August 26, 2004
amrika to abyssinia
Letting fall to the ground any paper that has the name of Allah or Mohammed on it is strictly forbidden. The students had finished their Islamic exams and were therefore burning their cheat sheets rather than throwing them on the ground.
I am privileged to share these moments with a truly outstanding bunch of guys from Tunis to Tripoli, from Syria to Sudan, from Canada to Kerela, from Amrika to Abyssinia, teachers all, in the comfortable state of taking money from the UAE Ministry for our much-needed duties.
"Put Question One over here and Question Two over here." I explained to the student I had never seen before. And Madani with DTE entourage, the headmaster walked in on us. Oops! Step back straighten up and say Salam al Aikum for lack of anything substantial in Arabic to say. And he laughs at me! I was invigilating the 2nd secondary technical drawing exam because of an apparent shortage of technical teachers. I thought I was gonna get chewed up because yesterday Madani tore into one of the technical guys for "helping a student" during the first year science exam.
Truth be told the guy teaches Civil Engineering not science and he wasn't helping the student - it just looked that way. Bad timing. In my case, Madani decided not to pounce, rather to laugh at the way the guys had set me up. Did I mention they stuck me alone in the room with twelve students to inviligate these guys in a contra-DTE move that does not provide for single invigilation by a teacher even in the case of shortages (Department of Technical Education). I imagine Madani had a good laugh at the set-up. I hope that's what the aftermath will be percieved as...
A sample of the fictive lesson plans I make for every class....
They are fictive because they account for imaginary time spent.
Wk. 2 – Beginning February 7th, 2004
Saturday Feb 7th to Wednesday Feb 11th 2004:
S. Come to class on time, greet the teacher and then their mates and sit quietly in their desks.
T. Calls role and awards points for books, pens and attendance for the day T. Reviews students’ midterm marks and behavioural performance in first term.
S. Negotiate with T. for a better mark.
T considers the subjectivity of the marking procedure and awards as per 1st term anecdotal assessment anywhere from 2 to 5 percent more marks (to be added to the final grade) to those who have clearly shown a marked improvement in behaviour from first term to now.
T. Reviews the students’ queries.
T asks for S. queries on the mid term
S. query the teacher re midterm
T. Answers Queries
T. gives an overview of the second semester schedule
S. Copy the schedule in their books from the WB Lesson Summary: As you like...
I am privileged to share these moments with a truly outstanding bunch of guys from Tunis to Tripoli, from Syria to Sudan, from Canada to Kerela, from Amrika to Abyssinia, teachers all, in the comfortable state of taking money from the UAE Ministry for our much-needed duties.
"Put Question One over here and Question Two over here." I explained to the student I had never seen before. And Madani with DTE entourage, the headmaster walked in on us. Oops! Step back straighten up and say Salam al Aikum for lack of anything substantial in Arabic to say. And he laughs at me! I was invigilating the 2nd secondary technical drawing exam because of an apparent shortage of technical teachers. I thought I was gonna get chewed up because yesterday Madani tore into one of the technical guys for "helping a student" during the first year science exam.
Truth be told the guy teaches Civil Engineering not science and he wasn't helping the student - it just looked that way. Bad timing. In my case, Madani decided not to pounce, rather to laugh at the way the guys had set me up. Did I mention they stuck me alone in the room with twelve students to inviligate these guys in a contra-DTE move that does not provide for single invigilation by a teacher even in the case of shortages (Department of Technical Education). I imagine Madani had a good laugh at the set-up. I hope that's what the aftermath will be percieved as...
A sample of the fictive lesson plans I make for every class....
They are fictive because they account for imaginary time spent.
Wk. 2 – Beginning February 7th, 2004
Saturday Feb 7th to Wednesday Feb 11th 2004:
S. Come to class on time, greet the teacher and then their mates and sit quietly in their desks.
T. Calls role and awards points for books, pens and attendance for the day T. Reviews students’ midterm marks and behavioural performance in first term.
S. Negotiate with T. for a better mark.
T considers the subjectivity of the marking procedure and awards as per 1st term anecdotal assessment anywhere from 2 to 5 percent more marks (to be added to the final grade) to those who have clearly shown a marked improvement in behaviour from first term to now.
T. Reviews the students’ queries.
T asks for S. queries on the mid term
S. query the teacher re midterm
T. Answers Queries
T. gives an overview of the second semester schedule
S. Copy the schedule in their books from the WB Lesson Summary: As you like...
