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?

20 % of the Eng Lang GCSE is based on speaking and listening tasks and has been for many years. This means your dd had better get used to it.

I appreciate that your dd does not like this type of activity but cononing a walk out - seriously? that is totally off the richter scale of reason.

Plus describing the other kids as 'little shits' and stating that they have never read a book etc - you sound like a right snobby cow, to be frank. Plus you are bound to be wrong.

Public speaking is a huge part of my job. This may be a skill she needs even if she doesn't want to be an actress.

'condoning'

It is easier to understand drama like Shakespeare if you have some experience of drama so this could be to your DD's advantage.

A walkout strikes me as cutting off her nose to spite her face. What is she hoping to gain by her walk out? I suspect all she will achieve is a pissed off teacher and a poor mark.

I think the teacher has behaved poorly and your may well be justified in making a more formal complaint after the event but I think your DD butting heads with the teacher by walking out will be counterproductive.

My son has Asperger's which meant that he took his GCSE project seriously, did what was asked and all the reading. The children that did nothing were able but idle and preferred to bunk off and mess around instead of contribute.
So it was a very strange muddle of a project by the time it was submitted.

I can not see why, in year 8, it would have any impact whatsover on her GCSEs. This teacher is threatening you. But it would be better if you iinform the school of your reasons for keeping her out of this play rather than just having her walk out.

I'm an secondary English Teacher btw (mat leave at mo!) I wouldn't encourage her to walk out over something like this. She will still be the one learning new skills and enhancing her academic potential and life is full of lazy people! It doesn't make her less intelligent! Annoying tho' I agree!

20% of English GCSE is 'Speaking & Listening', so, to be fair, she does need to crack on with the performing to get a top grade.

Does the teacher agree she's 'done all the work' & the rest of the group have taken the proverbial?

I'd be sympathising with her about hating the performance aspect (heck, I've been doing assemblies all week & it gives me the willies!) but telling her to take a deep breath & get on with it. Definitely no walking out.

My DD has had similar in terms of "having" to do all the work in a group of 4 students. I've told her to do one quarter of the work and accept that she'll get a low mark. I think it will take a few times for the other kids to realise that if they don't work they don't get the mark. Would this work in your DD's situation? I know she deserves a good mark.

Afraid I can't help with the inability to act, I'd rather die than stand up and act in from of people.

You won't be able to avoid the speaking and listening part of the class forever though - it is necessary. I think you need to separate out the two issues. It is unfair that your dd is getting landed with all the work and that needs to be sorted. However, she will at some point have to stand up and speak. It might be good to get it over and done with, so she gets over some of her nerves.

YABU. I'm an English teacher and this is the kind of task pupils have to do (mixed ability or not) If her teacher is markng it properly then she won't get the same level as the rest of the group - she'll go higher up the levels for being able to listen effectively, organise herself and others, etc (although it she did help the others get higher grades is that really a problem? Isn't that something to be proud of?)

The teacher is absolutely right in saying that speaking and listening is as important as reading and writing. It has equal weighting under the national curriculum and is worth at least 25% of any gcse spec I've ever taught.

To be honest, I think you sound interfering and quite bonkers but I assume you're trying to do the best for your child so let me reassure you that any good teacher will be able to get good speaking and listening marks out of even the most nervous child, but it is important that she gets used to doing this now so that it doesn't feel so scary by year 10 or 11.

I think a walk-out will come across as immature and attention-seeking, and won't solve anything. Far better to stay dignified and rise to the challenge, and chalk it down to experience.

Its not dds promblem?-words fail me.. well actually they dont but would only get me deleted but I can totally see where your dd gets the drama queen act from

We all have to do things we don't want to do and that is just a fact of life.

You need to speak to the teacher, calmly, and then the Head if the teacher isn't willing to make the other kids do some work.

Did the teacher actually agree that none of the others had been involved in the writing? Did they agree that she needed to do the main role as they wouldn't? Did you even ask?

It could be that the teacher isn't aware or that in fact it isn't the case that your dd did all the work and should thus be awarded a small role. It may just be that she doesn't want to do it and is using that to look the angel in a group of devils did this myself many many times!

You need to speak properly to the teacher and lay out your facts, hear theirs.

I would also say that public performance is absolutely essential in this day and age, most jobs will include some kind of presentation skills or team talks, from scientists to authors to office workers and social workers. Very few allow people to fade into the background and by allowing her to walk away from that cuts her off from many many future opportunities or builds issues for the future when she will have to do it.

Hmm, crap situation, but I think YABU. It's not that long ago I had to get a job done, with a combination of lazy, disinterested, incapable and openly agressive colleagues. Lots of work for me, but "we" made our deadline. So, this rubbish doesn't stop when school ends, but you still have to be able to deal with it.

YAB a bit U.
Your DD should just do the task to the best of her ability, she is lucky to be in her position.

I see your/her point though...it's a bit precious though

Change the script. Make it about a group of kids who don't pull their weight, and a teacher that deosn't seem to care. Winning on both counts!

Incorrect marzipan - GCSE English now does contain public speaking and drama in the controlled assessments - so she does have to master it. And life is not fair but that is the school she is in, "flouncing" would be a very bad thing to do and a terrible lesson for her to learn.

Oh for gods sake...why is the first response for some people "maybe these kids have sn". Maybe they are just lazy little shits who have no home life, have not been taught how to work hard and are simply slackers.

I don't see why dd should be proud of getting top grades for a bunch of kids who have been so mean to her over the last few weeks .

I am aghast at all the poeple (teachers???) saying that speaking and listening is as important as writing and reading - wtaf? no wonder no one in this country can string a sentence together anymore if that is what is going on. DD can speak and she can listen, thanks. I don't need 3 weeks of her time taken up to tell me this.

Is the 20/25% for S and L recorded separately at GCSE. It was when I taught it: so you'd get 2 grades A for the written 80% and B for the S&L.

We always saw it as away of downgrading the importance of S&L, because people only valued the written grade.

School is supposed to be a preparation for life, isn't it?

Working with others of 'mixed' abilities and having to do whatever it takes to get the job done the best it can, regardless of the inputs of the various team members is a workplace reality for most people at some point or other.

And public speaking is a useful skill even if you want to be an academic.

Maybe you should be focussing a bit less on the grades and talking through with her the way things can work out in life, and that not everyone has had the luck of having the background that means that things like reading and writing come naturally to them (and yes background has much more to do with it than 'ability').

It is up to you whether your daughter learns from this that to work cooperatively with others can be hard or is necessary, or to behave like a spoilt princess.

Oh, and by the way I generally loathe most schools and the way teaching is done in them, but for once this sounds like a real learning opportunity!

I don't get it. The task is to write and act out a play.

You think your DD shouldn't have to act? Why should she be exempt that part of the task? She needs to do some writing, and she needs to do some acting. Walking out just makes her as useless as the kids that didn't want to write it.

Or will you write a stern note to the examining board saying that since she doesn't want to be an actor she should be exempt any form of speaking activities, but could she please have the high marks anyway?

Astonishingly unpunctuated.