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Location: Retired FCPS, Current UK and Transy | Today in our ALgebra I subject area meeting at HC, we were talking about how next year there will be no part I and we expressed concern that those part I kids will be mixed in with the alg 1 kids. A suggestion was made that maybe we look into offering Algebra I and Honors/Adv Algebra I county-wide. The honors/adv class would be more rigorous than the regular class but they both would cover algebra i core content. Students who would normally go into part 1 could take alg 1 while the honors/adv (whatever we called it) could be used for higher level kids; maybe use the placement test to determine who takes which class?
Is this feasible? Necessary? What are your thoughts? |
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Posts: 104
Location: Henry Clay | I am not a big fan of this idea. Kids who are "honors/advanced" type students are not in Algebra I in 9th grade. They are in Advanced Geometry. Algebra I is a general class and I would not want to call it anything else. What we are talking about here is separating out lower achieving kids for a "Basic" Algebra I class. I don't think this is good for kids. We will need to be thinking in terms of added support for students who legitimitely struggle with Algebra I concepts and need extra help. Sticking those kids in a class filled largely with students who are only there because they want to disrupt and cause trouble is not what they need. |
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Posts: 104
Location: Henry Clay | Of course I need extra help in spelling. Make that legitimately not legitimately not legitimitely .
Can we get spell check put on this thing??? |
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Location: Retired FCPS, Current UK and Transy | Valid points and Jeff Jones if you are reading this, spellcheck would be wonderful. hint hint |
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Posts: 42
Location: Bryan Station | This sounds great to me! There is an algebra aptitude test that can be given ( the middle schools have it I think) If we could get the advanced students in that Alg 1 class we could possibly shape them into better "advanced students" for proir math classes mg ;) |
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Posts: 155
Location: Lafayette | At LHS, our 'advanced/honors' type kids are already in Adv. Geo, Adv. Alg 2, Adv. Pre-cal. I think the lower level Alg 1 kids need to be mixed in with some good role models - kids who do their work, follow directions etc. I think that if part 1 and part 2 are eliminated, some type of extra help(ESS or double block possibly) will have to be provided to insure that the lower level students experience success. |
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Posts: 82
Location: Lafayette | I can see valid points on both parts of Algebra I discussion. This year is the first year (at least since I have been here) that the "Part 1" students are mixed in with the "Algebra I". I am not having any major issues up to this point having the kids mixed together. If you start separating them back out then it would basically be an Algebra I for part 1 students and we would end up right back where we started.
I could see the honors working if it was just the kids who took the placement test and missed the cut off by no more that 5 points (just a number). The kids who really do know Algebra I and didn't make the placement are bored in Algbera I and if they were grouped together they could do some more advance Algebra I instead of just covering the basics.
I agree with Nancy that Algebra I double block would be the best solution for the truely Part 1 students. Ali is trying one this year, hopefully all the students benifit from the class. These are just my thoughts, take them for what they are worth. |
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Posts: 45
Location: Eastside | At Eastside I teach algebra I students and algebra I part two in the same class. I find it very difficult to teach because the part two students are bored and start misbehaving and the algerba I students need help. So I'm stuck in the middle and I find that most of my time is devoted to trying to keep the bad students from misbehaving. I feel that this is an injustice to the algebra I students and those students trying to learn. If we divided the students into a basic and honors classes based on ability, hopefully it would eliminate some of the problems mentioned above. |
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| At LHS our general consensus has been that the Algebra 1 material is not really advanced curriculum. The non advanced classes could turn out to be pretty difficult. I think blending the students allows the lower functioning students to benefit from the good examples set by the higher acheiving kids. |
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| I agree with all previous statements, but I'm currently having a problem in my Alg I class with students who just missed the test cut-off score and those who have never seen the material. I don't want to create an honors class that essentially continues are current problem with part I and part 2, but maybe a class for students who have a certain score right before the cut-off. It wouldn't be an advanced class, but somewhat similar to a class for 10th grade repeaters. Having everyone together improves behavior, but may not be the most helpful academically. We may just end up passing more students who do not know the material. What do you think? |
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honors algebra I?
