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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to expect the Yr 7 RE and History teachers to mark work going back three weeks?

39 replies

swanriver · 15/11/2011 14:09

It's Parents Eve tomorrow. A lot of emphasis made on tracking and targets and assessments. How in heaven's name are they meant to be assessing Ds1 who is sloppy at the best of times, if they don't take his work in to mark? Incidentally pupils (Yr 7) get detentions if they don't bring the work in by a deadline, but the teachers then don't seem to look at the work or take it in, once they have set the assignment and children have technically "done" it.

It was not marked using the peer marking system either.

I'm at a loss whether to be pushy and email asking for explanation so they take it in, or as sloppy as ds who seems to be confused whether to give it in or not....

Or maybe it doesn't matter particularily...

OP posts:

Beanbagz · 15/11/2011 14:20

I would expect all marking to be up to date before Parents Evening. If they're leaving it for 3 weeks, they're not keeping track of the children's work properly.

I probably wouldn't email them but i would bring it up tomorrow evening.

LizzieMo · 15/11/2011 14:27

I think this is setting a very bad example to the children. If they have to get their work in for a certain deadline, I would expect the teachers to then mark it and return it promptly too. Also, how is he supposed to improve if he gets no feedback on his work? That is why peer marking only really works if there is just one possible answer- like a spelling test. If it written work, it is a bit much to expect peers to evaluate eachothers work. That is the teachers job IMO. I would bring it up at parents evening.

fuzzynavel · 15/11/2011 14:35

YANBU

My DS is in year 9 and it's been the same all the way along. He has "stacks" of homework that hasn't been asked for to mark.

It is very hard to justify this when my DS says "Whats the point in doing my homework when the teachers never ask for it".

His "stack" is also coming with us to parents evening.

scaryteacher · 15/11/2011 14:58

It depends on the marking cycle. I used to take books in every third week to mark, depending on the homework they were doing, the interval of the lessons and the homework timetable.

In RE we used ipsative marking - a baseline was established at the beginning of the term, and then every lesson after that was marked as an up, down, or horizontal arrow, to show improvement, non improvement or maintaining the same progress. We used to mark assessments in levels and with targets and praise. These were 6 or 7 assessments over 3 years.

Sometimes h/w will be learning key words for the next lesson for a starter activity, or watching a BBC weather report, or bringing something in that makes you go 'Ooh' for explaining the numinous in RE. Not every h/w requires marking.

fuzzynavel · 15/11/2011 15:07

Blimey, there's such a thing as a "marking cycle"

It should be simple for god sake.... hand out homework, ask for homework back following week and mark it. Job done

PotteringAlong · 15/11/2011 15:16

Is it homework or classwork that's not been marked? Remember better to have work that is quality marked than just tick and flick - if they're only getting 1 lesson if RE a week then maybe they're building up to assessed work that will be marked?

mummymeister · 15/11/2011 15:26

YANBU in my opinion but then i am just a parent like you! I cant see the point of setting work that is never marked either. I will follow fuzzy's example and take all the unmarked work in on parents evening. surely its a contract between teacher, parent and pupil? Teacher sets it, parent nags pupil to do it well and on time and makes sure it is given in, pupil does it and finds out how they have done? cant get my head round peer marking either tbh.

scaryteacher · 15/11/2011 15:34

Fuzzy - no point setting homework if they haven't finished what they need to do in class to manage the homework.

Yes, there is a marking cycle - I taught upwards of 600+ kids per week, I wasn't going to mark 300 books a week, so did mine 3 weekly.

If you have a two week timetable and two lessons on consecutive days one week, and then one lesson the following week, it is logical to teach what you need over the three lessons, and then set homework on the week with the one week lesson, taking the books in the following week. You may have certain days on which you can set the homework, and if it is a longer piece, they need time to do it properly.

Some homeworks can be as simple as learning words and then doing a matching words and meanings activity for a starter on the board, and checking it in class - no marking needed.

HauntyMython · 15/11/2011 15:41

YANBU. My DSDs' school is terrible for marking. Drives me mad!

BornToBeRiled · 15/11/2011 15:48

Not sure. Sometimes things do conspire against you. Last week for example, I was doing reports all week, so did less marking. Add to that a class who missed a lesson for an outside speaker, so I could not get their books in, and it adds up if you see them only once or twice a week. It's not ideal, but I know how it can happen.

fuzzynavel · 15/11/2011 15:52

Scary, that was a for instance just to say if they set it, they take it in the following week and mark it.

fuzzynavel · 15/11/2011 15:57

I can understand teachers being under pressure etc. (sis is one) but what pisses me off is letters being sent home at the drop of a hat to cover their arses. Son had two letters last week to say he didn't hand in his homework. He was away on a school trip that day, he told the teachers and they didn't believe him . Instead of asking the actual teacher who took them on the outing, they sent a letter instead! I of course returned them with my comments.

fuzzynavel · 15/11/2011 15:58

oh and just to make myself clear, he was on the school trip when the homework was set, not when it was due in.

usingapseudonym · 15/11/2011 16:18

I used to teach RS too - 5 classes a day, each with 30 children in - that's potentially 150 pieces of homework. Even just 2 minutes on each piece would be an extra 5 hours a day on marking....

That's why I tried to set a variety of different homework. And no, not all homework requires "marking", especially as they get older they benefit from doing the work and then talking about it/bringing it to the next lesson in preparation. I used to teach in a grammar school and we tried to move away from each piece getting a "grade" as that's all the child looks for and instead move towards more formative work

It is very very different from when the child has been at a primary school with just one teacher who only has their 30 students to worry about.

spiderpig8 · 15/11/2011 16:20

When your child is studying A levels you will understand why marking priority isn't given to KS3 work!

Floggingmolly · 15/11/2011 17:14

Spiderpig, the op isn't asking for priority for her child's homework, she just expects Year 7 to be given the same teacher input / interest as any other year.

BornToBeRiled · 15/11/2011 17:22

It's not great, but some deadlines, such as coursework, are externally set, and can't be moved, so I would then prioritise exam groups unfortunatel y. Not all the time of course, but these days I seem to have more and more inflexible deadlines which mean fitting in everything else around them iyswim.

Original poster

swanriver · 15/11/2011 18:34

thanks everyone, can see it a bit more from teacher's point of view..I just wish they would say the marking is done on a cycle, and it's not for us to get into a tizzy about - I was worrying that ds should have handed it in or pestered teacher to take it... I think there is more than one RE teacher too.

Not marking it does mean that by the time it is marked ds has entirely lost interest in it, and has been making similar mistakes for 3 weeks afterwards because not picked up earlier.

It is also not just words to learn but proper writing exercises/essay style question answers. It just seems a very early stage to leave the children to "drift" when what they clearly need is feedback at start of secondary.

OP posts:

knitknack · 15/11/2011 18:42

It's the not taking it IN bit that I'm confused about (i teach history year 7-13 btw). I don't let my year 7s take their books home (mean teacher) because i got so fed up with students forgetting them so now I design worksheets or ask for homework to be done on paper which we stick/copy into their books. I probably mark books every 3 weeks or so (less when year 13 coursework etc is in in April - I'm sure you can understand that)...

We also assess every half term in assessment conditions, these are then marked and leveled with clear targets set.

That's how I manage it all, but, as I say, it's the not taking it IN rather than the not marking it which is confusing me!

londonmackem · 15/11/2011 18:48

I set 'doing' homeworks as I don't have time to mark the books of the almost 500 kids I teach every week, sorry. I would rather spend time maring assessments properly rather than ticking and flicking books. As a parent, I might be hacked off though if teacher didn't mark written homework ever!

oohlalabonbons · 15/11/2011 18:57

It is very very different from when the child has been at a primary school with just one teacher who only has their 30 students to worry about.

Hmm, you only have 30 students (or of course the more usual 31,32,33,34.....), but you do have them for every lesson, every day... Not sure how that differs?

BornToBeRiled · 15/11/2011 19:29

It's just harder to organise because you only have them in front of you to actually collect books in for an hour and a half a week. I find it tricky when I have a class on two consecutive days because I can't always turn around a set of essays in one night perhaps.

lecce · 15/11/2011 20:13

Hmm, you only have 30 students (or of course the more usual 31,32,33,34.....), but you do have them for every lesson, every day... Not sure how that differs?

Because at secondary each hour you teach may well generate a load of marking. I would have thought that at primary level the day would be varied so some hours withi it would be spent on activities that don't make marking.

Tortu · 15/11/2011 20:24

Yep, just to say again how long marking actually takes. At five minutes per child, you can barely read the book properly, never mind write them meaningful comments. But five minutes per child means over two hours for a set of books.

For a subject like RE, where they teach most of the school each week, in order to mark every book every week, they would have to spend at least as much time marking as teaching. So adding in meetings, form time, breaktimes and extracurricular activities, you are easily requiring a 14 hour day. Before the teacher does any planning for the next day!

Nope, it is not actually feasible to mark more frequently than about once every three weeks (and that's optimistic!).

daisymaybe · 15/11/2011 20:29

Just ask politely how the marking system works and put forward the concern that your child finds it de-motivating. As a teacher, I'd much rather a parent asked if something was worrying them rather than getting in a stew about it.

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