Drop Day

Module resits are on Tuesday next week so in preparation of this we do a drop day for our studenst. Rather than follow thier normal timetable we have them all six periods. 5 hours of maths.

It's probably the worst type of teaching we could probably do. I really doubt anyone learns anything of any real benefit.

With the students I had on Friday I went through four past papers covering each question in detail and then got them do a similar question from a revision booklet we had prepared for them. It's everything I hate about teaching. Teacher led, little conversation, following and remembering rules with no real though about why they're doing what they are doing. By the end of the day everyone's tired, bored of each others' faces and really hates maths.

It's the most important day of the maths department's calender.

I lied. They do learn something, they learn how to pass a test, they can remember some rules, they can follow some process. A school, a department, a teacher, a student all lives and dies by their results and drop days, as boring as they are improves them dramatically. I am left wondering if we actually needed to do them if the kids were all taught properly in the first place from the moment they started primary school and before.

I just hope they don't forget everything within 24 hours.