to give dd my blessing to walk out of her English lesson on Monday?

[whysogrumpy]

Before I explain I should say that she, along with my other dc, is pretty much a model pupil - never been in trouble before, but both she and I are at the end of our tethers with this situation.

She is in Year 8 and in a mixed ability class , not a policy I agree with and not one taken up by any of the other subjects in her school, but, hey...
DD is a strong level 6 yet throughout the year has been surrounded by pupils who have never read a book and can barely spell their own names - her words, not mine.

Anyway, over the last few weeks the class have been put into groups by the teacher and told to write a play. They will perform it and be assessed on their performances. DD has had a pretty miserable time since this task was set, she doesn;t get on with any of the kids she has been placed with and tells me that she has been made to do all he work. She has basically written the entire script while they have sat there and yet they will now walk away with top levels thanks to dd .

That is not the worst of it though. DD is pretty bookish and not really one for acting. She hates getting up in front of the class doing stuff like this, plus she feels that, as she has written the thing, she should be able to take a minor role. Anyway, the other kids in her group have refused to take the main role as well and have told dd she needs to do it. The teacher has backed them up and told dd that she needs to take the lead role to get a level 6/7 .

So these little shits who have sat there doing nothing for three weeks have now had their behaviour condoned by the teacher, who seems to be using dd to get some work out of some very difficult pupils. DD was in tears over it on Wednesday night so I phoned the teacher. I couldn't believe what I was told. Apparantly this sort of task is just as important as the essay/story/poem writing that dd excells at . Does she want to be an actress? No, yet she must go through this ridiculous task or, according to the teacher, she will be at risk of failing her GCSEs!!! She's 13 ffs, in year 8! Pissing around doing drama activities with a bunch of kids who can't write - how is that helping her to improve her level?

The teacher ended by saying dd must perform, in the lead role, on Monday. When I told dd she said she'd walk out if forced to go through with this. AIBU to tell her to go for it?

I've taught a fair few like your ds, mrseffington - one of my current year 9s struggles with literacy but is a fabulous public speaker.

He'll invariably lead groups when we do S&L, & always gets high marks - his written work is far weaker, but he's working hard on it because he's not 'crap at English', which is what he used to think.

His spelling & punctuation are poor & he's behind because he's made bog all effort for years. S&L has been a way in for him - he's beginning to realise that if he can talk persuasively/convincingly/authoritatively/entertainingly then it's worth mastering the literacy issues so he can translate that into GCSE success.

Good luck to your ds, & agree he & OP's dd can't work together!

agree it's a shame that he & OP's dd can't work together...

(& it's a shame I can't MN with someone who can type without random deletions! gah! )

I always thought physics was exactly what rocket science was..

WhosPicleisThatOnion Nah, not in the business of scaring - I believe in letting people erm wait in blissful ignorance. My lad was angelic, really really lovely, not a minute's bother until 4 days before his 13th - It really was like he went to bed this lovely chatty boy and woke up the next day as Kevin the teenager! Shocking! Although behind all the bravado, the attitude, the rudeness and the sheer bloody toil of keeping him in school, he's a beautiful beautiful boy who loves his mama!

Aw! I was horrific from 13 until about 16 (ISH)

But I'm very nice now. I think. I call my mum every day!

This is really bizarre: why has your daughter done all the work? What does the teacher think they are playing at there?

And what relevance does a yr 8 exercise have to her GCSEs? It doesn't exactly sound like an accelerated class. And why level 6/7? Does anyone care at the end of yr 8?

Sadly standing up and doing vaguely dramatic things in front of the class is a necessary evil at some point recalls bursting into tears after one English oral exercise and I daresay is assessed am out of touch, but there is a difference between a shy person being supportively helped to get over her fear of doing this and the situation you describe, where she's being bullied by her classmates AND her teacher into doing it.

Taking a minor role seems to me to be a very sensible idea: she can do a bit of the hated but necessary "drama" stuff but the work has been spread around the group - and most groups contain at least one obnoxious show-off confident performer.

I have a massive amount of sympathy with your daughter but I think the best thing might be for her to do the fucking thing, say "right I've done it now it's someone else's turn next time", and next time it happens consider tactics further in advance for getting the teacher to do their fucking job rest of the group to pull their weight. It sounds an awful situation and to be honest if it were me I'd probably not have needed to walk out because I would have been crying in the loos and unable to go to the lesson.

mrseffington - fear not for your son - people with the gift of the gab go far in this life!
He'll be OK.

Very very true wingedharpy

Aw, thank you - I secretly think that he will but endless days of detentions and isolations and behaviour reports are utterly soul destroying. However, my little brother was the shittiest shit ever to enter the little shit league at all schools of all time. He's just bought his 2nd holiday home..... (he also has the gift of the gab!)

They do very well these (ex) Little Shit with the Gift of the Gab sorts. I know a few myself!

It will be a comfort to me through those teenage years.

mrseffington - fear not for your son - people with the gift of the gab go far in this life!

We were watching a programme about interviews between David Frost and Muhammed Ali the other day. Muhammed Ali was, as always, absolutely fab - I was saying to DS1 that if he ever has to analyse a good speaker for a school project then he would be a great one to pick. At one point though he admitted he was not good at reading and had not done well at school. A clip where he was reading something out of the Bible to try to prove a point showed clearly that he was indeed a poor reader. But what a talker!

What happened in English today....? Did she/didn't she?

the English class sounds awful. Don't blame your dd for wanting to walk out

OP - I have a lot of sympathy with your situation. I took my DD out of a school that had a similar kind of setup, ie she was in a mixed ability group with a whole load of kids who didn't want to work, who just wanted to disrupt lessons, swear, make obscene jokes etc etc. Doing group work with children like that was a nightmare for her.

Now, coming to the actual problem.(Though I assume it's too late now.) The key sentence to me seems to be: "The teacher has backed them up and told dd that she needs to take the lead role to get a level 6/7."

This is probably true - ie there's a speaking and listening component, and she needs to do well in it to get a high level. No one else in the group is capable of getting a 6/7 so presumably in her own way the teacher is trying to encourage your DD to get a high grade. But your DD could quite reasonably say, I guess, "I don't care if I don't get a level 6/7." That way one of the other little sods could do the speaking role and your DD could sit back and have a level 5.

mrseffington: "How wonderful it would be if he were grouped with your daughter - he could learn alot from her about writing and she could learn alot from him about having confidence in a public speaking situation. But then she wouldn't give him a second chance would she - he would be a little shit refusing to do any work right?"

Not necessarily. I think it's a mistake to take the OP's post personally. She's not talking about your son, who is a confident speaker. She's talking about a group of children who can't read or write or talk - and have delegated all the work to the OP's DD. Hardly the same, is it?

"She's talking about a group of children who can't read or write or talk"

that is the information that her daughter has given her, we don't know if its true.

If she's never had any problems in school before, why make a huge one over a silly English assignment?

she's not the only child to ever have to do somethign she doesn't want to. she's not the first person to feel she's been screwed over. She certainly wont learn anything from walking out other than if she moans enough she'll get her way.

Who cares if the other kids get a higher level because of her? This play wont make the slightest difference when it comes to GCSE's, unless you think she's being forced to sit the tests for them too?

YABVU

Definitely the child should be in school on the day and doing what she's told. She's 13, she's in school, that's the end of it.

Also, I think there's a chance that you've let your daughter's fears rule your reaction here. It's natural to be nervous about public speaking, but actually, I think the teacher here is giving your daughter a good opportunity. I suspect that the teacher is aware that she has done most of the writing, and now making her do the performance as well is preventing other pupils from piggybacking on her work and getting a grade for the performance aspect that your daughter can now earn. She will have a chance to show equal comfort with both sides of the assignment and develop skills that you admit aren't her strength.

Can't see why you think this is picking on her.

When my DS was at his Junior School they had "special needs" teaching at both the top and bottom of the class. The slower pupils got learning strategies and assistance to keep up, the brightest in the class were given some challenging work but mostly taught how to relate to and work with others. I remember his teacher telling me how this was important as these pupils, as they got older, often found it hard to work with others and tended to do group work themselves rather than drawing out others in the group to work collectively. My DS really benefitted from that and it sounds like your DD needs to learn that too.

So she is in the wrong sashh! She has not only written the whole thing but she it to blame for writing something they don't understand!

If that is what she has done then yes she is. It is group work, that means working with a group and it is bloody hard work but as I said it happens at all levels including undergraduate. She needs to learn to cope.

BoneyBackJefferson: "that is the information that her daughter has given her, we don't know if its true."

But if it's not true, then there's no reason why the other children couldn't have contributed equally to the work.

I can see Apocalypse's point - that this is a good opportunity for DD to shine. It's just that I remember being that age and the thought of having to act out something I had written myself in front of a (probably) unsympathetic class would have horrified me.

Did your DD go in or stay off then, OP?

Gosh, you've had a bit of a flaming on here, haven't you?

I'm another English teacher, I'm afraid (day off today) and whilst I am sympathetic towards your daughter, I can also see what the teacher is doing.

Firstly:

• Top students are often really weak at S and L. It is a vital skill and it is a skill that they will be judged on hugely in their future careers (they'll need it for interviews and pretty much all high level jobs). I fully support its central position in the English curriculum
• One of the ways of helping a top student reach the highest grades is to put them in a group with weaker students. If they can take a leading role in the discussion and manage the contributions of others it can actually help them get the highest level.

Good luck OP

YABU we are talking about a little sketch in front of a group of bored teens not a 3 actor on the west end.

sorry- not 3 actor,I meant 3 acter as in 3 act play