What went well?

After a chance to rest over the weekend, the students were calmer and less disruptive during the tests. Writing names down of those who talked went a long way to stopping quiet chatter and improving the students’ focus. We finished on time. We coordinated to ensure that one student who missed half an exam due to illness on Friday could finish it separately from the others. Ensuring that the children had access to paper and pencils/pens drastically reduced the disruption coming from those who had already finished their tests.

Mr. Sakala and I then organised the papers, and filled all the necessary paperwork (marks, rankings, comments on progress, etc.) for the children’s reports and parent-teacher meetings on Friday. I took on the majority of the meetings for the Grade 5s. Having a chance to meet the siblings/parents of the students was wonderful, and it was the last chance to say goodbye to all the students! It was somewhat challenging to adjust slightly in response to the parents’ reactions to the childrens’ grades. Our aim is, of course, to make sure that the students continue to learn and progress and, importantly, enjoy doing so. This, of course, requires the parents to be as supportive as possible over the holidays. Fortunately, Mr. Sakala was also there to help direct the conversation in the right way, as he knows the parents well. Overall, the meetings went well.

What could have been done differently?

Doing testing was a very different experience to teaching. While it is obviously more straightforward to invigilate a test and make sure people are quiet than it is to plan and teach a lesson, I found it much harder than teaching in some ways. Notably, it was hard to strike the right balance between enforcing exam conditions (to help them get used to working under them) and accepting that this will take time to practice, with a certain level of disruption being inevitable. After all, the testing experience should be confidence-inspiring rather than negative.

Leadership reflection

There was an element of brave this week in taking on the parent-teacher meetings. Meeting parents for the first time and discussing sensitive topics around their child’s performance in class or academic struggles did push me out of my comfort zone in a way that teaching hadn’t throughout the rest of this project.

There was also determination required in ensuring that standards of focus were kept up towards the end of a pretty demanding testing period for the students.