Team leaders

Do you remember at school when it came to sports and the teacher would make two kids team leaders and tell them to take turns picking their teams? And there was always at least one or kids who were always last picked. 

And do you remember how in school many people hated gym and would do anything to avoid it particularly in secondary?

Has nobody in education ever connected the two?

I could give you lots and lots of statistics about young people losing interest in sport and how secondary schools are trying everything to get pupils interested, but really, you’ve heard it all before. 

I was one of those kids who was last to be picked. And really after quite a few years of that anyone would lose interest in sports. I’ve never been interested in being part of a popularity contest. Once I left school I became interested in sports in its own right. Most kids won’t go down that path though.

Going back to my day I think we can excuse the teachers. I really don’t think they knew any better. But nowadays? Come on guys think about it. 

I expect most PE teachers were good at sport and school and never had to go through the humiliation of always being the last chosen and knowing that nobody wanted you in their team, but class teachers – really, do you not recall this from your school days. Have we learned nothing in thirty years?

If we want to get and keep children interested in sports we need to stop making sports an activity for the popular. 

Oh and in case anyone thinks this is sour grapes because of one of my children being picked last, it’s not. Thank you R, from A. She really appreciated it.

Boasting

My son starts school in August and the school had an afternoon event last month for the children to meet their teachers and find out what class they were in. I can’t decide if D’s teacher has been very bad this year or very good as many of the kids in her class of next year are right characters. How she will keep a straight face I just don’t know.

I asked one mum if her son was looking forward to starting school. She replied yes but that she doubts he will be top of the class. “Who cares” I said. She then told me about a couple of mums who were telling her how advanced their children were and how their little darlings were reading and writing and doing sums already.

Now the mum I spoke to is very, very intelligent. Much more intelligent than I am. So I don’t think she has anything to worry about.

I also suspect that the other mums knew this too. How sad that they felt the need to boast so much and try to make her feel inadequate.

And how sad that these parents are obviously pushing their children so much at this stage when there are more important things to be doing, when their children should be spending their days splashing in puddles and pretending to be Ben Ten.

End of term

End of term

A few years back I visited a school in England where children where put up a year once they had sat their SATs. I wrote a piece on it and was very impressed by the system. It meant kids were not wasting the last couple of weeks of the summer term bringing games into school and when they returned in September they hit the ground running as the term goes.

This year we are taking our children out three days early to go to France. So instead of playing their Nintendo DS in a classroom and waiting for the bell to ring my children will be:

-          travelling the length of England and half of Scotland and no doubt asking us geography related questions.

-          discovering Birmingham – I’m sure we can find some culture there.

-          spending a bit of time in Sussex and enjoying the English countryside

-          learning French (it’s a long journey and they already know quite a bit)

-          asking lots and lots of questions, some of them sensible, many of them not.

Losing interest in history

I read a report the other day that stated that English children are losing interest in history. Ofsetd have found that many pupils lack a chronological understanding of history and are unable to link events. Schools are dropping the subject, and because it is not compulsory past the age of thirteen, many pupils are dropping it.

As someone who loves history and who has a history book in the planning, I find this sad. But I also wonder whose fault it is.

My memories of history at school are of spending lessons learning about the different parts of the Corn Law and such like. An Act would be noted down and we would have to learn everything that that Act covered.

That’s not history, that’s law.

Then there was ‘o’ grade history where we spent two years covering the two world wars and the years in between.

By fourth year I’d had enough and didn’t bother with the Higher.

And despite going to school in Scotland I have no recollection of ever being taught about the Treaty of Arbroath.

I can’t comment on today’s history curriculum but one thing I do know is that if you make the subject boring kids will turn off. And history certainly isn’t boring.

Review of 'My first chemistry kit'

From what I gather, James Galt  has a good name as a toy manufacturer so when I was asked to review their ‘My First Chemistry Kit’ I was more than happy to oblige. While I could probably explain the basics to my children, and I did do Higher biology, anything beyond basic chemistry and physics is beyond me. In a few years time when they hit secondary school, they are going to have to rely on natural ability because I don’t think I am going to be much help.

The kit comes with a booklet of eight activities to work on with the children and I was pleased to see that you get a bit more than I expected for your money. Some of the experiments involve putting mixtures aside for two weeks and we currently have a container of a gelatine mixture sitting in the kitchen.

The box states that the set is for age five and above so I opted for letting my eight year old, six year old, and nearly five year old join me as we gathered round the kitchen table.

Having a four and a half year old there really wasn’t a problem, although I wouldn’t advise letting children younger than that get involved.

The first activity was entitled, “The case of the disappearing powders’ and memories of first year science came flooding back. Although in a good way. We discussed the differences between solids and liquids before moving on to dissolve various liquids in water.

Moving on, we used pH paper to find out whether something was acid, base or neutral and made a potion with the gelatine, which is still sitting in the kitchen (to be left for two weeks). We used the magnifier to examine granules of salt and dissolved it before leaving it to dry out to see if the salt returns.

At this point I meant to tell you what else we did – the experiments with the test tubes, the fun with the microscope, how we made a rainbow disc, but I must be honest and say that by this point my head cold has got so bad that I went to bed.

Obviously me having a head cold is not good but what is good is that this kit is more than one afternoon’s work. Our kids have received a fair number of toys in the past nine years and often the box may look large but the amount of time spent on the toy isn’t. At this point in time we are only on activity four so half way there.

The kit contains enough tools and powders to keep families busy – test tubes, several pH papers, gelatine, bicarbonate of soda. The booklet is easy to follow, giving instructions as well as providing ideas for further ‘experiments’.

The only negative thing was the microscope. It may look the part but it requires a very strong light in order for it to be used.

But to be honest I think for the price (£10.99) I think it is well worth the money. I liked the concepts it introduces to children and the fact that it demonstrates that science is not something foreign, to be kept to a school science lab. Suggestions are made for how household products can be used for scientific experiments.

The most impressive aspect was that for your money you get more than an afternoon’s entertainment. So with regards value for money, it gets the thumbs up from me.

Weighing pigs

Weighing a pig doesn’t make it fatter’ is, I have been told, a teacher’s saying, and what a great saying it is. It refers to the obsession with assessment of children. Sorry did I write obsession. I really meant the ‘act of’. Honestly.

Politicians are preoccupied with assessing children, so much so that English schools in particular have been accused of teaching to test. If it’s not in the exam they’re not interested in teaching it.

I listened to four MSPs on Thursday night – one education secretary and four hopefuls. Three of them were very keen for more assessment in primary schools.

Under the 5 to 14 curriculum we had national assessments in Scotland but I have spoken to teachers who told me that they didn’t need assessments to see how a child was doing. They knew anyway.

The politicians’ argument is that parents want to know how their children are getting on. But this can be done without branding them and putting them under pressure. What’s wrong with a good, honest talk at parents’ evening?

Last night's TESS pre-election debate

One of the things I was surprised at last night was how polite every one was, in particular the politicians. I have been told that when the English TES held a similar event, things were a bit different. SMPs must be more refrained.

When booking, we were asked two questions for a poll – who we thought we would vote for, and who we thought will be in power after the election. The same questions were asked at the end of the debate.

For the first question the winner was the SNP with 40%, for the second question the winner was Labour with 63%.

Without going into too much detail, the SNP did come across as very confident whereas sadly Labour did seem a bit uncertain about what they were going to do, particularly with regards the new SEQIA, and Mike Russell did use this to his advantage.

So based on how each of them came across last night I can understand why so many voted SNP. But people still think Labour is going to win, which is interesting.