2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy
-
buds:
Darling, this is PSLE thread leh.. so of course at P6 la.
So at P6, is it common? Why do schools make life so hard? -
In her case, might be because she is in the last few classes… so mebbe she is not the only one who is learning things slower. After that revelation, I am not optimistic that she is one of five who passed.
-
buds:
In her case, might be because she is in the last few classes.. so mebbe she is not the only one who is learning things slower. After that revelation, I am not optimistic that she is one of five who passed.
Buds, may I know how big is the class? -
40 plus. Even when she was in better classes in the last two years. In fact, according to the school, more kids in better classes because they can handle it. But dunno whether \"they\" was in reference to the students or the teacher.
-
Seriously, something not right leh…
First, the kids are swarmed with supp classes, then drowned in homework. With not even sufficient time to revise, the bar is still pushed so high… -
buds:
40 plus. Even when she was in better classes in the last two years. In fact, according to the school, more kids in better classes because they can handle it. But dunno whether \"they\" was in reference to the students or the teacher.
In my son's school, better classes have up to 40 students. The rest have between 8 to 27 students (I counted the number of students in the photos in the year end newsletter).
Maybe your DD's school set very difficult paper? -
Agree with you on the swarming bit. Besides with bigger classes, teachers will definitely find it hard to tailor lessons to benefit students of varying learning styles and/or students who require more time to grasp concepts before application and further stretching/challenging practices. As long as concepts cannot gao tim, students will surely fall behind.
It doesn’t help that she had senior teacher to teach Math or was it HOD back in P5… but the teacher was totally incapable of reaching out to students who were not at "her level". ie. The type who is only good at rote-teaching - I say… you see/hear… ok, now do! Then, when there were children who asked her to go through again, (which she did encourage)… she will do it but in exactly the same way. Yup, she would still use exactly the same way… the first way that the students couldn’t get because that’s the only way she knew. That’s why this thing abt HODs or senior teachers teaching classes may not necessarily be a jumping-for-joy news. Some of them can be really engaging because they know the subject well and in depth and have vast experiences working with students of different abilities but there are amongst them who are only good at teaching already smart students. Worst is there are a few who will tell students who aren’t up to mark to seek external alternatives. -
Making the papers so difficult to "wake up" the kids … i wonder if that works for all the kids. It just sends the parents to panic mode, more tuition, more cramming, etc. And worse, demoralise the kids. Not all kids are "woken up" by such tactics. Some just give up …
and to schools that set very difficult papers, i wonder if it is just to show others that this school’s standard is supposedly very high, and the kids are of this standard. But this is not really the case. i once asked a teacher why they set such hard papers. Is the general cohort able to do such difficult papers. She just shrugged her shoulders and said "no" … "many fail".
just some musing … -
That is why I suggested letting the teachers take the papers themselves
(other school’s papers) and gauge how well they can do . For teachers, a 100% PASS is expected, it is only how good they fare. My point is…if the school is just testing for the sake of ‘waking up’ the kids, the principal, HOD and teachers need to be ‘woken up’ first.
MOE, if you are tracking this thread, please bear in mind at most only 10-20% kids ‘wake up’ in these circumstances, the other 80% are trying hard…learning ‘helplessness’ too young too soon! -
happyheart:
Your child's SA1 paper was so hard that you don't think all school teachers can PASS? :yikes:That is why I suggested letting the teachers take the papers themselves
(other school's papers) and gauge how well they can do . For teachers, a 100% PASS is expected, it is only how good they fare. My point is..if the school is just testing for the sake of 'waking up' the kids, the principal, HOD and teachers need to be 'woken up' first.
MOE, if you are tracking this thread, please bear in mind at most only 10-20% kids 'wake up' in these circumstances, the other 80% are trying hard...learning 'helplessness' too young too soon!
Don't be too stressed over such one-off unreasonable paper. You can let your child try the other 'top school exam papers' available in the market. As long as he can do well consistently in these papers, he is fine.
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login