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Make it easy!
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My PT had a suggestion for my "difficult" (read "near impossible") 4th year class yesterday. Sit them a test shortly, but make it really easy. Ensure they all get decent marks.
Why? Psychology. If they get a good grade it might make them sit up and think "Hey, wait a minute. Maybe I can pass this course after all". Of course, it may make them think they can afford to slack off...
It's worth a shot, though, and I'll be giving it a go next week. Fingers crossed!
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Apologies to those on RSS
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If you've just had the whole blog republished at you, I apologise. For technical/privacy reasons, the wonderful Angela at tech support has been helping me re-alias the blog. This involved republishing the old posts (bar one which I deleted by mistake) under the new alias.
Normal service will be resumed once we figure out what normal actually is.
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The Bells!
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Handy hint for you, folks. If your school has an "early warning" bell a few minutes before the actual start of school or first lesson after lunch - make sure you pay attention for it.
The emotion "embarassing" reaches new heights when the head teacher walks into your base to tell you that your first year class are waiting in the corridor for you because you thought that the second bell was the first one.
This situation not helped by a clock in the base that permanently reads 7:07.
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Threats do work
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I guess you just have to be careful of which ones.
Regular
readers may already be aware of my fourth year class from *DOOM* who
made my live a little miserable at the start of the year. Finally, I'm
getting a grip on them and not quite by the throat in preparation for a
violent throttling as I'd been worried I might do.
I had three of
them out of the class the other day, and two ended up with punishments.
Which, I admit, it took far too long to get back. However, I had issued
them and they were marched out to see the PT as well. That alone
settled a handful of the rest down. So I ran with it.
Before the
latest lesson I made it very clear that I was sick of previouis
behaviour - that I didn't expect to see any inappropriate use of the
computers during the lesson, including browsing the web when work was
supposed to be being done. This was their warning. No more. If I
saw something I shouldn't - punnie. No questions, no arguments.
Two
punnies = 1 detention. Each detention would be longer than the previous
one.
Every single pupil was on task, or at least didn't misuse
the computers. The three who usually mess about at least had the correct
program up, even if they showed no intention of doing any work. Most
importantly, they didn't disrupt anyone else. Some of the class who
routinely get very little done positively rattled through the task
given. Not perfect work, but at least it was being done.
We'll see
how long this lasts...
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What a quote!
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We're currently putting all the first years through a test for the
English department. Basically it's a series of sentences with a word
missing. The kids pick one word from a list of four that they think fits
best. A few of the ones at the end are well tricky - I can't be sure
I'm getting them right!
To keep the pupils who have finished quiet, I've run off some word
searches which they work on while the rest of the class finish.
Today, one of the lads looked at me towards the end of the lesson and
said - in all sincerity - "This word search is harder than the test"!
The look on his face was perfect. I actually think he meant it!
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Bingo!
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I've got quite a tricky third year class to manage as they're all
mixed ability and doing INT2. The idea is to split them after a few
weeks once we've worked out who can stick the more advanced course and
who would best suit INT1.Thing is, it does leave quite afew floundering
so I thought it would be an idea to do a revision lesson without just
lecturing.
The evening before, I prepared a Prezi presentation
(check it out - www.prezi.com) and
some bingo sheets (bingo
- data rep.doc.zip). The rules are simple:
- Each pupil
gets a sheet and enters one of the key words listed into each square. No
duplication!
- Teacher must see each sheet before the game
commences. No changing words after it starts
- No shouting out!
Anyone calling "BINGO!" or "HOUSE!" forfeits their prize.
- Any
words appearing on the board as part of the presentation, or being
spoken by the teacher count. Plurals are accepted (e.g. dinosaur and
dinosaurs are the same)
- Questioning - with a raised hand - is
accepted and encouraged. However, questions must be relevant to the
topic and not just an obvious attempt to get the teacher to say a word!
And
begin the presentation. With luck, this encourages the kids to listen
and focus. If you say a word and they miss it... tough. In the last
lesson I had one girl complaining that she should have won as I'd said
"graphics" earlier and her friend just told her. Too late - I'd already
picked a winner!
I've used this with second and third years now
and it does seem to work. It does cost you a few chocolates (or pencils
and rubbers if you have one of those healthy eating policy things) but
if it helps the class to dredge their memories and pay attention, then
it's worth it. I often get them to answer questions and repeat their
answers so that they can tick a box. If used as part of an ongoing
course, smarter pupils will maybe now what words to expect and improve
their chances of winning by selecting better ones. All for the best!