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General Parenting
"Can you buy me some grades?" -- **updated**
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 46469" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>About being the class clown - I would ask him if trying to amuse a few other students (for not all will be laughing) for a little while, some time ago, is really worth it now, when it's time to assess overall progress.</p><p></p><p>Sometimes the best class clowns are the ones who know the subject so well, they can make jokes about it in class, at the RIGHT time. That's when EVERYBODY laughs, including the teacher.</p><p></p><p>Example: husband in class, sitting up the back, during a Geography class about Nauru and its exports of large quantities of superphosphate, collected in the form of guano.</p><p>Teacher: Can anyone in this class tell me where guano comes from?</p><p>(long silence - clearly, they either don't know or aren't sure how to say it. Finally...)</p><p>husband (quietly): bird turd...</p><p>Teacher: YES! We have a winner! That's it exactly!</p><p>(Teacher goes on to explain how large numbers of migrating birds have, over many, many years, accumulated large piles of...)</p><p></p><p>In that incident, husband didn't intend to be heard. He generally was NOT the class clown, which made it doubly incongruous. But those classmates will NEVER forget where guano comes from!</p><p></p><p>There are many little 'in' jokes in every subject, which you can discover as you study. THIS is what can make learning fun, but the best way to discover this is to not just sit blankly in lessons, which doesn't work well for difficult children anyway - it's to take home your books and read them, cover to cover, as if you are reading an enjoyable novel. No desperate attempts to memorise, just a browse through a book, maybe with a snack in hand and a comfortable seat in the garden. Or last thing at night, pick up a textbook or notes and read. If you fall asleep reading a schoolbook, it doesn't matter, because often the last thing you read at night stays with you and your sleep locks more in place than you realised could be possible. Reading ahead over other topics not yet done in class - it helps you steal a march on your classmates and your teachers, because when the class eventually gets to it, it will feel safe and familiar, you will pick it up so much faster.</p><p></p><p>The other advantage to doing this - it happened to me in my final year of high school. I had a teacher who thought I was a waste of space in the class because I was female. He refused to acknowledge my existence in the classroom. If I asked a question it was ignored. My classmates would then either whisper the answer to me, or ask the teacher again, themselves. The teacher would answer them, so one way or another, I got the answer. </p><p>We were only supposed to study three out of six possible topics. I was struggling with two of the three topics, so I tried reading the textbook. It didn't have one of the topics I was having trouble with but it did have the ones we weren't doing, which I thought were much more interesting. In the final exam (which was a public exam, all students in the state do the same exam paper) I answered two totally new topics which the class hadn't studied. I passed. And my teacher had the hide to take the credit!</p><p>But my pass was definitely in spite of him, not because of him. And rather than fail just to spoil his perfect record, I passed and he had to accept I COULD do it, after all.</p><p>Basically, by doing things my way, I was the person who won. My ratbag chauvinistic teacher lost. And I have that credit on my academic record, for which I can claim 100% credit. Even now, 35 years later, that is sweet indeed. </p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 46469, member: 1991"] About being the class clown - I would ask him if trying to amuse a few other students (for not all will be laughing) for a little while, some time ago, is really worth it now, when it's time to assess overall progress. Sometimes the best class clowns are the ones who know the subject so well, they can make jokes about it in class, at the RIGHT time. That's when EVERYBODY laughs, including the teacher. Example: husband in class, sitting up the back, during a Geography class about Nauru and its exports of large quantities of superphosphate, collected in the form of guano. Teacher: Can anyone in this class tell me where guano comes from? (long silence - clearly, they either don't know or aren't sure how to say it. Finally...) husband (quietly): bird turd... Teacher: YES! We have a winner! That's it exactly! (Teacher goes on to explain how large numbers of migrating birds have, over many, many years, accumulated large piles of...) In that incident, husband didn't intend to be heard. He generally was NOT the class clown, which made it doubly incongruous. But those classmates will NEVER forget where guano comes from! There are many little 'in' jokes in every subject, which you can discover as you study. THIS is what can make learning fun, but the best way to discover this is to not just sit blankly in lessons, which doesn't work well for difficult children anyway - it's to take home your books and read them, cover to cover, as if you are reading an enjoyable novel. No desperate attempts to memorise, just a browse through a book, maybe with a snack in hand and a comfortable seat in the garden. Or last thing at night, pick up a textbook or notes and read. If you fall asleep reading a schoolbook, it doesn't matter, because often the last thing you read at night stays with you and your sleep locks more in place than you realised could be possible. Reading ahead over other topics not yet done in class - it helps you steal a march on your classmates and your teachers, because when the class eventually gets to it, it will feel safe and familiar, you will pick it up so much faster. The other advantage to doing this - it happened to me in my final year of high school. I had a teacher who thought I was a waste of space in the class because I was female. He refused to acknowledge my existence in the classroom. If I asked a question it was ignored. My classmates would then either whisper the answer to me, or ask the teacher again, themselves. The teacher would answer them, so one way or another, I got the answer. We were only supposed to study three out of six possible topics. I was struggling with two of the three topics, so I tried reading the textbook. It didn't have one of the topics I was having trouble with but it did have the ones we weren't doing, which I thought were much more interesting. In the final exam (which was a public exam, all students in the state do the same exam paper) I answered two totally new topics which the class hadn't studied. I passed. And my teacher had the hide to take the credit! But my pass was definitely in spite of him, not because of him. And rather than fail just to spoil his perfect record, I passed and he had to accept I COULD do it, after all. Basically, by doing things my way, I was the person who won. My ratbag chauvinistic teacher lost. And I have that credit on my academic record, for which I can claim 100% credit. Even now, 35 years later, that is sweet indeed. Marg [/QUOTE]
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