We are at that time of the year when the first major exam scores are coming in for English. The picture is about what I thought it would be.
First, because of allowing any student to enter the school if the family has the money is really a bad policy. The higher in the grades you go, the worse the situation. In Grade Seven for example, we have three classes in a group of about 18. Three students walked right through the unit exam. About six students were in the middle. The rest were rock bottom. Even in a group so small, this kind of range is difficult to deal with. The bottom line is that nobody is happy.
We have started to teach testing rules. By having a ten minute session the day before the test about how to behave during an exam and by being a real "bear" about it during the exam, we saw some progress. Part of this is teaching teachers not to respond to student question during the exam. I told several students today the test was for them, not the teacher. Our goal is to have a unit exam with total silence in the room, no walking around, no talking out loud, and no bugging the teacher for clues. It will take some time
We have run some sample teacher evaluation forms taken from the internet. One was in Spanish. Remember we are starting with the question of "what is teacher evaluation". Now they can see the components. There are so many assumed things that we have to be very careful. For example, we have nobody trained as a teacher evaluator. Teachers have no idea what is expected of them. We will have to teach teachers HOW to perform. This will be an on-going topic for some time.
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3 comments:
What education does the teacher have??
Do you realize you have laid out at least 5 year's work just to get the everyone on board as to what is expected of them. Do you plan to start another career in Ecuador?
This will be more difficult than when you started in Anita. Does your chief school officer understand the problem ? It reminds me of my first year teaching in 1953. Don
Do your teachers have degrees with emphasis in education? Is there a teacher certification process? Are teachers under contract or are they casual employees? From the pictures of the parades of the teachers it would appear to me that those watching held the teachers in high regard. Don
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