Thursday, June 4, 2009

NZ ain't that bad

So hows your week, how about this for a story from a reliever.
Been at ten schools all in a similar area.

Monday:• One hour release time (out of three per week)• First two hours - student free choice
Tuesday:• One hour release time (planning)• Afternoon -school at swimming - those not going supervised at 6 naff rotation activities for two hours SOOOOOOO frustrated!
Wednesday:• One hour release time for planning (yes again)• Supervise two classes in the afternoon playing board games while their teachers have release
Thursday:• Spent the afternoon supervising two classes while they watched a movie while the teachers did a survey
Friday:Free choice whole afternoons...
Teachers arrive at 8:30. Leave at 4pm. (School concludes at 3:30).
oh and planning consists of one A4 page for ALL subject areas for the WHOLE WEEK

Have you met any good motivated teachers?
I have met some motivated teachers yes. They are silently struggling.

Kids hate it. Behavior shocking. Some kids are just idiots seriously, all behavior strategies used up in 5 mnutes but others are keen to learn.

Whole class maths.
Whole class reading - No - groups...
BUT...I was asked to do combined reading with two classes (60 kids 1 book!). The teacher asked me. "So, what should we do for reading today". I DON'T know, I am the CRT! They had been working on predicting and only predicting (for weeks) at 9/10 year olds. They already knew it!
The next day... what shall we do?
I said, what does their testing say... Response: Oh ... we don't really test the kids.

The private schools SEEM on to it, (looking through the windows on a weekend) but not seeing teaching.
I have been to (10) schools like the Central Akld area and others more like West Akld perhaps.


Ok I concede maybe we do need National Standards.. Oops the problem is this reliever is working in Australia, is a great teacher, and they have some set of standards over there that obviously aren't working. The truth is we all have schools like these, and they need addressing or teachers will suffer silently, and the kids in deafening silence. Lets address it some how.

1 comment:

Danny said...

We do moan at times but really things could be a lot worse in our Education system.

The situation you described though is not too distant from what a (nameless) friend of mine does in his role as PRT release at a large (nameless) urban intermediate school - it's double classes 3 afternoons a week, and really what can you do with 60 thirteeen year olds that is of educational value after lunch? Hard to be the fill in teacher and be expected to get quality grouping going, and you can only play rounders or touch rugger so many times...

Have you stumbled onto fraudulent use of CRT resourcing time in our schools?? The MOE auditor should be told immediately...

I know that wasn't the point of your article but it is Friday...