30/06/2023
Good afternoon 👋 to all Parents
The end of the exam term is finally here. 😅 Well done on getting through the demands of the past couple of weeks.👏 I am pleased to have received feedback about your children’s exam performance and wish to thank you for sharing the June reports. Some marks have gone up in leaps and bounds; others have stayed the same or even gone down, as is common in exam terms.
Before the next term is upon us in a few weeks, 👀 I have the following points to share/ recommend:
1. Meaning of results:🤔
The results for each term will differ, depending on what was assessed. The way assessment works in the schools is not a simple process to understand or evaluate. If the assessments were developmental, focusing on the same content/ skills just expanded into greater levels of difficulty and breadth of scope, then the results attained can be compared. However, assessment is generally not undertaken developmentally, except perhaps for Maths, which makes comparison between performance in one term and another rather impossible. I shall illustrate my point by way of an example:
If in one soccer match one were to assess Cristiano Ronaldo’s skills as a soccer player based on fitness, he would score very highly each match. On the other hand, if you were to use the number of goals accomplished by Ronaldo as the measurement of his soccer skills, and he did not score any goals in a particular match, he would score poorly as a soccer player, for that match. Sometimes assessment is like that; on a writing piece carrying lots of marks, your child might perform poorly and because of that one piece, his or her marks will reflect a considerably lower mark than in a term when another skill was the predominant focus. For assessment to be valid and reliable, it would need to be comprehensive each time and in the same ratio and proportion, for each term, but it is not like that in most schools.
While a range of skills is tested each term, some terms have more marks linked to oral presentation vs writing pieces, in another term. Even orals are different each term; sometimes it is an unseen reading piece, other times the oral is a prepared talk or dialogue. These are not comparable oral skills, so marks can differ wildly across the various assessments. As I have said on previous occasions, the weighting of tasks needs to be understood for parents to be fully aware of which competence the code on the report reflects.
2. Marks vs Ability
Marks do not necessarily represent a true reflection of your child’s ability. And in any case, marks are only one aspect of evaluating a child’s knowledge and skills; there are many other areas of skills, values and knowledge that are not measured, which are very important in a child’s life. See the extract from Cambrilearn at the end of document (Item number 5).
3. Building Academic Literacy for Life🚀
The big thing that I have noticed over the decades I have been teaching, is that reading and writing skills are not developed much from one year to the next; such is the nature of how the curriculum is delivered in the South African school context.
To close the gap between what is needed in order to become academically literate and what is undertaken in schools, I have offered reading and writing programmes in the short holidays in order to accelerate reading and comprehension ability and speed, in scanning and skimming texts for locating the answers. In private lessons, too, I have consciously spent time on reading and understanding (both English and Afrikaans), but these important academic skills take years to build, not just in one or two lessons here and there.
Building confidence with texts – any type, including visual “texts” – is my forever target to ensure children are alert and capable of interacting with texts of many different forms. Poor results in tests most times, relate to a lack of basic academic skills in working out what is being said, and what the question is asking the learner to do. A confident learner who is very skillful in working things out in a self-reliant manner is going to do well in all areas of the curriculum.
4. Tutoring Level and Format
In the second half of the year, I am reshuffling some of my classes to suit the level of need that your child has shown is necessary. In certain cases, attending lessons in a grade lower or higher will be more effective to develop your child’s competence.
Semi-private lessons (2-3 learners) is the ideal size I have come to learn, but a group class also has its advantages because languages are interactive and in a small group many opportunities to hear and apply skills are created by the group context. Role-playing dramas in Afrikaans are particularly enjoyed in a group.
The format for maximizing your child’s academic performance is a minimum of 2 sessions per week, one of which needs to be private, in cases of a specific need or request.
During this last week of term, I visited certain teachers in Grades 4, 5, 6, and 7 to find out the scope of work in Term 3 in all subjects, in addition to the assessment formats.
I shall adopt a reading comprehension approach to the content in Term 3, which will be linked to the topics in History, Geography, NST and Life Skills to be covered in Term 3. In addition, I will address the new topics in Maths in broad outline.
5. Extract from Cambrilearn (Understanding the different types of Intelligence: IQ, EQ, SQ and AQ - September 7, 2022):
• Intelligence Quotient or commonly referred to as IQ measures a person’s level of comprehension. This is usually assessed through an IQ assessment that tests a person’s ability to solve mathematical equations, memorise things, identify patterns and recall lessons.
• Emotional Quotient (EQ) or Emotional Intelligence refers to one’s ability to manage their emotions. This includes the ability to understand and self-manage their own feelings in positive ways to communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, manage conflict and relieve stress.
• Social Quotient (SQ) or Social Intelligence refers to one’s ability to interact and communicate with others with empathy and assertiveness. This includes a person’s ability to build a network of friends and maintain it over a long period of time.
• Adversity Quotient (AQ) refers to one’s ability to overcome challenges or adversity. When faced with troubles, the Adversity Quotient considers who will give up, who will abandon their family, and who will contemplate su***de.
Daniel Goleman, author, psychologist and journalist for the New York Times, stated that “as much as 80% of adult success comes from EQ”. His research shows that people who have higher emotional and social intelligence tend to go further in life than those with a high IQ but low EQ or SQ.
Good luck for the next term👍
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