[Year 12 Its] A radical approach to the course

Wed Mar 29 18:36:03 EST 2006

agree 100%


>From: "Robert Timmer-Arends" <timmer at melbpc.org.au>
>Reply-To: "Year 12 Information Technology Systems Teachers' Mailing 
>List"<is at edulists.com.au>
>To: "Year 12 Information Technology Systems Teachers' Mailing 
>List"<is at edulists.com.au>
>Subject: Re: [Year 12 Its] A radical approach to the course
>Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2006 17:59:56 +1000
>
>Hello Andrew and Kevork
>
>isn't it sad that education is reduced to this! (which I hasten to add is
>not a criticism of either of you - it's what the system demands if we are 
>to
>do the best by our students)
>
>Regards
>Robert T-A
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Andrew Shortell" <a.shortell at braemar.vic.edu.au>
>To: "Year 12 Information Technology Systems Teachers' Mailing List"
><is at edulists.com.au>
>Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 1:42 PM
>Subject: RE: [Year 12 Its] A radical approach to the course
>
>
>Hi Kevork
>
>That approach works well
>I have always taken the attitude that the IS exam is often the student's
>last exam so all study for it is left until after any other exams and
>then they have generally lost the urge (to do anything at all)
>
>So in the first week of the year we look at the exam from last year as a
>class , in class time and explain what was answered well and poorly. If
>anyone knows the answers to any questions that is great but then I
>remind them that they must refer to the case study and award their
>answer zero because they don't.
>Thus from week one they are reminded to refer to the case study.
>Then when we intro the SDLC I explain that this is question one in part
>b. Then I say that we have already covered a lot of section a and are
>moving along.!!
>
>Then practice exams after the SAC 3  (u3o3) in that dreadful time slot
>between the midyear exams and the "break from scheduled classes" ( -
>after all yr 12 get the mother of all holidays in November!!).
>
>I aim to finish all SACs and theory by the 3rd last week of term 3. Then
>nearly every double is a practice exam in class time. Even though a
>double only goes 90 minutes most of them learn to pace themselves
>through the exam (2 doubles per week 3 weeks in term 3 and 3 weeks in
>term 4 = 12 exams.)  Then I give them solutions to each, they take them
>home, read, analyse, come back to the next class and ask whether their
>answer would get any marks and we analyse the more difficult questions
>as a group.
>
>There are still plenty of other practice exams and I send these home for
>weekend work and "break from scheduled classes work" (see mother of all
>holidays comment above).
>
>Not every student makes a lot of effort -- sadly for me and for them but
>it works better than hoping they will practice without me standing over
>them!!.
>
>Also the double in which they are doing the exam I will go through and
>mark the last one for questions.  Note that I do not correct -- just
>mark which is a lot faster. Thus you can do 15  in the ninety minutes --
>that is six minutes each -- more than enough to see if they have
>referred to the case study and just giving a quick mark. If they want to
>know why then that is part of the discussion class!
>
>In a class of say 20 I would get maybe 14 do this seriously. The others
>realise (eventually) that they are being left behind and either do
>something about it or prepare for a not so good mark. It can be a good
>time to contact parents and voice one's concern about their exam
>preparation!
>
>Most teachers of other subjects do not begin exam prep until term 4 so
>my students have had three weeks (minimum) of preparation without
>distraction.  (ROFL)
>SACs in other subjects are the biggest problems - students prioritise to
>them quite often.
>
>Remember that with stat mod'n the class competes for their position on
>the class ladder but for the exam they work as a group to bring up the
>low performers and to raise the high performers so everyone needs to
>encourage the low performers to work harder and support the high
>performers so that they achieve well.
>
>{    ;-) falls off soap box and staggers off to try to make these ideas
>actually work }
>
>Andrew Shortell
>Braemar College
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: is-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:is-bounces at edulists.com.au] On
>Behalf Of Kevork Krozian
>Sent: Wednesday, 29 March 2006 9:39 AM
>To: is at edulists.com.au
>Subject: [Year 12 Its] A radical approach to the course
>
>Hi Folks,
>
>      Call me crazy but I am going to do things differently this year.
>
>  I have been frustrated for some time with the fact my students always
>do worse in exams than in SACs. Exam prep is always crammed into the 2
>-3 weeks of term 4 ( maybe 10 periods in total ) and despite the fact
>there are at least 6 exams for each past year as practice ( VCAA, 3 x
>VITTA practice, IARTV, Chem Associates ) times at least 10 years = 60
>exams the results don't seem to quite reach  expectations.  I am sure
>this is due to the huge cram that goes on with other subjects as well
>and students may only actually do about 5 or so exams as their real
>practice and really, how much one on one do the students really get with
>each teacher ?
>
>   So this year we are going to spend 3 weeks in each of Term 2, 3 and 4
>= 12 weeks on exam preparation by doing exams in class and marking in
>class and recording student performance and progress. What we lose in
>time for SACs, theory and programming, we will trim and cram these
>rather than the exam.
>
>   I'll let you know how it goes after the results come out in December.
>
>
>Best Wishes
>
>
>
>Kevork Krozian
>IT Manager , Forest Hill College
>k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
>http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
>Mobile: 0419 356 034
>
>
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>IT Systems Mailing List kindly supported by
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>
>
>
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>http://www.edulists.com.au
>IT Systems Mailing List kindly supported by
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>Association Inc

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