Continuous Assessment Tests

Today and yesterday there were no classes, since the students were writing their May CATs. These big tests come at the end of May and June, then a final big exam at the end of July. I was kind of nervous about the results- what if I made it too hard? What if I gave way too much time? What if it turns out they haven't been understanding my accent?

The bar was set pretty low for me. I was told hardly anybody passes math, and that nobody ever studies for physics. I've done marking both my tests, and for my grada nine math, the average was 61% with a range of 22 to 92, and physics had an average of 46% with a range of 11 to 99.

I'm pretty pleased with math. The mode was a mid-seventy, with 13 fails in a class of 32. There were a bunch of girls who got like 20% because they left a whole lot blank.

Physics is another story. I guess on the bright side their class average last term was in the 30s, so at least we're heading up... but there were really only a few good marks, and then 21 fails in a class of 36. Marking the tests was really sad. I mean, to get a mark like 5/36 you have to not only not study, you have to not pay any attention in class either. And though logically I should look at previous terms and see that it's nothing personal, I can't help but have sort of hurt feelings, you know? Like, girls, guess why I flew here and gave up a whole summer and will now be hugely in debt? I'll give you a clue, it's not to watch you learn nothing.

Tomorrow is parent's day and Monday is a Kenyan national holiday, so they won't get their tests back until Tuesday. I'm not sure what I'm going to say. I feel like this is the part in the movie where the coach walks into the change room and gives a life changing speech about winning the state title. Unfortunately no movies come to mind where a teacher gets students to realise that balancing forces is the best, so I guess I'm on my own. (All the movies about inspirational teachers seem to be about English teachers, where s/he gets a bunch of inner city/spoiled private school kids to find passion for making speeches/18th century poets). (Although I am now imagining a montage sequence set to the music from Chariots of Fire where the girls are drawing ray diagrams and timing how fast things fall. Maybe at the beginning of the montage they're confused and trying to use the right hand rule with their left hand, and then near the end they're all RHR-ing it like pros. Montage sequences tend to include make overs, so maybe we could see their thetas and espillons grow neater. Please can this movie be produced?)

I sort of want to be like, "whoever told you that you're not smart was wrong. Whoever told you that a 40 is an okay grade underestimated your ability." I'm a tad afraid of venturing into trite territory, but maybe a bit of Henry Ford (whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right) could help in doing the trick? I just want to be like, this isn't your best. Because imagine if everybody else was failing too; wouldn't you feel pretty okay with a 45%?

I've also realised that one person for one summer isn't enough. I'm giving lots of thought to creating a program of some sort to get more people out here. The school terms line up perfectly with Waterloo's co-op program, or maybe I could think about getting people who are taking a year off between high school and uni? I kind of feel that there's a real element of girl power here. I'm so glad that I'm at an all girls school. I don't know, I'm kind of overwhelmed just thinking about the tasks that would be involved in creating a program. I still have a year left of my degree, and there's no way I'd be able to afford taking another summer off next year. Then when thinking about recruiting people, it's an immediate liability headache. I don't know where to begin, but it definitely needs to happen.