Scribbler's Den

I marked my Year 10 History Viking short answer exams this week and I am shocked at the results.  The results are really quite atrocious.  Out of the entire class of 26 students only 7 students passed.

Let me contextualise the situation and have a seat because you will probably need it.  .... I told the class what the question topics on the exam were going to be.

That's right.  20 multiple choice and 3 short answer questions and each student knew what to study.  My initial reaction was one of confusion.  I thought there had to be a mistake.  Then, to make matters worse, when I spoke to the other Year 10 History teachers I found that in one class no one failed and in the other only 1 student failed.  Obviously it was my fault.

 At the end of the school year I normally hand out review/feedback sheets.  This week I brought that activity forward.  I set out a series of questions about the exam itself, the subject, my teaching and their preparation.  The results were a little confusing.

They like the subject.  They are little bored.  They, in equal numbers, want more powerpoints and movies and less powerpoints and movies.  Most admitted to not studying at all.  Most wanted to make viking shields and play viking games (something another class was doing) which had no link content wise to the test.

I think the class just lacked motivation to study.  I think the interest in Vikings is there (We had some great class discussions about various aspects of Viking history) but the motivation to study is not.  Unless the content is explicitly taught, and pointed out to them to be exam content, the knowledge goes in one ear and out the other.

So, next unit I am going to add more knowledge checks.  Weekly quizzes and recaps will added to the class activity list.  Creation of study notes either by me or them will also have to be done.  It is tough but I am also going to have to become more of an entertainer and motivator, something I never thought I would have to be as a teacher.  My main skill is breaking a task down and helping students understand.  I thought that was pretty much all I needed. How wrong I have been.

I choose to spend much of my spare time immersed in technology.  I tinker with my websites, blog, twitter, browse my RSS reader, scour the internet and I have made and manage an online student community for my school.  This eats up a fair amount of my time but I feel it is worth it.  I can also see the benefits of my efforts in the classroom.  Sometimes, when given an opportunity, I try to spread the word about tools I honestly believe can help other teachers do their work.

'Do' ... not 'add' to their work.

Sometimes though the effort not only fails abysmally but gets thrown back in my face.  Jen from Tech Thoughts By Jen blogged about this very situation yesterday.  She received the oh-so familiar phrase, “some people have too much time on their hands”.  I have had this gem thrown in my face a lot too.  Most of the time it is water off a duck's back but sometimes the knife slips through my guard and the hot flush of resentment rises quickly.  It hurts.

Perhaps it is just a throw away line or a cover up for technological insecurities.  Regardless, sometimes I think teachers, like anyone I suppose, can be too quick to disregard or devalue the efforts of their peers.  To view time spent using online tools as a waste of time or as an activity 'real' teachers have little time to explore is an ignorance I worry is all too common in the teaching profession.

My geography students have just started to design their own sustainable city.  In a month they will particpate in a seminar where they will need to outline the features and justifications for their design.  One of the options available to them is to use a city simulator to provide the graphics for their presentation.

SimCity is obviously what first came to mind.  But I am a fan of free options for students and I discovered LinCityNG.  It is only 40 odd mb to download and works on a variety of operating systems.  The students can either run the game in the seminar to showcase their model city or they can take screenshots.  The city can also be broken down into a variety of displays: Electricity, water and transport systems can all be highlighted.  In all it is a perfect tool for their needs.

One of the Edublogs that I read, Instructify, informed me this morning, via my RSS reader, of a resource section for teachers at Scholastic.  When I went to check it out I found that Scholastic has resources for new and experienced teachers.  Scholastic's 'New Teacher Zone' is filled with tips and resources for new teachers and then there is even more valuable time saving material for experienced teachers at Scholastic's general teacher section.  I believe both areas of the Scholastic website are worth checking out.

I am adding the website to my Weblinks section - filed under resources.