J'ai voyagé en France en Ferry, quittant Portsmouth et arrivant dans le Havre pour un beau lever de soleil. Nous avons apprécié le dîner un dîner délicieux de cari avant que nous ayons laissé le port et nous avons dormi solidement pendant que nous voyagions à travers la Manche dans le dormeur confortable assied. Mel m'a invité sur ce voyage, comme mon cadeau d'anniversaire, à rendre visite à ses parents et parents qui vivent dans le beau village de Roncey, en dehors de la ville de Coutances.
En arrivant dans le Havre la première vue impressionnante était le Pont du Normandie. Une structure élégante et géométriquement intrigante, elle dirige le trafic au-dessus du fleuve Seine.
La ville de Coutances a été occupée par les Allemands pendant cinq années pendant la deuxième guerre mondiale, et l'hôtel de ville soutient toujours l'évidence, comme mortier et des trous de coquille peuvent néanmoins clairement être vus dans des ses murs en pierre pleins. La cathédrale de Coutances est également une vue impressionnante. En tant qu'un voyage sur la route d'anneau en dehors de la ville la cathédrale et ses flèches se lèvent majestueux des brumes un jour obscurci.
Les jardins de Coutances sont également impressionnants, et partout on tourne dans cette belle ville ne peut s'empêcher mais envisager chaque film comporter des batailles combattues dans la deuxième guerre mondiale. Les rues et les belles maisons françaises, granges construites avec de la belle pierre, toutes semblent comme une bande de décor de film de frères. Un des événements les plus drôles de ce voyage était l'aventure à l'épicerie, où les specials décrits du jour dans la boucherie étaient langue et lapin. Yum !
Nous avons dîné qui soirée dans un restaurant local de village où la mousse de chocolat était lisse et crémeuse.
Une église locale a également comporté un village miniature de Noël construit par main, construit pour perfectionner la balance, et comporter le plus petit des détails, y compris les chiffres miniatures d'étudiant se reposant à leurs bureaux dans la maison d'école. Dimanche matin nous avons assisté à un office pour la communauté anglaise locale comme Mel' ; les parents de s sont très en activité et ont fondé ce groupe particulier de paroisse. Tandis que le jour commençait par la pluie torrentielle et le vent, avant que les services aient été complets le soleil était brillant en cieux bleus. Nous avons conduit dans la ville et avons eu un repas merveilleux ; gallettes et crepes traditionnels. La nourriture française est fantastique !
Avant que nous la sachions, il était temps de partir et de faire notre manière de nouveau au Havre de prendre notre bac. Un week-end de tourbillon en France - un de mes rêves viennent vrai pour certain. J'avais été craintif que je peux devoir retourner en Amérique sans visiter ce beau pays. Merci que Mel pour faire un rêve viennent vrai. J'ai eu le temps fabuleux. L'hospitalité de vos parents a été considérablement appréciée. Merci de partager votre visite de Noël avec moi. Faites attention de ces distributeurs de savon ! Aimez-vous tellement !
To translate: select English from the drop down menu. It's not perfect, but you'll get it! This was fun just the same!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Bah Humbug...Assessments & Marking Schemes!
Well, for every success, there are some failures; and this exchange process has certainly proven this edict to be true. While I was quite pleased with myself for having marked (graded) all the Year 10 top set coursework essays on Great Expectations; spending hours reading, re-reading, annotating, and commenting in detail - as it turns out - not quite up to snuff! Sitting down with Melanie last week, and reviewing several of the essays I had graded, it turns out that the mark scheme, (a rubric - but ten times more complicated than I normally use) is still completely foreign to me! I miserably failed at grading these essays - well, maybe that's a harsh criticism of myself - but with only two weeks left to go in the exchange, it became apparent that it would not be possible to go back and recorrect these essays, so sad to say, they will be unfinished business left behind.
On the bright side - I apparently, and this will be of no surprise to anyone back home, have been especially harsh and critical in my grading of these essays, in some cases marking two grades below what Mel's trained and skillful eye assessed as the student performance on a handful of randomly selected essays. I have not overmarked, but I have apparently severely undermarked - again, no surprise to anyone back home, certainly not my students, as they are accustomed to harsh, albeit fair, grading of essays and projects; but I have a seriously high standard of expectations and this has been to my detriment on this particular set of essays, as it has been difficult for me to compartmentalize the reading, literature and grammar aspects of "marking" on this side of the pond.
In some cases, even though an essay is not particularly well-written or organized - if that is not part of the mark scheme one is to "ignore" those aspects and look only for the "insight" and "analysis" - at home I wouldn't consider that there is much difference in these ideas, but here there definitely is - albeit a fine line at that. At home, if an essay is not grammatically in line and not organized, this too seriously affects the grade earned.
Therefore, viewing this entire exercise in an optimistic light, I instructed these students brilliantly, as their essays are much better than I gave them credit for, and even some of the lowest achieving students in the class have apparently achieved a C on this essay! Yay!
On the bright side - I apparently, and this will be of no surprise to anyone back home, have been especially harsh and critical in my grading of these essays, in some cases marking two grades below what Mel's trained and skillful eye assessed as the student performance on a handful of randomly selected essays. I have not overmarked, but I have apparently severely undermarked - again, no surprise to anyone back home, certainly not my students, as they are accustomed to harsh, albeit fair, grading of essays and projects; but I have a seriously high standard of expectations and this has been to my detriment on this particular set of essays, as it has been difficult for me to compartmentalize the reading, literature and grammar aspects of "marking" on this side of the pond.
In some cases, even though an essay is not particularly well-written or organized - if that is not part of the mark scheme one is to "ignore" those aspects and look only for the "insight" and "analysis" - at home I wouldn't consider that there is much difference in these ideas, but here there definitely is - albeit a fine line at that. At home, if an essay is not grammatically in line and not organized, this too seriously affects the grade earned.
Therefore, viewing this entire exercise in an optimistic light, I instructed these students brilliantly, as their essays are much better than I gave them credit for, and even some of the lowest achieving students in the class have apparently achieved a C on this essay! Yay!
A Day at the Academy...How to Make a "Dalek" Cake?
I am a bit behind in the blogging...but here goes a catch up day! Last Thursday I spent the day at Hereford Academy. Hereford is a much larger school than Fairfield, bragging a student population of over 800; so on that account it reminded me more of NHS than Fairfield does. Set in the middle of the city of Hereford, and smack in the middle of a Council Housing Estate, it also has a much different socio-economic demographic than Fairfield High School.
With a proper lobby and reception area, requiring buzzing for all visitors to the campus, the school reminded me more of what I have come to know as an American high school than Fairfield - although it still lacks lockers in the hallways. (The concept of an American high school is quite stereotyped here with movies such as High School Musical and Grease, which depict all American schools with lockers - I guess, though, technically, that's not really a stereotype, as it is a reality for all American schools.) It is a cultural difference that our students do not carry their backpacks during the day, emphasizing school safety, and instead store all their items in a locker and then returning to it throughout the day prior to each class. The English department at Hereford consists of ten teachers, and they use the Welsh Examining Board curriculum; as they have found that this particular curriculum works best for the needs of their students.
I was invited to observe at Hereford Academy by Abby Hughes, the Head of English. I observed a variety of classes throughout the day, including two classes related to the new Heroes curriculum for Year 7 - which actually involved observing a physical education class and a related period of instruction in a classroom where students were learning about leadership skills, as they examined various sports and coaching figures. It was quite interesting. This new curriculum at Hereford focuses on improving student skills in the five "R's": Relationships, Readiness, Resilience, Reflectiveness and Resourcefulness. This program has been in effect for a couple of years, I believe, and the teachers involved do say they have seen an improvement in student preparedness, motivation and success since its implementation.
The first class I observed was a Year 7 mixed ability lesson where the teacher was instructing her students on a Fairy Tale Poem lesson. Students had spent four lessons learning and researching the structures and backgrounds of fairy tales. They had researched and chosen a fairy tale of interest and their task was to write a poem based on that fairy tale using elements of a fairy tale in their poem, such as the phrases, "Once Upon a Time" and "Happily Ever After." While there was a lot of chatting, something I too have experienced with my teaching groups at Fairfield, the students were generally focused. Every classroom at the Academy is equipped with Activeboards, equivalents to our Smartboard technology in the US, and the teacher made excellent use of the timer feature, as she provided certain amounts of time for student work, followed by teacher directed sharing as a whole class, and teacher directed peer evaluation and sharing. I found the church bell chimes quite engaging, and it was apparent that this class had been trained well, and knew the teacher expectations when the bells would ring, as they all redirected their focus to her within seconds. The teacher will be using this assignment for a variety of assessments including a writing focuses and speaking and listening components, as the students are to present their poems. I liked this lesson and idea, because it reminded me a bit of my gothic fairy tale project I use at home when I am instructing Frankenstein and studying elements of gothic fiction. The children were very interested in asking me lots of questions about America and I enjoyed assisting some of them with their task.
One element of classroom management / school discipline that I discovered being used consistently throughout the school was a process I had learned about when visiting the British Council in September. The C4 system. This basically entails setting a school wide set of expectations for behavior and all staff use it. A student is progressively assigned warnings, until they have exhausted their chances to correct their behavior and may end up at a C4 stage where they will be excluded from classes, or perhaps even from school. This system encourages discipline with dignity, as not one teacher raised their voice while I was in the room, and also puts the ultimate responsibility of changing behavior upon the student and applies a consistent procedure of discipline to every child in the school for the same offense. Some would say that Hereford is a "rough" school, but I did not see one child reach any higher than a C2 while I was in the room; and every teacher consistently used the process.
I also observed a Speaking and Listening lesson taught by Abby to her Year 10 top set students. This was quite entertaining, as I was exposed to a cultural phenomenon called "Blue Peter", which is a television program where guests appear and "prepare" something while explaining it. (See the posted YouTube link for this episode.) The demo version that we watched involved the guest baking a "dalek" cake, and basically she had prepared a "cooking" show, where each step was explained, and stages of the cake had been prepared in advance. The students were then asked to select their groups of no more than three and begin planning to demonstrate, in this style of "Blue Peter", how to make some object of their choice: such as a paper airplane, a christmas card, or some other item of their choice. They were instructed on taking into account the importance of their audience, the use of command verbs, present tense, pronouns to involve the audience, connectives (transitions) from one step to the next, etc. Students were instructed to think about props they would need and stages of the finished product they may have to complete. Students were told this was a coursework presentation that would be due for completion the last week of term; I do wish I could return to see their finished presentations.
I also observed a bottom set (bar one) of Year 8 students and a bottom set of Year 9 students at the Academy. The Year 9 students were engaged in a library lesson, so there wasn't much to interact with or observe in that class, but the Year 8 students were in the middle of filming an animated version of The Hound of the Baskervilles as part of a unit on Myths and Legends. The project had been student driven, as, according to the teacher, the students had shouted one day - "Hey, we should make a film!" -and so the idea was born. The students built "sets" out of legos, and were using animation technology with a series of still photographs to illustrate the various events of the story line. I was seated with a group of students who were "rehearsing" the positions of their figurines for each still photograph. The hardest task was determining how to make it look like the characters were running. The Hound? A large dinosaur...! Hilarious and creative with a low ability group. I was impressed with their creativity.
Overall, it was a really valuable experience to observe at a school with a much different demographic and style than Fairfield. The students were well behaved, inquisitive and fun to watch. The faculty that I ate lunch with were also very kind and informative, and inquisitive about the Fulbright program and the details of the exchange process. It was fun to share and be an ambassador for the program, as it definitely is a life altering experience on a myriad of levels.
Thank you to the Hereford Academy staff for allowing the opportunity to visit and learn even more about the English educational system. Good luck with your new multimillion pound school building- which also promises to be a state of the art and modern facility, set for completion in 2011.
With a proper lobby and reception area, requiring buzzing for all visitors to the campus, the school reminded me more of what I have come to know as an American high school than Fairfield - although it still lacks lockers in the hallways. (The concept of an American high school is quite stereotyped here with movies such as High School Musical and Grease, which depict all American schools with lockers - I guess, though, technically, that's not really a stereotype, as it is a reality for all American schools.) It is a cultural difference that our students do not carry their backpacks during the day, emphasizing school safety, and instead store all their items in a locker and then returning to it throughout the day prior to each class. The English department at Hereford consists of ten teachers, and they use the Welsh Examining Board curriculum; as they have found that this particular curriculum works best for the needs of their students.
I was invited to observe at Hereford Academy by Abby Hughes, the Head of English. I observed a variety of classes throughout the day, including two classes related to the new Heroes curriculum for Year 7 - which actually involved observing a physical education class and a related period of instruction in a classroom where students were learning about leadership skills, as they examined various sports and coaching figures. It was quite interesting. This new curriculum at Hereford focuses on improving student skills in the five "R's": Relationships, Readiness, Resilience, Reflectiveness and Resourcefulness. This program has been in effect for a couple of years, I believe, and the teachers involved do say they have seen an improvement in student preparedness, motivation and success since its implementation.
The first class I observed was a Year 7 mixed ability lesson where the teacher was instructing her students on a Fairy Tale Poem lesson. Students had spent four lessons learning and researching the structures and backgrounds of fairy tales. They had researched and chosen a fairy tale of interest and their task was to write a poem based on that fairy tale using elements of a fairy tale in their poem, such as the phrases, "Once Upon a Time" and "Happily Ever After." While there was a lot of chatting, something I too have experienced with my teaching groups at Fairfield, the students were generally focused. Every classroom at the Academy is equipped with Activeboards, equivalents to our Smartboard technology in the US, and the teacher made excellent use of the timer feature, as she provided certain amounts of time for student work, followed by teacher directed sharing as a whole class, and teacher directed peer evaluation and sharing. I found the church bell chimes quite engaging, and it was apparent that this class had been trained well, and knew the teacher expectations when the bells would ring, as they all redirected their focus to her within seconds. The teacher will be using this assignment for a variety of assessments including a writing focuses and speaking and listening components, as the students are to present their poems. I liked this lesson and idea, because it reminded me a bit of my gothic fairy tale project I use at home when I am instructing Frankenstein and studying elements of gothic fiction. The children were very interested in asking me lots of questions about America and I enjoyed assisting some of them with their task.
One element of classroom management / school discipline that I discovered being used consistently throughout the school was a process I had learned about when visiting the British Council in September. The C4 system. This basically entails setting a school wide set of expectations for behavior and all staff use it. A student is progressively assigned warnings, until they have exhausted their chances to correct their behavior and may end up at a C4 stage where they will be excluded from classes, or perhaps even from school. This system encourages discipline with dignity, as not one teacher raised their voice while I was in the room, and also puts the ultimate responsibility of changing behavior upon the student and applies a consistent procedure of discipline to every child in the school for the same offense. Some would say that Hereford is a "rough" school, but I did not see one child reach any higher than a C2 while I was in the room; and every teacher consistently used the process.
I also observed a Speaking and Listening lesson taught by Abby to her Year 10 top set students. This was quite entertaining, as I was exposed to a cultural phenomenon called "Blue Peter", which is a television program where guests appear and "prepare" something while explaining it. (See the posted YouTube link for this episode.) The demo version that we watched involved the guest baking a "dalek" cake, and basically she had prepared a "cooking" show, where each step was explained, and stages of the cake had been prepared in advance. The students were then asked to select their groups of no more than three and begin planning to demonstrate, in this style of "Blue Peter", how to make some object of their choice: such as a paper airplane, a christmas card, or some other item of their choice. They were instructed on taking into account the importance of their audience, the use of command verbs, present tense, pronouns to involve the audience, connectives (transitions) from one step to the next, etc. Students were instructed to think about props they would need and stages of the finished product they may have to complete. Students were told this was a coursework presentation that would be due for completion the last week of term; I do wish I could return to see their finished presentations.
I also observed a bottom set (bar one) of Year 8 students and a bottom set of Year 9 students at the Academy. The Year 9 students were engaged in a library lesson, so there wasn't much to interact with or observe in that class, but the Year 8 students were in the middle of filming an animated version of The Hound of the Baskervilles as part of a unit on Myths and Legends. The project had been student driven, as, according to the teacher, the students had shouted one day - "Hey, we should make a film!" -and so the idea was born. The students built "sets" out of legos, and were using animation technology with a series of still photographs to illustrate the various events of the story line. I was seated with a group of students who were "rehearsing" the positions of their figurines for each still photograph. The hardest task was determining how to make it look like the characters were running. The Hound? A large dinosaur...! Hilarious and creative with a low ability group. I was impressed with their creativity.
Overall, it was a really valuable experience to observe at a school with a much different demographic and style than Fairfield. The students were well behaved, inquisitive and fun to watch. The faculty that I ate lunch with were also very kind and informative, and inquisitive about the Fulbright program and the details of the exchange process. It was fun to share and be an ambassador for the program, as it definitely is a life altering experience on a myriad of levels.
Thank you to the Hereford Academy staff for allowing the opportunity to visit and learn even more about the English educational system. Good luck with your new multimillion pound school building- which also promises to be a state of the art and modern facility, set for completion in 2011.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas Yummies...
Today I had my first mince pie, a Christmas tradition here in England. Mince meat is actually a blend of dried fruits, liquor, candied peel and suet. The treats have never been something I have been eager to try, as I just didn't have a notion of what they could possibly taste like. Today at break Kath made some, which were nice and warm - she made certain that I got one. All present in the moment were shocked that I had never tasted the warm gooey goodness before now. Sprinkled with powdered sugar on the flaky crust my pie was indeed a sweet treat and one which I savored.Likewise, Christmas pudding, as I have previously blogged about, was also something I had never actually tasted. In the States I don't really know anyone who makes their own, and it is not something I would typically purchase at the store during the holiday season. The traditional Christmas pudding is something I always equated with the Cratchit household; I never understood why this large family was so excited at having such a small bundle of pudding. In August I got to have a taste of Mel's Christmas pudding and it too was a gooey goodness - and very rich, so a little can feed a lot of people - hence the excitement in the Cratchit household. Ironically, many people I have met here don't really like Christmas pudding, but they make one, or buy one anyway, just to have it on the table. Yesterday, Mel brought me my very own Christmas pudding to pack in my suitcase and take home with me. Attached was a recipe for brandy butter...can't wait to have a taste and share it with my family on the holiday.
Thank you to Kath and Mel for providing my taste buds with a cultural pleasure!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanksgiving in the UK
Thanksgiving in the UK? Well, not officially. I spent the day at a professional development workshop in Hereford, which was not the most exciting way to spend the day, but at least I wasn't in a classroom! It was a pleasure, however, to engage in traditional Thanksgiving activities just the same, albeit later than usual.
Many weeks ago I was fortunate to meet an American, Jack Walsh, whose children attend Fairfield. Jack has lived in England for about 25 years. We met at a dinner party at the home of Claire and David Kerby, whose daughter is one of Micaela's friends. Jack and his friend Katherine were also invited and from there Thanksgiving plans took shape. Jack's daughter and son are also Micaela's friends and have spent much time together.
I have taken a keen interest in the Fairfield basketball team, attending what games I could in the past weeks. I am often the only other fan in attendance, other than Jack, his daughter and Micaela. Occasionally there are one or two other parents present. Sport at Fairfield is not well attended by spectators, certainly not what the average high school team at Northbridge would expect for fan attendance. Thursday afternoon there was a game at the nearby rival school of Kingstone High School, as the school is on my way from Hereford to Peterchurch, I attended the game. It wasn't the traditional Thanksgiving football game, but it was sport nonetheless.
Following the game we all headed to the Walsh home for a traditional feast! Roast Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, carrots, green bean casserole (but much better than the recipe used at home) and many other choices of vegetables. We had homemade pumpkin pie, apple pie and ice cream for dessert! The Kerby's and the Beaton's joined the Walsh family, along with myself and Micaela. We watched the Green Bay Packer NFL football game, Skyped with my family and the oldest Walsh son who is attending college in America. All around it was a fabulous feast. I spent the evening in Peterchurch and had a five minute drive to school the next day... the most wonderful thing to be thankful for!
PD...UK Style
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I have experienced three different professional development opportunities...all within the last two weeks. I have determined that professional development in the UK is as exciting, useful and interesting as it is back home.
First, for two hours during class time two weeks ago, I had to be trained in the health and safety laws pertaining to children and teachers in the UK. Basically this was a review of the mandatory reporting process when teachers learn about any abuse that puts a child in danger. Since I work with children, and it is a law that all people who work with children be trained, I needed to participate.
Second, about a week later, from about 5 p.m to 6 p.m. last Wednesday night, Fairfield teaching staff gathered with their departmental counterparts from a nearby school, Webley, to discuss the differing ways things are done in each school. This conversation was followed by a curry buffet - but since the curry man was running late, and I had quite a distance to travel, I skipped the curry and got mine for lunch the following day.
Third, on Thursday this past week I attended an AQA examining board session in Hereford from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Frankly, I was sent on this mission because a) someone from the school is mandated to attend each year to calibrate all schools who are using the mark schemes for coursework, and b) Jayne & Mel have already been in the past- so I drew the short straw! Preparation for this included each member of the department being required to read about 20 student work samples provided in the mark scheme booklet, determining a grade for each and then further determining, as a full department, a consensus mark. Once at the meeting the "correct" marks were provided and each school in attendance was to report their "consensus" scores - for which a +/- of 4 in one category and 7 in the other was acceptable. Fairfield scores were indeed within the acceptable marking criteria.
The majority of this training involved reviewing the entire mark scheme booklet, that I had already read prior to attending... basically the leader of the workshop read the booklet to us. We then went through each individual student work sample and discussed any discrepancies or questions. During these discussions I interposed some questions to further hone my understanding of the differences between the US and the UK. I did determine and perhaps confirm, that the UK is much more test oriented than the US; and, indeed most schools are working within very prescribed guidelines of instruction. Test scores determine placement on the League Table, a ranking of the "best" schools in the area, and something many parents consult when deciding on the school where their children will attend. It is much more "competitive" in the UK as far as where your child can attend a high school. Unlike the US, where a small amount of school choice is available, and where most students attend the publicly funded school in their town or opt to go to a private school at their own expense, people here can choose form among many schools in the catchment area. Students then apply to these schools, visit and are then accepted or rejected. If rejected from a school, a family can appeal to a higher educational body, who can overrule or support the appeal. High test score results are imperative to enticing families to choose a school. Also, the more students in a school, the more funding is available and the higher the salary for the head teacher. This kind of pressure is not as high in the US.
Most teachers in attendance expressed the desire to study individual works of literature in more depth than they do currently, rather than focus on excerpts and bits of chapters. I heard of "theme" based units, where more focus is put on a whole piece of literature and linked videos, where multiple pieces of course work are assigned using that one piece/theme, thereby allowing students to choose their best piece of work and submit that as their coursework. For example, a student may read a piece of dystopian literature and write a literature/reading coursework essay, present a speech on propaganda as their speaking and listening component, watch the film based on the book and write a film review, and write an original piece of writing based on dystopian themes. They then would study another novel with a different theme and do the same, thereby having multiple pieces of coursework to choose from. It was interesting to hear about various ideas of differentiation, from alternative essay topics to selection of literature based on gender preferences. I also appreciated hearing about the many pieces of literature being used throughout Hereford to address coursework assignments, from timeless classics to very modern pieces. Since I have not yet had the opportunity to observe at a different school, this was appreciated as it is nice to know how things are done outside the realm of Fairfield. (I will be going to Hereford Academy this week to observe.)
The remainder of the session consisted of being trained to use the speaking and listening mark schemes by watching video sessions of student presentations of work. New exam guidelines and a review of the new controlled assessment processes was also done in the afternoon. Coursework pieces are evolving from open ended time frames, where the literature, computers and notes can be used to complete the work, to more "controlled" environments, where time limits will be imposed, teacher input will be limited and word processing systems will also be limited if computers are used. Controlled assessment would be much more similiar to what is done in the US regarding exams such as MCAS, AP and SAT.
Overall, professional development in the UK is not that much different than what is often provided in the US. Some are mandated by law and still others can be a mix of useful information and boring routine. In the end, I still believe that a healthy session of teachers teaching teachers, where best practices and instructional modalities are shared with each other, is the very best form of relevant professional development. Add a curry buffet to this and it could be perfect!
First, for two hours during class time two weeks ago, I had to be trained in the health and safety laws pertaining to children and teachers in the UK. Basically this was a review of the mandatory reporting process when teachers learn about any abuse that puts a child in danger. Since I work with children, and it is a law that all people who work with children be trained, I needed to participate.
Second, about a week later, from about 5 p.m to 6 p.m. last Wednesday night, Fairfield teaching staff gathered with their departmental counterparts from a nearby school, Webley, to discuss the differing ways things are done in each school. This conversation was followed by a curry buffet - but since the curry man was running late, and I had quite a distance to travel, I skipped the curry and got mine for lunch the following day.
Third, on Thursday this past week I attended an AQA examining board session in Hereford from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Frankly, I was sent on this mission because a) someone from the school is mandated to attend each year to calibrate all schools who are using the mark schemes for coursework, and b) Jayne & Mel have already been in the past- so I drew the short straw! Preparation for this included each member of the department being required to read about 20 student work samples provided in the mark scheme booklet, determining a grade for each and then further determining, as a full department, a consensus mark. Once at the meeting the "correct" marks were provided and each school in attendance was to report their "consensus" scores - for which a +/- of 4 in one category and 7 in the other was acceptable. Fairfield scores were indeed within the acceptable marking criteria.
The majority of this training involved reviewing the entire mark scheme booklet, that I had already read prior to attending... basically the leader of the workshop read the booklet to us. We then went through each individual student work sample and discussed any discrepancies or questions. During these discussions I interposed some questions to further hone my understanding of the differences between the US and the UK. I did determine and perhaps confirm, that the UK is much more test oriented than the US; and, indeed most schools are working within very prescribed guidelines of instruction. Test scores determine placement on the League Table, a ranking of the "best" schools in the area, and something many parents consult when deciding on the school where their children will attend. It is much more "competitive" in the UK as far as where your child can attend a high school. Unlike the US, where a small amount of school choice is available, and where most students attend the publicly funded school in their town or opt to go to a private school at their own expense, people here can choose form among many schools in the catchment area. Students then apply to these schools, visit and are then accepted or rejected. If rejected from a school, a family can appeal to a higher educational body, who can overrule or support the appeal. High test score results are imperative to enticing families to choose a school. Also, the more students in a school, the more funding is available and the higher the salary for the head teacher. This kind of pressure is not as high in the US.
Most teachers in attendance expressed the desire to study individual works of literature in more depth than they do currently, rather than focus on excerpts and bits of chapters. I heard of "theme" based units, where more focus is put on a whole piece of literature and linked videos, where multiple pieces of course work are assigned using that one piece/theme, thereby allowing students to choose their best piece of work and submit that as their coursework. For example, a student may read a piece of dystopian literature and write a literature/reading coursework essay, present a speech on propaganda as their speaking and listening component, watch the film based on the book and write a film review, and write an original piece of writing based on dystopian themes. They then would study another novel with a different theme and do the same, thereby having multiple pieces of coursework to choose from. It was interesting to hear about various ideas of differentiation, from alternative essay topics to selection of literature based on gender preferences. I also appreciated hearing about the many pieces of literature being used throughout Hereford to address coursework assignments, from timeless classics to very modern pieces. Since I have not yet had the opportunity to observe at a different school, this was appreciated as it is nice to know how things are done outside the realm of Fairfield. (I will be going to Hereford Academy this week to observe.)
The remainder of the session consisted of being trained to use the speaking and listening mark schemes by watching video sessions of student presentations of work. New exam guidelines and a review of the new controlled assessment processes was also done in the afternoon. Coursework pieces are evolving from open ended time frames, where the literature, computers and notes can be used to complete the work, to more "controlled" environments, where time limits will be imposed, teacher input will be limited and word processing systems will also be limited if computers are used. Controlled assessment would be much more similiar to what is done in the US regarding exams such as MCAS, AP and SAT.
Overall, professional development in the UK is not that much different than what is often provided in the US. Some are mandated by law and still others can be a mix of useful information and boring routine. In the end, I still believe that a healthy session of teachers teaching teachers, where best practices and instructional modalities are shared with each other, is the very best form of relevant professional development. Add a curry buffet to this and it could be perfect!
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Christmas Shopping in Worcester...
Worcester, England - the twin city to Worcester, Massachusetts. Having come 3000 miles from my home, and Worcester, Mass, being the closest major city to my Northbridge home, it seemed only appropriate that I make the journey at least once to this twin city before returning home. Several ladies from Fairfield plan an annual Christmas shopping journey to Worcester each year, and I was kindly invited to join them. I am glad I was able to spend some time with these ladies outside of school - it was quite fun.
The city of Worcester, England is a mix of Victorian factory architecture, modern architecture and Tudor style architecture. The city was the home to the final battle in the English Civil war where Oliver Cromwell emerged victorious. Like the sister city in Massachusetts it has a major river running through it, the River Severn, which supported its industry and occasionally floods its banks. On this day, the river was quite high, as there has been about 30 days of straight rain in the area.
This particular shopping weekend also found us visiting during the annual Victorian Christmas Fayre ( the spelling of this word is not in error). There were many street stalls selling cheeses, meats, vegetables, wines, clothing, gloves, jewelry, and, of course, roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Ware mongers were dressed in traditional Victorian costume and there were carnival rides, especially a beautiful carousel. There were street performers, including dancers and the Salvation Army band playing Christmas carols. It was a festive atmosphere and the weather was crisp and chilled - perfect to get one in the mood for the holidays.
I had much fun, bought a few bits and bobs for my family and friends at home and enjoyed the day very much. Thank you, ladies, especially Kath, for thinking of inviting me along.
The city of Worcester, England is a mix of Victorian factory architecture, modern architecture and Tudor style architecture. The city was the home to the final battle in the English Civil war where Oliver Cromwell emerged victorious. Like the sister city in Massachusetts it has a major river running through it, the River Severn, which supported its industry and occasionally floods its banks. On this day, the river was quite high, as there has been about 30 days of straight rain in the area.
This particular shopping weekend also found us visiting during the annual Victorian Christmas Fayre ( the spelling of this word is not in error). There were many street stalls selling cheeses, meats, vegetables, wines, clothing, gloves, jewelry, and, of course, roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Ware mongers were dressed in traditional Victorian costume and there were carnival rides, especially a beautiful carousel. There were street performers, including dancers and the Salvation Army band playing Christmas carols. It was a festive atmosphere and the weather was crisp and chilled - perfect to get one in the mood for the holidays.
I had much fun, bought a few bits and bobs for my family and friends at home and enjoyed the day very much. Thank you, ladies, especially Kath, for thinking of inviting me along.
Lost Treasures...
One of the bright sides of teaching in an older building are the surprising things that can be learned about the uses of the building as the history is revealed, for example, my current classroom used to serve as the children's playroom. Another is the amazing treasures that can be discovered throughout the building. This week, as Jo Parson's was preparing to put up a new display of student work in the corridor outside the library, she discovered a fabulous jungle mural underneath some old bulletin board paper, which had been painted some years ago by a former Fairfield student. Who knew...
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
My 44th in the UK!
I've never been one to be embarrassed about my age... I think teaching high school students and spending so much time involved in their activities, in and out of the classroom, along with having children of my own who are high school age or just starting college, has always kept me young in mind and spirit. I also never thought I'd ever be so far away from home celebrating a birthday. Combine my birthday with the Thanksgiving holiday, and I've had a bit of homesickness this week, because this week is traditionally quite a busy and fun-filled one for me. Short week at school, pub hopping at home and seeing all the old friends from high school, Northbridge Rams football game, turkey dinner with friends & family, Christmas shopping and decorating the tree are all traditions for me, so I was pleasantly surprised today when so many people at Fairfield remembered my birthday.
I had cards from many friends, and two signed by all the faculty and staff. I had a few gifts from the ladies in the English department and even my form sang Happy Birthday to me, as well as my Year 8 students. At break, when I went downstairs to get a cuppa and a flapjack, I entered the staff room to find just about all the staff gathered, the room decorated with American flag and birthday decorations, a chocolate cake decorated in a New England Patriots theme, complete with mini replica #12 jersey with "DeJong" on it, a likeness of myself as a football player (photo taken off my blog or facebook) and candles, other cakes and a CD mix of Bruce Springsteen playing "Born in the USA"! Everyone sang happy birthday and I discovered that one of the ladies who works in the office, Mandy, also had a birthday today - Happy Birthday, Mandy! It was nice to be remembered this way by people and it truly made me feel like part of the Fairfield family.
The day continued with some successful poetry presentations and comparison discussions, along with some "meaning of Thanksgiving" lessons to the younger age groups. They all made their own "thanks" turkeys!
At the end of the day, doing a favor for Ian, I rode the bus with the Year 7 U14 boys to Hereford, where they were scheduled to play in a 5 on 5 football tournament - the winner of this tournament advancing on to the Midlands League tournament in early February. Ian was unable to ride the bus to the tournament, so Micaela and I gladly offered to accompany the boys to and from the match. I am so very glad I did. Three of these very talented players are boys in my form group, and I was able to see a very exciting series of games. It is easy to see that football (soccer) is a sport that children play here, probably from the time they can run, and the spirit of competition and level of talent I was able to watch, even for such young boys, was excellent. Even though they were not my own children, I found myself anxious as the final minutes in the third game ticked off, hoping for the Fairfield boys to hold their lead. Indeed they did...and they are the first group of boys from Fairfield who will advance to the regional Midland's tournament. Well done boys! I am glad I was there to see such excellent team work.
It was a wonderful birthday on the whole... so thank you to everyone here who helped make it special and memorable. Thanks also to all my friends at home who sent messages and well wishes through the email and on my facebook; it is nice to know I have so many people in my life who care about me and I am very thankful for all of you to be in my life.
I had cards from many friends, and two signed by all the faculty and staff. I had a few gifts from the ladies in the English department and even my form sang Happy Birthday to me, as well as my Year 8 students. At break, when I went downstairs to get a cuppa and a flapjack, I entered the staff room to find just about all the staff gathered, the room decorated with American flag and birthday decorations, a chocolate cake decorated in a New England Patriots theme, complete with mini replica #12 jersey with "DeJong" on it, a likeness of myself as a football player (photo taken off my blog or facebook) and candles, other cakes and a CD mix of Bruce Springsteen playing "Born in the USA"! Everyone sang happy birthday and I discovered that one of the ladies who works in the office, Mandy, also had a birthday today - Happy Birthday, Mandy! It was nice to be remembered this way by people and it truly made me feel like part of the Fairfield family.
The day continued with some successful poetry presentations and comparison discussions, along with some "meaning of Thanksgiving" lessons to the younger age groups. They all made their own "thanks" turkeys!
At the end of the day, doing a favor for Ian, I rode the bus with the Year 7 U14 boys to Hereford, where they were scheduled to play in a 5 on 5 football tournament - the winner of this tournament advancing on to the Midlands League tournament in early February. Ian was unable to ride the bus to the tournament, so Micaela and I gladly offered to accompany the boys to and from the match. I am so very glad I did. Three of these very talented players are boys in my form group, and I was able to see a very exciting series of games. It is easy to see that football (soccer) is a sport that children play here, probably from the time they can run, and the spirit of competition and level of talent I was able to watch, even for such young boys, was excellent. Even though they were not my own children, I found myself anxious as the final minutes in the third game ticked off, hoping for the Fairfield boys to hold their lead. Indeed they did...and they are the first group of boys from Fairfield who will advance to the regional Midland's tournament. Well done boys! I am glad I was there to see such excellent team work.
It was a wonderful birthday on the whole... so thank you to everyone here who helped make it special and memorable. Thanks also to all my friends at home who sent messages and well wishes through the email and on my facebook; it is nice to know I have so many people in my life who care about me and I am very thankful for all of you to be in my life.
Year 7 Football team photo printed with permission of Fairfield administration.
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