Starting term

After a week's delay dye to being trapped with several other teachers abroad, it is surprisingly good to be back. As many of my students have been (or still are) missing and there is a lot of examination pressure, my scheme of work has had to be particularly flexible.

Many students are nervous about what they might have missed, so a considerable amount of effort also has to go into reassurance. Conversely, students who are not staying at the school beyond the summer term are also beginning to withdraw and become less cooperative. This is all a completely different dynamic to the last two terms. My response has been to be even more enthusiastic and supportive but I am taking a much harder line on distraction (especially the presence of mobile phones) which I feel is really unfair to already tense students.

I can empathise to an extent as I am a week behind with my work for college, so I can offer practical advice - don't panic and re-schedule!

End of term rant

I have noticed the tendency of younger members of the PGCE cohort seem to do an awful lot of talking across lecturers and this has been extremely annoying. I'm grateful that one of my colleagues mentioned this to the group at the end of module wash-up but I was horrified by the reaction of the chief culprits. Basically, they seemed completely unaware of their own behaviour, despite reaching the ludicrous levels of asking the lecturer to repeat things they hadn't heard because they were gassing!

As the topics for this module have included learned behaviour, I can only assume this must be an example of the influence of school/college/university tutor behaviour. Has it been 'tolerated', ignored or just badly handled? What I do know is that it's never going to happen in any session I teach, for my sake, the other students sake, and and other tutors who might inherit the miscreant in the future.

It might be difficult to unlearn, but I will do my best to help them!

Back again

It has been a tough few weeks, with an endless supply of administration running up to the end of term. This has accounted for the relative quiet in the blog - I was really begining to lose heart. However, observing a lesson today has put me right back on track. Many of the good things I try to do were on display an I think - even for a more experienced colleague - I was able to suggest some practical improvements. But, to be fair, you realise how much you have to learn when you see a teacher turn a discipline/control issue (which could have been really disruptive) into a teaching point. Splendid stuff!

Brainy stuff

I have been watching and reading quite a lot about the brain and the physical effects of learning. A BBC (2010) article caught my eye as singing and learning are certainly something I remember well from being taught when very young. They also seem to be associated with very long term learning. Perhaps we can utilise the 'not so busy' (and less distracted) part of the brain to aid recall. Steven Rose (1992:272) was surprised at the volume of chemical and electrical activity that goes on in an area of a brain that is learning so perhaps moving 'our' learning away could avoid physical interference too?

BBC. (2010). Singing 'rewires' damaged brain [online]. downloaded 18 Feb 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8526000/8526699.stm?
Rose, S. (1992). The Making of Memory. London: Bantam.

Qualifications

Having started to look at assessment, I was interested in an article in Saturday's Guardian (now online - Williams (2010) ) that considers the 'reward' for completing an assessment - a qualification. There's got to be a struggle here - we must seek to motivate in a 'proper' way (according to Herzberg, at least) by rewarding achievement with praise, but there is a real danger that we are hiding the true valance of the qualification, which will have a negative effect on future motivation. Vroom's (1964) expectancy theory of motivation would support this too.

My view is that selection/assessment before starting the study of a subject must take this into account. Student's must be able to meet the assessment process and the assessment process needs to be rigorous and relevant to the organizations and institutions that value that qualification. And the student needs to know which organizations and institutions share their view of its value.




Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation. New York, John Wiley.
Williams, R. (2010). 'Worthless qualifications' give false hope to state pupils, says Harrow head. [online]. Accessed 24 January 2010 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/22/deceive-children-worthless-qualifications

What is assessment for?

I don't think I can answer my own question in a single blog, but a combination of the introduction to unit 3 of my PGCE and an article I can across has made me wonder. Jessica Shepherd (2009) reported for the Guardian that the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) is considering some form of warning being attached to exam results that they may not reflect the ability of students or their suitability for - say - a particular university course. Does this then suggest that a generic assessment is really no use at all? Are assessments only any use when they are designed to test a specific level of understanding?

Answers coming soon - I hope.


Shepherd, J. (2009). "Exam results could carry inaccuracy warning" [online]. Accessed 16 January 2010 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/dec/22/exam-results-warning

New term, new face

Finally back on the PGCE course and it was interesting to note a change in dynamic in my learning set. Two things appeared to affect everybody's mood - a new lecturer and the post-assignment feeling that we were starting from the beginning again.

We had also lost a member of the group who had been a very lively contributor and I very much had the sense that the group was lashing out at our new tutor, who was probably unaware of some of the issues at least. This reminded me of Tuckman's forming: storming: norming: performing: adjourning model (businessballs 2009). Putting myself in the tutor's position, this is certainly something to factor into a first lesson, even if the group has worked together for a while and is reported as 'OK' by previous tutors.


Businessballs. (2009). Bruce Tuckman [online]. Accessed 14 January 2010 from http://www.businessballs.com/tuckmanformingstormingnormingperforming.htm