Today we helped with the parents evening for parents whose children were new to the school. We were told that our job would be, like those from previous years, to serve hot beverages, translate and simply guide those who are looking lost.
I had planned to venture into cooking for the first time and make some cookies, since we usually serve cookies with the coffee and tea we offer, but unfortunately I simply couldn't gather up the courage to do it, as time was running short and I didn't really want the test subjects of my first cookie trials to be unwitting parents who are new to the school at that. So I decided that I would buy some cookies instead, but simply forgot about that. Thankfully, due to Dasha and Ira's quick thinking, we weren't left without any cookies or teabags or coffee and everything went smoothly.
If anything, I learned the importance of just noting something down rather than abstractly thinking about how useful it would be to do it. Furthermore, this parents evening incouraged us to be better communicators, as we were constantly interacting with parents and students who were new to the school and with whom we sometimes didn't have a common language. It was also quite fun, chatting with parents of different nationalities while you serve them coffee, and I felt great satisfaction at providing a service such as translation, especially since the parents often thank you profusely.
Last thursday however, I provided a very different kind of service, on that was linked to my IGCSEs from last year. A couple of year 10 students came up to me and asked me for help with one their subjects where they felt they could become more confident. While our teacher for that subjet is very good indeed, I know just how valuable some peer to peer advice can be, especially from somebody who has already passed their examination.
Therefore, I spent some times in the evenings leading up to thursday recalling study techinques and reading through old notes to maximise the benefit they would recieve. I also asked Igor to help me, and although he had another club to attend to that day, he very succinctly explained the tips and techniques that he thought were useful for the examinations. After he left, I added my own and we went through the questions from their homework assignment, discussing most importantly the best way to structure answers and also going through important concepts which they felt they needed more confidence in.
Quite frankly I thought they they were perfectly competent, able students who were doing very well in their subject, but they assured me that our brief fourty minute session had helped them. I hope it at the very least imporoved their confidence in the subject and topics being studied. Sometimes, that's all you need to jump from a good to and excellent student, because when they understand the topics well, and have been told so, they will enjoy the work they do and may complete it to a higher standard that they might if they were looking at it as a chore they will never so well at.
I had planned to venture into cooking for the first time and make some cookies, since we usually serve cookies with the coffee and tea we offer, but unfortunately I simply couldn't gather up the courage to do it, as time was running short and I didn't really want the test subjects of my first cookie trials to be unwitting parents who are new to the school at that. So I decided that I would buy some cookies instead, but simply forgot about that. Thankfully, due to Dasha and Ira's quick thinking, we weren't left without any cookies or teabags or coffee and everything went smoothly.
If anything, I learned the importance of just noting something down rather than abstractly thinking about how useful it would be to do it. Furthermore, this parents evening incouraged us to be better communicators, as we were constantly interacting with parents and students who were new to the school and with whom we sometimes didn't have a common language. It was also quite fun, chatting with parents of different nationalities while you serve them coffee, and I felt great satisfaction at providing a service such as translation, especially since the parents often thank you profusely.
Last thursday however, I provided a very different kind of service, on that was linked to my IGCSEs from last year. A couple of year 10 students came up to me and asked me for help with one their subjects where they felt they could become more confident. While our teacher for that subjet is very good indeed, I know just how valuable some peer to peer advice can be, especially from somebody who has already passed their examination.
Therefore, I spent some times in the evenings leading up to thursday recalling study techinques and reading through old notes to maximise the benefit they would recieve. I also asked Igor to help me, and although he had another club to attend to that day, he very succinctly explained the tips and techniques that he thought were useful for the examinations. After he left, I added my own and we went through the questions from their homework assignment, discussing most importantly the best way to structure answers and also going through important concepts which they felt they needed more confidence in.
Quite frankly I thought they they were perfectly competent, able students who were doing very well in their subject, but they assured me that our brief fourty minute session had helped them. I hope it at the very least imporoved their confidence in the subject and topics being studied. Sometimes, that's all you need to jump from a good to and excellent student, because when they understand the topics well, and have been told so, they will enjoy the work they do and may complete it to a higher standard that they might if they were looking at it as a chore they will never so well at.
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