tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33337142189330710052024-02-20T18:49:37.102+00:00Stages Of SuccessionScience education, scientific literacy, palaeontology and the funding and politics of evolutionary sciences in the UK and abroad.Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.comBlogger279125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-43257219081968004332016-07-09T09:55:00.002+01:002016-07-09T10:01:31.285+01:00Not Your MotherThis blog has been pretty dormant for a while as I've been dealing with a lot of upheaval, both at home and at work. But I could not let this news go unacknowledged.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/conservative-leadership-andrea-leadsom-says-she-is-better-suited-as-prime-minister-because-she-has-a7128141.html">"Andrea Leadsom 'says she is better suited to be Prime Minister because she has children'"</a><br />
<br />
This is nothing new. Women without children have been vilified for centuries, burnt at stakes and accused of being less than women. Last summer, at a staff picnic, I overheard a colleague stating that it was impossible to experience true love if one wasn't a mother. About that time, I wrote this poem. I'm no creative mind, and it's probably just more of that dark emo stuff I wrote as a teenager, but I'm publishing it for the first time.<br />
<br />
Anyone who thinks I don't know true love has never seen my family and the love that is given freely in abundance. Nor have they spent a moment in my classroom.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Although I am not your mother</b><br />
<br />
Although I am not your mother, I have birthed every one of you.<br />
For years I have incubated you in my room.<br />
My womb.<br />
Like a foetus, you were magnificent parasites –<br />
Taking what you needed from me in order to thrive.<br />
Not O<sub>2</sub> or C<sub>6</sub>H<sub>12</sub>O<sub>6</sub>, or even Ca<sup>2+</sup>, but knowledge and passion.<br />
And I have willingly offered up more of me as the caecilian lets her hatchlings tear chunks of her skin off.<br />
<br />
Although I am not your mother (I never carried your bodies inside me for nine months), I continue to bear the burden of your hopes for the future.<br />
When you cry, big howling sobs of despair, it is the call of the bear cub, and my instinct is to run to you, protect you, fight to the death to ensure your survival.<br />
I want to shelter you under my wings, or keep you in a safe place where predators cannot seek you out and torment you.<br />
I want to take your poor shattered hearts and spirits, broken by people, places and pathogens –<br />
Sew them back together using my anatomy books.<br />
<br />
Although I am not your mother, birthday cards and memories of carrot cake say otherwise.<br />
I feel your pain as my own, and revel in your joy.<br />
I am so proud of you all;<br />
I'm your biggest fan.<br />
I talk excitedly about your successes to anyone who will listen.<br />
<br />
Although I am not your mother and my DNA will die with me, I pass on much more.<br />
You do not have my mitochondria, but you have my energy.<br />
And energy can never be destroyed.</i><br />
<br />
What say you, Andrea Leadsom? Do I have a stake in the future?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
2014 was split down the middle. Up to August I remained at the college I had worked at for five years. The academic year 2013-2014 was the worst of my life, with no exceptions. We had an Ofsted inspection in the spring term, the outcome of which, and the decisions then made in our department, broke my heart. Worst of all, it finally impacted on my teaching. Throughout my teaching career, I had been able to avoid stress, bureaucracy and bullying affecting the quality of my teaching, but some of my students could tell I wasn't on top of my game. I still performed very well - my graded observation (oh yes, FE still has them...) was good, I successfully got the department through the BTEC external verification and HND external examination for the second year running, and my students got the best pass rate in AS and A2. But I was losing the spark, and I was dangerously close to burnout. My husband and I sometimes wondered if we were just being over-sensitive, but everyone we spoke to in the education field responded with a variation on "Damn, that's terrible."<br />
<br />
So it was time to move on. I probably should have moved on a year earlier, but the 2012-2013 year was so awesome that I was lulled into a false sense of security. I interviewed for a job in July and was offered it the same day (which is actually pretty unusual for FE, though not schools). It is pure A Level teaching and a tutor group. I work in a department where people are genuinely friends, where it is always possible to find someone willing to help, and where my managers encourage us to minimise our workloads and leave the office promptly. There is a lot less paperwork, and a lot more time for teaching. I have survived my first term at the new college, and have thrived. I have amazing students, brilliant colleagues and nurturing managers. Some of the edited highlights:<br />
<ul><li>My manager offered to buy me a skeleton for my classroom (duly bought and named Silent Bob), and agreed to buy me a microscope with USB camera, which is used nearly daily.<br />
<li>My classroom is so welcoming that, even though it's the coldest room in the department, my students still like hanging out there between classes.<br />
<li>Every time my manager walks past my classroom I seem to be talking about something utterly random and possibly inappropriate to the lesson (e.g. David Nutt and "Nuttsack", colorectal cancer, how a rolled <i>Ammophila</i> leaf resembles a roach), and because she teaches biology too, she laughs - she gets it.<br />
<li>During a game of biology-themed Pictionary, one group of students got the word "turgid" in under two seconds because their artist drew a penis.<br />
<li>My efforts to educate my students on intersectionality are starting to pay off, even if they're not quite there - on a hexagons revision table I saw the Bundle of His renamed to the "Bundle of Sexism".</ul>I have no regrets about changing jobs. I earn more for having less responsibility, and I am able to devote the bulk of my time to my students and their learning. This time last year I was broken, and wondering what on Earth I could do if I didn't teach. But there is life after teaching in an awful, awful college. It just took me a while to feel alive again.<br />
<br />
Season's greetings to all, and a happy new year.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
Seeds of the world's smallest water lily (<i>Nymphaea thermarum</i>) were <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10124250">collected</a> before the plant's habitat was destroyed forever, to preserve genetic diversity and grow new plants with a view to repopulating similar habitats in the future.<br />
<br />
In both these cases, the organisms were saved from their environment before it killed them. It seems rather brutal to gather up all the surviving members of a species and take them away to a terrarium or greenhouse, leaving the ecosystem without a significant component. Some may think this is an interference too far.<br />
<br />
These came to mind today, because several of my students from my previous workplace have come to enrol at my new college. I've done the calculations, and this does not leave a lot of students for A-levels at the old place. With declining numbers and support over the years for this qualification in this organisation, the localised extinction of A-levels is imminent. So my students, with my blessing, have moved to a nurturing and supportive habitat, and assured their survival.<br />
<br />
At least that's what I keep telling myself when I worry that, in trying to do the best for the students, I have been the one to kill off the qualification I fought so hard to keep going at that place.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
People close to me will know this year has not been particularly easy on a professional level. When you play the Game Of Thrones you win or you die, and it was very nearly the latter. With A-level, Access and HND - all very intensive, high-level courses - plus the "professional challenges" faced on a daily basis (which I do not intend to discuss, but oh boy are you going to find out about them), there was nothing left of me at the end of the day to fulfil even my basic physiological needs. My weight and mental health both took a dive, and I'm sure colleagues got as sick of my sarcastic responses as I did of their constant questions as to what my weight-loss secret was!<br />
<br />
But there is light at the end of the tunnel. I interviewed for and was offered a position at another college. With a stronger A-level provision, an established sixth form, and a good track record of Oxbridge applicants, it's in a different league altogether. I will predominantly be teaching A-level, and you have no idea how good that feels. Nearly four years ago I interviewed for a position that was exclusively A-level, and I turned it down because I felt I'd get bored. Now I don't think that's possible. To be able to focus on one subject and one specification and really strive for brilliance in me and my students could be the most fascinating role of my career yet.<br />
<br />
The academic year 2003-2004 was absolutely awful. The academic year 2013-2014 has matched it, but for (mostly) different reasons. Ten years ago, I felt broken. Now, I can use the painful memories to help me be a better teacher, friend, wife, daughter and sister. Maybe I'll be able to put this year to similarly good use. To those of you still here, thank you for not getting round to sorting out your RSS feeds!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
It started when I pulled into the car park, my battered, bird-shit-covered, bumper-stickered Punto nose to tail with enormous SUVs and Jaguars. I was promptly turned round and sent back round the corner to the conference delegates' parking space, on a building site. My tyres were caked in mud and my shoes still have Dulwich College hardcore embedded in the soles. In the meantime, the car parks inside were entirely empty. There may have been a logical reason for this (gate wardens on duty only until lunchtime, perhaps), but it definitely felt like the riff-raff were being separated out. Paul, even more left-wing than I am, was grumbling under his breath for a good 15 minutes.<br />
<br />
Then, the Master of the College referred, in his opening speech, to the sixth-formers helping with registration as "servants". I bristled at this. We often ask students to help us out with events. But we call them "ambassadors" - we place them in a position of respect and responsibility, not servitude. In the hall there were pictures of former headteachers - all men, naturally. Then again, it is a boys' school, and you'd never see a male headteacher's painting on the wall of a girls' independent school. Our walls are covered with pictures of students. It felt as though our two institutions had very different opinions of the worth of their students.<br />
<br />
Then I saw a couple of posters in the student café, protesting the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance. I wondered how many students at Dulwich College were even eligible for EMA. When EMA was offered, getting on for one-third of our full-time students were eligible, most of which were entitled to the full amount of £30 per week.I remember very few of my students not being either EMA or ALG (adult learning grant) recipients. For the non-UK readers, EMA was basically paid because otherwise low-income students would have been unable to afford the bus fare to college, and in some cases eat. The government has now abolished it, and instead raised the participation age to "motivate" hungry students to come to college.<br />
<br />
Now, I consider myself middle-class. My father was a teacher, and my mother, the daughter of a country GP (so pretty much high society for Shropshire), was a radiographer. Paul's father was a bank manager, and his mother is still a teacher. I attended a comprehensive school until I was 16, then won a scholarship (and the benefit of a government-assisted place) to an independent school for the sixth form. This step undoubtedly gave me a massive boost in getting to Cambridge, and well - they don't come much more privileged than a Cambridge graduate. And as both of us are teachers, that makes our family middle-class, despite the fact we can only afford to rent a one-bedroom flat.<br />
<br />
The most frequently-asked question of me by my students is "Why didn't you become a doctor?". The second most frequently-asked question is "Why do you want to teach here if you went to Cambridge?" And I get that one from students and staff alike. For students, I turn it back to them - "Why wouldn't I? I think you deserve to be taught by highly qualified teachers, don't you?" For staff, it's been harder, but I think my response will be a shorter version of this post. I think I have a talent for teaching - the thanks, the little gifts, the continued contact with my students over the years suggests so. I cannot bear the thought of restricting that talent to the most privileged - they do not need my help. They can buy tuition, their children can have more personalised teaching, they can do amazing things (through the school) to pad out their personal statements so they're a shoo-in for the elite universities, and with the pedigree they have, they will walk into highly-paid city jobs when they graduate.<br />
<br />
For most of my students, the four and a half hours in a class of 20 with me is the only tuition they can afford. And so I give my time outside of this willingly with no expectation of reimbursement (though a chocolate bar to share during a long session is always appreciated). Students at independent schools have access to a plethora of teachers, many of whom have Oxbridge degrees, not to mention highly literate parents - they have an advantage when writing coursework, personal statements and the like. Many of my students are the only members of their family who can speak English (making parents' evening really interesting!). They can't ask their mum or dad to look over their personal statement, or proof-read an essay. So I do that too.<br />
<br />
I teach in FE because it's the best job in the world. I love the diversity of the students I teach and their ideas and experiences. I teach in FE because they have never asked me to apply for a job via hand-written letter, as one independent school did. I suspected if the quality of my handwriting and the choice of pen and paper used was an important consideration in an applicant, then the headteacher and I would not have got on, and so I decided not to go through with the application. I teach in FE because I far prefer being called "Julia" than "Mrs Anderson" (though a plaintive "Miii-iiiss" seems to haunt female teachers everywhere). I teach in FE because, through a combination of my brain-power and money from the government, paid through taxes, I was able to get a place at a top school and then the best university in the country. What sort of person am I if I was able to enjoy that privilege at little cost to myself, only to not pay society back by helping others to enjoy an excellent education?<br />
<br />
I also teach in FE because I don't imagine the likes of Dulwich College would appoint me with blue hair, facial piercing and tattoos up my arms, but that is probably another issue entirely.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
I watched for a couple of minutes, wondering why it would occur to anyone to film this on their cameraphones rather than doing everything they could to watch out for danger and <i>survive</i>. Then they showed the footage of children and teachers leaving their hiding places and stepping out into an absolutely destroyed corridor. And I couldn't watch any more. I got very tearful, and had to switch channels to find something less school/college-focused.<br />
<br />
This has happened regularly since I became a teacher. It never happened in any of my other jobs. I watched dramas about gunmen in court rooms when I worked for a judge (never worried me), footage of the July 7 bombings when Paul was commuting to that area of London (it absolutely bothered him though), and numerous campus incidents, fact and fiction, when I was a student, and it never affected me like this.<br />
<br />
A friend once said that having children was as though someone opened a direct route to her heart and just left it exposed. I've never had children, and won't be doing so, and I would never dream of comparing being a teacher to being a mother, however much I mother and nurture my students. But I think I'm starting to get a better understanding of what my friend meant, and a little taster of what she must experience every day.<br />
<br />
I struggled to deal with my feelings after the Sandy Hook shootings (in particular I couldn't get <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2012/12/newtown.html">Vicki Soto</a> and her sacrifice out of my head). Hell, I found it difficult to watch the "Silent Witness" episode "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qh0cj">Shadows</a>", and that was fictional. We have a lockdown policy for the College. My lab is the furthest point from the main entrance, so, one might imagine it would be the least likely place to have an incident. But that doesn't stop me spending far more time than is probably healthy, at least once a week, thinking about our lockdown policy, how quickly I could shut the door, turn off the lights and get everyone away from the windows. Where would I tell my students to sit? Would they be safe under the lab benches? Would the back of the lab under the windows actually be safer as we're on the 2nd floor?<br />
<br />
I've become increasingly protective of my students. My manager has commented on this. And it's true - I will go up against Senior Management (and have done!) if a decision will adversely and unfairly affect them. I refer to it as "going Mama-Bear", though Paul says it's more that I'm the <a href="http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Khaleesi">Khaleesi</a> and the students are my dragons.<br />
<br />
Do other teachers find they become complete wimps when anything violent happens in a school or college? Or am I just over-sensitive?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
I had two great seasons of fieldwork with the class of 2010 and 2011. Then the class of 2012 rebelled and demanded to do lab work (then went back on their demand when they realised fieldwork would have been more straightforward). And for the class of 2013, I had provisionally booked fieldwork for them before their summer break, only to discover that our departmental budget was weirdly empty... So it's been another year of <strike>living hell</strike> lab work for Unit 6.<br />
<br />
Now, I've written about the <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2010/08/organising-fieldwork.html">fun of fieldwork</a>, and how <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2011/10/truth-about-fieldwork-data-collection.html">exciting the data collection could be</a>. And I've listed the <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2011/08/why-i-like-coursework.html">many advantages</a> of the written work as preparation for university and beyond. But the drawbacks of coursework have superseded the benefits, and in September we changed exam boards from Edexcel to OCR. The latter examines its Unit 3 and Unit 6 through practical assessments in the laboratory.<br />
<br />
Those disadvantages:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>The mark schemes seem increasingly poorly applied. I've seen superb papers that I have advised students to submit for publication given low marks (including often only half of the communication marks for flawlessly formatted, perfectly spelled academic prose). I've seen awful papers that barely discuss the issues associated with the applied biology given high marks. I have been to training days, I have sought subject expert advice, I have co-moderated with colleagues internally and externally, and I have appealed outrageous marks, but the ability to predict the marks given (and therefore evidently the ability to help students do well) eludes me. Time to move on and use an exam board with prescriptive, clearly worded mark schemes.<br />
<li>Many of my students come from an ESOL background. Until last September, students did not require GCSE English in order to be enrolled onto A-levels. This had a minimal effect on the other STEM subjects, but it clearly hurt A-level biology. Some of my students only complete GCSE English alongside their A2 exams. A 3,000-word report may be doable for them by the time they get to university, but it's a struggle before then.<br />
<li>The sections in the report bear little resemblance to how scientific papers are actually structured. This limits the utility of the coursework for me. The students do this kiddy-on Disneyfied version of a science paper, then no doubt will try to submit manuscripts with full discussion of the credibility of each of the sources cited in the references.<br />
<li>Actually, despite my assertions that the process of doing coursework was a unique skill that could not be gained in any other way, I can provide opportunities for students to learn these skills throughout their two years.<br />
<li>Least importantly (since it's all about the students really), it is stressful running 17 different experiments, negotiating with the lab technicians, postponing experiments because reagents that should have been shipped next-day have not arrived three weeks later, postponing deadlines because none of the little sods could be bothered to do their experiment plans and giving up my Wednesday evenings for a month to increase the lab time available. Not to mention the fact that I gave up two days of my Easter holiday to supervise the final few experiments - trying to find everything in the prep room without my lab technicians was terrifying.</ul><br />
So I have 17 Unit 6 practical reports and four Unit 3 issue report resits to deal with, which is a lot better than the 14 Unit 6 and 43 Unit 3 papers I had last year. I just hope the students luck out with their examiner for the final time. And I hope the transition to the practical assessments of OCR proves to be the correct decision.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
Where these two seemingly divergent subjects meet is in the overwhelming criticism of both SRE and creative writing, namely that teachers are woefully underqualified to teach both of them. Apparently our relationships are train-wrecks by and large, and we shouldn't be giving advice to students on their relationships. And the only people who will be able to teach Creative Writing will be those who have been successful writers in their own right. I'll address this one first.<br />
<br />
<b><i>"Only successful authors can teach Creative Writing effectively"</b></i><br />
<br />
Fortunately, Paul is a successful writer and editor and would be able to rock that A-level teaching. But do all teachers of creative subjects need to be accomplished in that field? The actual creation is not the majority of the qualification - in Art I spent a lot of time learning ratios, perspective, techniques, history of various movements. In Music (I didn't do any qualifications save for my AB exams) there was a <i>formula</i> for composing music, which I was supposed to demonstrate in my Grade V theory exam. I would imagine in Creative Writing there are similar theories and formulae that can be used to help students write creatively.<br />
<br />
But surely this is extended to the supposedly non-creative subjects. Do I need to be a successful biologist in order to teach A-level Biology? I most certainly am not. I'm not even a biologist, though I have a masters in Biosystematics. I'm a geologist and I have one published paper. I don't have a PhD - I failed to do that twice. No, I need a good understanding of the subject matter and an ability to pass that understanding to my students. I can do that without a PhD, long publication record, grant applications and the other characteristics of successful scientists.<br />
<br />
<b><i>"Teachers are the last people who should be advising on relationships. Look at us!"</b></i><br />
<br />
My marriage is not perfect. Many people close to us know we've had some trials and tribulations. My family's story would be rejected by sitcom writers for being too outrageous and unbelievable. But despite all that (or maybe because?) I still deal one-to-one with a large number of students with boyfriend/girlfriend problems, family issues and so on. I'm now certified to give out condoms to students under our borough's C-Card scheme. In Biology classes I discuss IVF, contraception, STIs, abortion and drug use - sometimes it's even relevant to the specification. Why shouldn't I take the opportunity to discuss relationships with the students too?<br />
<br />
There have been some concerns that certain supposedly controversial issues such as homosexuality would be difficult to teach about in SRE if one's religious beliefs state that it's a sin. Well, the same colleagues who would have issues also have serious problems with evolution and an old Earth, but no one has suggested (apart from me) that they shouldn't be teaching Biology... If these colleagues can teach a topic they think is inaccurate and wrong, then they can jolly well teach about the full range of human relationships.<br />
<br />
Given a framework, regardless of our experience in the world of relationships, we can raise discussion points. We can ask the right questions. We can get students to reflect on their own relationships and those they see around them. I'm not a role model - I have tattoos, blue hair and am contemplating a nose ring (hey, it's MY midlife crisis, right?). I drink and occasionally smoke. I eat poorly. I still have to teach students about the importance of healthy eating and the dangers of lung cancer. No one has suggested that, because I'm overweight, I shouldn't be teaching students about a balanced diet. So why should private relationship woes prevent a teacher from teaching about positive relationships and respect for each other?<br />
<br />
Right. Time for caffeine. I don't usually write before my first cup of the day. It probably shows.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
Occasionally, however, they test my patience... Surely not, you cry! How could 17 teenagers and twenty-somethings possibly get on my nerves?<br />
<br />
Well, last Wednesday was my birthday, and rather than bring in chocolate or anything like that, I offered my A2s a practical. They'd already done one heart dissection at the start of their AS studies, but would they like to do another one? Hell yes. Spirits were high and the students were thrilled at the thought of being allowed scalpels (why we haven't had more injuries, I will never know).<br />
<br />
Until one little darling picked up his heart (the disembodied sheep one) and asked me if he should throw it. Well, no, obviously. He said he was going to, and I have to say I was getting a little nervous and squeaky in my protestations. And then he threw it.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rNkxVgjFKygmQ44SLYoGLH60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZogsmdR9964/USQLS_8HJmI/AAAAAAABgUA/Jl_Vbn8Z8j0/s400/projectiles.gif" height="271" width="400" /></a></center><br />
I don't know if any of you have ever seen a sizeable sheep's heart sailing across a laboratory, but it is something of a surreal experience. It would have been rejected by the producers of "Teachers" for being too unrealistic. I'm just glad that one of the other students caught it (though my poor broken nerves could have done without her throwing it back to the original culprit!).<br />
<br />
This will be an infrequent (I hope) insight into some of the more extreme aspects of my teaching life. Just in case there's anyone who doesn't think teachers earn their holidays.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
Rennie <a href="http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/digestive-health/medicines/rennie-peppermint-spearmint.html">contains</a> magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate. That's fairly standard antacid remedy, because it's pretty good at neutralising stomach acid, which is hydrochloric acid.<br />
<br />
<center>MgCO<sub>3</sub> + 2HCl → MgCl<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub><br />
CaCO<sub>3</sub> + 2HCl → CaCl<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub></center><br />
Nothing wrong with MgCl<sub>2</sub> or CaCl<sub>2</sub> (all of those ions are vital for the body's metabolic functions anyway). It's the benign little molecule produced in both reactions: H<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>. That's carbonic acid. Now, anyone who has studied environmental geochemistry (and any A2 student daft enough to ask) knows that:<br />
<br />
<center>CO<sub>2</sub> + H<sub>2</sub>O ⇌ H<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub> ⇌ H<sup>+</sup> + HCO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup> ⇌ 2H<sup>+</sup> + CO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup></center><br />
This is the carbonate buffer system, which maintains the pH of the oceans. It's also involved in the maintenance of our internal pH (though it seems to be more frequently called the bicarbonate buffer system in physiology). It's an equilibrium, shifting to the right when the pH increases (in other words, the concentration of H<sup>+</sup> ions decreases). Which means that, when the pH is low (the conditions are acidic), the equilibrium will move to the left.<br />
<br />
What's on the left hand side? Well that would be water, H<sub>2</sub>O. We knew about that from the Rennie advert. But this other molecule, CO<sub>2</sub>, is carbon dioxide. The gas produced when we belch and fart. This is simply the standard chemistry behind the action of antacids, and shouldn't be a surprise to anyone with some high school science in them. It's tickled me that the advert is so coy about it, but I suppose if we were told that indigestion remedies leave us trumping like a one-man oompah band none of us would run out and buy them.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
<ol><li>I genuinely look five years younger than my actual age. Whether this is down to the blue hair, baggy jeans, slogan t-shirts, willingness to swear like a navvy with piles, or simply a decent combination of phenotypes, I do not know.<br />
<li>This makes me a <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=tilf">TILF</a>. Yes, I have officially been called a TILF.<br />
<li>I'm actually really chuffed at being referred to as a TILF.<br />
<li>Regardless of their feelings towards me, I still can't get my horny little students to submit their bloody coursework proposals.<br />
<li>Four drunken Australians are no match for a single pissed Scottish student, yet the roles are somewhat reversed if there are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union_matches_between_Australia_and_Scotland">15 of each and they're sober</a>.<br />
<li>Beakers are an awesome vessel to use for doing shots, since they come in 25ml and 50ml versions.<br />
<li>If my colleagues knew half of what goes on in the Biology lab they'd be horrified.<br />
<li>I'm creating a generation of biological sciences students who expect their lecturers to bake flapjacks for them before each exam.<br />
<li>The promise of being taken for a meal at Nando's is quite an incentive to A2 students to get A*-B on their exam.<br />
<li>I must have been an awesome cub scout leader when I was younger.<br />
<li>There is an awful lot of hatred towards Hypnotoad, the lab frog.<br />
<li>Fortunately there are enough students who adore Hypnotoad and his baleful stares that he's safe from the dissecting dish.<br />
<li>Students really want to dissect more stuff.<br />
<li>Eyeballs are the exception, however.<br />
<li>Students can be bribed to do pretty much anything in return for pizza.<br />
<li>I've become one of those really sad old teachers who enjoys hanging out with her students.<br />
<li>My students assure me that's okay because they think I'm closer in age to them than I am to my colleagues.<br />
<li>Few things have elicited such a horrified reaction from my students than my revelation that I quite like the Black Veil Brides.<br />
<li>The University of Oxford doesn't know what it's missing.</ol><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
Questions were being asked about the department's future, and the Director responsible for our department (among others) asked my manager if I was interested in becoming the permanent manager. The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is hell no. And this is why:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>I am a teacher. Teaching is what I do. Any managerial position will take more teaching hours away from me than I am comfortable with.<br />
<li>We are short of staff. We need more full-time lecturers. And we need more competent full-time lecturers. I have supported students with AS and A2 Chemistry, and AS Physics, in addition to my normal teaching duties. Losing half my teaching hours to management would be disastrous.<br />
<li>I left the private sector to get away from days spent peering at an Excel spreadsheet. I certainly don't want to return to that.<br />
<li>The £10k extra a year is not worth the hassle.<br />
<li>I am unlikely to find myself with a supportive, empowering manager further up the scale, and this will bother me, perhaps to the point of a relapse into the anxiety and depression that has been so paralysing in the past.<br />
<li>I'm an aggressive, passionate, sweary mama-bear, and I will do battle for my students to the detriment of my own position. That is not a particularly desirable managerial trait.<br />
<li>I do not wish to rise from the ranks and become the manager of my own colleagues. I have no desire to manage my PGCE mentor, or the A-level Coordinator, or the head lab technician.<br />
<li>Timetabling seems to be worthy of its own special level of hell, and I would quite like to not have my summers taken up with it.</ul><br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cw-3jw_UN-qQnbGoF6PUH360j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6BZ5WZmRTqU/UNcJrOQfO1I/AAAAAAABgPo/VYHdKbR7Ey0/s400/ofstediscoming.jpg" height="399" width="400" /></a></center><br />
Finally, when discussing this with Paul, we drew some comparisons between college management and "Game Of Thrones" (which we have finally watched, after months of being told to by my students). Management is a game of thrones, thrusting staff into the line of sight of the Directors, requiring people to play politically or risk being removed from their post. As Cersei Lannister says, "When you play the game of thrones you win, or you die". I have no desire to play the game of thrones. I am, apparently, Ned Stark - best left to be <strike>Lord</strike> Lady of <strike>Winterfell</strike> My Lab, and to try to avoid being called to King's Landing for as long as possible, in case I lose my head...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
For now, I want to pay tribute to the teachers, our brothers and sisters in education, whose actions saved the lives of their classes and without whose bravery the loss of life could have been even more terrible. This is apparently going to be the front page of the Independent on Sunday:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://twitpic.com/bm9ool" title="Share photos on twitter with Twitpic"><img src="http://twitpic.com/show/thumb/bm9ool.jpg" width="200" height="200" alt="Share photos on twitter with Twitpic"></a></center>Under the photo, the caption reads:<br />
<blockquote>As the shooting started, teacher Vicki Soto, just 27, hid her 16 pupils in the cupboard, and when the gunman came into her room, she told him the class was in the gym. He murdered her, then turned his gun on himself. The children survived.</blockquote>Three other teachers were also killed while trying to protect their students.<br />
<br />
Five and a half years ago, during another massacre at a US educational establishment, Virginia Tech, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/vatechshootings/victims/Liviu_Librescu.html">Liviu Librescu</a> died barricading the door to his classroom and allowing his students to escape. 16 years ago, just four months after the Dunblane disaster, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2006/07/07/lisa_potts_10_years_on_feature.shtml">Lisa Potts</a> suffered terrible injuries to her arms defending nursery school children (even younger than those at Sandy Hook) from a machete attack. In Mexico, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/8547675/Mexico-teacher-sings-to-schoolchildren-during-shoot-out.html">Martha Rivera Alanis</a> kept her children safe during a shoot-out a block from their primary school, getting them to sing songs while they kept out of the line of fire.<br />
<br />
Numerous teachers have surely done the same in their time. In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America has said <a href="http://gawker.com/5968680/executive-director-of-gun-owners-of-america-says-armed-teachers-would-have-stopped-newtown-shooting">teachers should be armed</a> - I have not seen a single teacher saying they agree with this. Teachers with guns would not help in the slightest. Where would we put them? In our desks, locked away? It would take too long to access it. On our person? That just tells a shooter to take out the teacher first and then the students. And where would we fit in the training needed to be able to shoot to kill someone who was trying to kill us? Members of the Armed Forces spend months - years even - being trained to do so.<br />
<br />
To suggest that, had the teachers had guns the tragedy could have been avoided, is to lay the blame for this at the feet of the teachers. Yet another thing that is apparently teachers' fault. As with the examples above, and no doubt many more, teachers have shown again and again that when the lives of their students are threatened, they will step in to defend them, to buy them time, to let them escape, to give their lives for the youngsters they love.<br />
<br />
We have not had a major incident at my College. We have a lock-down procedure, which will override the computers in each classroom with a warning. We have to lock the doors, switch off the lights and hide away from doors and windows. The doors in our new building can only be opened from the outside with a staff pass and my lab is the furthest point from the main entrance.<br />
<br />
My thoughts are with the families and colleagues of all those killed yesterday. I can hardly imagine something like this happening here, on my campus, but I only hope that, if that terrible day comes, I can muster some of the courage of the brave men and women who have put themselves between their students and an attacker.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
I worry about my students.<br />
<br />
I worry that, after all that they've done, the students I've prepped for interview at top universities won't get offers.<br />
<br />
I worry that my prospective vet student just won't manage to pull three A grades out of the bag.<br />
<br />
I worry that this is my fault for failing to teach him properly.<br />
<br />
I worry that trying will do him more harm than good.<br />
<br />
I worry that some of my students will slip through my fingers because I'm too busy trying to hold on to some other students.<br />
<br />
I worry about the pressure of the HND programme on my frayed nerves.<br />
<br />
I worry that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/dec/12/michael-gove-heads-pay-teachers">Michael Gove is going to do to teachers what Thatcher did to miners</a>.<br />
<br />
I worry that it's been so long since I ate proper food that I have a vitamin deficiency.<br />
<br />
I worry about why the staff in Domino's know me and Paul by name and our usual order.<br />
<br />
I worry that I spend too long at work and not enough time at home with Paul.<br />
<br />
I worry that Paul spends too long at work and not enough time at home with me.<br />
<br />
I worry about the results.<br />
<br />
I worry about the feedback.<br />
<br />
I worry about how long I can keep this up.<br />
<br />
I worry that Ofsted might be just around the corner.<br />
<br />
I worry that I am not, in fact, an excellent teacher, and that all I do is entertain while relying on nothing more than charisma to engage the students.<br />
<br />
I worry that I am a charlatan, an imposter, a pretender.<br />
<br />
I worry that nothing I do as a teacher is ever good enough.<br />
<br />
I worry that I'm too emotionally involved with my students' education.<br />
<br />
I worry that one day I'm going to punch a colleague in the defence of one of <i>my</i> students.<br />
<br />
I worry about burnout.<br />
<br />
I worry that I have slowly regressed to the lifestyle, hours and vices that I had as a PhD student.<br />
<br />
I worry about dying young.<br />
<br />
I worry that I'm doing this not to impart enthusiasm and knowledge to the next generation but to surround myself with admirers.<br />
<br />
I worry that I'm the cool teacher.<br />
<br />
I worry that I'm not the cool teacher.<br />
<br />
I worry that my hair will break from the bleach and dye.<br />
<br />
I worry that underneath the bleach and dye my hair is grey.<br />
<br />
I worry for the welfare of the young people I teach.<br />
<br />
I worry that they will have their hearts broken.<br />
<br />
I worry that sometimes I'm the one who does that.<br />
<br />
I worry about worrying.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<br />
I imagine the Daily Fail has been saying exams are getting easier since exams were invented, but it certainly seems that this has escalated in recent years. I've <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2011/08/exams-are-getting-easier-exams-are.html">mentioned before</a> that I acquired my past exam papers, and I had a fantastic opportunity to do a small test with my A2 students a few weeks ago. We had just finished looking at photosynthesis, so I copied a question from my 1997 Central Concepts paper.<br />
<blockquote>A cell suspension of a species of <i>Chlorella</i>, an alga, was supplied with carbon dioxide, initially at a concentration of 3%. This was then reduced to 1% after 100 seconds, and then to 0.03% after a further 200 seconds. The levels of RuBP and GP (PGA) present were determined at intervals.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cVS_LMh1iKmGCF3qP2lnl360j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-vjMa772ytYw/UJ6vzMXWNvI/AAAAAAABgFk/1bDv4rzNEwY/s400/ucles-1997-graph.png" height="165" width="400" /></a></center><br />
(a) With reference to the figure, state the effect on:<br />
(i) the concentraion of GP when the carbon dioxide concentration is reduced from 3% to 1%. [1]<br />
(ii) the concentraion of GP when the carbon dioxide concentration is reduced from 1% to 0.03%. [2]<br />
(iii) the concentration of RuBP when the carbon dioxide concentration is reduced from 1% to 0.03%. [3]<br />
<br />
(b) Explain the observed change in the concentration of RuBP during the 100 seconds immediately after the carbon dioxide concentration was reduced to 0.03%. [4]<br />
<br />
(c) State the evidence provided by the figure which indicates that the concentration of carbon dioxide may not be a limiting factor. [3]</blockquote>Then I gave my students one of the Edexcel questions from June 2012, with a remarkably similar graph.<br />
<blockquote>An investigation was carried out into the effect of reducing the carbon dioxide available for photosynthesis. Cells of a unicellular alga were suspended in a solution containing 1.0% carbon dioxide. After 250 seconds, the carbon dioxide in the solution was reduced to 0.003%. The cells were illuminated with a bright light and some were removed at regular time intervals for 500 seconds. The concentrations of ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP) and glycerate 3-phosphate (GP) in the cells were measured.<br />
<br />
(i) Suggest two reasons why a suspension of cells of a unicellular alga, in a solution, is more suitable for this investigation than using leaves. [2]<br />
(ii) Suggest why it would be advisable to illuminate the cells at a high light intensity during this investigation. [3]<br />
(iii) The graph below shows the results of the investigation.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PwMHtYGPs40Zbx66UaL6eX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-3o3B9Qzn7F4/UJ6v7W5AEOI/AAAAAAABgF0/WmHZPCT_NB4/s400/edexcel-2012-graph.png" height="212" width="400" /></a></center><br />
Describe and suggest an explanation for the changes in the concentrations of RuBP and GP shown in the graph. [6]</blockquote>So, which paper do you think the students found easy? Why, that would be the 1997 paper. The majority of the questions involved very little mastery of the subject knowledge. I imagine a numerate non-scientist could do quite well on the 1997 paper, just reading off the graph. The A2s preferred the clarity of the graph in the 2012 paper, but I think much of that can be attributed to it having been reduced from A4 to A5 and scanned.<br />
<br />
The "suggest" questions in the 2012 paper involve students applying their existing subject knowledge to an unfamiliar experiment. The final six-mark question is a QWC question, meaning students are not only assessed on their biological knowledge, but their ability to present it clearly and logically. My A2s hate QWC questions, and they really hate "suggest" questions; because they have to show an excellent command of the subject, rather than being able to pick up marks for stating the bleeding obvious.<br />
<br />
Sure, this is only one example. But I bet colleagues in other subjects can show where the exams are indeed more rigorous, demanding more detailed subject knowledge, a greater degree of critical thinking, and the ability to apply all of this to new situations. Gove and Co have spent so long chipping away at the exams my students sit, telling them their coursework is nothing more than teacher-sanctioned cheating, that they don't work hard because they know they can always resit their exams, and that modular exams are too easy. They claim to want more rigorous exams, but <a href="http://www.paulanderson.org.uk/2012/11/rearranging-the-deckchairs/">as Paul said, in the spirit of Inigo Montoya</a>, they keep using that word; we do not think it means what they think it means.<br />
<br />
So here's a multiple-choice question to the Department for Education. How should students be assessed in the academic pathway before leaving school or college?<br />
<blockquote>(A) A combination of practical and written exams and coursework, enabling students to demonstrate complex subject knowledge and application, with opportunities to resit units, reflecting the way that pretty much every university degree, and indeed every assessment they will face in life, is set up.<br />
<br />
(B) A single terminal exam in each subject, requiring students to memorise facts, definitions and explanations, with no resit opportunities.</blockquote>Option B seems to be what Gove wants. But I don't think it's what any student or any teacher wants.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-22818631204145461422012-10-20T22:24:00.000+01:002012-10-20T22:24:06.791+01:00The Many Vices Of Steve<div align="justify">Every biology teaching lab should have a skeleton. The best lab skeletons have names. My skeleton is Steve.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/m4QsiVUd6em2-DhvDf00uX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PmQ_sr8w4bU/TgpGzhirqxI/AAAAAAABZpA/e1AC4Q_YAXw/s400/DSCN9505.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></center><br />
Steve has featured in a number of outgoing class photos, and it is a joy for me each September to see how long it will be before the new students try to make Steve grope his non-existent breasts. Just over a year ago, the Class of 2011 decided to show one of Steve's peccadilloes - in this case, it was bestiality:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aRRwg0ZfsYAF3cDenm4HMn60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-94hBaTPfJhg/Tk6JZJVzp-I/AAAAAAABabg/RReiaDX8QUc/s400/IMAG0710.jpg" height="301" width="400" /></a></center><br />
He likes Halloween, and was most impressed with his outfit:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gA2snpWwL4W03JoGP_7UzX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_GknaRMHfHU/TrxNt6yex6I/AAAAAAABbQs/-wO_NA5uWtE/s400/IMAG0896.jpg" height="400" width="301" /></a></center><br />
And in the absence of a Christmas tree, he gallantly stepped up to be covered in decorations:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Yx6EkTDiVxlJlij7D2LtoX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jE7V6pcQhfU/TufUMg53BrI/AAAAAAABbWM/1QeUYdlSmaw/s400/IMAG0971.jpg" height="301" width="400" /></a></center><br />
Courtesy of the Class of 2012, Steve lost his head and indulged in a bit of fisting:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jJ1wOB_iDf_TwVOUTJW_N360j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-IlalggzuRrQ/T-N-TGaRiUI/AAAAAAABfBM/MZryuDH-PBM/s400/IMAG0336.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></center><br />
But on Friday it all got a bit too much for him, and my HND class made him into a NEET:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/NVsV4bpJ9DqugY-xx7B17H60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-r_fXubVup0g/UIMSvNDPvnI/AAAAAAABf8A/uvQ67rUPERM/s400/IMAG0616.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></center><br />
After many years, two dislocated shoulders, a missing atlas and a pigeon chest, Steve is retiring. He has been replaced by Steve 2, who is taller, better put together, and crucially this time, actually a male skeleton. Steve 1 is coming back to Jurassic Towers, which will be his forever home.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-85451004491351037552012-10-07T22:00:00.002+01:002012-10-07T22:00:39.460+01:00Scientific Literacy and Misinformation<div align="justify">Some of the most commonly peddled scientific misconceptions are related to the development of the human embryo and foetus. The anti-abortion groups love to show shocking photos of incredibly baby-like embryos and foetuses in an attempt to persuade women not to seek abortions. Women are all capable of making a decision that is best for them and their families (however that is defined), and they need to have accurate, unbiased information to do so.<br />
<br />
I only read the Sunday Torygraph because it was being given out free as Paul did the Royal Parks Foundation half marathon today. I really wish I hadn't. It's unscientific and elitist at the best of times, but this was downright misogyny.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qkDJzUa1ld2qTsApTmuSFX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7Ya-TpDAa8U/UHHgyP0ruOI/AAAAAAABf6s/zKc45VmkYps/s400/IMAG0609.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></center><br />
The image of the 12-week foetus is probably about half the size of the image of the 23-week foetus. This is way too big. At 12 weeks gestation the foetus is about 2 inches long. At 24 weeks it reaches 12 inches long. Even accounting for allometric growth of the head, the scale of the three images is misleading, no doubt to make it appear that lowering the abortion limit from 24 to 12 weeks is no big deal.<br />
<br />
I also think they've got it wrong in terms of development. I think that 12-week foetus is actually much older. Compare it with <a href="http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/313650/view">this image</a> of a 12-week foetus from the Science Photo Library:<br />
<br />
<center><a href="http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/313650/view"><img src="http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/313650/530wm/P6800399-Side_view_of_a_12_week_old_foetus-SPL.jpg" width="400" /></a></center><br />
I'm never going to stop newspapers (though they are not the trustworthy media organisations they may have once been) from publishing bad science and misogynistic misinformation. I'll never stop the anti-abortion campaigners from grossly over-estimating foetal development in a callous ploy to shame women into continuing with unwanted pregnancies. And don't even get me started on what a prime example of Cockney rhyming slang Jeremy Hunt is. Everything I have to say about him is an anguished sweary scream, which doesn't translate well to text.<br />
<br />
But I can at least educate my own students, in the hope that 100 young people every year learn that pictures like the ones in the Torygraph are utter bollocks.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-74696678939444795602012-10-02T22:30:00.000+01:002012-10-02T22:30:49.757+01:00How To Tackle Plagiarism<div align="justify">I still dip into the Geoblogosphere, and really enjoy keeping up with what colleagues in academia and research are up to. Over a year ago, Evelyn wrote a post about the <a href="http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/2011/05/28/blast-from-the-past-carbon-cycle-story/">carbon cycle</a>, from the carbon atom's point of view. It was an endearing and entertaining story written years ago by a 10-year-old Evelyn.<br />
<br />
Today Evelyn received a <a href="http://blogs.agu.org/georneys/2011/05/28/blast-from-the-past-carbon-cycle-story/#comment-16893">comment</a> from a biology teacher called Mrs Kim:<br />
<blockquote>Please delete this post. I am a biology teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Two students were caught plagiarizing this article for a carbon cycle assignment. The issue has been resolved, but we need to guarantee this does not occur in the future. Thank you.</blockquote>Understandably, many earth scientists and interested parties have responded. I felt I had rather more to say than could easily be put in a comment. There are a number of possibilities. Firstly, in the age of the internet troll, Mrs Kim could be a bored youngster. However, on the balance of probabilities, she is a genuine teacher at the school in question.<br />
<br />
So, perhaps through being a little naive about technology and the internet (I'm really trying hard not to go for the alternative explanation that she's a moron), Mrs Kim has found the source of the students' plagiarism, and decided that the appropriate course of action is to ask the author of the original work to remove it.<br />
<br />
If I asked for all the websites my students plagiarise to be taken down, then it's safe to say Wikipedia and About.com wouldn't be half the online monsters they are today. Just in the past two weeks I'd have had to demand the removal of every article on the kidney, nephron, ultrafiltration, the acid-base mechanism, cell structure, mitosis, DNA and protein synthesis. Even if it had at one time been the normal course of action to remove a book from the school library if it was notorious as a "plagiarisable" source, it is unsustainable with so much information online.<br />
<br />
And, as is so rightly pointed out by a number of commenters, the burden is on the students and their teacher to prevent plagiarism, not the author of the original work. So, here are my methods for detecting, punishing and preventing plagiarism.<br />
<ol><li>Put the fear of Flying Spaghetti Monster into them at the start of the year, and tell them exactly how much shit they'll be in when (not if) they plagiarise.<br />
<li>When they submit work, make sure they do so electronically. If your institution has been able to afford subscription to <a href="http://www.submit.ac.uk">TurnItIn</a> then use that. Otherwise, copy the text into the box at <a href="http://www.articlechecker.com/">Article Checker</a>. If all else fails, type a few phrases into Google.<br />
<li>Strike through every single plagiarised word and only mark text that is entirely original.<br />
<li>Hand the work back and tear student a new arsehole in private.<br />
<li>Issue a general "hairdryer treatment" bollocking to the entire class. Show them <a href="http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=586094&sid=d3a00055cbdcc925624527eab23f25e3#586094">examples</a> of <a href="http://www.miketaylor.org.uk/dino/nm/">academic dishonesty</a>. Make it clear this is one of the most serious offences a scientist can commit within their field.<br />
<li>Promise the class that you will find and punish all subsequent instances of plagiarism with the full weight of whatever disciplinary system you have at your disposal.<br />
<li>Tell them that if they pull this kind of stunt at university they can be kicked out.</ol>Alternatively, ensure every single piece of work set is one with a significant amount of reflective thinking - the sort of personal work that can't be easily copied and pasted off Wikipedia.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-42637116825340574182012-09-29T17:15:00.000+01:002012-09-29T17:15:16.842+01:00Like A Candle<div align="justify"><blockquote><i>A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.</i></blockquote><center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1BSqrxrOO1NcTh4VnuVeKH60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LiK6SetgjEQ/UGceBxybTHI/AAAAAAABf2g/_uMv_ayzxUs/s400/montana_10_bg_061905.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></center><br />
I don't know what it is about teaching an A2 class. More so than any of the other classes I teach, these students get to me. Perhaps it's the fact that I am their only biology teacher for two years, but even the Year 2 BTECs don't have such a profound effect on me.<br />
<br />
This year is taking a lot - my wick is burning very quickly at the moment. I have high achievers who need to do better in their A-level Biology exams than I ever did (I scraped a B, which made my decision to do Natural Sciences (Physical) a stroke of genius), because they have a realistic punt at Oxbridge or medical school. I have some at the opposite end of the spectrum who I feel like I'm hauling up from a D or E to a C using the world's most inefficient pulley. I have some coasting in the middle, who I want to grab by the shoulders, shake and scream "Why won't you work? You could do so well!" And I have my fair share of utterly heartbreaking situations.<br />
<br />
They're all <a href="http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6289118">under my skin</a>, despite half the class asking me in my first lesson when their other teacher was coming back from maternity leave (honest answer? I hope never, because I don't like sharing). I know if I let every year continue like this, if I come home every Wednesday and Friday and cry my eyes out for what they're going through, then I'll burn out way before I'm too old for them to want to go down the pub with me after their final exam.<br />
<br />
On the other hand, I can't make myself put up an emotional barrier to them. Some of them won't talk to their tutor or the counselling service, and I'm fighting a losing battle trying to get some to see their doctors about depression. I'm all they've got. And I can't separate the caring and support from the emotional involvement. I don't know how other teachers do it.<br />
<br />
I'm consuming myself trying to light the way for my students. It will be the end of me. But like the candle, it's my sole purpose in life. So I'd better keep burning.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-21768344465860767442012-09-16T12:56:00.001+01:002012-09-16T12:56:55.404+01:00Up The Creek<div align="justify">One of my little darlings managed to transmit a rhinovirus to me this week, so while my immune response takes care of it, and the Golgi apparatus in my nasal epithelia work overtime to produce <i>how much?!</i> mucus, there are some thoughts based on news in the past week or so.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/OjeNDYaV-plicKJ9ALm0-360j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sSYCslR7ZDw/UFWzjd4BclI/AAAAAAABf2I/46rFLABRuSU/s400/Rhinovirus.PNG" height="398" width="400" /></a><br />
<small>A bastarding rhinovirus, currently making me feel like arse</small></center><br />
<b>GCSEs</b><br />
Paul was affected quite badly by the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19355956">AQA GCSE English scandal</a> - he looked at the grades his students got, and what they could have got had the grade boundaries not been screwed, and at least two of them could have got a C. No mean feat for a class of students every school in the borough decided it couldn't or wouldn't teach. He's been following it more than I have - I don't teach GCSE, and haven't for over two years. It's all he teaches.<br />
<br />
So, having fallen into that dangerous 10pm sofa snooze last night, I was woken by Paul saying "GCSEs are gone". News was <strike>carefully passed on to tame right-wing newspapers</strike> leaked that Gove would be replacing GCSEs with O-Level style exams in 2015. The Grauniad <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/16/michael-gove-gcses-o-levels-reform">picked up the story</a> when it could. Some of the chatter on Twitter last night offered further details, that it would be graded 1-6, with 7 being a fail. Paul pointed out that wasn't Gove recreating O-Levels - he's bringing in <a href="http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scottishschoolsonline/examguide.asp">Scottish Standard Grades</a>. Recreating his own childhood north of the border perhaps?<br />
<br />
There will apparently be a consultation. I suggest everyone who has ever been to, has any children at, plans to send any children to, or feels like employing anyone who has ever been to a school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland at some point, submits their responses to this consultation. Too many people are confusing <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/06/unrigorous-o-level">rote learning</a> with rigour, and the two couldn't be further apart.<br />
<br />
<b>A-Levels</b><br />
Every year, I and my students get a good bashing from the media and pretty much everyone not involved in teaching, to say that exams are getting too easy, and that we are sending idiots off to their universities unable to do the basics. The sensible response of universities to any perceived grade inflation would surely be to raise the offer level? After all, when I went to Cambridge I had to get AAA. Earlier generations had to get AAB, and now students are routinely asked for A*AA to get into Natural Sciences at Cambridge. Seems like a logical and rational choice if one feels that an A grade isn't a true representation of a clever and able individual.<br />
<br />
So the Torygraph proclaiming that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/9545232/Students-win-degree-places-with-as-little-as-two-E-grades-at-A-level.html">students are accepted onto degree places with E grades</a> simply makes me wonder whose fault it is that universities are getting students unable to cope with the basics of their subject. Some of my students with D and E grades did get into university - however, with my blessing they've mostly gone to do foundation courses that will give them a further chance to get that grounding, and they'll be better graduates at the end of it. Let's face it, when the shitty syllabus from Edexcel waffles on about plant stanols at the expense of the ornithine cycle, there's not a lot I can do to give the students that grounding is there?<br />
<br />
<b>Teaching</b><br />
I love teaching, I do. Being in the lab or classroom is where I feel most alive, and I really enjoy my work when students have those "I get it" moments. By and large, I agree wholeheartedly with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/2012/sep/16/why-i-became-a-teacher">this article</a> about being a teacher. I also have no desire to go up into management. Anything taking me away from my students is bad (though I am happy to have a couple of hours remission to coordinate our HND course).<br />
<br />
That said, I did object a little to this paragraph:<br />
<blockquote>I'm very fortunate to be teaching English. If I was a geography teacher I might need pupils to have understood Oxbow lakes, if I were a maths teacher I might need them to know about surds but as an English teacher I want them to understand more than using English devices to generate rapport: I get to give them the opportunity to be a better human being.</blockquote>Now, English teachers get a rather rosy treatment in Hollywood, what with Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Dead Poets Society and so on. But English teachers absolutely do not have the monopoly on being inspirational teachers, giving students the chance to be "better human beings" or getting their charges climbing on the desk shouting "O Captain! My Captain!" (though my lab technician would be furious if she found footprints on the benches!).<br />
<br />
We all think we teach the best subject in the world. Otherwise we wouldn't be teaching it. But with Gove doing everything in his power to utterly destroy the education sector and the lives of the young people passing through it we could do with a little less point-scoring and a little more presenting a united front.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-15886709952248148202012-09-12T22:20:00.001+01:002012-09-12T22:20:29.082+01:00Three Days In<div align="justify">This year, I think all my colleagues share my feeling that we all started on the back foot. There was so much to do before the students began classes that there was very little time for planning. So this week I've been playing catchup.<br />
<br />
My timetable is up in the air a bit, but the best case scenario is taking on <b>two</b> HND groups and losing BTEC for the year. That would be nice - nothing but A-level, HND and Access.<br />
<br />
I felt rusty starting up on Monday morning. More than previous years it was striking how much easier teaching is when you know your students. And unusually, I didn't see any of my previous students in any of my Monday classes, or at all until this afternoon. It was something of a relief to see the A2 class - I felt back on top of my game. It helps that I have lucked out again with the students in my A2 class. They even met Hypnotoad, and screamed like a bunch of big girls' blouses when he lunged for his food. And we were studying succession, which as you may imagine, is one of my favourite topics to teach.<br />
<br />
(Incidentally, since I get a spike at this time of year from A2 students all over the country googling "succession" or "stages of succession" to do their homework, I recommend going to <a href="http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/biology/ecological-concepts/revise-it/succession">this website</a> instead.)<br />
<br />
Other things I am learning - there are many different ways of getting from the staffroom to the print room if you spot a student you <i>really</i> don't want to speak to near the main entrance to the building. Astonishingly, sometimes Level 2 BTEC groups take better to microscope work than AS classes. And no one brings lead pencils, colouring pencils, rulers or calculators to a biology class anymore.<br />
<br />
Also, Paul and I have realised that we have pretty much kissed goodbye to our social lives until at least half-term. We're both working 10-12 hour days <i>in the college</i>, plus whatever we do at home. And weekends are back to one full day of planning and one full day to do every single thing that needs sorting round the house - business as usual. Perhaps the only surprise is that it doesn't bother us at all.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-23438090002950920192012-09-06T22:55:00.001+01:002012-09-06T22:55:38.275+01:00Resolve<div align="justify">The students are back. The new bugs have either been inducted or induced (never 100% sure which is the more appropriate past participle), they have been shown the important places on campus (cafeteria, pool tables, smoking area), and they have been dispatched with their timetables. Tomorrow is the freshers' fair, which was compared (perhaps unwisely) by a senior member of staff to Match.com. Just as well we're giving the students condoms then...<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wI0NZHp5nhn4m1iy2brPvX60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-4uIbtFxkWck/UEkFaa634QI/AAAAAAABf1o/enur1gzd-Uc/s800/resolve.jpg" height="300" width="300" /></a></center><br />
I find it easier to set New Year's resolutions in September than in January. It makes more sense when dealing with northern hemisphere academic years. So here are a few things I'll be aiming for in the 2012-2013 academic year, related to teaching.<br />
<ul><li>I will get my arse in gear and finally apply for <a href="http://www.ase.org.uk/professional-development/registered-scientist-rsci/">Registered Scientist (RSci)</a>.<br />
<li>I will get some fish for the lab. They will be <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2011/10/lab-goldfish.html">resistant to sulphuric acid</a>.<br />
<li>I will ditch the bullet-point slides and draw and write more on the whiteboard.<br />
<li>I will get ALL my A2 students blogging and tweeting.<br />
<li>I will not let my new responsibilities as a curriculum leader make me less effective as a teacher.<br />
<li>I will not eat burgers from the canteen.<br />
<li>I will fill every windowsill in the biology lab with variegated <i>Pelargonium</i> plants.<br />
<li>I will bring evolution into all aspects of the biology I teach, so the evidence is in place when I cover it formally.<br />
<li>I will mainline Hot Lava Java on a daily basis to keep me at the top of my game.<br />
<li>I will continue to be as sarcastic, terrifying, insane and sweary as I always have been (apparently), and fearlessly overprotective of my students...</ul></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-69517703495532854362012-08-25T19:04:00.000+01:002012-08-25T19:04:13.750+01:00Retail Therapy<div align="justify">After <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2012/08/significant-interventions.html">yesterday</a>, I needed some cheering up, and Jabba needed some food, so we went down to Ashford to <a href="http://www.tcreptiles.co.uk/">TC Reptiles</a>, purveyors of the finest locusts in town.<br />
<br />
We'd missed out on the Kempton Park Reptile Expo a couple of weeks ago, as it was the hottest day of the year and we remembered it being oppressively hot and overcrowded the last time we visited. So I was on the lookout for some more creepy-crawlies for the lab. I had been advised that several students, teachers and lab technicians would not come near the lab if I bought a tarantula, so that was out.<br />
<br />
Anyway, TC had some Pacman frogs, <i>Ceratophrys ornata</i>. And they're aggressive little bastards. The owner had his favourite, which was permanently furious, and could be lifted up by the food it had just bitten. We got the second most aggressive.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/MhfClBpp-LvifY1d72C3eH60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RxLJ3FW2jMw/UDjzS00oGkI/AAAAAAABf1Q/4OId3H_3aiQ/s400/IMAG0547.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></center><br />
It doesn't have a name yet. I'm saving the honour of naming it for my incoming A2 class. Though Paul has been calling it <a href="http://futurama.wikia.com/wiki/Hypnotoad">Hypnotoad</a> in the interim.<br />
<br />
I plan to draft in "Hypnotoad" for informal detentions:<br />
<br />
Me: "You, misbehaving student, come here and put your finger in the tank."<br />
<b>Frog: *chomp*</b><br />
Me: "Now you stay here until Hypnotoad lets go."<br />
<i>Student: *whimper*</i></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-90500289446546533892012-08-24T18:16:00.000+01:002012-08-24T18:16:02.858+01:00Significant Interventions<div align="justify"><blockquote><i>AS Biology ... has failed to make the required improvements in spite of significant interventions.</i></blockquote>This was in this week's staff newsletter. A massive slap in the face from a senior member of staff, for every lecturer, administrator, support assistant to see, not to mention the ladies who run the canteen, the caretakers who check I haven't died at my desk late at night, and the lab technicians without whom I'd be lost.<br />
<br />
I rarely criticise where I work. I don't want to do that (that way disciplinaries lie). I just want to wail about how hurt I feel about all this where I know I have a sympathetic audience.<br />
<br />
I've been teaching for three years. I have been graded good or outstanding in every observation I have had (and I rarely put on a show for my observers because I want to be graded on the lessons I give every day). I took on a second AS group halfway through the year, and battled through the "we liked the other teacher better" criticism until I think, maybe, some of the group actually liked me and my teaching. I undertook a workshop to boost performance. I pleaded with the students who needed it to attend. I spent hours tutoring students after classes. I embedded literacy. I honed their bullshit detectors. I got them reading and citing peer-reviewed journals (and not just Biological Sciences Review and New Scientist).<br />
<br />
In the end, this year, weak students just flopped. They failed physics, chemistry, maths, English, sociology, psychology, and so on. No student who failed biology <i>only</i> failed biology - they stuffed up everything. And yet here I am, as the only full-time permanent biology teacher, taking the flak in public across the entire college.<br />
<br />
I am ashamed to see the people in other departments who I know. I can't bring myself to look them in the eye knowing that they'll have read that, and that they'll make judgements about me and my competence. Because they don't know that I eat, sleep and breathe this job. They don't know about the evidence-based teaching methods I use, about the high expectations I hold of my students, about the sheer energy I put into making damn sure the students understand the material. All they see is that I was apparently given "significant interventions" but failed to deliver.<br />
<br />
It's enough to make me second-guess myself and my ability. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong. Maybe I've been lulled into a false sense of security by a history of good pass rates, excellent observation feedback, my name being passed around as "one to watch". Amazing students have got crappy coursework grades, and I'm scared a re-mark won't show up any errors of marking. Students who had effectively another block of A-level time for one-to-one tuition haven't performed any better than if I'd left them to teach themselves. I've been flipping between raging indignation that such words have been written about my subject, and self-doubt that I'm a mediocre teacher getting by on sarcasm and charisma, putting on a good show but lacking substance.<br />
<br />
By Tuesday, when we return after the bank holiday weekend, I'll probably feel better. Maybe I'll play the video my BTECs made for me. Maybe I'll read some of the cards and e-mails I had over the years. Maybe I'll remember all the hugs from students whose lives I have apparently improved beyond measure.<br />
<br />
But for now I'm hurting.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js"></script></div>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04695173188736074202noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3333714218933071005.post-40376642728600794342012-08-15T09:26:00.000+01:002012-08-15T09:26:00.615+01:00Let The Student-Bashing Begin<div align="justify">Tomorrow is A-level results day. I've been here twice before. In 2010 I <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2010/08/open-letter-to-my-a2s.html">wrote a letter to my students</a>. In 2011 I whacked out a <a href="http://www.stagesofsuccession.com/2011/08/exams-are-getting-easier-exams-are.html">statistical analysis of exam command words</a> and concluded that my students were dealing with tougher exams than I had to pass.<br />
<br />
I nearly came to blows with an industry scientist a couple of months ago when he told me that the students I and my colleagues were "turning out" were utterly incapable of doing anything for themselves. He maintained that the most important thing was for them to know facts, not to be able to apply their knowledge. To which I respectfully say <i>bullshit</i>.<br />
<br />
It doesn't stop the traditional right-wing press student-bashing festivities, which coincide with the traditional right-wing press "sexy A-levels fruity girl jumping" photos. Exams are getting easier every year, say the papers. Something must be done, they squawk. So exam boards were asked to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9454933/Fury-as-A-Level-and-GCSE-examiners-told-to-fix-results.html">"fix" the results</a>, to ensure that the number of top grades was limited. Ofqual have now <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9470373/A-Level-pass-rate-set-to-stall.html">instructed exam boards</a> to stall the pass rate.<br />
<br />
Gove already has a weird idea that true understanding of a subject involves being able to parrot off facts and figures. To paraphrase Einstein, if we measure a fish's ability to climb a tree, it will spend its life thinking it's stupid. When we are teaching deep understanding of a subject, an exam testing whether a student can reel off the resting blood glucose concentration of a healthy adult is no use whatsoever.<br />
<br />
For the past two weeks we've watched world records being smashed in the Olympic Games. Rebecca Adlington's bronze medal time for the 400m freestyle was faster than her gold medal time four years earlier.<br />
<br />
<center><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Or_cW9VCSc0v4X_bxDJs7H60j-vfWOdvBhxsuvtDkV0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-VA-JYe79BKg/UCq7CuSo96I/AAAAAAABfyc/jc1ldVbfNPQ/s400/usain-bolt-compared-to-other-100m-runners.png" height="400" width="312" /></a></center><br />
Men's 100m times have been steadily increasing, as this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/05/sports/olympics/the-100-meter-dash-one-race-every-medalist-ever.html">analysis in the New York Times</a> shows. Many teachers on Twitter have wondered whether this means the 100m dash or the 400m freestyle are getting easier. I wouldn't be so naive as to say that athletics and exams are absolutely comparable, but is it not possible that students are doing a better job of passing the targets that have been set for them? Are students cleverer but the exams aren't keeping up?<br />
<br />
One thing is for sure, the people who are being blamed for this are those who are least able to change the system - the students. Telling them on results day that the exams they've studied so hard for are worthless and far too easy serves no purpose but to make them feel wretched.<br />
<br />
The newspapers won't listen to me - there'll be claims all over the place that exams are easier than ever. One wonders if they'll ever figure out that if exams get harder they'll have a smaller pool of fruity blonde girls jumping up and down to photograph. My students might listen to me though - so I'll say this to them: fuck what the newspapers say, I know you worked your socks off.<br />
<br />
Good luck to students and their teachers tomorrow. <i>Nil illegitimi carborundum</i>.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><br />© Stages Of Succession 2014
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