On Filling The Void

Well, I've been planning and planning and week, and suddenly I find myself with an hour to kill before I go to bed. What a perfect opportunity for me to get a solid blog in! I know Andie specifically requested that I do an update, so here it is, lovey!

I guess I should go more in depth into my week so far. It's been one hell of a week, that's for sure! I'm definitely still trying to find my teaching feet, for lack of a better term. I'm still stuck in the Ontario curriculum mentality, so I make a lot of comparisons, and I find myself thinking in terms of how we teach in Ontario. How we teach in Ontario is better than how they teach here, and I really think they should all sit in on some of my lessons and learn a thing or two about REAL teaching. From what I've seen so far of the British education system, it's totally backwards. They place all their emphasis on getting good test results from their students. I'm not entirely up to par on how the system works, so I may be slightly wrong here, but let me try to explain....

Basically, how their system works is that they test their students, nation wide, using a few (a SELECT few) different exam boards. They test them in Year 7, Year 9, and finally in Year 11. The last exam, in Year 11, is one that they take almost TWO YEARS preparing for. I was given two classes of Year 11s this year, and told that most of their "coursework" for Year 11 was completed in Year 10, so that all I have to do is reinforce what they already know. Looking at the objectives of what they want me to teach, it is all geared towards SPECIFIC types of questions on the final exam (the GCSE). The GCSE is kind of like the SATs in the United States, in that students are rated on their score, and can decide from these scores what they want to take in their "A-Levels". You see, High School in the UK only goes to Year 11, or to the age of 15. That is the HIGHEST age people in this country MUST attend school to. Therefore, you can stop at 15, and start working in the real world. In fact, they have students in the lower performing classes go to co-ops (workplace) classes more than they're in the real classroom setting, working on getting a job. From my understanding, most of these students will simply make the transition from their co-op into the working world. At 15 years of age. Something is wrong with that pictures.

If students get good grades on the GCSE, they can then go on to do their A-Levels, which means they essentially will start to attend a community college, of sorts, which will prepare them to enter a University in two years time. After that, I am fairly certain most people complete a three year University degree. That means that the majority of people MY age have been done university for a year or two, at least, and are working in the real world. It almost seems as if they push people into adulthood, in this country. It's just so mind boggling. I can't wrap my head around it.

Anyways, back to the GCSEs... I really dislike the system, because the school is OBSESSED with getting good results. As it turns out, the school is in the top 20% of schools in the country, with 91% of Year 11 students that wrote the GCSE in July passing in the A* (A star) to C level. The numbers correspond to the same percentages over in Ontario (i.e. an A* is 90% and up and a C is 50 and up). The average in the country is something like 73% (of students achieving an A* to C). The test, from my understanding, is written in a number of different sittings, and has different exams for different classes. Therefore, Math has its own, English has its own, Technology has its own, and so on and so forth. They then add all the scores, and find out the average of the top 8. That's what gets you your final mark. Something like that. It's confusing. Anyways, there are books written every year for teachers to use, and they contain LAST years GCSE test questions. I've been given one of the books, and told to use it as a base to teach my Year 11s. They want me to hammer into their heads what types of questions will be on the test, and how they should answer the quests ions to get the best result.

In my mind, that is not how you effectively teach. That is how you teach children to memorize, and perform based on specific goals and outcomes. That's not learning. That's rote memorization. I fail to see how that leads to successful individuals, who are committed to being lifelong learners. They're simply pumping out students that know how to perform well on specific kinds of tests. I think that the system here really fails the creative kids, because it doesn't allow for individuality, it wants uniformity among people. It's bloody awful.

I also hate the schedule the school runs on. In Ontario, we work on a semester ed system, so every teach teaches 6 classes throughout the course of the year, but they only teach 3 at a time. They also get a really sweet 70 minute prep period EVERY DAY. In England, we have to teach the 6 classes all year, 5 periods a day, in 60 minute classes. You also are not guaranteed a prep period every day. Today, for example, I had 4 classes in a row, with absolutely NO break in between. I didn't get a break until 1:10, at which point I was not only starving, but had to pee like a race horse. I was severely unimpressed. The only plus side was that it made the day seem to go by really fast, which meant that Friday was that much closer.

I also found, in talking to other teachers, that they don't really play very far in advance. When I was told of a "Sponsored Walk" day on September 26th (in which the entire school spends the day hiking around the country), I looked in my planner and said "Oh! I've got to change some lesson dates then!".
The teachers around me started at me, their jaws literally dropped.
"That's impressive you've got planned that far in advance!" one of them said.
I gave a puzzled look, "Yah....it works better for me that way..."
They just nervously laughed at me. Clearly they don't plan a month in advance. Clearly I'M the crazy one....... *rolls eyes*

They also don't make very thorough lesson plans. Whenever I've asked to see what other teachers in the department have done with a unit that I am now teaching, they hand me a file folder that is randomly full of various different handouts and other crap. I can't find a single lesson plan in the bunch, and am starting to wonder how they teach over here. If they don't have formal lesson plans, do they just wing it?! I NEED to have a lesson plan for every lesson that I teach, otherwise I feel hopelessly lost. Maybe that's just me though. I AM a tad over-organized. But it's how I work, and it's proven effective. All I know is that once I become a teaching veteran, should anyone ever ask to see MY units of study, they will be delighted to find that I've got EVERYTHING included; I've got all the lesson plans, the handouts that go with the lessons, samples of coursework, the whole gamut.

Anyways, for you non-teachers reading this (practically all of you), I am sorry if this bores you. However since this is my CAREER, it is very important to me, and I felt the need to really explain my problems with the system. Teaching in England has really shown me how GREAT teaching in Ontario is. Our Unions have fought hard (think back to the strikes of your childhood) to get everything that we have now, and we really do deserve it. We've also go a good curriculum going on, and good teaching practices in effect. I can only hope that some day the teachers in England will clue in to what a horrible system of education they have, in comparison to the rest of the world (or Canada in particular). I may be biased, but I really do think Ontario has a great program in place. People there may complain, but they need only experience education in England for a WEEK to understand just how good it really is.

Anyways, enough of that. Sorry to bore you!

Tonight my roommate Frank made dinner for the rest of the housemates. It was some kind of baked chicken breast, with dijon mustard on top, and melted cheese. He served it with steamed broccoli and cauliflower. It was actually really delicious. I also really appreciated it, because it meant that I didn't have to come home and cook, after my ridiculously long day today.

Ah, I feel I should mention a little more about my classes, specifically. Some of it is entertaining.

My two Year 8 classes are, for the most part, absolutely delightful. They're still young enough that they respect me instantly as a teacher, but old enough to do a bit harder work. The boys especially are sweet, very cute! I adore teaching them, because they work hard, and get excited about my lessons. There is, however, one boy in one of the classes that drives me insane. We'll call him "Bobby". On the very first day, Bobby walks into class and booms at me "Where do I sit, Miss?"
I direct him to the seating plan on the board, and he searches for half a second then declares, "I can't find myself Miss. I'm not on the list!"
I ask him his name, and when he tells me I find him, and point him in the right direction. He takes his sweet time walking to the seat, pausing to smack every kid lightly on the head as he goes.
They all groan at him, and look at me with pleading eyes.
"Bobby! That is totally inappropriate, and I won't stand for that. That's your FIRST warning"
He scowls at me as he sits down, plopping his bag on the desktop.
"You know the school rules, Bobby. All bags under the desk," I say sternly.
"Rules don't apply for me, Miss"
"They apply for everyone..."
He tries to argue with me over anything and everything, but I resolve to try ignoring him. It works for awhile, but he starts to turn from getting my attention to getting the attention of the entire class. He does everything from bang on the desk, to calling people random horrid names, to sticking his head in his backpack and screaming.
Eventually, no one can ignore him, despite my signals to everyone to do so. They look at me with utter annoyance in their eyes, so I decide enough is enough.
He also decides, at this point, to call a passing girl a slut. This puts me over the edge.
"Bobby, you can go into the sin bin now" I said.
"No, I can't" he says.
I walk over, and stand beside him.
"You can go in the sin bin now" I repeat.
He stands up, and walks into the room. I point to the chair, and tell him to sit quietly until I decide to let him back in.
I close the door, and give the students a pep talk on ignoring his behaviour, and perhaps it will stop.
I finish this quick rant, only to hear Bobby SINGING at the top of his lungs in the sin bin. Now, the sin bin is located between my classroom and that of the Department Head, Lesley. There is a window looking into her classroom from the sin bin, so she can see in. She has a class in session, and I see the door open from her side. Nervous, I tell the class to work on a question, and I too enter the sin bin.
"Bobby couldn't make it one class, eh?" she asks me, smiling.
"Afraid not..." I said.
"I'll take care of it," she says.
I turn and leave, grateful for her help.

At the end of the day, I apologize for putting Bobby in the room. She tells me I did the right thing, and that it's not a problem at all.
"Putting Bobby in your set of upper level students is a test...we're trying to see if they can keep him from acting up...we'll see how long he lasts"
I pray that he won't last long, and that they will deem the experiment a failure. I don't want him in my class, and neither do the students.

At the end of that class, one of the girls comes up and timidly asks me if she's in the right set. I know instantly that she thinks Bobby's presence means she's been put in a lower learning level class. I assure her that's not the case.

Today, I also got an e-mail concerning Bobby and another student. Turns out the student I have sitting next to Bobby has gone to his councillor "concerned and upset" about the seating arrangement, asking that it be changed. I'm really at a loss of what to do! That class has 32 students, and I have used up all the available seating. There is also literally no room for me to add a desk, for Bobby to sit in my himself. It's so frustrating! I may try moving him on a class by class basis, but I don't think that's very fair to HIM....so we shall see what I do on that front.

I also have two Year 11 groups, one that is higher level and one lower. They are both absolutely delightful, and I have very few problems with them. The lower level class is full of students mostly with IEPs, but they can still perform, when given he right amount of help and attention. There is on TA (English EAs) in the class. After today's lesson, she gave me a real boost, when she told me that she'd NEVER seen one of the boys participate as much as he did today with me. I beamed, from ear to ear, happy to hear that I was successful with SOMEONE at least.

My Year 10s are also quite good, they listen well, and are hard workers. No complaints there.

My Year 9s I had for the first time today. They proved to be a challenge, with one kid having ADHD, and other being borderline ADHD. They're both really nice boys though, and I think I can handle them fine. They're very vocal, but they do pay attention and give good answers. The only problem with the class is that they're all so eager to talk, that they talk at once. Mind you, they were all trying to talk about the task at hand, which is good. The only problem is, when you've got everyone shouting answers at the same time, you can't hear anything at all! It was total chaos! I'm going to try to fix the problem tomorrow, but sitting down and getting the class to help me write some classroom rules. If I make them think raising their hand to speak is THEIR idea, maybe they'll actually do it.

Anyways, I've rambled on enough for tonight. I will likely add more on Saturday, when I've got the day off.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my Mom and Dad, by the way. Tomorrow, September 5th, is their 27th Anniversary. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

Cheers!