To think 'no pen Wednesday' is a silly idea?

[Dancergirl]

I don't know if other schools do this - at dds' school last week they had 'no pen Wednesday' which meant all the children and staff couldn't use pens, pencils or other writing implements for the day. They had to be creative and think up ideas that didn't involve writing, eg in English they did drama.

I hope I'm not being a misery and I know it's only one day and a bit of fun etc but both dh and I feel that they've really missed out on a day's education because of this. Dd1 is in Year 6 and is working hard preparing for 11+ exams (which start in 6 weeks), as are most of her class as the majority of the schools round here are in a consortium which requires a Maths and VR paper. The school don't help prepare the children at all for these papers as apparently there isn't enough teaching time, however they manage to find time for no-pen Wednesday.

Your thoughts?

It was a government initiative to tackle a rise in communication problems for school age children. No Pen Wednesday. Not just a fun idea for one school. I think it's a great idea, my DS (who admittedly has SN) needs all the help he can get with verbal and non-verbal communicationskills.

No, Scarlettsmum, funnily enough I CAN'T explain this policy - nor did I express a desire to! I simply took offence at your implied criticism of teachers who "find time to put on these creative days on." As if we do these doss-days to get out of "proper lessons."

And what has "being encouraged to go on X Factor" got to do with creative days? Maybe we have different understandings of the term. The last creative day I ran involved children working in teams to design a water filter that could be used in countries where clean water is lacking. They all had limited materials and a budget (of matchsticks!) They also had to give a presentation. At nine years old and from fairly poor backgrounds, I was unbelievably proud at what they achieved. Give me a "creative day" or two per year ANY DAY!

"Bright kids will pass what ever their back ground. The 11+ was/is the best social leveller"

That is so very wrong in so many ways that I don't know where to start. Ok. First. Do you think that bright kids turn up disproportionately in well off families? If not, how do you explain the tiny number children on free school meals in the remaining grammar schools?

From the Department of Trendy Bollocks - but if it's a one-off it does not matter.

For quite a few of students at my secondary school, it appears to be 'no pen day' every day...

Just think how good it will sound when they tell the Oxbridge interview panel all about it one day....

And that's the wrong face, I wanted a oh dear

I assume it's to encourage oracy. The pedagogical theory being that if you talk about something in depth you can write about it better afterwards.

MaureenMLove

I think schools (and I am thinking mostly about secondary here rather than primary) should be spending more time focusing on the skills children actually need on a daily basis rather than spending time trying to make lessons fun. They are there to learn to read, write and be able to use numbers competently. There is no point teaching them about creative arts if they don't have the literacy to understand what they are meant to be doing to begin with! and as I previously stated- this is the case with one in five school leavers!

Also, I went to a grammar school in the nineteen nineties. I have little recollection of being entertained by teachers or doing anything remotely like a no pen day, but nor did it ever occur to me or any of my classmates to complain about how boring some of our lessons were as we understood that the point was to learn.

And another point- in Scotland, where I currently live and where there is no grammar school system in place, the outcome for school leavers is the worst in the OECD, and this includes underdeveloped countries such as Mexico.

I think schools (and I am thinking mostly about secondary here rather than primary) should be spending more time focusing on the skills children actually need on a daily basis rather than spending time trying to make lessons fun.

AAAAGH! Do you not think teachers agree with this? Do you think we make lessons "fun" because we WANT to?? No! We need to make lessons fun so that our Beloved Saviours OFSTED think we are good and inclusive teachers! As it happens I went to a private school which I loved. it was CERTAINLY not "fun" in the bells and whistles sense - we sat and learned. Personally I loved it, so the temptation to teach in such a way is very strong. But I can't!

Selling out? Perhaps, but I still think I do a good job...and I have rent to pay!

I do agree, though. It frustrates me hugely as a y5 teacher that I have to teacher things like the Roman invasion (fascinating to many kids) to those who cannot read four letter words. I would INFINITELY rather spend the time teaching them to read, write coherently and add, take, times, divide, etc. But a - it;s just not possible. And b - some kids developmentally are not ready to learn these basics, as I said in prev post. Some will NEVER EVER get it, no matter how many interventions are out in place.

I just don;t think other kids should miss out on curriculum days that may not be of the "sit and learn this fact" variety, but ARE valuable and memorable, nonetheless.

Good point, Euphemia. Hope I don't get flamed for this but I make sure my kids who go out for interventions go out during French - What else can I let them miss? Science? No. PE - legally no. They also tend to miss Topic, which is a shame.

Think it's a great idea - as would a screen free day be.

"I think you're being a teeny bic unreasonable."

Hehehe :o

Sounds awesome - going to suggest it to my department for the week before half term!

Creative days are fine if everything else is in place and standards are generally high. But they're not! As someone said above, the number of children leaving primary school without basic levels of numeracy and literacy is worrying. It's all very well being creative and learning in other ways, but if the basics aren't there, there's little hope.

I would love to see a return to traditional teaching methods. I think children were better educated because of them.

A lot of posts here from people who went to school and are therefore experts in education!

Dancergirl - sadly many of today's kids are NOT EQUIPPED with the necessary skills to access "traditional" teaching methods. If your kids are, well done you. But the sad truth is the majority are not. Hell, I have kids who physically cannot sit still for 5 minutes.
However, there are some absolute academic stars. Should they miss out on creative days because some kids are can't read or count? Or should we say "All those at 3a or higher can attend.... if not, extra maths?"
These things are ONE OFF DAYS. And some kids can really shock you with the way they come out of their shell and show amazing resourcefulness you may not have picked up on in a more formal learning environment.
If I can learn something new about my kids from days like these I welcome them.

What are traditional teaching methods?
Sitting in rows with slates and chalk? corporal punishment?

"Traditional" methods change and always have done.

'Traditional teaching methods' - well I guess as I'm 50 mine were in that category, and in addition to the 11+ familiarisation (which really was fun) it included having quite a few lessons outside on a nice sunny day, and while I can't remember the details of what we did I'm fairly sure we didn't take our pens with us.

Corporal punishment is a discipline system and no, I'm not advocating bringing it back.

For example, in English I would like to see more emphasis on learning grammar and spelling, good punctuation, what are proper/common nouns, pronouns, transitive/intransitive verbs etc etc. Maths - the basics in numbers, how to add up, subtract, multiply and divide, space/area...without the need for all these new terms such as partitioning. My oldest dd is in Year 6 and I don't think she's been taught long division at school, something I remember doing in Year 5.

I'm not criticising teachers for a moment: I think most do an excellent job. But I do think standards have slipped.