Saturday, March 5, 2011

Tempus Fugit - Month three of the academic year

By now, teachers the country over are all wondering what they actually did over their long December break. Nerves are slightly frazzled as one looks at the planning and how little seems to have been done. Self-recriminations begin around now, the closer the first term marks' deadline looms, the more one wonders if it really was important to attend great-aunt Ivy's funeral after all.

Don't despair, just take charge of every day which remains of the first quarter. It is vital that preparations are done for the days one has left. Make every activity count and dispel any fancies that some tasks are more than others in the students' minds.Combine assessment tasks enabling them to be used for more than one category of marks. In the English class, for example, you could have learners research a specific topic and present their work in the form of a discursive essay. They could then present their work orally: as a reading piece or a persuasive speech. Combining written research and presentations work well in all the subjects which require a presentation mark.

Make sure your mark lists for CASS are up to date and ready to simply add the March mini-exam marks thereto. Think ahead and make sure that you give the senior classes an April holiday task and the younger learners a book or set genre to read before the start of the new term.

Start thinking carefully about each child in your register or home class - are you ready to make an academic report comment about somebody's child which will bring them praise from their parents or a self-esteem draining dressing down, or worse personal criticism?

Plan your holiday carefully too. Which days will you dedicate to assessments and preparation and which days to recharge your batteries? Keep holiday tasks manageable - if it is house painting you wish to do; choose just a room or two - if you return to school exhausted, you will be of little use to the children who are far more important to your sense of well-being in the end than the physical exertion suffered painting five rooms instead of two. Teachers know better than anyone else that the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day" holds true for anything the outcome of which we place value upon.

Choose your holiday novel now, don't leave it until the last minute. The very best way to find a holiday read is to ask your closest colleagues who their favourite authors are and maybe even ask them to stick their neck out and choose the one book that is their favourite of all time.

Increase the level of your informal assessments and judgements of inherent talents or promise shown in your subject and other areas and school activities you have observed. Listen carefully to how your learners respond and structure their responses to your verbal quiz and class questions. Make notes if you need to and encourage specific areas of your learners' interests. Now is the time to boost your learners emotionally. Give children individual attention - even if during some classes it is in the form of direct eye-contact, an affirmative smile or a nod; but communicate.

Regardless of what the child's results are at this stage of the year, they must at least feel confident that you have not written them off, that you do not treat them according to the standard of work they produce. Provide slower learners with simple revision tasks to complete over the holidays, so they have already focused on improving their subject understanding and results, before the new term begins.

Try to find out if any child has a stressful holiday ahead of him or her, such as a wedding which will see a step parent enter his or her life; or a visit to a father the child has seldom or maybe even never seen.It is vital that scared teenagers at least have one adult with whom they can share their fears and concerns. If you deem it necessary, make sure the child has your number and the assurance that he or she can phone you anytime if there is a crisis. Remember to warn your family there may be a call and to ask on day one of term two how the child managed the stressful event.

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