From their perspective
8:25 pm on the 27th of September, 2007One of the great things about being an NQT is that you get a lot more time to do the sort of things that other teachers can’t quite fit in so easily, one of these is the chance to observe other lessons throughout the school.
This afternoon I was able to watch Digital Katie’s friend Jack Tennent teach computing to a 3rd year class. One pupil in that class is also in my 3rd year Craft and Design class – a class that has not been going as well as it might. This afternoon’s lesson was with a much smaller class but the difference between then and my classes was still very marked. The main reason behind that I think is the different environment and a few missing faces, but one big contributing factor to my problems, I think, is the content of the lessons. Today there was a series of short achievable tasks, a whole class game related to the material, and then some free time as a reward at the end, whereas in Craft and Design at the moment the class are working on a long running project with not a lot of scope for doing anything else but the project.
Allow me to use a metaphor, if I was planning a long walk for myself, say from Lauder to Dunbar, then I would probably plan to follow the Herring Trail route – pretty much a direct route over the Lammermoors but one that is fairly committing and offers no easy escape route. On the other hand if I was taking someone along with me who isn’t a big walker and is really more interested in learning a few more outdoor skills then I would plan something different like an easy coastal walk that could be split into little bits and allowed us to escape to a road and catch a bus home or spend a night camping.
At the moment my 3rd years are somewhere on the Lammermoors and while some of them could be making good time and enjoying the scenery there are enough of them who have blisters so that everyone is being held back. Basically they are not able to cope with the project and I need to find a way of getting them onside again. I also need to find a way to spend time with those at the front so that they don’t go the wrong way and get lost.
I had a brief but very worthwhile conversation this afternoon with the pupil who is in both this class and in mine, he told me that what I am doing with him is no fun. I totally agreed, being in that class at the moment is no fun for me or for them, but making it better with the current project will be hard. This was not news to me, I had a conversation at SLF last week about just this class. The suggestion was to throw out all the course content as it is and come at it from a different direction, I know this is what I need to do but I feel like I’m committed at the moment and my only option is to push on and try something new when we start the next part of the course. Unfortunately that is their final project in Standard Grade and the one which they get graded on, I need them on side before I start that so I’m trying to work out what short bits of work I can do with them to win them over in between now and then.
I’ve also been given a maths class to watch tomorrow, again with the same pupil – the lad will think I’m deliberately following him!
Tags: Craft and Design, Curriculum, metaphor, observation, teaching
September 27th, 2007 at 11:45 pm on the 27th of September, 2007
You have made some interesting observations here Stuart. Is the course cntent set by the SQA?
September 28th, 2007 at 6:45 am on the 28th of September, 2007
What we’re working on now isn’t SQA set, it’s just a wooden box but we’re are far enough through making it that if I were just to get rid of it and start something else then they would (quite rightly) not be too happy. We are almost at the stage in construction that it can be split up into much smaller and more manageable processes, I’m hoping that this is how I can bring them back onside.
September 28th, 2007 at 6:38 pm on the 28th of September, 2007
What has your PT said?
September 28th, 2007 at 9:49 pm on the 28th of September, 2007
Fortune favours the brave!
September 29th, 2007 at 3:13 pm on the 29th of September, 2007
I have talked to my PT about this class (a lot!) and there is good support within the department. I’ve been given a lot of advice on how to make this project work better, and encouragement that it will get better. I’m sure that it will but I still feel that it could have been better from the start.
Sitting a maths lesson yesterday I saw the pupils getting through their work, they weren’t having fun but they seemed pretty satisfied to be there and were just getting on with it. The difference (I think) was they were working on very short tasks that offered visible success.
This weekend I’m working on ideas for rewards and short alternative tasks for once I finish the current project (in maybe 6 periods?) and get ready for their final Project and Folio. You could say I’m preparing to be unprepared.
September 29th, 2007 at 9:50 pm on the 29th of September, 2007
I can understand the situation.
Has the PT encouraged you to rethink this part of the course? Or do you think its something about this particular class?
When we redesigned our curriculum (All courses 1 year 5 periods per week) when tightened up on the timescales. Even the final desgn folio is only 4 weeks. The pupils have reacted very positively because they can see the end.
September 30th, 2007 at 7:39 pm on the 30th of September, 2007
I know the feeling, and it’s an awful situation to be in. With my S1/S2 classes I only get 45 minutes a week, so to do anything meaningful means dragging it on over lots of weeks (or months!)
I am glad though that you got to meet Jack – I was getting a little worried that I’d just imagined that he was working there!
September 30th, 2007 at 10:28 pm on the 30th of September, 2007
Sounds like you need a rescue helicopter on the Lammermuirs to pick you all up and dump you at the end or the beginning, anywhere but the bog you’re stuck in. I’d take a leap of faith, ask the class and see what they reckon. Is there a way they could get out of this quickly with some degree of success. Is there a way they could use the time to help plan the next project, and maybe make it more ambitious if there’s some extra time? Maybe, as Ian says, it’s time to bring things to a quick close and see what the time pressure does – it might end up being a positive force on the kids. Best of luck. Keep us posted on how things develop.
October 2nd, 2007 at 6:51 pm on the 2nd of October, 2007
Wow. Thanks everyone, lots to consider.
My rescue helicopter came basically in the form of a band saw and a fair bit of extra time to get the models all up to the stage where they could be assembled.
What that meant was almost every pupil was able to continue without help – so when yesterday and today came and the pupils found there was loads of help available they seemed to engage much better.
They now have a product in front of them that they can take some pride in, a real tangible artefact that they have made and want to make look as good as they can; instead of the piece of anonymous wood that they were struggling to visualise as anything else before.
And now I also have something in front of me that I feel I can work with, some pupils who have shown that they really can produce good stuff. It was so much better today, very hard work but enjoyable hard work, and did I remember to find time to tell the whole class? No, I didn’t and I feel pretty guilty about it as I won’t see them again until Monday.
What comes after this project? I’ve got until after the October break to get all of those details filled in, with their input of course!
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:47 pm on the 2nd of October, 2007
Well Done Stuart
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:48 pm on the 2nd of October, 2007
Well Done Stuart
Good luck with those details
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm on the 3rd of October, 2007
I think for a professional in any walk of life one of the most difficult things is recognising when something is going wrong. Absolutely the most difficult thing is asking for help. Do both of those and you’re in a position to put it right. It sounds like you’re doing a really good job! And just to cheer you up if things occasionally seem black, my youngest and one of his mates rate your class as the best!
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