'tis that time of the year again, when the true behaviours of students becomes all too apparent. Those "lower sixth" in old parlance, still not too far from gcse days, have now started to lose the veneer of a "fresh start". The default behaviours are a revelation: the drunkeness from the freedom of those "independent study &emdash;a.k.a. free&emdash; time" has got to many heads (remember, this is London; can go far on a free 'oyster' card!); the advice to develop a study timetable, long since ignored; the mistaken belief that gce a(s) study within the taught classroom is sufficient; laboratory safety is an optional "lifestyle choice", similar to a mobile phone option of a video-game; etc.. Similarly with those 'year 13' students that treat lessons as a cafe appointment; family completely ignorant of their child's timetable, punctuality, attendance (don't expect to school to inform); the dubious dream of "predicted grades", one, two, three higher than reality (sometimes supported by school management) that seek "aspirational", "positive conversation", "contextual background" and similar nonsense to maintain obfuscation until "judgement day" a few months from now. Some are scared that the ease of school days are coming to an end; what next?
Have always opinioned that the critical months are September to December: if the correct behaviours are not settled by then, if the detrimental behaviours are not removed/minimised during this period, most often too late to achieve anything in chemistry. Some managers like to whine about "not giving up on these children" or the favourite mantra of "growth mindset"; such platitudes are seldom sufficient.
Term end with the usual summative assessment, final confirmation of failure to comprehend the foundations of chemistry. At this late stage of the curriculum, the weakness of the basics renders any attempt to progress further as "setting the students up for failure". What to do? Initial thoughts are to "start again" and abandon any hope of completion of gce a chemistry within the standard two year duration. Recently noticed that an exam board specification stated an option of gce as scheme of work to occur over a two year period; so will advise the students of that and tell 'em some other "home truths".
Many moons ago, at the height of java popularity, encountered 'jedit' primarily as a text editor with useful functionality as an 'outliner', to act as a 'personal information management' software tool. Typical uses by citc are to record network directions to most common resources such as lists of classes, students' names, notes about observations about conduct in practicals, summary of assessment data, etc.. Unfortunately, with the ever-increasing "choke-hold" that amgaf have upon uk education, installation and use of software has become more and more restrictive. The disadvantage is a reduction in opportunity to think about solutions to problems, or new ideas, in a different way. Consequently, services/tools available via a web browser have become the only way to escape the amgaf trap. Enter:'dynalist' as an alternative to 'jedit', thankfully accessible via the restrictive school computer (network). Has the aforementioned 'outliner' functionality and even more importantly, the ability to export all information in a range of (plain) text formats, in preparation for the usual eventual decline, in the name of profit.
