mixed ability for English - just why?

My daughter is in a secondary that only sets for maths, and like your daughter her love of English took quite a knock. She is now in year 11, and the school has been preparing them for their essay controlled assessment on Richard III by such activities as "select a picture from the board to show how you are feeling about writing your controlled assessment". The teaching is almost entirely aimed at C grade students, and the class has been given examples of B grade essays full of subliterate English.

Huge amounts of time are wasted on "engaging" activities, rather than serious, focussed teaching. I have had to teach her myself about what she needs to do to get a high mark, through lots of Internet research, and my own knowledge of essay structure and academic language. I am fortunate that my daughter is prepared to accept such help from me, and that I am able to give it. Many parents here employ tutors.

Guys

Given how teacher's performance is assessed in schools - by management/ by OFSTED - it is highly unlikely at an ordinary comprehensive there wouldn't have been a plenary (an introduction explaining the task and what outcomes the teacher wanted).

I think you all have to step back

Brenda has reported her DC literally took the instructions write one word to sum up the article on students selling hamburgers as if she could only select and write down one word during the entire class.

Do you seriously believe anyone with reasonable room temperature IQ (preferably higher) would insist that pupils only wrote one word and didn't play about a bit with ideas? Re-read the article for inspiration on word choice?

I get that the one word 'picture' seemed a poor answer - but Brenda's DC shouldn't be concerned about their answer but concerned about hers.

I think the simple explanation is that Brenda's DC isn't 'getting' these open ended assignments that are requiring her to show some initiative and some of that NC L6 flair & ability. I think as part of KS2 L6 papers in writing (not sure if she got a NC L6 in Writing or just reading) - there are very similar creative writing tasks: L6 2012 SAT paper

Maybe it's being too used to tightly timed tasks - and not getting that she can plan/ revise/ play with what she's writing & her use of language

Maybe it's just being 11 - and ?a bit timid.

But at core this is a communication problem - and I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear what the English teacher has to say about all of this when Brenda has a chat with her about all of this.

If they really love the subject they do that naturally

I'm sorry but that is utter crap. They have been taught to fulfil a brief. They are children

It was being taught like this that made me utterly miserable at my state primary in the 70s. Until I read this thread I didn't realise it was all my fault for not showing initiative instead of sitting there bored out of my brains or, if I was lucky, being sent off to read on my own. Happily for me, my parents were able to move me to a private school where this didn't happen. Obviously not everyone has that get-out and they shouldn't need to have it. It infuriates me it's still happening today.

past sorry but what you're describing is a poor education for a high ability student

I completely agree with this btw word. There is a lot of rather offensive nonsense on this thread.

Any teacher worth their salt can teach mixed ability effectively

No - they can make the best of it and try not to hamper the bright or confuse the weak but the best way to teach it is in sets.

Well, yes and no (and I speak as a writer and an English graduate). In Year 7 (and 8 so far) they seemed to do a lot of writing in all sorts of different styles and that is what DS loves about the subject. He does also read. What I was trying to say is that I don't agree with the people who poured scorn on the idea of students' being self-motivated and pushing themselves beyond what they're asked to do in the lesson. If they really love the subject they do that naturally.

friendly the skills being taught in English Lit/English Language have very little to do with the skills needed to be a successful writer.

And nor should they be!

Just one more thing. My DS's favourite subject is English (well, English and History. And Drama). He wants to be a writer and he practises writing ALL the time, to an almost annoying extent. We have had to ban writing at the dinner table. He writes in the lunch hour, when he comes home from school, late into the evenings, on car journeys even if only to the supermarket, when watching television etc. etc. At the school's open evening the English department put him on display as the 'story machine' who could write a story around whatever prompt he was given. That's not him being bumptious: he's just doing something that he loves. Maybe your DD had fantastic experiences in primary, but is not actually as much into the subject itself as she thought? Not a criticism -- merely a question.

Personally I'd rather do any number of creative writing exercises than 'learn' grammar!

As others have said, I don't think the problem is that they are in a mixed ability group; rather, that your DD has not understood that she has been given a large amount of freedom in terms of how she approaches the set task.

It took my DS a while to realise that 'write a paragraph' really meant 'I expect everyone to write at least a paragraph', and that no one would be cross with him if he wrote more.

FWIW I think English is pretty suitable for teaching in mixed-ability groups. As with most subjects, in fact, progress in English is not linear it doesn't get increasingly difficult and there are no prizes for racing through the curriculum and finishing first. English lessons are or should be -- based on discussion and developing insights, both of which can benefit from having a diverse group.

Whilst you have a valid point pass it only holds water if the prior teaching before the writing clearly directs the pupils to success criteria. My impression from the OP is that this is what is missing from the lesson, her child, as do most, needs guidance on the expectations of the task. A good, differentiated lesson guides pupils of all abilities towards making progress.

Just wanted to lend my support for PastSellByDate, I think you've made some great points and have been really generous with your ideas.
We're a year ahead so in year 8 and one of the things I learnt last year was that they do LOADS of essay writing in other subjects, so kids get a chance to practice and develop across the curriculum. It's very different to primary where literacy is more isolated to literacy lessons. So your DD will get lots of opportunity to enhance her literacy skills, including literary techniques, outside of her 3 literacy lessons a week. I know it's frustrating if one subject isn't living upto expectations, and the Literacy curriculum appears to be fairly stifling. But the other thing is that secondary provides such a broad range of new subjects to really get your teeth into and explore that on the whole it just can't be boring. I find some bits of my job/life dull, but hey that's life and I've learnt to make the most of it. It's not a bad life lesson.

Hairtoday

I definitely take your point - that a good teacher or a task you're really interested in can make a huge difference - for the better....

but

I think it's very hard from where I'm sitting to judge whether the tasks were 'appropriate' or not - what I can say is that they're virtually identical to what's playing out at schools here in Birmingham - my gut feeling is these are typical Y7 tasks that can get a student thinking and writing juices flowing - just Brenda's DC didn't quite see that or maybe didn't understand she could do anything she liked with that topic.

Now I take the point - that may not be the case - I genuinely have no idea - so as several have suggested Brenda needs to talk to her DC's English Teacher - I'm just saying that perhaps this isn't 'the teacher's fault' - or as you termed it 'not on' giving inappropriately differentiated teaching. Perhaps this was an open ended task and Brenda's daughter could have merrily spent a half hour writing about how her pencil case is a portal to another world, but Brenda's DC missed that point entirely.

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Brenda - I sincerely hope things improve for the better. At core what you have here is a communication problem. The teacher may feel she's assigned a totally open assignment that students at high ability can really play with - but your daughter is taking the task very literally and is a bit too intimidated to check what more she could do or if she can take a certain approach with the tasks.

I think your DC has the technical ability to ace Y7 English but needs to develop that creativity - these are in essence Y7 creative writing tasks working on descriptive language. They aren't too easy for your daughter. That would be the equivalent of saying write an essay about Henry VIII is too easy for someone good at History - there are essays and there are essays. The point is - as a student - you have to make sure your effort stands out.

I saw our local state schools where this way of teaching was rife. I made a run for it to the private sector where setting and streaming is a given. My DS who was probably a middle to lower pupil at one point has been stretched and moved from set to set over the years resulting in fab GCSE results and hopefully the same for A Level and pre U.

The school often had 6 different streams/set and pupils moved from trm to term depending on their needs.

Setting results in sink sets. That's why its not done early on. It damages self esteem and can be a trigger for bullying. Any teacher worth their salt can teach mixed ability effectively. In y7 they are given the opportunity to show their true potential and exactly where they are as they all drop levels after the holidays. If she is bored, then this can be appropriately expressed to the teacher and extra/more challenging work can be given. Let's face it tho. We all have to do things we don't like. She needs to work hard and show her ability. They are probably just easing them in gently and helping them to make friends by doing speaking/listening. That's an important part of school too. That said... If things don't improve after xmas then it needs to be addressed. I can't see many schools not being paranoid about english now the GCSEs have changed.

I had exactly the same problem when I went into mixed ability English at comp- it was exceptionally boring, I finished everything early and didn't have the nouse or the cheek to initiate new tasks, that wouldn't have been encouraged, we just had to sit there quietly. The books my teacher chose were very babyish as well, and I just lost motivation and my grades went down to 2 or 3 for effort!

I think it is a bit daft to suggest the OP's child be a self-starter and quite sad that the idea of enrichment should be herself enriching herself or her parents setting her work in school time. This is not teaching, it is HE taking place in school time and really a very sad state of affairs. Of course reading at home, wordplay, puzzles, games out of school are fun- but she's in school and something educational should be happening there.

There is nothing deeply worrying about your dd's lack of engagement at all, my boredom only lasted as long as this rubbish teaching, so three years til we moved onto the set texts for exams and it all got a bit more interesting.

Brenda:

I get that from your perspective a child sitting there reading an article (which takes time - let's say 5 minutes) and then after another 20/30 minutes just comes up with 'picture' can seem poor effort. But context is everything. For that child - spelling picture correctly (possibly working in class to find that out) may have been a big achievement. For that child - in a home with parents out working and nobody really talking to them - what was trying to be articulated there may be that the picture accompanying the hamburger stand article was amazing: showing enterprising kids having a good time?

...and maybe that word led to the longest conversation about something they had read.

They're entitled to be there learning to. I don't think that child was taking the proverbial or not trying

what I'm wondering is - is your DD getting that she could try harder or do more.

I really do suspect she's rather missing the point on these assignments - maybe too used to KS2 SATs practice papers and timed answers - and can't deal with 30 minutes to dwell on choosing a single word to sum up an entire passage. It's not an easy task actually.

She could have explored words for hamburger:

junk food (two words won't work)

calorific (works but doesn't sum up this idea of students selling burgers outside of school)

?Enterprising

?Could you create a new word? Burgerventure?

Could you play with Burgermeisters (it's a german word - but it does imply hamburger & being King of them).

There's a lot to play with there and again at high ability it is deeply worrying that your DD doesn't see that. By the way this is the type of skill Headline writers play with - and it's what makes headlines like these so effective: VICTORY headline from WW2 (here)

I'm sure she can do it - maybe it's being at a new school - ?not many friends - I don't know - but start by talking to the teacher - these tasks aren't unusual for Year 7 - DD1 & her friends are doing similar at 5 different secondaries from grammar to comprehensives. So I think the problem includes your DDs approach/ attitude.

got to leave Brenda - but hang in there - I'm sure there's a solution - but whatever else it can't just come from the teacher - your DD has to adapt and change to her new environment/ new expectations as well. And to be fair to the teacher: She shouldn't need discussion in class to help her see that or the teacher to point out what to do - in the top 2% in the nation - working clearly at KS4 ability - she should be able to get on with a task and take it in really surprising directions.

PastSellBy - I can't remember what it's called, but the Ed Psych did have a name for it. But, really, she doesn't need extra time or a keyboard if set work at the correct level, IYSWIM - she can write well enough (she always gets excellent results in tests in the standard time allowed). But she can't do what I'd have done at her age, which is tear through the trivial work and then mess around ask for more challenging tasks.

Takver:

Not sure if this is a learning difficulty (some dyslexics are very slow writers but have developed coping mechanisms that make the obvious problems reversed letters/ dancing letters when reading rather hidden)....

but ....

I would talk to the SENCo - because whether this is a learning or physical disability your child may be entitled to extra time on testing (including GCSE/ A-LEVELS).

She may even be entitled to submit typed work in lieu of written work.

I totally get that for some children - getting work done in the class is a struggle and I know that they end up taking it home & finishing and it can seem very unfair. As I said - if there is a learning difficulty or a physical impediment - getting it identified will mean your child may be entitled to do work on a tablet/ computer in class & to take exams with extended time/ possibly also using a computer. Thus levelling the playing field.

Past, I think it is great that your dd can take a basic task and elaborate it.

DD has a slightly different problem (not in her English class, which seems exceptionally well taught), but in some other subjects.

She really, really struggles with writing - the physical process of it, and also the mental process of getting things down on paper. At end KS1, she was levelled 3 for everything but writing, where she was level 1/2 borderline, and I'd say that difference hasn't really gone away.

So in the situations you're describing, she's not going to finish her work, and then look for other more challenging options, because it will take her all the class time to finish the original task - even though it requires very little or no thought on her part relating to the subject, and she could complete a far more exacting task in exactly the same length of time.

Brenda:

I agree with areyouthere - I think you need to e-mail the school's general enquiry e-mail address & ask them to pass on your request for a meeting with the English teacher.

A 'one word' assignment was also given to my DD1 (a mediocre NC L5 at English/ sat L6 paper but didn't pass it. English is not her cup of tea by any means.) Anyway her task last week was about finding a word that best sums up an article about a major scientific discovery.

DD1 - wrote out a list of various words. Raised her hand and asked if she could use one of the Thesauruses at the back (earning a merit point) - and found a few more words.

Many students opted for 'AMAZING' or 'MIRACULOUS' - very Brummy.

She worked through a number of possibilities and plumped for AUDACIOUS. (she said she could hear people chattering about their words - so knew what a lot of people were using).

That's a brilliant word said the teacher - can you explain what it means and why you chose it. She explained that she had chosen 'risky' - because someone had said that it was a 'daring' scientific advance in the article. Then using the Thesaurus she found audacious & checked the meaning in a dictionary.

I got the impression from what DD1 said that the teacher explained to the class that working like this - working through some ideas, chasing more information, finding out if it's the correct use of the term and then having done your research opting for a particular word choice was what she was looking for. The point was not to be satisfied with the first idea that comes to mind - but to really work through all the possibilities; whether it's a better word to use in a sentence/ poem or what examples to select to emphasise the point you want to make in an essay about the portrayal of ordinary women's lives in 19th century fiction.

There were the usual groans from those students who just wrote one word and had sat and chattered - but DD1 was beaming and thrilled with her merit point.

I don't know what your DD's assignment was Brenda or what the Learning Outcome (in teacher speak) was meant to be - and the assignment may not have gone at all like my DDs - but I think you need to sort this out because it does sound like either your DD is missing the point and doesn't 'get' what is being asked of her (which the teacher needs to be made aware of) - or your DD is absolutely in the wrong group (which can just be fluke - a random Level 6 ability child in a class of ? whatever Level pupils who need 30 minutes to think of one word to describe something).

I would raise it sooner than December. You do NOT want your dd turned off any further. Email English teacher/head of year today.