The course work push Part 2 - The final push or, what do you call a teacher with no students?

I go on jury service on Monday 15th June. The last day for students is 19th June. The long and short of it is that today is my final day teaching for this academic year.

Let that sink in for a moment - it's the 12th June and it's my last day teaching for the year - I'll start doing proper lessons again on 1st September.

It's been a successful year I hope, although I won't really be able to tell until A level results day but it certainly feels better prepared, better resourced and more tailored to individual students. I feel we've 'cracked' the BTEC qualification to a greater or lesser extent now. We know how it works and how to play to the strengths of the students and the qualification.

We still have the students who leave it all until the very last minute and don't really work to their full capacity until the 11th hour. The consequence is we spent the very end of the qualification working with the people who have been lazy throughout the year when really what you want to do is spend time relishing in the victories of the students who have done brilliantly all year and now get to reap the rewards.

But now that is all over, the students have all got their grades, the marking is complete and filed away, all the paperwork has been done so that the results can be sent off to the exam board. There is part of me that feels like a mother bird after all the chicks have flown the nest, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing with myself. I should be relishing in my new spare time, and I will, but not quite yet.

Surprising Cacti

Tom has a real green fingers, he has a real understanding of how to understand and care for things which can't say what they need. His photographers eye seems to enjoy architectural plants with strong lines and shapes, so to fit in with that brief we have a lot of succulents and cacti. 

The specimen pictures is a Mammillaria which means 'nipple' which I find quite amusing because I can genuinely say that there is a boob sitting at the top of the stairs. It is one of the most common cacti that you find. If you've got your own cactus, stands a chance it's probably this one. Just because it's not rare or difficult doesn't mean it's not pretty special. They originate from Mexico so it is quite happy to be left alone and as long as they're some where dry and light (the window on the landing is ideal) they will be happy. They're quite wild looking all year round but in May and June they go up a gear again by producing these amazingly vivid pink blooms, seeming from no where. 

I know cacti are not going to be everyone's idea of beauty but we think they're pretty amazing. 

Miss...? Miss...? Miss...? How to stop answering the same questions over and over again

I teach one particular group of first year BTEC law students who constantly want reassurance that they're doing it right. They're asking question after question, usually on stuff that I have already covered.

This is something that I felt I had to sort out to make them more resilient and independent. As human beings one of our greatest skills is our ability to work things out for ourselves and this is something that needs to be practiced. In order to move them away from super dependence I have introduced question tokens. For a week long activity they are allocated three question tokens which entitle them to ask three practical questions about the workings of the activity. I don't limit anyone on the questions that they want to ask about the subject of the lesson, in fact I'm considering giving out tokens to collect for really great questions.

The impact can be instantaneously. Ensure that the new token system is the first thing you explain that lesson and watch them lean forward to really listen, jot down notes on their booklets and read and reread the written instructions given. When working in groups you'll see someone put their hand up or call me but before I can get there someone else gets them what they need to do.

Plants amongst pebbles

I've spoken before about about the huge expanse of pebbly nothingness at the end of the garden which was only interrupted by much large rocks. One of the first homely touches we put in place to put our mark on the place was to put some alpines and sedums in between the rocks. We've developed quite a collection now.

My favourite is below, its a sedum Cape Blanco and the yellow star shaped flowers are amazingly bright set against the background of the aqua coloured foliage. Plus, they take no looking after, the only thing that they really don't like is too much water or attention.The less I do for them to happier they are.

The poor, abused, nameless bush that we dug up and moved about a month ago has actually flowered, I can't quite believe it, this thing has every right to give up the ghost and die but this morning I went outside and it flowered all over. It produces the most beautiful open white flowers with yellow middles and most importantly it covers up the compost bin which is behind it. You can just about see it peaking out at the bottom left, but don't look there because you'll also see the piles of rotten wood that used to be the raised beds which I still haven't got rid of.

First early potatoes - From spade to plate

Today was the day for the first set of first earlies. They were planted at the end of February in bags, this particular variety is Rocket or Solanum tuberosum for those who like the latin and they produce very sweet baby new potatoes. I've only pulled up one bag which had five tubers in it but we got 30 potatoes. On reflection I think five was too many for the bag because they were very tightly packed in the end so one or two were very small indeed.

The biggest one was about four inches long and the smallest was about the size of my thumb nail but most importantly, they tasted fantastic cooked with paprika like potato wedges.

One week back at work - the coursework push

No posts say one thing - I'm exhausted and completely over stretched. Yesterday I came home, ate and got into bed all before 7pm. It was a gorgeous day out but I just couldn't do being awake anymore. This is not normal for me after a normal half term, usually I am still feeling somewhat refreshed but this first week is different - its the coursework push.

We run the BTEC Subsidiary Diploma in Applied Law and we're about 90% of the way through. The last hand in date was to first day back after half term, so straight away there is some marking and after that most students have one or two criteria to have resubmit, which is normal and they get it done and move on but this is the point that the 'problem' students really start to become a problem. The ones who have poor attendance, the ones who miss deadlines, the ones who cannot concentrate for any period of time and the ones who are lazy and disaffected. 

This is the second year we've run the BTEC and I think it's fair to say that this year was infinitely better than last year. We'd put into place some new strategies and it's working so much better but, I think the nature of the thing means one thing, no matter how much you encourage, suggest, cajole, bribe and even bully your students to get the work done and get it done well on the first try, they will all work hardest and produce the best work in the last week of the course. If they worked with the same ferocity all year as they do for those five days we'd have the whole course done before Christmas. 

I still have a lot to learn and lots of changes to make next year but these are the most important things that I've learnt so far:

1. When you set the assignment know what you're looking for and what you expect it to look like. 

2. Be realistic about what you're going to get when you write your assignment briefs. 

3. Provide flexibility in the methods of completing the work.

4. Ask for creativity, but expect it in all of its forms.

5. Don't accept plagiarism in any way, ever. 

So, despite the trials and tribulations we've had getting the students there, we've got students who are now completing the course with distinction stars (equivalent to an A* at A level) and now they're moving on to red brick universities, many of them to study law. That is what makes it all worthwhile.