Tuesday August 21^st 2012

Day Thirty Two at Mountain Creek State High School

This morning I got to experience my first grading! My year 12 PED class had their theory sociology draft assignments due. Once I collected the drafts it was up to me to take them back during morning tea, read, and mark. Some of these papers were absolutely terrible. I really could not believe how difficult it is for year 12 students to make an opening paragraph that makes sense. The assignment only asks them to write 800 words, and they struggle to even begin. Out of the 10 papers I read, only 2 of them seemed to be at a comprehensive level for a year 12 student. It is so crazy how different school is here. At my high school we had a lot more accountability to earn high grades. We honestly had to do so many more assignments and do them well to even move from grade to grade. These students are lucky, and they cannot even complete such a simple task. It was very hard for me to not mark all over the paper correcting literally every sentence for some of these papers, but I tried my best to just give feedback at the end guiding them for their corrections. It is a good thing these were just drafts!! I really like how I can compare theory from here to home now. Although I believe it is great how in depth this school gets with each topic by spending a whole term on specific things, I really think the way my high school approaches education is stronger. I feel I was so much smarter and well-rounded in 12^th grade than these students. I knew how to research, how to write a paragraph, how to cite in a paper, how to analyze situations and much more. But what I did not know that these students do receive is the intensity of the topic they are learning. The problem with this is that the students care a bit less, so even though we are covering one topic for 11 weeks, it should be worth-while, but ends up being a waste for most students. It is disappointing how different education is, and how motivated students are. I would like to say I am proud of where I came from and where I have been educated! Although it was hard to read through, I am glad I got to experience marking papers and seeing the students in a different light than aerobics. I am ready to go for classes tomorrow and cannot wait to tackle another oval lesson!