Ask a teacher

[TeachWithMsL]

I am a secondary school teacher, so I work with teenagers and families every single day! I find that often parents have lots of questions about school and how teachers support their kids, but nowhere to ask.

Feel free to ask anything about secondary education and issues that we see every day (mental health, exams and revision, social media, general teenage chaos)

Although on exchanges we stay with teachers, so there's actually no accommodation cost.

Mostly their GCSEs are in line with what we expect - by the time we have two sets of mock data added to their predicted grades it tends to be quite accurate. In a year group of just over a hundred there are probably 3-4 pleasant surprises and 1-2 who bomb unexpectedly each year I would say.

They should be challenged - but encourage them to actively seek out challenge and ask their teachers for more work if they are finished etc too!

in terms of correcting teachers, I honestly don’t feel that teachers should have an issue with that. I know that I am very appreciative if I make a mistake or a slip of the tongue and my students let me know! Maybe speak to the SENCO and get it written into their SEN info so that teachers are aware that it is simply meant as an informational correction and not as a challenge.

@JustMarriedBeccayour child needs to learn how to correct the teacher appropriately maybe. Just as an adult might to a kid

We've role played it so many times. Including not correcting before the class and speaking to the teacher after and saying "I'm really sorry to mention this, and I've checked but I think the answer is X, Y and Z". It's still a problem.

Its at the stage now where the teacher will not speak with DC after the lesson.

I think her ASD does mean she finds it quite hard to control her facial features and even if she is saying the right thing, her face gives away precisely what she thinks.

Thank you to all you teachers for this thread, comments and of course for the role you play in influencing these young people. It’s a tough job. I admire you.

That's great @JustMarriedBecca 🙂

My son is in Yr 11, naturally bright, however he didn't do very well in his mocks due to pure laziness and going over content he already knows. His been practicing papers over the holidays and has done really well compared to the first papers he was practicing on.

Have you seen children get low grades in mocks and do well in the actual exams? Lovely to hear good stories.

P.s You rock and do a grat job. Thank you!

this does sound like the context that I would most expect a child to do better in! if he is bright and has done the work in lessons but just hasn’t revised then some consistent revision between now and exams will make a huge difference! I would 100% encourage him to speak with his teachers for some support though, especially as it sounds like he has a lot of potential but might just need a little more encouragement and push!

Thank you for creating this discussion thread OP. My DD is in Yr. 7. My question is about revision for the frequent tests and end of module exams. Do teachers teach the kids in Yr. 7 how to revise, tips and techniques etc. I ask because my DD is hard working and revises, but then when it comes to the actual test, she doesn't perform well. We would like to help her, but don't know how or what to do. Thank you.

Another secondary teacher here!
May I ask how she actually revises for these tests as this may be the key.

Hi CurlyKoalie, to be honest I don't think she actually knows how to revise. What I have seen, is my DD reading through the topic work,making notes and that's about it. She's bright but I think her revision technique is letting her down in the frequent testing that takes place at secondary. I would be grateful for any suggestions/ techniques that she could follow. Thank you.

Lots of students spend time re writing notes in lots of pretty colours and say they have revised but don't actually test any retention or understanding.
IMO this is only the first stage of 3 in revising.
I think it should go like this:

1. Content: Read through the course content. Quality here is important. The class teacher should be able to direct students to appropriate resources. Revising from exercise books can be quite limiting. For KS 3 BBC Bitesize is good for a lot of subjects. Rewriting notes is time-consuming. Better to have a printed set of notes and use highlighters to emphasize key points or write bullet points of key facts. This saves time got stage 2& 3.
2. Test retention and basic understanding.

The end of section test questions are quite good here on Bitesize or recall questions based on the bullet points previously mentioned is good. Parents could help here if they felt able especially marking the questions. Students often mark and correct questions without really understanding their error. Was it a recall error ( in which case back to step 1 for that section) or was it application error? 3 Application. Top marks on secondary tests often require taking the information and applying it to a new context. Some students find it difficult to recognise which ideas to apply to an unfamiliar format of question. Your daughter should have practiced some of this in class so it should be in her exercise books. Failing that, see if the teacher can direct you to some appropriate practice questions. I know this seems a lot but hopefully you can see how each section relates to the different demands of questions in most tests. It gets easier to go through the stages the more often you do it

Thank you so much CurlyKoalie, this is really helpful. I will print this out and share with my DD. 79onOrange.