Teaching

[Mr. Tea]

- biased lectures and essay topics ('write in praise of...')

This just reminded me of a homework sheet I was helping a (male) 10-y-o student of mine with a few months ago (I was doing some private tuition work at the time) that seemed to show that the 'clever girl/thick boy' paradigm I remember from my own primary education twenty-odd years ago is still firmly in place. And people wonder why there's such a big sex gap in academic achievement...

 

[don_quixote]

on my primary placement and got told by a ten year old that i was too young to be a teacher and should be going out at my age. also got asked whether pigs eat birds.

having lots and lots of fun in the process!

 

[jenks]

I was asked why they were spending all that money on the Geneva Hadron thing when they could have just looked it up on the internet - Year 11 (8 months away from leaving school)

 

[Mr. Tea]

I was asked why they were spending all that money on the Geneva Hadron thing when they could have just looked it up on the internet - Year 11 (8 months away from leaving school)

Whoever asked that must be either borderline special needs or a comic genius, I'm not quite sure which.

 

[jenks]

Sorry, this won't mean much to many but...

the fucking SATs have gone!!!

I can hardly believe it - the Berlin Wall of education has fallen and I feel like one of those East Germans wandering around the rubble!

My phone hasn't stopped buzzing with texts from the department in similar states of shock.

 

[mms]

Sorry, this won't mean much to many but...

the fucking SATs have gone!!!

I can hardly believe it - the Berlin Wall of education has fallen and I feel like one of those East Germans wandering around the rubble!

My phone hasn't stopped buzzing with texts from the department in similar states of shock.

is'nt it the equivalent of the 11 plus which my mum still moans about till this day?
less work for both teacher and student yes?

 

[jenks]

Dunno about less work for the kids - maybe now more meaningful work for them. Years 7-9 will now be about a whole bunch of other things than being taught for a test.

It will, I think, mean an opportunity for Literature to move back to the centre of teh English curriculum - students had been reduced to reading snippets of texts as other texts were pushed as more 'valid'. The Shakespeare text they studied was the only pur Literature they did and that was two set scenes and 18% of their overall mark.

In terms of work for the teachers, i am hoping it means a chance to really emphasise creativity in the classroom and increase trust in teachers so that they can be left to assess the pupils in their own, entirely professional, manner.

As for the 11+, it still exists in this neck of the woods - passing it is a bit like winning a golden ticket, whilst failing it either sends you off in search of a faith school or the local secondary modern with all the attendant pleasures and pains that suggests. It is an invidious choice for parents.

 

[Amplesamples]

How do you mean they've gone???

Will they not be assessed in this way anymore??

I'm a teacher and I can't believe i didn't know this - do you have a link to help me out?

 

[jenks]

Gone gone gone!!!

 

[don_quixote]

fuck the eleven plus

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Have found two interesting articles recently that may be of interest to teachers:

About under-performance of African American or female students because of perceived/real stereotyping:
www.nber.org/sewp/events/2005.01.14/Bios+Links/Krieger-rec5-Steele_Threat-in-the-Air.pdf

About under-performance of high-ability students in high-pressure conditions:
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/ps/chokingunderpressure.pdf

 

[matt b]

Have found two interesting articles recently that may be of interest to teachers:

About under-performance of African American or female students because of perceived/real stereotyping:
www.nber.org/sewp/events/2005.01.14/Bios+Links/Krieger-rec5-Steele_Threat-in-the-Air.pdf

for an excellent uk perspective see:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=...a=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA3,M1

 

[Mr. Tea]

Have found two interesting articles recently that may be of interest to teachers:

About under-performance of African American or female students because of perceived/real stereotyping:
www.nber.org/sewp/events/2005.01.14/Bios+Links/Krieger-rec5-Steele_Threat-in-the-Air.pdf

That's interesting: do boys/men on average out-perform girls/women in American schools and colleges? Because over here it's the other way around in just about every subject (certainly at school - not so sure about college/university because of course students there pick their own subject(s)).

 

[mixed_biscuits]

That's interesting: do boys/men on average out-perform girls/women in American schools and colleges? Because over here it's the other way around in just about every subject (certainly at school - not so sure about college/university because of course students there pick their own subject(s)).

The male/female thing is only to do with Maths performance - female students primed to think that a maths test would uncover sex differences in mathematics ability performed significantly worse than their male counterparts; this was not the case when they were assured that it wouldn't.

 

[don_quixote]

am i wrong to get really really excited about assessment for learning? from where im sitting at the moment i really wish it'd been around when i was at school. (in fact after a few observed maths lessons i wish it was in more schools now)

jenks, re: sats oblivion - why was this not obvious with the restructuring of the curriculum? why was balls and co still clinging on to it as late as this summer?

 

[jenks]

am i wrong to get really really excited about assessment for learning? from where im sitting at the moment i really wish it'd been around when i was at school. (in fact after a few observed maths lessons i wish it was in more schools now)

jenks, re: sats oblivion - why was this not obvious with the restructuring of the curriculum? why was balls and co still clinging on to it as late as this summer?

I think Afl may well be one of the few initiatives which my well have an effect. Anything that actually gets us to ask ourselves the fundamental qs about why we are teaching any given subject seems to me a good thing. Th APP initiative which has been piloted for a few years really works well with AfL and is kind of the next step - I don't think they would have scrapped the SATs without APP being rolled out across other subjects other than English.

As for why weren't the SATs dropped in the summer. Well it could be that the party line has always been that the SATs matter and that parents like them (although evidence for this is in short supply). It could be that they had their hopes set on these single level tests but the research was showing that these were not successful. It could be that a climb down announced in the middle of the credit crunch is not as newsworthy as in the dry news months of July and August. Alternatively, it os interesting (to me, at least) that Lord Adonis - the labour Education guru for the best part of a decade was moved to Transport the week before, thus clearing the way for new 'vision for education'. What it all means is that whilst we are delighted to lose the SaTs we now have t find something to replace them in the middle of the school year - not ideal!

 

[don_quixote]

hi everyone,

this teaching business is so goddamn awesome.

currently teaching 6 or 7 lessons a week and spending some time with a sixth form group who are revising for exams in jan. year 7s i have running up and down the room right now doing some real active learning and the year 9s less so because of the teachers whose classes im with (i feel i have to stick to their conventions to some extent, will break that when im on my long placement next term). what is really fun is them discussing what maths means to them and discussing the terms theyre using. and im really suprised by my sudden confidence, i had some nerves with my first lesson, but now i'm so confident with them, i've fallen into the teacher role far more quickly than i thought i would... admittedly i've got two higher sets at this stage and there's few discipline issues at the moment, but i'm really enjoying it right now.

things im bad at:
timing, hence;
praising the students because i always want to move on so fast;
assessment of the work they're doing;
thinking about the class as individuals rather than a whole class... i imagine this comes after some time with a class;
rewards!

one teacher keeps telling me to stop smiling at them, i don't like this advice - should i?

can't wait for:
the next lesson
actually have my own classes next year where, to some extent, im the complete boss of the classroom and not tied to other teachers constraints

what is really noticeable is the way classes fall into the conventions of their teacher, so if they're used to working from a textbook every lesson and answering closed questions then they're really thrown when a question might not have an answer or a vague answer, for example.

i'd like a lower set to work with now to challenge me a bit further, but i'll get the next two weeks under my belt first and hope i'm not assigned to some 'perfect' school next time. one of my friends is a 90% gcse rate school and loathes it due to the results-driven atmosphere within the school, i'm not really looking for a comfortable existance at this stage.

 

[jenks]

one teacher keeps telling me to stop smiling at them, i don't like this advice - should i?

Lovely to hear you are enjoying it.

I am not going to pour cold water on anyone's enthusiasm. i hope it continues. Sounds like you know how it all ramps up from 6 hrs a week to 20+ and with thought and care you'll keep that flame burning.

As for that don't smile till christmas stuff - in the end you have to be the teacher who best suits you. Be yourself, but realise what the implications of that might mean.

If you are a smiler, it's tiring but if you are a frowner, it's tiring and no fun!

Someone once said to me that when you are in the class that you are yourself, only more so - that seems about right, just decide which bits of yourself you want to be. In the long run it will cost a lot less emotional energy.

Keep us posted on how it is going.

 

[matt b]

this teaching business is so goddamn awesome.

sometimes it's proper shit, but if you remember the above and focus on the rewarding aspects of the job, it'll keep you going.

keep us informed!

i remember thinking 7 hours contact time was more than enough when doing my training. the increase gets a bit scary early on, but you get used to it.

we had a trainee for a bit who couldn't deal with 4 hours/week, but then i think he spent 10 hours prep time for every contact hour. the idiot.

nowadays i'm used to being somewhat ill prepared on occasion (and my formal contact time is about 14hrs/week), but know how to deal with it. i hope.

i would keep smiling!

jenks otm re: 'only more so'- there's definately an element of acting a role involved.

 

[don_quixote]

yeah with regards to preparation time: i'm doing quite a bit at the moment, but it's mostly because i'm having to type every little thing up as a course requirement, whereas when it's 20+ a week i imagine i'll plan with far rougher notes. the other trainees at my place seem to be spending far more time on preparing resources for each lesson (fucking powerpoint ARGH!) - on the other hand at least they'll have them for next year i guess.

thanks for all the advice, i'm sure it'll be really helpful