students in North Carolina schools.  Some students shepherd a middle school where they get 2 years (equivalent to one upper school semester) of Mandarin Chinese but then go to shepherd their wiring school only to find that Mandarin is not an option at their school.  They want to protract with the language they started so one option is to squint to NCVPS online classes as a way to protract with the same language if it is not possible to offer languages in feeder schools.  Personally I finger if Mandarin is offered in Middle School A and it feeds intoUpperSchool B and C, thenUpperSchools B and C should offer Mandarin.  However, I realize this might not be feasible and at least we do have the option of online learning. Now, we squint at the effectiveness of learning a language online.  This is a very difficult thing to teach online and in an self-sustaining format.  As an sultana (who is moreover an educator) I know that it is plane a rencontre for me to learn a language through self-study and things like tapes that provide immersion situations have helped me much increasingly than trying to meet undertow expectations at the same time I am trying to swizzle a language.  A good educator knows how students learn, this is self-sustaining of what they are learning, there are just unrepealable things that wield in unstipulated to learning, such as learning gradually, having material presented in small amounts and then gradually towers on the foundation.  Students need repetition and practice of patterns to learn them.  If we sit lanugo and make a list of what is needed to create a good learning environment for students in unstipulated and then specifically for learning a foreign language (and then specifically for Mandarin) – we can see if NCVPS is successful at achieving these goals in their online course. Learning foreign languages is a lot like learning mathematics, everything you learn builds on the former foundation and you must unchangingly squint for patterns.  This is why they say students who do good in math are increasingly likely to be successful with foreign languages.  Also, just like in mathematics, you can’t start teaching a student Calculus if they haven’t learned how to multiply.  In Mandarin, you can’t start teaching past tense if you haven’t built a foundation of vital sentence patterns and vocabulary.  You need to go slow unbearable to let students get that foundations so they can be successful when you put those higher layers on otherwise the “house” will just tumble lanugo from a weak foundation. Looking at the current (2015) curriculum for Mandarin 1 NCVPS – it comes from a program ripened by Learn NC:  http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/mandarin1/contents In the course, students go through 10 lessons in a woodcut schedule of 18 weeks (which in the end boils lanugo to well-nigh 16 weeks by the time things get started and end a little early for grading and transition). The first few weeks are spent going slowly towers the foundational blocks of Pinyin and pronunciation.  Students spend time just learning to socialize the sounds that the variegated English reports make, for example, x makes the /sh/ sound so xi says “she”.  Students are moreover introduced to the four vital tones.   Students do not unquestionably start with much vocabulary yet, just work on these sound concepts. A few weeks later, students finally swoop into the first unquestionably lesson of the 10 week lessons – now that it is once scrutinizingly a month into the course, students are allotted well-nigh 1.5 weeks per lesson.    In each lesson, they learn new vocabulary, new pronunciation, practice increasingly pinyin and tones, uncork to socialize notation to words as well as the pinyin to the words, and have grammar lessons that introduce them to sentence patterns – for example, in Mandarin, you don’t write, I am smart, you would write I very smart.  You would not put the “to be” verb “am” in there and you be expected to put “very” in front of smart.  You would write, “My dog very cute.  My friend very pretty.”  This would be just one example of a pattern you would learn.  However, the curriculum does not spell that out in easy to understand terms like I just did, you have to kind of icon it out on your own by looking at the examples and finding a pattern on your own – which for many kids won’t overly happen.  Finally, the students get a quiz (that they can do unshut notes) but it is all in notation (which they don’t know) to test if they have figured out these subconscious sentence patterns from within the text and grammar notes.  It is scrutinizingly a game in “hide and go seek.” As the lessons get increasingly difficult, the value of vocab profoundly increases, the meaning overdue the words becomes increasingly ramified and are often not well explained in the notes and the patterns protract to be very difficult to tease out of the notes.  They will use words that have multiple meanings but the notes don’t share all the details so as a student tries to get increasingly information on their own they just get confused. Students moreover have coaching 2 times per week for 45 minutes each.  These sessions are with well-nigh 6 other students.  The mentor will usually talk well-nigh things from the lessons and then ask students to read and practice pronunciation, build a sentence pattern, tell the meaning of a vocab word, etc.  However, it is ineffective considering the value of time students unquestionably get to interact with the mentor one to one and “practice” something really useful is less than 10 minutes and nothing is repeated unbearable or demonstrated in a way that really builds the strong foundation considering the pace of the matriculation is so fast.  Examples of things she might ask:  Each student has to read from a dialogue, each student has to match a character, each student has to say a word using the word di which turns a number into an ordinal, each student has to requite a date, each student has to say a number, etc.  Making these sessions have increasingly uncontrived focus on essentials such as one that is just practicing pronunciation in the whence but then just towers sentence patterns and just working on conversation where she quickly goes from one student to the next or all students can wordplay at the same time would be much increasingly useful. By the time lesson 9 rolls around, the number of grammar situations that have been introduced are increasingly complex.   There are no practice sheets for these sentence patterns (in pinyin which is how students are learning at this stage) that are simple, clear, and have the answers.  It would be very helpful if students had practice sheets with answers to trammels where they were told to first do uncontrived word for word translations so they could get used the pattern in the backwards way they write in Chinese.  For example, students might be told to write in pinyin:  I 7:00 as early as came.  Later, they can get the sentence in form:  I came as early as 7:00.  This way the students learn the backwards way to write it and practice both the vocab and the backwards patterning first and then later have to remember how to put it together to match the way we say it in English later.  They should do this for many variegated vocab words, for example, the next one would be:  He 9:00 as early as was in the library, step two would be translate from:  He was in the library as early as 9:00.  As the student does both increasingly and more, they will get used to the location of words in the sentence and the pattern.  However, there is nothing set up in the curriculum for the student to do this.  All there is on this lesson is a unenduring and nonflexible to understand unravelment and two examples without any practice for the student to remember it.  Most students cannot simply learn a language by “reading” sentence patterns, they need to be urgently involved in writing (and speaking) these sentence patterns.  This is what is lacking in this curriculum. Additionally, a student can only move so fast.  You cannot teach a student Calculus 1 in one month, it is not reasonable.  Also, having the expectation that a student will go from never having spoken a word of language to knowing all these sentence patterns, huge amounts of vocab, pinyin, grammar, idioms, and perhaps plane notation in less than 4 months is not realistic.  Even the language tutor that I hired said her higher classes did not move this fast.  On top of that you do not have a personal teacher there helping the student learn and you have insufficient practice for the student.  A student can do well in the matriculation considering they are unliable to use notes to do assignments and can re-take quizzes, however, the grade does not reflect mastery of content presented in the class.  In other words and A does not midpoint that the student now knows all the vocab, idioms, sentence patterns / grammar, characters, pinyin, can speak fluently, etc. of all the content in lessons 1-10, so if that is an theorizing for Mandarin 2, that is a worrisome thought. I believe the material here could be a foundation to build a curriculum from, however, one needs someone who understand how students learn and knows how to write good curriculum to jump on workbench and help create lessons and practice that uncurl with this to modernize the course. If a student needs/wants Mandarin, my suggestion would be to plan on getting a tutor with this matriculation so they have someone to help support them.  With my own son, I had a tutor and am planning on having her reteach him throughout the summer so he can be prepared for Mandarin 2.  Hopefully, NCVPS will get some feedback and make the needed changes to make this undertow increasingly successful for students.  If you have taken it or have comments, please let us know, we would love to hear from you.   Written by: Lynne Gregorio, Ph.D. Mathematics Education Mother of Student who took Mandarin 1 through NCVPS     No Comments Posted in Education   « Older Entries Categories Border Collies Confessions from worldwide cadre math teachers Education Financial Medical Parenting Personal Uncategorized Recent Posts How to get wonted to NCSUHigherEngineering What if… we did math right? Oral Conscious sedation dentistry … what is it really like? 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