ANA

This blog post was written on September 18, but was not able to posted until now.  I apologize for the confusion. 

The Annual National Assessment is now only one short day away.  This will be the second year that the country of South Africa will be using this national assessment.  Schools are very nervous, students are unsure, and workshops are being held to get everyone ready for what is to come.  In the workshop I attended last week for all teachers, I learned a few things about this ANA exam that were very interesting to me.   

                First, this exam is for all schools, whether they are public or private.  Private schools are still funded by the government in order to make it each year.  The scores received on these exams are very important for private schools, because their subsidy for the next year will be determined based on their performance.  Public schools are allotted a particular amount of money based on the amount of students that attend the school.   I was told that the government gives funds for one teacher per 40 students.  Now there are many schools around the area, but the small schools are being forced to shut down as they are having to have 1 teacher for 3 or 4 different grades.  You can all imagine the complications of this, so many schools are transitioning their students into other schools for the coming year (in January).  Private schools, however, are different, and their subsidy has been decreasing greatly over the past many years.  Now the subsidy will be determined by test scores.  This difference between public and private schools is beginning to be quite a rivalry.  Public schools do not like private schools, and therefore want to use scores from this national assessment to prove their superiority and have the private schools pay if they receive bad scores. 

                Secondly, all of the tests are graded at the school by the teachers.  The test is taken by grades 1-4, grade 6, and grade 9.  After the test is taken, the answer sheets and score sheets are given to the teacher of that grade for marking.  While it is clear what the answers are supposed to be, there is much room for variation based on the writing of the student.  Even looking at the grading that my cooperating teacher was completing that was modeled after this style showed me that many teachers are going to manipulate their children’s answers to have them receive higher scores.  Teachers should not be given this power, but I guess this is just my humble opinion.  There is no continuity amongst schools, and the scores really do not have valid meaning when this is how they are marked.  Each school, however, must submit grade 6 tests for formal marking.  So this grade will be marked ‘professionally,’ and maybe they will use these scores as a measure of how the other grades should have performed.  Then, the school must also send 3 scripts from each grade for sampling.  This is good, and will help to check up on the schools grading, but it still is not at all a fool-proof method.

                Thirdly, I found it interesting listening to the rules on invigilation, or administering the exam.  While many of the rules were similar to what I have experienced before, it was interesting being with a group of teachers who were not used to these rules.  There were many questions, and many of the comments or reminders of the rules struck me as funny on occasion.  One of the rules that made me laugh quite a bit was written as follows: Do not read, smoke, or knit in the room during testing time.” It’s moments like this that I remember I am not in the United States culture anymore!  Other rules and reminders included walking around the students desks while monitoring, being mobile and attentive, not giving too much information to a student.  Other topics included what to do when a student is ill, what happens if a student cheats, and what to do if the question papers are incomplete.  Students must be seated for 45 minutes before the exam begins (which may prove to be quite an issue for my grade 1 students!).  Also, grade 1 and 2 will have the exam read to them, which I found to be interesting.  I am very curious as to whether or not teachers will stick exactly to the script when they see students struggling.  But the workshop was a success for preparing the teachers and making everyone more nervous for what is coming!

So, in order to receive a passing score, students must perform above 40 out of 100.  This sounds like it should be no problem, but based on the test and students’ ability to read and write English, this may be quite a struggle for many learners.  The pressure is on, and the race between public and private schools in on.  Since grade 3 and grade 6 are the two target grades for this exam, and since I have been in charge of much of the grade 3 teaching as of late, I am quite nervous as to how they will perform.  I gave each student a colorful pencil and eraser I had brought with me from the US, the pencil of knowledge.  They were so excited, and I told them a story about a boy and a magic pencil, which they found quite entertaining.  So, while I am still just a student teacher, I guess I am getting a little taste of how nerve racking national assessments truly can be.  I guess all I can do now is pray they are able to do their best come test day!

Personal Life

This past week, I spent the last couple of days of the week thinking about how students needs must be met before we can truly teach them.  I have heard this is many classes, and am truly seeing that play out here.  While this is true in American schools as well, I have seen many instances of students being unprepared for learning as they enter the classroom in the morning.  Some students come hungry, cold, lonely, or dirty to school.  Try teaching a student when their basic needs aren’t met, and it’s like trying to swim a mile upstream; tiring, difficult, and altogether worthless. 

I have learned many strategies of how to help ensure that students needs are met in the morning, and how to address those who may need assistance without making them feel alienated.  But the big difference is that almost all of the students have a general understanding of how it feels to be in such situations that many students are in.  So the level of understanding is not something that must be taught, rather it comes quite naturally, making the task of providing for each child much simpler.  I love the sense of community that my kids have, the general love and respect they have for each other (most of the time). 

But then I also spent time thinking about how this is true for me as a teacher as well.  My cooperating teacher has often come to school carrying her own personal problems with her, and I have seen it affect the class in both positive and negative ways.  In the same way, I have seen my attitude and energy level in the classroom change based on my personal life as well.  In the same way as with my students, I need to be sure that my basic needs are met before I enter the classroom as well.  If I neglect to do so, how am I supposed to care for and teach all of these children during the day? 

In the end of this week, I went to school with a lot on my mind.  While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I realized that I need to find ways to clear my head before I enter the classroom.  Yes, my students do serve as large support in many ways, but it is also unfair for me to let my unmet needs or personal thoughts affect the way I interact with them.  Each teacher needs to find their own way to reflect, work through, and process all the positives and negatives life will throw your way.  Having strong support systems, going for a jog, writing, singing, playing music, reading, knitting, etc;  all can be great ways to help separate work and home. 

Tonight, because I have finally reached a greater comfort level in my surrounding neighborhood, I went for my first run on the mountain.  I will not bore you with little details, but the combination of creation, the sunset, the feeling of exhaustion, and the burning in my muscles brought me such a feeling of relief and joy.  Finding ways to release the stresses of life and work, as well as finding time to get away and give thoughts time to process is so beneficial to the body, mind, and soul.

Behavior Management Update

For this current placement, it is no secret that behavior management has been a struggle for me.  I would like to update you on the current situation in my classroom, as advice, research, and common knowledge have helped change the situation over the past week.  First of all, thank you to everyone for the comments and advice, I love receiving it and find much of it to be helpful, so thank you!

If I were in this classroom long term, or if this were my own classroom, there are many strategies that I would try.  But since my situation is very short term and the current classroom policies must stay in effect, I have quite a few issues standing in my way.  So every day, I tried to pick an idea to try, and force myself to stick with it the entire day, weighing the positives and negatives.  As of now, I have continued this entire week, trying my best to connect with students on a more personal level, and make the behavioral situation change based on mutual respect and understanding.  Dr. BC mentioned the idea of talking to the students, and explaining how I come from a different culture and try to create a sense of understanding there.  And that is exactly what I tried.  I have been talking to them about how their behavior sends a message.  I have been able to link some of the morning devotions in with this as well, which has been quite helpful.  But while they seem to hear me for 2 minutes, nothing seems to change come 10 minutes later.

Then today, I feel as though I had a tiny breakthrough.  I had had it, I was tired, my voice is gone, and I was feeling ill.  So I just stood there, mustered up the energy, and yelled, quite loudly, I might add.  I was a little scared of my own voice J.  And I finally got their attention, I even smacked down a book on the table of usually well behaved students.  I had them all in a slight state of shock.  I was feeling very defeated, and I just stood in front of them for about a minute, making eye contact with each student.  I then asked them why every time Mrs. Mudau leaves the room they think they can act however they want.  I said that it seriously hurts me when they act that way.  I have so many fun things I want to do with them, but when they stab me in the heart like this, we just can’t do anything fun together.  I didn’t have to fakely say that I was disappointed, or try to guilt trip them.  Rather, my feelings and body language showed I was quite sincere, and I know the kids could feel it.  Children can see right through you, and know exactly when something is fake or when it is genuine.  I had a few kids staring at the floor, feeling a little ashamed, some kids not caring, and others coming up to give me hugs, which made me laugh inside.  But one girl, the only non-african student in the entire school came up to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Kelly, Mrs Mudau beats us, and you don’t.  That’s why they don’t listen.”  It felt nice to hear it put so simply.  So I asked if it would help if I would just beat them, if that would solve our problems.  An overwhelming “NO!” came out of each student, so I sat and laid down a few ground rules for when I am in charge.  We have one hand signal, all students must have their hands cupped behind their ears when I need them to listen.  We’re still practicing to make this work J.  But it’s a start, right?

So, nothing is really fixed, but I think my relationships with the students are growing and deepening.  Over time, I want to continue to gain their respect and trust, and build a positive classroom environment in that way.  So again, thank you for the support, I still will love to hear ideas and thoughts.  As for now, though, this is the only path that seems to have made any progress, so I’m sticking with it and having fun with it also.