Assessing the assessment

Wednesday's are great. I teach one lesson first thing in the morning. Well today's lesson was taken up by an end of unit test on mapwork. I finished the lesson with a quick game of hangman. The pupils got 'Relief' far too quickly so I picked a slightly harder geographical word for the last minute - 'Syzygy'. The only word I know of, other than rhythm, not to have a vowel! Look it up.....its real. I then had plenty of time to mark these. I also combined these marks with the marks that myself and the regular teacher had given the pupils for their projects in order to distinguish between the pupils who deserved merit stamps in their planners. All that is left to do with this class is return the tests and go over the answers. I am pleased to report that all pupils did very well in the test. I also received a nice note from the pupil with whom I had had problems yesterday. An honest, simple apology which I happily accepted.

The only other news to report from today is that during a conversation with another student teacher I was informed that this weblog has been used as an example of good practice at Jordanhill. Its nice to know that it may be useful to others. I know it is helping me greatly...reflecting on the day in this way really helps to bring perspective.