Some encouragement to wrap up the week

This afternoon, one of the classes I work in took their Literacy exam. Just over half of them passed, which is great. The ones who failed are the ones who goof off and muck about, or don't bother to come to the lesson, so that wasn't surprising.

The student I've worked with one-to-one on the literacy, and who really struggles with it- mainly due to low self-esteem- passed. Hooray! He desperately needs to believe in himself, and this should be a bit of a boost for his confidence.

As for me, I've had a really rough week. I feel so powerless to do anything about all the troubles of these lost teens around me. We've had students fighting, students walking out of class, students in tears at the mention of fractions. And I'm just caring really hard right now. (Does that make sense?)

So, it's a heartening end to a long week to learn that I am, indeed, making a difference.

:) :) :)

Less than ideal

I was dancing in the kitchen last night, and even though dancing in the kitchen makes me happy, it also made me really sad.

There was a time when I couldn't be in a kitchen for more than 30 seconds before I was doing pirouettes. That was a long time ago- I can't even remember the last time I was pirouetting and developé-ing and piqué-ing around the kitchen. What's happened to me? How can I be so far removed from dance at the moment that I can go into my kitchen and not start doing ballet?

Not dancing in the kitchen sucks. The good news is, that's easily fixed

So here's something else getting me down: the education system here. How is it possible for a 16 year-old to finish school, be enrolled on a full-time course at college (Side note: remember college does not equal university. Think vocational courses.), and not know what a comma is- let alone how to use one??? Times tables- you're joking right? Subtraction- well, we're usually ok with 64-33 for example, but 64-35 and you can forget it. I'm not talking about the odd student. I'm not talking about students with dyslexia or learning difficulties. I'm talking about MOST students. They've JUST FINISHED school. What were they doing there? What are the teachers doing? These kids deserve better!!! How can the standard, the norm, be to just keep passing them throught the system even though they haven't learned anything, so they just get further and further behind?? No wonder British teens are such ignorant delinquents with no motivation, ambition, or purpose!

And then they come to college, and are expected to get their literacy and numeracy qualifications alongside their vocational qualification. Not that they need those to pass the course though, so they don't really care. And they only have math for an hour a week. Oh yeah, and that's one teacher and one teaching assistant to 20 rowdy 16 & 17 year olds who are at VASTLY different levels and abilities.

Just feeling a bit frustrated because I really want them to be able to do maths. I want them to learn. I want to teach them, especially the ones who try hard but have difficulty, or the ones who want to work at a higher level but need the guidance to acheive it. But there's not enough. There's not enough time and there's not enough people who care.

I hope I don't sound like I'm just complaining or whining, this is just what's on my heart lately. I want to do so much. I'm doing what I can and it's just not enough.

Photos up from my trek!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chloelt