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Whoop! Holidays!
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Which I will of course spend working on lesson plans, marking homeworks, and so forth (if you're a member of the council).
If you're not a member of the council, then I will be spending it relaxing, drinking, travelling, reading, playing games and whatever else makes you jealous.
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Same class... different class?
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I had an unusual situation yesterday. An S1 class I regularly take was foisted upon me as a cover class due to a school-wide project with S2.
Now, they're a good class. I enjoy taking them, though they're probably the most "boisterous" of my classes at that level. They still produce good work and we get on well.
As such I was staggered with their behaviour in my cover lesson. They were supposed to be in PE, and were instead transferred to me in a Computing classroom to do written work. It was chaos. Chatter, misbehaviour, failure to follow instructions, messing around, paper all over the place, "sir, he's stolen my sheet"... You name it. Absolutely unreal.
I had four of them out of the class to talk to, including one I'd never had to so much as had to point at before. One ended up going home with a punishment exercise for continuing to mess around immediately after I told him to stop and was still looking at him... then laughed when I took him outside for a lecture. Again, a child I'd usually have little issue with.
By quirk of timetable I had them in my room the next period for Computing. The lesson went very well indeed, although I did have a right go at them before we got on with the task at hand.
I don't know if this is common or not. Same kids, same environment, same teacher... different work to be done - and it all goes mental.
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Make it easy... part 2
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Just as a follow-up to an earlier post, I did run the tests mentioned and the results were mixed - also surprising.
Prior to the tests, I handed out some revision sheets which clearly laid out the majority of things that need to be memorised for INT1's core Computing Studies syllabus. At a glance, around half of them were taken home. One was scrumpled under a desk, the "owner" claiming it wasn't their's - later proven to be a fib.
Still, you can only do as much as you can do.
The test sat was the exact same one this class had sat around 6 months earlier - except for two pupils who needed to be "tested" to see if they needed additional assistance under exam conditions. For them I provided a new, equivalent, test so we could compare the results against the old one as per SQA guidelines. If their scores went up significantly, then they'd qualify for whatever aid they required.
Anyway, the results. Best news, the two who needed assistance definitely benefitted with marks that would take them from D/fail up into the heady realms of B-grade. The rest were a mixed bag.
A handful dropped a mark or two, but nothing that couldn't be put down to "day of the week". Others gained a mark or two. Again, on a different day they'd have dropped a couple of those and gaines elsewhere. On the other hand, I had a couple of others who vastly improved. One, mysteriously, did significantly worse. It happens.
The person who left their revision sheet scrumpled under the desk? Admitted they'd done so when confronted with their test score. Yes, they were one who did worse than the previous attempt. However, hopefully this will give them a kick up the backside. I can't guarantee it will, but I can't say I'm not trying!
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Dive! Dive! Dive!
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No, this isn't a post about the promotion of continental football into UK schools. I'm glad to say that the football I've witnessed at school level so far has been filled far more with rough tackles and an urge to win the ball and score from free play than rolling around like a balloon in the wind hoping for a free kick.
At the end of the last school year, an email went round asking for staff to assist with new extra-curricular sporting clubs. The person I would be replacing when I joined forwarded it to me and I responded. The only sport I actively participate in is SCUBA diving and I suggested it. Surprisingly, it was taken on board and I was told to investigate when I started working.
Well, yesterday it all finally paid off. With the assistance of an outside organisation who are giving us a cut price deal, the classes begin after October break. Notices have gone out and we're only waiting to see how many pupils show an interest. Of course, it could all still fall flat! But the organisation is in place and we just need bodies (the living kind) to fill the available places.
We are encouraged to do something extra-curricular for experience and CV purposes. I'm just glad I'm getting the chance to do something I enjoy as well. Bonus!