S3 English

[BossFloss]

What do your S3 kids do in English? Mine has watched lots of films and had lots of class debates but there has been very little written work, RUAE type work, close reading etc. He hasn’t read any books, plays or poems.
I can’t see any evidence of ground work being laid for N5. I know what’s expected as I have an older child but he missed a lot of in class teaching in S3 so I can’t really compare. Thanks

My youngest was S4 before she did a book in English, which I was really surprised by. They also just seemed to watch films and do very little in S1-3. Totally different to when I was at school and not in a good way as it makes the exam years so much harder. I did some RUAE with her at home as she struggles with it.

Have you actually spoken to the teacher about the course? Or the head of department? Teen-agers are notorious for not communicating what they are studying to their parents. I am now retired but my last S3 class studied Of Mice and men, Macbeth and Shooting Stars by Carol Ann Duffy. They did various close reading pieces, building up their skills in the different types of questions. They learned how to research and write a discursive essay and a creative piece. They also wrote a reflective personal essay too. They did an individual presentation and lots of group discussions. I taught them how to answer a question in writing a critical essay. I scaffolded one on Of Mice and Men, then again on Macbeth and gave less help on Shooting Stars. The department had a policy of a third year exam in Close Reading and a critical essay, therefore I had to help them prepare for that. Definitely ask the school

@LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand Your class sounds great! I have contacted the school to ask about the course but I am waiting to hear back. I have looked through his Google classroom and I can see that there have been bits of literature interspersed with the films. For example there was an extract from Pygmalian prior to watching My Fair Lady. So clearly they are not only watching films. There are only around a dozen pages of in marked work in his jotter and there are definitely no essays or evidence of close reading. I don’t really know what to think but I certainly can’t see any evidence of written work and that concerns me. My DS enjoys English classes and likes his teacher but described it as bit of a skive. I will see what they come back with.

What they do in our school is put my children all off the subject. They all love reading but the teachers/ the curriculum is a massive turn off. None of them would ever consider carrying the subject on to advanced higher or uni. They really dislike what they have to do and couldn't/ can't wait to be rid of it. It's really formulaic and the choice of literature is not great.

I rarely marked finished work in jotters at that level. I would issue A4 paper for work that I marked. It also meant I had evidence if required. I would comment on jotter work to help pupils with a final draft though. So don't be too concerned about jotter marking. But definitely follow through on finding out what has been taught. I have never known an English teacher who didn't teach texts from S1 upward, both fiction and non fiction. I suppose it's a balancing act. As a teacher, you want your pupils to engage with the subject and a heavy essay workload won't help that at S3.

What @LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand describes is very similar to what I do/ what happens across our department/ what my other English teacher friends in other schools do. Lots of building on the learning from S1 and S2 and building towards N5 with an S3 exam around March time.
Assessed pieces including longer pieces of writing would be retained in their school profile and passes with them to the next teacher. Jotters are for practice, planning and self or peer marking.

Mine doesn't have a teacher for next 6 weeks, then they'll swap with another class and get a turn with an English teacher, whilst the other class has no teacher . They're doing homework for other classes during English periods.

Sounds like a mixed bag. Interested to see that some schools do S3 exams for English. Our school don’t do any assessments in English until S4.

In terms of studying texts my
older son did very little in S1-3 but S2/3 were impacted by the school closures. Even in S4, he did a film for the critical essay, which wasn’t great as he had to do a novel for Higher.
The course is pretty rubbish @horseymum and I think a lot of teachers would agree!
I am hoping that info from school tells me
what I want to hear and that my
son has forgotten what he has done! No evidence of essay or RUAE tasks on Google Classroom but we will see.

That’s awful @Invisimamma I think some
schools are really struggling for staff.