Something to take your mind off the 11plus

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mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by mystery »

Scarlett, I have been banned from the school book scheme.

Oh no, I've just seen the number of posts I have made. If DH ever spots that, I hope he reads without comprehension.
suzanne

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by suzanne »

He won't see will he? :lol:

What about starting a girls book group from home with a few friends & cakes?! Would be much better than school guided reading!
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by fatbananas »

That's a brilliant idea!
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by scarlett »

Oh Mystery :lol: that's a result . ..perhaps you can set up your own box of goodies instead for the more rebellious parents.

I banned myself for a while in the hope you'd reach 3000 before me. How embarrassing :P
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by fatbananas »

Whereas I feel myself a hopeless failure, not putting the hours in, with only 5hundred and something and I joined before you, Scarlett!

Still, with 2 years until the 11+ for us, there's still time for me to improve my score. :D
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by scarlett »

You're a disgrace, Bananas !

One of my friends thought my post total was a typo and can't understand what I can possibly talk about to add up to such a grand old score. :oops:
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by fatbananas »

Will promise to up my score with repeated effort. No plateauing for me ... 8)
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
um
Posts: 2378
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 1:06 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by um »

I have noticed that schools tend to be very slow to notice that children have improved.

I guess (assuming you're in a state school and I'm not sure!) that when a teacher has 30 children, it is very easy to get into a rut of assumptions about many of them, without actually challenging those assumptions.
Even when I have a small class of 6, children occasionally surprise me and exceed the expectations I had of them. If I had five times that number in front of me, there's no way I'd be able to keep a firm handle on where each child was.

In the past 6 months, happily two of my own children have made very speedy progress - my daughter in Maths, yet she is still in the second Maths groups and bored to death, and my Year 1 son in reading, yet again the school seem not to have noticed this yet either, judging by the books sent home!
However I cannot help but wonder if my children are themselves living up to lowered school expectations. My son recently brought home some writing that bore no resemblance at all to the neat writing he's able to produce at home :roll:

Sometimes I do feel I am going mad!
However both children are actually pretty quiet personalities, and won't 'stick' out or be the one to answer questions, etc. My older two really pushed themselves forward all the time and so were generally always noticed. Being a wallflower in a large class has huge disadvantages.
neurotic kent mum
Posts: 970
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:40 am

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by neurotic kent mum »

I think being banned from the book scheme is great. I completely ignored the school book scheme as soon as mine could read - I just let them read. I do admit that the downside was that I didn't hear them read aloud enough which results in some comprehension issues - but since you read to yours it won't be a problem. I have found the kindle great as although dc won't get a dictionary out he will happily highlight a word for meaning. And I disposed of 52 bags of books to charity shops having replaced them on the kindle. ( Dreadful - but it has created so much space)

I have noted that although I regard myself as neurotic my 700+ posts scarcely justifies my name!
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Something to take your mind off the 11plus

Post by mystery »

You slacker NKM. Maybe it's because you are neurotic about something else you don't post enough on here.

Um, you describe exactly how I felt when I was teaching classes. Even one to one it's possible to misjudge children as you don't know whether they are really showing you what they are capable of. They could shine for someone else and not you.

This is why I don't understand teachers who are so emphatic about their notions about certain children and will not listen to someone else who can fill in a missing part of the picture.

I actually found it scary making judgements about children when I taught large classes - which level GCSE to enter them for, for example. I would have hated to understimate a child as some pull something out of the bag at the last minute. The difference between a C and an A at GCSE is very important.
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