Today's post comes courtesy of Paul, who theorized that our professionalism, obedience, and diligence at work were hurting both ourselves and the ILP program here.
Example #1: When we arrived, newsletters only consisted of the spelling words and the title of the grammar chapter. Now, the newsletters contain the spelling words, the page number of the book the word is used on, GEPT words, definitions, parts of speech, an example sentence using each word, grammar terminology, and any new vocabulary used in the grammar book.
Example #2: When we arrived, tests were almost exclusively spelling and if they failed, it was not good, but they just got yelled at to study. Now, there are separate grammar and spelling tests, two midterms, and a final. Failed tests result in no breaks, extra homework, and a re-take (up to 2 times).
Example #3: When we arrived, homework was checked by the teacher (and possibly corrected by them). Now, homework is checked by the teacher (daily), the head teacher (as time permits), and one of the secretaries (once a semester). Sentences with any mistakes must be corrected by the student and rewritten 2x. Excessive mistakes results in the whole assignment being rewritten. Homework is now graded on 100 point scale based on handwriting, completeness, complexity, grammar, and whether it fulfills the assignment or not. A score of less than 90 results in extra homework and a complete rewriting of the assignment.
Example #4: When we arrived, the teachers here were totally flakes who never followed through on anything and did pretty much whatever they wanted. Now, the teachers (us) are not flakes and actually implement our boss' commands.
End results? No subject lessons, not a lot of talking time, a significant decrease in the fun for the kids, and a program that resembles ILP in no way. Now our boss is complaining that the kids don't like learning English as much.
The greatest irony is what I told Paul just last night before the scoring of homework was announced and all that it entails: "I don't know why we even bother with spelling words and tests. My kids never study for the tests or try to learn the words. They don't even lie to me and say they studied." I had just found out that they have to memorize 25 words a week for their English classes in their Chinese schools. No 10 yr old is going to memorize 50 new words in a foreign language every week, so it's no wonder that they study the other words over ours. Those words have real grades and ranks and consequences attached to them. At worse, I can make them kind of miserable for 2 hours twice a week.
3 comments:
I know that Paul is mostly just grumping here, but perhaps he has a valid point. Maybe part of the problem is that as far as I can tell, your improvements have mostly orbited around outcome assessment. Isn’t that sort of putting the cart before the horse? It seems like testing is the last thing you should be worrying about. Bag the tests; spent time improving the teaching experience itself. You will have more fun, and your students will learn more. I can say this with a confidence, because "measurable outcome assessment" is presently killing our department.
Uh, yeah. That was my point. Paul's point IS completely valid. We're in agreement there. And heaven knows, if we had the power to bag tests and a lot of other stuff, we would in an instant.
But it's more fun with Paulifier!
When I was on the mission, I too tried to quantify many things and had less fun for it. Is there any answer for it with us overachieving types?
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