Archive for category school
Down with written exams!
Posted by kmcg2375 in school, technology on January 15, 2010
I want to marry this opinion piece and have its babies.
In UK paper The Independent yesterday, Brandon Robshaw writes that It’s time to ditch written exams for students and go digital. I couldn’t agree more, if for no other reason than:
It seems obvious, but is seldom remarked, that students are being obliged to do something that they never do or need to do in real life: write with a pen for two or three hours non-stop.
To be honest, I don’t even care if exams don’t go digital…but putting an end to pen-and-paper exams must surely become a priority as the skills of extended handwriting and unaided recall of extensive amounts of facts go the way of the dinosaurs.
Robshaw argues that a computerised examination system would not only “be far kinder to students, it would also be far more useful, requiring them to employ a skill that is used outside the exam hall.” Amen to that. The most salient point for me, however, is not the usual evangelising about digital learning. In my experience, while many teachers can be convinced of the benefits of using digital technologies, the reality of poor funding and resources at both the school and system level make this utopia seem like a distant dream. Or, at best, an unholy uphill battle and minefield of ‘teething problems’ that we’re just too tired to contemplate.
No, for me the point that really needs to drive this campaign is that as extended handwritten work becomes more and more antiquated, the continued use of pen-and-paper exams becomes an increasing barrier to learning, as well as a significant equity issue. Fact:
no one writes at their best in an unfamiliar medium.
How can we, in good conscience, continue to set our students up for failure in this way? If we know that students are not going to do their best in a written exam, why do we persist with them? Especially when the impact is going to be felt most heavily by students with already low literacy skills. It’s no exaggeration to say that
Change can’t come too soon. The present system is akin to forcing candidates to write on slates with chalk, or chip away at stone tablets with chisels.
Thanks to @principalspage for the link to this article. It made my day!
5 reasons why HSC and ATAR scores make the angels cry
- The Australian Tertiary Enrance Rank (ATAR – formerly UAI in NSW) is, as its name suggests, a RANK. A rank against other students. This means that everything students have worked for over the HSC year is reduced to little more than a rung on the ladder, where it’s only possible for a few to stand at the top.
- Students who are competing for grades don’t tend to like helping each other learn. The HSC encourages selfishness in learners.
- HSC marks are divided into BANDS. Band 6 (marks of 90-100) is the highest. Everyone wants a Band 6. Or “at least a Band 5!” In his review of the HSC in 1996 Professor Barry McGaw recommended the removal of Band labels, explaining that schools, students and parents were largely ignoring rich assessment feedback relating to actual learning outcomes. Instead they were simply increasing pressure on kids to attain high status Bands. But the NSW BOS ignored McGaw’s recommendation (and the NSW government later introduced mandatory A-E report grading for all primary and secondary students to boot…that’s when the angels really started howling)
- School is supposed to be a place where you receive an education that promotes social, emotional, physical and cognitive growth. Credentialing methods that only report on academic achievement undermine the work that schools and communities to do to help students grow into healthy, happy and resilient human beings.
- There is no way to acknowledge students who are acheiving their personal best. It’s all about who wins…and who loses.
Don’t even get me started on how the whole process is geared toward selecting which students will enter which University course – despite the fact that only 30% of students will actually go to University. Or on the research findings of studies of the effect of stress, anxiety and depression on student motivation and goal orientation. Or on how an exam driven curricula encourages teaching to the test over promotion of engagement and deep knowledge.
I don’t mean to take the buzz away from any Year 12 teacher or student out there today who is enjoying shiny results. If you’re wondering, I’m very pleased with mine. But the conversations I’ve had to listen to today (and every other year when these results bear down on schools) have made me sick to the stomach. HSC and ATAR scoring is my very least favourite part of being a teacher…I hope the utopia I’ve heard about up here in Queensland is everything it’s cracked up to be.
Facebook Note: Time to show your colours
Posted by kmcg2375 in online tools, school, social media, technology on November 18, 2009
While many teachers choose not to share their online spaces with students (in Queensland, where I have just moved, teachers are now officially prohibited from communicating with enrolled students on any social networking site), I do have about a dozen senior students (from NSW) who have added me as a ‘friend’ on Facebook.
My personal policy has always been to only add students in my HSC (final year) class. Since going on leave, I have accepted invites from some in year 11 too.
Over the last few days I’ve noticed in my news feed a few of my students becoming ‘fans’ of the group “Your Gay” or “Thats Gay” is a excellent response to ANY situation.
So tonight I posted this in my ‘Notes’ section, tagged the students in question, and waited…
I’ve noticed a few of my friends becoming a FAN of the group:
“Your Gay” or “Thats Gay” is a excellent response to ANY situation.Really?
You REALLY think so?
I guess you must not know anyone who is gay then, or have thought very much about how this might make a gay person feel.
Or maybe you really believe that everyone has ACCEPTED that the word ‘gay’ can be used out of context. Because no-one REALLY thinks that you mean ‘gay’ when you say ‘gay’, right? Like, you’re not actually saying that something is homosexual!
Buuuut…last time I looked, there were plenty of people out there, gay and straight, begging people like you to stop using this word. Plenty of people who are HURT when you say it. Plenty of people who understand the origins of this word being used as an insult, ON PURPOSE, in a very directed way, to literally mean that GAY = BAD. Plenty of people who have suffered verbal and physical (sometimes violent) abuse at the hands of viscious (as well as oblivious) homophobes, just because they are gay.
But hey, it’s just a word, right?
Ah ha! I know – maybe you think you are a postmodernist, and you believe that words should be detached from their historical meanings so they can be used again in new and exciting ways. Ironic ways! Contradictory ways! In ways that are self-reflexive, and therefore actually subtly critical of social institutions at large! (Wow, that would make you pretty smart…but I just can’t help but think that Derrida and Foucalt had other things in mind when they encouraged people to challenge social norms.)
If you’re tagged in this note then you probably don’t think that “gay is just another word for happy” is a good reason to use the word ‘gay’ as an insult, because that whole argument just makes no sense whatsoever…and I’m not usually friends with idiots! No, chances are you don’t think that, anymore than you think anyone actually uses the word “faggot” in regular, non-woodsman-type life to describe a ‘bundle of sticks’.
MAYBE you’re actually a social activist, and you’re trying to reclaim the word ‘gay’ the way that black people reclaimed the word ‘nigger’, or the way the GLBT community reclaimed the word ‘queer’. But if you thought about THAT for longer than two seconds, you’d realise that no…using a word as an INSULT doesn’t count as reclaiming language. In fact it’s kinda the opposite. It’s more like how when people say ‘nigger’ as an INSULT they are being RACIST.
(Though perhaps you have never watched important historic speeches like Martain Luther King’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and really been shocked at what African-Americans had to endure at the hands of the law, let alone at the hands of racists citizens, back in those days. Like, did you know that black people couldn’t vote! That they were made to ride on the back of buses! Kinda like how women couldn’t vote at the turn of the last century – or how they weren’t allowed to buy property, open bank accounts, or divorce their husbands! Or like how gay people are not allowed to get married, or adopt children as a couple, or work for schools owned by the Church! Oh…wait… that’s now. My bad.)No, I DON’T think that “You’re Gay” or “That’s Gay” is an excellent response to any situation.
And friend, I don’t think you’re cool when you say that it is.
You know for a FACT that it is hurtful to use ‘gay’ as an insult, so now you have the choice – are you gonna do it anyway? How mean are you? How disrespectful to the struggles of countless others, their families and friends? How callous? How cruel?
Use your imagination and come up with a new word already.
It’ll take you awhile to kick the habit, but it’s worth it.
Swear if you have to.AND UN-JOIN THAT STUPID GROUP OR UN-FRIEND ME!
The response was immediate, and resoundingly positive. Many students who picked the note up through their news feed ‘liked’ the note without being invited. Here are some of the comments that were posted:
“never thought of it like that, unjoined!!”
“thank you for showing me the light 8P”
“yer that is totally fair enough. i actually joined on account of an injoke with some friends, and the group related to the context of the situation, but fair point.”
I also got some lovely messages from fellow teachers who shared their stories and experiences, and the students would have read this too.
So…cost/benefits of dipping into the ‘teacher’ role on social networking sites? You tell me. But I just got a whole bunch of students to leave that stupid group, and some are re-posting the note to their friends. For tonight, 100% worth watching my online p’s and q’s to ensure I maintin my duty of care.
NING tip for teachers
Posted by kmcg2375 in online tools, school on October 22, 2009
Of all the online teaching tools (edublogs, pbwiki, wetpaint, voicethread, twitter…facebook!) I have used in the past couple of years, I would have to say that the most successful (and my favourite) was the general purpose, customisable networking site, Ning.
I have used Ning now to coach debating teams, and to provide online homework/study support for my classes.
Here is a tip:
(it is one of my FAVOURITE things to do, because I would have loved this as a student!)
Turn on the photos section of your Ning. At the end of important lessons, take a digital photo on your camera or phone of your whiteboard notes. Post them up as photos on the Ning…really helps those who remember notes visually 🙂
P.S. An excellent example of how Ning has been used by educators for profressional learning and networking is The English Companion Ning, created for English teachers by Jim Burke. Another I have come across more recently is The Educator’s PLN, a Ning created by Thomas Whitby to support the Personal Learning Networks of educators generally.
On books and moving
Alas, Mr. K’s promotion up to Brisbane is in full swing, and now my HSC class is all wrapped up, it’s time for me to start my leave and follow suit. Term 4 I’ll be finishing my PhD (yes, “finally”), and next year I’ll find a casual or temporary teaching job in Brisbane. These are exciting times!
I know I have mentioned around the place that I am moving, but up until now I’ve been too busy to really think about it, or talk about it much. The last couple of days of school were quite teary, and a lot of students came out of the woodwork to say goodbyes and thank yous. It was sad, but lovely. I had some great class parties – thanks for the cards and presents 🙂 I will miss my colleagues and students (not to mention family and friends!).
On Thursday, two comments that I found full of symbolism, and so very typical of an English teacher and her humanities-loving students 😉 were these:
- I was talking with two very awesome students from year 10 about maybe going to their formal, and about some books I was supposed to lend them. I said that I would leave the books at school for them to read next term – that way we also could be sure that we’d see each other again before the end of the year, because I’d neeed to get my books back even if I didn’t go to the formal. And one of them started crying 😦
- Later, another year 10 student brought me a present – a book where you write down all the books you want to read, books you love, and books you have leant out to other people (because she had had my copy of Eclipse for about 6 months, and I had forgotten!) We started talking about how the move was finally seeming real, and I mentioned that it had felt real to me once I found boxes to pack up my bookshelf. I reckon moving never seems really real until you acknowledge you’ll have to pack up your books. Then I started crying! Then we both were crying 😦
Geeze, I had done so well all week! Ah well…I think most of you who have read this far will know how hard it can be to leave a school. But bright things are on the horizon!
I’ll be keeping up my blog, hopefully even improving it. One thing that is making the idea of moving easier is the strength and quality of my PLN…so thank you!
New Class Rules
In preparation for leaving my classes to another teacher, I was trying to work out how to explain to her, and to the class, what was important about our classroom management. In particular I have been thinking about my Year 8 class, who are a relaxed and cheerful bunch, with a lot of energy (no, I’m not being euphemistic here…not entirely anyway!), and although at times they could probably work harder, students are almost always engaged, happy, and trying their best.
So, I have made this new set of class rules to hand on to the next teacher, and also to give the kids before I go, so they know what they can expect to stay the same. Of course, the school has it’s own set of generic rules, but my management style with the class has kind of evolved over time, without us explicitly talking about it.
8A RULES
- We promise to sit quietly and pay attention to instructions, as long as the teacher doesn’t take too long to give them.
- We always try to put our hand up before interrupting others, and to save our questions until the end of the teacher’s explanation, unless it is important.
- We promise to work hard in class, as long as the teacher promises to encourage us and to help us to improve and do our best.
- We always try to do our homework, because if we don’t, we might fall behind in class or slow the class down, which disadvantages ourselves and others. We can always ask for help.
- If one of us is unsettled, or is a distraction to others, we know the teacher might move us to another table, or to a table outside. We know this is only to help us do our best, and that after half a period we can ask to return.
- We always try our best to help each other learn.
Does anyone out there use something similar (i.e. with teacher expectations woven in as well)?
Suburbia
Posted by kmcg2375 in english, online tools, school on September 9, 2009
Workshop #2 with Lachlan and Year 10 tomorrow. We will be discussing Suburbia, and how to see the suburbs (and other ‘ordinary’ things) through the eys of a poet.
To begin the workshop, Lachlan and I will both be showing a series of photos of the local area. Mine are mostly of local gardens, skyscapes, and motorways. I’m hoping to inspire the students to find unique and affective imagery in the world around them:
A great resource has also popped up this week – the youth current affairs program on Triple J’s 5.30pm radio show ‘Hack’ is focussing on the SUBURBS. Throught the week they will be discussing Australian Suburbs: Paradise or Prison?
Papercuts Poetry Project
(Don’t you love the smell of alliteration in the afternoon?)
Today I taught my first lesson with Lachlan Brown, a poet that is going to be working for the next three weeks with my Year 10 class on a poetry workshop project, run by the Red Room Company.
Last week Lachlan and I came up with a program for my class, designed around the Toilet Door Poetry project. In today’s introductory lesson, Lachlan spoke to the students about being a poet and writing poetry, and showed an accompnying slideshow of photos from his time writing in the crowded lower class suburbs of Paris. Using examples of his own work, and some of his own favourite poems, Lachlan explored the rich inspirations for poetry that can come from our everyday lives and experiences. To conclude the lesson, I gave the students a copy of Bronwyn Lea’s ‘Mineslec‘ on Poetry and Space and read this to them, leaving with the following questions for homework:
- Bronwyn Lea suggests that poems in public spaces can “deliver what we hadn’t thought to ask for”. Come up with three ideas for what this might be. Could our poetry aim to deliver a certain theme? A certain form? Other ideas…?
- Looking back over this reading, what points does Bronwyn Lea make that interested or surprised you? Find something that you strongly agree or disagree with and explain why.
Next week the students will bring their ideas, as well as a photograph or an object that represents their everyday lives, and this will form the basis of our first poetry writing workshop. Lachlan and I will also be taking the students on a ‘Poetry Walk’ around the school and nearby local street to practice ‘seeing the world like a poet’. I can’t wait!
Third 12 Word Story
Posted by kmcg2375 in online tools, random, school on August 18, 2009
I was so excited to catch my third 12 word story displayed on the 12Words homepage! All stories appear there briefly, I think, but I never saw my first two go up. Thought this one would be especially good to share, as I think it’s something with which many teacher-types will identify with – if not the smoking or coffee, at least the sentiment!
Let me know if you are using this with your students, or if you are writing for this project too. I made a handout for students in my class (click to download), using information lifted straight from the 12Words website – why don’t you make a few copies and hand them out in class? Or in a Faculty meeting 🙂
productiveness
HSC Drama students hard at work on their scripts while I ‘teach’. Thanks for sharing this girls 🙂
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