(courtesy of pixabay – great source for zero creative commons images)
Today’s PDM was led by Simon P, Simon B and Amy. Thanks to the three of you for creating a space for reflecting on, discussing and developing our thoughts and policies concerning the first round of exams.
We kicked off with the question of how exams can be dealt with “affectively”, being a positive experience for all involved. The decision to remove the exam results from the reports has already taken us a step in that direction. If we can emphasise the process rather than the product, the process of familiarisation with the Cambridge exams, then we can possibly lighten the emotional load for all involved.
We went on to discuss what we found out about our students from the exams, what areas they are struggling with, and came back to revisit this question later with Amy. And in a third round of discussions we explored our expectations, our students’ expectations and parents’ expectations of the exams themselves, of the Cambridge exams and of the system of recommendations.
We turned to look at some problem levels in particular, focusing especially on the S2/S3 level. It was generally felt that the S2 exam is too long and could do with being shorter, and that the students really struggle with the concept of the activities. It was suggested that the students in S2 should see some of the activity types beforehand so that they are familiar with them when it comes to doing the exam. It was also suggested that they might not have to do the speaking in February, but could build up to it in the May/June exams. Layout was also mentioned as an important feature at this level. All these things will be taken into consideration in reviewing the S2 exam for the future. If you have any specific comments about any specific exam or level, please let one of the coordinators know! It’ll be really helpful in moving forward.
The idea of being able to scaffold and support the exam with younger learners was explored by Simon B who talked through his approach to leading his students through the M1/M2 listening exam, giving plenty of time for the students to activate language and schemata, to get their heads around the pictures on the page and what’s needed from them in each question. Pausing between questions to elicit language and focus attention on the task at hand. Jill mentioned how she lets her students in on the “tricks” of the distractors so the students are on the hunt for them. Lucy G commented on how this approach can also help the teacher to feel more confident and less stressed by the whole exam experience.
We discussed whether there may be a “labelling” problem here, with the word “exams” evoking a certain approach and a certain dread in teachers and students alike.
Amy took the lead at this point to look in more detail at the diagnostic value of the exams and how she learned from her students that she needs to look more carefully at certain areas (her example was questions with how many). Having identified a problem area she’s now thinking about how she can include it in her routines with her class and work on it “little but often”. This discussion was opened out to the groups. T mentioned her students’ problem with the “tell me about” prompt, JG mentioned problems his PET kids are having with the matching task in the reading paper. Niamh talked about how her students take the easy way out in the speaking, and she asks them to repeat and repeat and repeat the same task with new partners until they’re performing it as they should. Jill talked about embedding adjectives in the names routine at the beginning of class, and Edel talked about ways of consolidating and recycling wh question words.
To round off we came up with a short list of possible approaches to improving the exam experience for evrybody:
1 Destressing (emphasising the process and not the result, helping and supporting rather than simply invigilating)
2 Differentiating (between the needs of the first half of a level with a class that is preparing for the exam that same year)
3 Changing the name (possibly change from exam week to Cambridge Familiarisation?)
Other suggestions that are worth noting were : doing the speaking part of the exam over a longer period of time, avoid doing exams and writing reports in the same week, getting students to mark their own exams as much as possible. If you think I’ve missed something (more than likely, it was difficult to keep up!) or there’s anything you’d like to add, add to, correct, question … Please leave a comment!
Thank you 🙂
