I only have thirty six days left ... and I thought that by now I would be able to begin winding down ... but every time I think that, something else happens!
Today the NSS reared its ugly head again! Almost all of the work done by the students has been revised, re-written, and undergone considerable change ... and I have been assessing and re-assessing each piece at every twist and turn of the process.
As a result, the work is complete; it is also a complete mess ... and I have been tasked with sorting it out ... by 4.00pm! This does not just mean making sure that it is all in the right order; if that was the case, the work would take me a matter of minutes. What I have to do is to sort the work out into the correct order, renumber all the pages in that order, check that the correct annotations for the assessment criteria have been made, and fill in the four page record sheet for each student. The latter involves cross-referencing the assessment criteria to the pages that contain the evidence for those criteria.
Simple ... and very time-consuming. My last class ends at 2.15pm, which means that I will have about ninety minutes to do about five hours work.
It has been another great day in the world of education ... but as I wrote at the beginning of this blog entry, I now only have thirty six days to go. Roll on 15th July!
PS. If you are wondering why I am spending time writing this blog entry and not actually starting this onerous task, the answer is very simple; I am still waiting for the last few pieces of work to be printed off by the students, after which I should be able to start.
Today the NSS reared its ugly head again! Almost all of the work done by the students has been revised, re-written, and undergone considerable change ... and I have been assessing and re-assessing each piece at every twist and turn of the process.
As a result, the work is complete; it is also a complete mess ... and I have been tasked with sorting it out ... by 4.00pm! This does not just mean making sure that it is all in the right order; if that was the case, the work would take me a matter of minutes. What I have to do is to sort the work out into the correct order, renumber all the pages in that order, check that the correct annotations for the assessment criteria have been made, and fill in the four page record sheet for each student. The latter involves cross-referencing the assessment criteria to the pages that contain the evidence for those criteria.
Simple ... and very time-consuming. My last class ends at 2.15pm, which means that I will have about ninety minutes to do about five hours work.
It has been another great day in the world of education ... but as I wrote at the beginning of this blog entry, I now only have thirty six days to go. Roll on 15th July!
PS. If you are wondering why I am spending time writing this blog entry and not actually starting this onerous task, the answer is very simple; I am still waiting for the last few pieces of work to be printed off by the students, after which I should be able to start.
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Oh, joy! What a frabjous day, eh?
ReplyDelete-- Jeff
Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are with you ...
ReplyDeletetake care
Alan
Keep smiling Bob - it'll be over soon. I'm sure that if they'd just let us get on and teach instead of filling out bits of paper, the little blighters might actually make the progress they're capable of.
ReplyDeleteNil carborundum illegitimi, old chap.
ReplyDeleteBluebear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteIt was not the best day I have had recently ... and I suspect that tomorrow is not going to be much better.
All the best,
Bob
Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks; I am going to need it!
All the best,
Bob
Tradgardmastare,
ReplyDeleteI finally finished what I had to do at 9.00pm! I worked from 2.30pm until they wanted to lock up the building at 6.00pm, drove home, had a quick drink and something to eat, and carried on until it was finished.
What is really annoying is the person who wants this done by tomorrow morning went home at 4.30pm ... and I know that when I hand it over, whatever I have done is not going to be right.
36 days and counting!
All the best,
Bob
Jfidz,
ReplyDeleteThe NSS has been occupying my teaching and non-teaching time for weeks, if not months ... and I have been trying to 'get it right' and teach normally as well.
The fact that my students have made any progress at all has been a bit of a miracle.
All the best,
Bob
Conrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteMerda taurorum omnia vincit
(My Latin is bit rusty, but I think I got it reasonably correct!)
All the best,
Bob
Lead Gardens has a post trying out your new rules:
ReplyDeletehttp://littlejohnslead.blogspot.com/2011/05/having-go-with-hexes.html
-- Jeff
Bluebear Jeff,
ReplyDeleteBy pure coincidence, I was visiting the 'Lead Gardens' website as your comment arrived!
Spooky ... or what?
All the best,
Bob
Teaching is a labor of love...even though administrators work hard to make it other than that...good luck with your students as they are what's important in the end.
ReplyDeleteFrom one teacher to another, Bon Chance my friend!
Littlejohn,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for your kind words. I must admit, I would have given up teaching some time ago had it not been for my students who - despite the problems that they sometimes give me - are worth all the effort I make to help them.
As you say, it is the administrators who make teaching difficult (if not impossible) at times.
All the best,
Bob
PS. By the way, have you noticed how many people who make comments about my blog entries are teachers or are involved in education in some way?