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?

My dd had a similar thing in her AS level English group where she and one other did all the work. They did, however, make the teacher aware that the rest had done bugger all.

OP I think you are teaching your DD some very bad lessons in life. You should not be teaching her that if you don't want to do a task then you can walk away or try to avoid it.

It is completely understandable that she finds this situation frustrating but she has looked to you for guidance and you have projected your fears and concerns onto her when you should be teaching her that this is a difficult task that you will support her through and not facilitate her fears to continue. As other teachers have said, this is something she will be assessed on for her GCSEs.

I see so many pupils who get over this fear early on and go on to be successful in this task. I also see others in your DDs position whose parents support the idea that this is something to be feared and they fear this all their lives.

OP, your DD would hate my school then... I teach drama and all of yr7 & yr8 have it once a week, in mixed ability classes, and they perform pretty much every lesson. The difference in confidence from the beginning of yr 7 to now is simply phenomenal. Once they get into yr8, they understand what is expected and the vast majority enjoy it. I rarely let them choose who they want to work with and so they have got very used to working as part of a group, no matter who the other members are. In yr9, they are setted for most things, including drama, but the grounding they have had in yrs 7 & 8 is obvious.

For those of you who think group work is rubbish, you might like to know that the new OFSTED framework is very big on independent work and group work, so expect more of it.

Let your dd walk out and you will be encouraging her to give up and not push herself to excell. Acting is hard for her...ALL the more reason to go fr it in a big way and blow the socks off everyone....since she has written it, she must know it backwards...she MUST do it...it will be character building.

"Why should she be forced out of her comfort zone so that slackers can do what they like?"........ Agreed. If so there is an equally strong argument for the teacher to urge the slackers to leave their 'comfort zones'

Keeping her off is not a good suggestion. It's pure cowardice. On both your parts. Will you do the same when she has a difficult presentation to deliver at university with some not-so-motivated students? what about a similar situation in her place of work?

Unfortunately we don't always get what we want and (unbelievably) LIFE ISN'T FAIR SOMETIMES.

However, you lost my support at your ridiculously ill-informed remarks dismissing speaking and listening as an important skill.

By rhe way, NunOnTheRun - what is the problem with "group work?" Is it not good preparation for real life where everyone's precious little darlings may have to interact within a group containing people from different walks of life?

Manic - AS level is all assessed on individual work, as far as I know. They may have done a group task as prep, or revision, or to explore an idea, but I don't think they would have been formally assessed on it - not 100 percent sure though as I don't know all the specs.

Key Stage 3 level descriptors for Speaking & Listening:

here.

If OP's dd is a 'strong level 6' then the expectations are quite high. Obviously, she might be L6 at reading & writing but much lower at S&L, but I can understand why the teacher is keen to have her taking a major part.

I'm not sure if it was an assessed piece either tbh. But dd was sufficiently annoyed to speak up, which I think is an equally good skill to have.

Oh FGS do people HONESTLY believe the teacher will be so dim s/he won't realise the daughter will have done the majority of the work and assess accordingly???

'what is the problem with "group work?" Is it not good preparation for real life where everyone's precious little darlings may have to interact within a group containing people from different walks of life?'

Group work is fine if there is equal access and equal responsibility for the outcome and equality of power within the group. Which is why the teacher should be aware and monitoring it.
I teach primary, group work isn't just shoving a disparate bunch together and leaving them to survive or sink.

YANBU.

I know it is childish to walk out, and would never usually recommend it, but I passionately hate assessed collaborative work at school. In my experience teachers/examiners are never able to get a clear idea of what work was done by which person. The work that is done is very influenced by peer pressure and who has the most power in the group.

In terms of being a fair assessment of ability, it has more in common with 'The Apprentice' than any real life situation. The only way this would be fair would be if the teacher clearly defined the task for each member of the group to carry out and assessed accordingly.

However, I have never been in any work situation where my boss/client grabbed 7 random people and said "Here's the job, you all must have an equal opportunity to contribute equally to every element of this job and I'll pay you each for what I think you did at the end - go for it!"

Up the revolution!

Teacher may find it convenient to have a group's level met or surpassed so that her data shows student progress. If that inconveniences or distresses one child, perhaps that's OK as it's a life lesson for her.

Fermez.... In the context [judging by OP's account of the telephone conversation with her DD's teacher] assessment as a group - imo - is being used to avoid dealing with or better still helping the less willing/able participants.

Manic - I agree!

EvilTwins is absolutely spot on re Ofsted - the new Ofsted places a huge importance on structured pupil talk, as this (whatever the OP may think!) can be a fantastic way of encouraging pupils to be less reliant on the teacher and to have more ownership of their own learning. It does, however, depend a lot on the skill the teacher has in planning for and facilitating this (which pupils are working together and why etc) - and that's exactly what OFSTED will be looking for, which will hopefully mean that one pupil doing all of the work whilst the others do very little happens less frequently.

Fallen - I teach Primary too, and I put very disparate groups together and closely monitor them to see who reacts how. I would never let them "sink" but it provides useful assessment to see how the kids' efforts alter when working out of their comfort zone. And there will never be equal power within groups - natural hierarchies will always occur. Not a bad thing though.

I can still tell you exactly who's done the work and who hasn't in the end result. Why are people assuming the OP's daughter's teacher can't?

As I said, DS failed his GCSE coursework for one module as it was a group project with only him doing the work. Being an Aspie, he did his bit and assumed that all would be well as the teacher was in charge. Sadly, no.

It might be convenient FallenCaryatid, but it wouldn't make you very popular with your colleagues once some other poor bugger had those kids in year 9 & discovered you'd inflated their attainment.

Agree it sounds (from OP's version at least) that the task hasn't been well planned or supervised, & I'm no advocate of mixed-ability English in Secondary school.

Still not a good enough reason to condone walkouts or skiving, although if I were OP I'd want to discuss dd's unhappiness & frustration with teacher, &, if no joy there, HOD.

Fallen - although that's an absolutely shit and probably negligent (on the the part of the teacher) situation, it isn't "the norm" and therefore cannot really be used to swing an argument on the merits of group work.

Tell her to talk to the teacher and voice concerns. She isn't a child. If she gets on with it it will be brilliant for her and not harm her grade, she needs to buckle up and not do a pathetic, childish walk out - she s not an 8O's miner, just an uncomfortable teenager!

Hear hear, Raven (she says as that poor bugger this year!).

Of course she's a child! She's year 8 and therefore 12/13.

Important as it is that the OP's DD understands that speaking and listening is an important part of the GCSE, I don't see how that translates as her being told she has to take the main part after she has written most of the play.

I'd phone the teacher back, say that DD is upset because of the way her peers have treated her, and ask why DD in particular has to be the pupil who takes the lead part.

On the one hand YANBU - it's unfair.

OTOH YABU - this is life. I was that girl and now in A senior projec management position I find myself in the same boat. How did I get here? Well in part I forced myself to push forward in group situations (that which your daughters colleagues are not doing).

IMO if you can help her gain the confidence to take control in this scenario - rather than run away - you'll be doing her a service for later life.

'Tell her to talk to the teacher and voice concerns. She isn't a child'