Realising Potential

Why do we really educate our children? The answer to this question is usually for them to take their place in society. Who decides their place? What gives us the right to set the arena that our children will be constrained by?

In year 6 the Sats tests that are taken coupled with a statistical model form the basis of students potential and predicted grade. So at age 10 we are telling our children that in 6 years they will get a grade 'c'. So what? Surely this model has been tested and it seems like it may work in the majority of cases so lets go for it.

The reasons why these questions have arisen is that today I have had a conflict in my own beliefs of what I should be teaching a particular group of children. They are a group that are predicted to get a 'c' grade with a minority of the class predicted a 'b'. So that means that none of them need to look at any topic or question that stretches their target grade because they won't be able to understand it and realise what they are learning. So the question still arises So what? I am going to give the children a test of their ability, which is set by the exam boards in which there will be questions that they don't have the first clue on how to answer so they are to leave it and move onto an easier question that their brains can handle. They are only expected to get about half marks so only give them the tools to answer half of the questions. Seems like a plan, but what happens if the half that they have got some idea about they still struggle with? Oh well that must be down to the lack of enthusiasm and commitment that their teacher had so that they are under prepared.

When I worked in industry and we had targets set from on high, these were usually targets that had some potential of reaching but actually we were driven to "Shoot for the moon, and if you miss you will land amongst the stars!" So in school I am now going to tell my students to aim for their target but their target is the bullseye and missing will only give them less than they need. I don't agree with this and I don't think the children will.

So what to do? I am going to push but give them the chance to expand their knowledge and give the opportunity to shoot for the moon rather than the bullseye. In doing this I am going to create an environment that the pupils can explore if they wish or play safe if they need to.

"Everyone is a genius but if judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree it will live it's whole life believing that it is stupid!" - Albert Einstein.

"Employment review"

Just imagine that you go into work one day and you are told that you have got a review coming up and everything you have been told about work the meetings that you went to and those you skipped and all the different aspects of your job are going to be under the spot light and the board are going to quiz you on everything. Of course you can't take in any notes or refer to anything and all of the questions will need an answer of some kind but you don't have any clues as to exactly the questions you are going to be asked. Oh and this review will then determine the rest of your employment with the company.

I think most of us would find this unacceptable and find an alternative employment that was more sensible. But what if there isn't an alternative. That's ok surely our line manager would stand up for us and give us some support and maybe even oppose this radical change!

This employment review is the new ebac!
The line managers are the "powerless " head teachers and those facing the review are our children!

Is one exam board one qualification right for all??

If education was a real business industry surely there would be some rules regarding competition and anti monopoly.

Real-life course

I have to admit that the new real-life course that our beloved government is investing huge sums of tax payers money looks like a really good idea, but that is as far as it goes. Let's face it who are in need of this course? Is it really the few who manage to get the holy grail of grades and gets their "C" who don't go on to A'level maths or is it those students that can't get that grade "C" in the first place.

I'd really love to spend the hours of lesson planning and delivering for those students that need access to maths that they will come across in life. Surely these are the students that would benefit the most from a course based on real-life maths with a heavy emphasis on personal finance and the ability to get through life and past the people that try to rob them of their money at every hurdle. The number of supermarkets that put up these special offers that are special for them and not the customer is appalling and these things are part of the course that students really need rather than looking at area of trapeziums and compound shapes.

Surely with the freedom independent schools and academies have to either follow the curriculum or not it wouldn't take too much money for an exam board to offer a course that was worth an equivalent to a grade "c" at GCSE rather than perpetuating an ideology that everyone can attain it.

I hope that all the kids I teach get either the grade "C" or aim for the "A*" grade that they can attain but really a lot of the kids I teach would get more out of a money and finance course than not knowing the difference between averages and the reason for having them.

Anxiety within Maths

I agree that there are lots of contributing factors to Maths anxiety. Certainly the continuing testing builds anxiety but the number of adults/ parents that believe that saying “I’m not very good at maths” and not feel ashamed or embarrassed has given our youth a massive get out clause so that they don’t have to worry about really trying.
This is compounded by the way the subject is taught and then continually tested leaves students incredibly anxious about what is a fantastic subject.

Although I am a new teacher, in the UK, I see students that have given up on Maths a long time ago and have no desire to succeed meaning that they enter college with a need to sit a remedial class or an adult numeracy class eventually.

Is there a single answer? I think that the straight answer to this has to be no. Dylan William says that the only reason that we give students a mark is because we have a spreadsheet or mark book that needs filling in. I have been turning my classroom into a practical based environment. Similar to Art and Design and Technology where instead of standing at the front of the class and using the interactive whiteboard all the time I can demonstrate around a grouped table the skills and problems faced by either using paper, multilink cubes, paper plates or even a bar of chocolate.

I have broken away from the traditional and spend many hours preparing these practical demonstrations and tasks so that the students can learn and develop skills from. Maths is a subject that doesn’t need these continued tests to see a pupils ability. Designing a poster or creating a lesson plan based on things that they have learnt is far more valuable then telling a student they failed because they didn’t achieve a certain percentage! Pupils also feel less pressured about these forms of assessment as they don’t see it as one.

Tutoring

Wow what a week. Stamping foot down as recommended to show sense of authority at the beginning doesn't seem to make me feel that it is working. It probably is but makes me feel rather stroppy.

Being a form tutor is another huge issue. I have to deal with parents calls and emails about the complete range of issues.

I would say jumping to conclusions is wrong but actually being misinformed about things that did happen doesn't give you the confidence that you can then trust what people say to you.

Lesson planning is crazy. Expectations of what people can do and what they actually do are two very far apart things. Time of day/ week also has a massive impact into how people act and behave. Maybe I need to calm down myself and see what happens to the students although that makes me think that actually they need some wackiness in the classroom. I'll assess this at the end of the week.

Differentiation is another massive problem with only having a couple of sets the second set has a massive range of ability from nearly top to very bottom.

The government have announced today their intention of radical reform to the education system at 16. Gone is coursework and a single exam at the end of the course to assess people's ability. This is very academic and not particularly helpful to the less academic. Watch out here comes another two tier system.

I would love to find a group of academics who would setup an exam board for the practical people on the world and write some practical exams for those who want to work without the need to fail exams constantly.

Next week is busy and I have got to deliver some stuff to the team. Let ee see how this goes.

First week

Well that was the first week. Inset was information overload, but having spoken to other longer standing staff they felt the same as us newbies!

I have six of my seven classes and there are some real characters. Some good and some bad.

The first real revelation is that the kids don't realise that your lesson isn't planned. This scares me a little as I could get away with mediocrity I don't want to be mediocre.

More detailed plans and getting into he swing of lesson planning will start this weekend now I know what I am doing.

Always be grateful of the support staff and praise more than blame.

Start of the lesson is really important especially using it at the end.

Next week is a full week so expect a more tired mr c next week!

One word for the week eclectic.

Constructive criticism

What is the difference between you are not good enough and there are certain elements that need improving.