2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[beanbear]

My issue with school nowadays is not the amount of homework but whether homework gets marked or not. Sometimes I notice DS’s FT does not collect the HW and there are times, I don’t see some of the previous HW being returned. This term, I’m going to monitor how long the teacher takes to mark each piece of HW. If she doesn’t finish marking in 2 weeks time, it’s pointless to put in the time to do her HW. FT will probably think I’m mad, but I’m very conscious of how DS time is being used. HW that doesn’t get reviewed within a week, kids are bound to forget what they have done. Feedback is critical for any learning to take place.

My next strategy is to ask FT to pass me the answer key if she doesn’t have time to mark. I can mark my kids’ homework and review with him if she can’t cope with marking!!
Now DS is telling me that every time FT reviews Maths HW in class, she asks him what’s his answer!! Now from failing last year, FT is asking him how he solved it!! I’m speechless.

[mummy so kiasu]

beanbear:

My issue with school nowadays is not the amount of homework but whether homework gets marked or not. Sometimes I notice DS's FT does not collect the HW and there are times, I don't see some of the previous HW being returned. This term, I'm going to monitor how long the teacher takes to mark each piece of HW. If she doesn't finish marking in 2 weeks time, it's pointless to put in the time to do her HW. FT will probably think I'm mad, but I'm very conscious of how DS time is being used. HW that doesn't get reviewed within a week, kids are bound to forget what they have done. Feedback is critical for any learning to take place.

My next strategy is to ask FT to pass me the answer key if she doesn't have time to mark. I can mark my kids' homework and review with him if she can't cope with marking!!
Now DS is telling me that every time FT reviews Maths HW in class, she asks him what's his answer!! Now from failing last year, FT is asking him how he solved it!! I'm speechless.

My boy's English teacher gives the class a lot of homework. She will give them the answer key to do their own marking.

[janet88]

mn:

Sometimes the school homework is easy. If it's easy and does not take much time, I will pump in some other work to practice.

Every morn, I plan the work to be done for the day..sometimes when he comes back with hw which can be done in 15 min, I will get him to do some vocab or synthesis since he has time. If there are days he comes back with lots of comprehension or other English stuff, i steer clear.
At this level, the timetable cannot be enforced too strictly...just good to have a schedule.
With 6 months more to go, I do feel a sense of stress acting up already.

[fifiyeo]

Hi Everyone!


I see everyone is all geared for the new term. Just came back on Tuesday after a 10-day vacation. Life for the kids should be more like that than school, school, school all the time!

Been putting pieces of my "PSLE" life back together again. Yes, we missed school for 2 days. No one said anything. Didn’t see that much homework yet. So still trying to ease ourselves in.

Actually, I’m still mentally not back yet…

[mummy so kiasu]

Can anyone explain how does SD affect one’s T score? Does higher SD contributes to a higher T score?

[fifiyeo]

mummy so kiasu:

Can anyone explain how does SD affect one's T score? Does higher SD contributes to a higher T score?

Still a bit disorientated. What is SD?

[mummy so kiasu]

fifiyeo:

mummy so kiasu:

Can anyone explain how does SD affect one's T score? Does higher SD contributes to a higher T score?

Still a bit disorientated. What is SD?

Standard Deviation, which is the spread of marks around the average mark. It can be found on the formula of T score calculation.

[elkniwt]

mummy so kiasu:

Can anyone explain how does SD affect one's T score? Does higher SD contributes to a higher T score?

Hi mummy so kiasu,

The formula for T Score is 50 + 10*(X-Y)/Z where
X = Child's Marks
Y = Average
Z = Std Deviation

So for e.g., given two subjects with the same average marks and if you child score the same marks for both subjects, then child will get a higher T score for the subject with smaller SD. (Roughly like that ... , correct me if I get it wrong ..)

Regards.

[mummy so kiasu]

Hi elkniwt, thanks for your reply. Base on what I have just found out, a low SD indicates that the data points are very close to the mean (average), this usually the case for language papers. Whereas, a high SD indicates that the data points are spread out over a large range of values, this is usually the case for Maths paper. If I am not wrong, if the child gets the same mark for 2 different subjects, the T score for the one with higher SD will be higher. Need someone who knows better to explain & confirm.

[elkniwt]

Hi mummy so kiasu,


If we put in some numbers, it will be easier to see.

Using the formula given T Score = 50 + 10*(X-Y)/Z

Say for example,
Average for both English and Maths = 70
Marks obtained by child for English and Maths = 80
SD for English = 8 and SD for Maths = 16

T Score for English = 50 + 10*(80-70)/8 = 62.5
T Score for Maths = 50 + 10*(80-70)/16 = 56.25

So the subject with a lower SD will have a higher T Score. This is what I think, do correct me if I am wrong.

Regards.