I was just asking after her in the results thread ditty. Maybe she's just left herself logged on but is not at the comp?

I hope it's because she's celebrating, I know she was really anxious about her son's results.

for moomin

Ha! I keep cross posting with you Skive!

Yeah... I hope she's celebrating. But if its not good news I suspect she is trying to sort her son's head out... or they are doing the clearing thing or something.

I am gonna keep this bumped though... til she reports in

I'm gonna have to bump this up the board every now and then today....

Fellow FM's... ignore me

I shall do it in the style of smileys (any excuse to use some of the more obscure ones in my collection)

Have you a linky for some smileys ditty?Could keep a few of us entertained then!

I use yoursmilies.org most of the time....

...but I have some special ones in my photobucket that I have collected and pinched on my travels

such as Saddam ----> & Bin Laden ---->

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
I was just asking after her in the results thread ditty. Maybe she's just left herself logged on but is not at the comp?

I hope it's because she's celebrating, I know she was really anxious about her son's results.

for moomin

How did your students do, skive? Hope they did well!

Mine all got As, so I'm absolutely delighted!

I'll help ditty - I'll use it as an excuse to expand my vocabulary cos I'm such a geek.

First word:

floccinaucinihilipilification

BLimey Barolo All A's!!!!

Thats Fab! Well Done you!

Wow!Barolo!1Thats fab!

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
How did your students do, skive? Hope they did well!

Mine all got As, so I'm absolutely delighted!

Blimey do you teach at a mega posh selective school? Well done you and your kids.

Mine's a proper comp so they were aiming for grades ranging from As to Ds; all achieved or exceeded their target grades which means a positive residual for my value added in the results analysis which will make the head happy. And all of those working class kids off to Higher Education, most of them the first in their family to go. I'm dead proud of them.

fingers crossed for moonmin and son

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
BLimey Barolo All A's!!!!

Thats Fab! Well Done you!

I was quite shocked! I expected most to get As, but one student I thought would get a C also managed an A! She lives quite a distance away so I'd already agreed to get her results and phone her - I had to make sure she was sitting down as I knew she'd be shocked!

One student was only one mark away from getting 100% !!!

Do you teach at a Grammar school then Barolo?

My daughter is/was at a grammar school.

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
How did your students do, skive? Hope they did well!

Mine all got As, so I'm absolutely delighted!

Blimey do you teach at a mega posh selective school? Well done you and your kids.

Mine's a proper comp so they were aiming for grades ranging from As to Ds; all achieved or exceeded their target grades which means a positive residual for my value added in the results analysis which will make the head happy. And all of those working class kids off to Higher Education, most of them the first in their family to go. I'm dead proud of them.

It's a specialist language college - my first year there! Like you said the other day, they've been an absolute joy to teach.

Well done, too, to you and your students!

I am off to do a bit of domestic boring stuff..... I shall return and stalk Moomin down later

Moomin

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
Do you teach at a Grammar school then Barolo?

My daughter is/was at a grammar school.

Yes, Ditty. t's a specialist language college (other specialisms, too) - A level results are always excellent. Last year 97% of all students got grade As in all subjects!

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
It's a specialist language college - my first year there! Like you said the other day, they've been an absolute joy to teach.

Well done, too, to you and your students!

Ah I was trying to remember what your subject is - tis forrin stuff innit! Sounds like you're really enjoying the school Baz and they'll be loving you with those results in your first year. Time for a bit of bargaining for some extra resources/responsibilty etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
I am off to do a bit of domestic boring stuff..... I shall return and stalk Moomin down later

Moomin

I'll keep it bumped with my new vocab . At least until mr s appears for his tea.

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
It's a specialist language college - my first year there! Like you said the other day, they've been an absolute joy to teach.

Well done, too, to you and your students!

Ah I was trying to remember what your subject is - tis forrin stuff innit! Sounds like you're really enjoying the school Baz and they'll be loving you with those results in your first year. Time for a bit of bargaining for some extra resources/responsibilty etc.

Forrin stuff! Yes, it's Italian! Was difficult to teach as not many resources available so had to invent my own. I might even try to market them as they seemed to have done the trick!

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
It's a specialist language college - my first year there! Like you said the other day, they've been an absolute joy to teach.

Well done, too, to you and your students!

Ah I was trying to remember what your subject is - tis forrin stuff innit! Sounds like you're really enjoying the school Baz and they'll be loving you with those results in your first year. Time for a bit of bargaining for some extra resources/responsibilty etc.

Do you think exam standards have dropped?

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
Forrin stuff! Yes, it's Italian! Was difficult to teach as not many resources available so had to invent my own. I might even try to market them as they seemed to have done the trick!

Well worth looking into, my English HOD has had her KS3 stuff published and I think she got a good £200 for it.

quote:

Originally posted by paace:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:
It's a specialist language college - my first year there! Like you said the other day, they've been an absolute joy to teach.

Well done, too, to you and your students!

Ah I was trying to remember what your subject is - tis forrin stuff innit! Sounds like you're really enjoying the school Baz and they'll be loving you with those results in your first year. Time for a bit of bargaining for some extra resources/responsibilty etc.

Do you think exam standards have dropped?

No, I think the teaching got better!

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
Do you teach at a Grammar school then Barolo?

My daughter is/was at a grammar school.

Yes, Ditty. t's a specialist language college (other specialisms, too) - A level results are always excellent. Last year 97% of all students got grade As in all subjects!

Oooooh.... I had an eeby geeby that you were my daughters german teacher then... til I noticed you were in Merseyside

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
And all of those working class kids off to Higher Education, most of them the first in their family to go. I'm dead proud of them.

that was me that was *tear in eye*

Re: have exam standards dropped.

Over the decades... definitely! I, more than anyone, do not want to undermine what the kids have acheived.... you don't get to pass these exams without working for them, and its easy as hell to fail.

But they are easier... I know this... I compare the content I see my daughter doing... to that I did myself.

Also... when I did a levels... the grade you got went along a gradient of candidates.

e.g. x % would get a c... then they divided the rest up and down the scale... so you could only ever get 12 % of students getting the A.

That seems to have changed.

quote:

Originally posted by paace:
Do you think exam standards have dropped?

Good question paace. On the whole I'd say no, especially at A Level which is still very much the gold standard. My experience of the last 16 years is that exams are just as rigorous and academically challenging as they ever were.

It's an easy soundbite for whichever party is in opposition and certain sections of the press to dismiss rising standards as dumbing down.

Students (and teachers) work really really hard every year in the face of constantly changing curricula and reactionary government policy.

I think it's a huge insult to those high achieving kids to say their exams were easier than say 10 or 20 years ago.

I agree that its a shame the "standards have dropped" line gets pulled up every year, on results day...

..as if to knock what they have acheived.

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
And all of those working class kids off to Higher Education, most of them the first in their family to go. I'm dead proud of them.

that was me that was *tear in eye*

me too saz.

Thanks Dirtypretty and skive. I went through the Irish education system so can't comment on the English system.
The Universities seem to think that exam standards have fallen.

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
And all of those working class kids off to Higher Education, most of them the first in their family to go. I'm dead proud of them.

that was me that was *tear in eye*

me too saz.

And me!

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
Re: have exam standards dropped.

Over the decades... definitely! I, more than anyone, do not want to undermine what the kids have acheived.... you don't get to pass these exams without working for them, and its easy as hell to fail.

But they are easier... I know this... I compare the content I see my daughter doing... to that I did myself.

Also... when I did a levels... the grade you got went along a gradient of candidates.

e.g. x % would get a c... then they divided the rest up and down the scale... so you could only ever get 12 % of students getting the A.

That seems to have changed.

I think there is definitely some 'tweaking' done by the QCA ditty but there are still regression graphs for allocating grades and I can honestly, hand on heart, say that Eng Lit now is as hard as it was when I did it 20-odd years ago.

I suppose I can't comment really on the sciences etc but I guess the subject content would by necessity be somewhat different purely because our technology/knowledge evolves.

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
e.g. x % would get a c... then they divided the rest up and down the scale... so you could only ever get 12 % of students getting the A.

That seems to have changed.

That change was a good idea. It's unfair to say only x percentage can get a certain grade when you may have far more attaining the necessary marks.

quote:

Originally posted by paace:
Thanks Dirtypretty and skive. I went through the Irish education system so can't comment on the English system.
The Universities seem to think that exam standards have fallen.

I'd have to get mr skive to answer that one as he works in HE but basically there are more Unis than before (since polys rebranded) and they have to operate far more like businesses than before and they are competing for a dwindling number of school leavers.

They now have to entice students who don't come from a very narrow socio-economic background - the whole widening participation thing. So maybe they're looking at it from the perspective of no longer just having the A/B grade kids but also the C/D grade kids too.

All of HE is in a state of flux at the moment.

quote:

Originally posted by Barolo:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by SazBomb:
that was me that was *tear in eye*

me too saz.

And me!

And I think we're all doing ok

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
I'll help ditty - I'll use it as an excuse to expand my vocabulary cos I'm such a geek.

First word:

floccinaucinihilipilification

What the flocc does that mean?

quote:

Originally posted by CaptVimes:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
I'll help ditty - I'll use it as an excuse to expand my vocabulary cos I'm such a geek.

First word:

floccinaucinihilipilification

What the flocc does that mean?

the estimation of something as worthless, or the habit of doing so

The word is derived from a list of Latin words found in a section of the Eton Latin Grammar. The word is said to have been invented as an erudite joke by a student of Eton College, who found in his textbook four ways of saying "don't care" and combined them:
flocci facere (from floccus, -i a wisp or piece of wool)
nauci facere (from naucum, -i a trifle)
nihili facere (from nihilum, -i nothing; something valueless (lit. "not even a thread" from ni+hilum)) Example being: "nihilism"
pili facere (from pilus, -i a hair; a bit or a whit; something small and insignificant)

What a fab word!

quote:

Originally posted by disley21:

quote:

Originally posted by Dirtyprettygirlthing:
e.g. x % would get a c... then they divided the rest up and down the scale... so you could only ever get 12 % of students getting the A.

That seems to have changed.

That change was a good idea. It's unfair to say only x percentage can get a certain grade when you may have far more attaining the necessary marks.

I agree, I hated that system if you were unlucky enough to be in an exceptional year you could get a lower grade than you would have the year before or after. Once you leave school there is no proper way of comparing across years.

quote:

Originally posted by skive:


I think there is definitely some 'tweaking' done by the QCA ditty but there are still regression graphs for allocating grades and I can honestly, hand on heart, say that Eng Lit now is as hard as it was when I did it 20-odd years ago.

I suppose I can't comment really on the sciences etc but I guess the subject content would by necessity be somewhat different purely because our technology/knowledge evolves.

Thats good to know. So if its still done on regression graphs... how come the news are reporting 26.7% pass at A grade.... is it a twisted statistic then? ( I wouldn't be surprised). Or... have they upped the upper percentage allocation.

LOL! Am I making any sense to you... given that you know the jargon.. and I am rambling.

Its some of the GCSE science content yes that I have noticed a difference. My daughter & I have the same areas of academic interest... so I notice stuff I remember sweating over in school.... now not included in GCSE, but is deemed A Level material.

But I am not saying they are easy... I know they aren't easy. My daughter may be bright, exceptionally bright, but she's still had to work damned hard over the past two years... whilst her mates went out and socialised... she studied every night.

ALso hubby was saying that at his school (some posh nobby boys boarding school) it was almost unheard of for a kid to get straight A's in A levels.

quote:

Originally posted by skive:

quote:

Originally posted by CaptVimes:

quote:

Originally posted by skive:
I'll help ditty - I'll use it as an excuse to expand my vocabulary cos I'm such a geek.

First word:

floccinaucinihilipilification

What the flocc does that mean?

the estimation of something as worthless, or the habit of doing so

The word is derived from a list of Latin words found in a section of the Eton Latin Grammar. The word is said to have been invented as an erudite joke by a student of Eton College, who found in his textbook four ways of saying "don't care" and combined them:
flocci facere (from floccus, -i a wisp or piece of wool)
nauci facere (from naucum, -i a trifle)
nihili facere (from nihilum, -i nothing; something valueless (lit. "not even a thread" from ni+hilum)) Example being: "nihilism"
pili facere (from pilus, -i a hair; a bit or a whit; something small and insignificant)

What a fab word!

Thanks but I dont think I shall be using that any time soon