4 PSLE marking days starting tomorrow. Poor primary school teachers. First, they have to mark hordes of PSLE scripts, then they get back to school to mark their internal exam papers.
That means the boy will be home all day the next four days. He is mightily pleased about not having to go to school for 4 days and does not appear to feel one bit of 'exam stress' although I have reminded him several times that he will be doing 'exam practice' over these four days.
His school is on the SEED (Strategies for Effective and Engaging Development) programme for P1 and if you just look at the pictures here (from another school) you will see why the children might still be living in the playground in their mind (or a real one, if they get their way) although the exams are round the corner. One parent I met recently commented that their classroom looks like a kindergarten classroom. I have no quarrel with that, actually, as I don't see anything wrong with making the classroom look fun and alive. Neither do I have any quarrel with making school life in general more hands-on, participative and fun, which, as I understand it, is what SEED sets out to do.
One problem, though, is that because there have been no tests, no mid-year exam or anything remotely like an assessment (as SEED is very non-exam-oriented), he did pretty horribly in the 'revision papers' (past-year P1 exam papers) dished out in the last week or so. The main reason, by my assessment, is that the written work they have been doing has been rather straightforward but the exam questions are not. With the lack of exposure to exam-type questions, he has problems interpreting questions. And I'm sure the fact that we stayed away from assessment books most of this year (because there didn't seem to be a need to buy any!) has something to do with it too. So that means quite a bit of hard work over this week.
Nevertheless, I'm still very much for the SEED idea. The poor kids are going to get enough exam-related stress in the years to come, so I'd be happy to spare them all those tests and CAs and SAs while they are in the lower levels. More importantly, it is student-centred and at least tries to develop the children's interest in what they are learning. Assessment is also more broad-based, i.e., it's not just the exam that counts but also the 'portfolio' of work they have built up over the year. One of the best things, I feel, is the introduction of Science (non-examinable) at P1. He really loves it as it's largely activity-based, and very 'real life'. His 3 favourite 'subjects', as he ranks them, are Recess, PE and Science!
I hope parents won't pressure the school to re-introduce regular tests and assessments to 'better prepare' the children for the end-of-year exams. However, perhaps there could be better matching between the kind of questions done in their lessons or worksheets and those in the exam paper.
Let's see if they ask for parents' feedback.
Meanwhile, I'll have precious little time to do stuff like read my Women's Weekly (haven't even started on it yet) or get on the computer. I find I'm less efficient even doing the usual house chores with people about the place.
That means the boy will be home all day the next four days. He is mightily pleased about not having to go to school for 4 days and does not appear to feel one bit of 'exam stress' although I have reminded him several times that he will be doing 'exam practice' over these four days.
His school is on the SEED (Strategies for Effective and Engaging Development) programme for P1 and if you just look at the pictures here (from another school) you will see why the children might still be living in the playground in their mind (or a real one, if they get their way) although the exams are round the corner. One parent I met recently commented that their classroom looks like a kindergarten classroom. I have no quarrel with that, actually, as I don't see anything wrong with making the classroom look fun and alive. Neither do I have any quarrel with making school life in general more hands-on, participative and fun, which, as I understand it, is what SEED sets out to do.
One problem, though, is that because there have been no tests, no mid-year exam or anything remotely like an assessment (as SEED is very non-exam-oriented), he did pretty horribly in the 'revision papers' (past-year P1 exam papers) dished out in the last week or so. The main reason, by my assessment, is that the written work they have been doing has been rather straightforward but the exam questions are not. With the lack of exposure to exam-type questions, he has problems interpreting questions. And I'm sure the fact that we stayed away from assessment books most of this year (because there didn't seem to be a need to buy any!) has something to do with it too. So that means quite a bit of hard work over this week.
Nevertheless, I'm still very much for the SEED idea. The poor kids are going to get enough exam-related stress in the years to come, so I'd be happy to spare them all those tests and CAs and SAs while they are in the lower levels. More importantly, it is student-centred and at least tries to develop the children's interest in what they are learning. Assessment is also more broad-based, i.e., it's not just the exam that counts but also the 'portfolio' of work they have built up over the year. One of the best things, I feel, is the introduction of Science (non-examinable) at P1. He really loves it as it's largely activity-based, and very 'real life'. His 3 favourite 'subjects', as he ranks them, are Recess, PE and Science!
I hope parents won't pressure the school to re-introduce regular tests and assessments to 'better prepare' the children for the end-of-year exams. However, perhaps there could be better matching between the kind of questions done in their lessons or worksheets and those in the exam paper.
Let's see if they ask for parents' feedback.
Meanwhile, I'll have precious little time to do stuff like read my Women's Weekly (haven't even started on it yet) or get on the computer. I find I'm less efficient even doing the usual house chores with people about the place.
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