What went well?
Initially, we’d thought the testing would begin on Monday, so we ended up with an extra two days in which to finish revising. Needless to say, this was welcome as it gave us some extra time to brush up on certain areas. With the grade 5s, I focused on nailing down long division, taking time after school to go through it with them individually as well. This one-on-one work with them had a noticeable impact on their confidence.
In technology, we took a break from working on the computers to focus on other content from earlier in the term – entrepreneurship and electricity. To my delight, the students were already quite confident on these topics! I was particularly impressed by their proficiency with circuits (as a physics student), and they were comfortable with constructing basic circuit diagrams.
I took care of invigilating Grade 5 for all tests apart from Cinyanja, and we tackled two tests a day this week. We got through all the tests without any major issues. With the upcoming exams in Grade 7, I could see how practicing testing and working under exam conditions as well as managing stress and revision could be really beneficial for the students. Finishing at 12pm meant we had the afternoons off to mark that day’s tests, avoiding a mad rush to finish marking next week!
What could have been done differently?
The extra two days of revision were valuable, but in maths I mostly used them to drive home long division, in an effort to prepare everyone as well as possible for that (hard) part of the test. Some students who were already comfortable with the method may have benefitted from some more diversity in revision (going back to some harder long multiplication etc.), which I didn’t quite have the bandwidth to cover in those revision sessions.
While we had managed to build a good classroom dynamic for learning, exam conditions brought a new challenge. Getting the students to work silently, and completely individually was a step beyond the quiet discussion and collaboration which proved very productive when learning. A few students became disruptive, turning around and talking or looking a little too closely at their neighbour’s work. Another issue was the disparity in pacing – some students finished much faster than others, and proceeded to distract their classmates who were still working. Next week I’ll have to ensure that they have something to do/work on quietly while others are still finishing.