The final hike is on the way ...

... so I sit here with 43 days to go until the GCSE listening and reading exams take place this summer.  On 11 of those days, I see our students for 2 hours.  It is at this point in the year that I am now grateful for the timetabling - 4 hours a week over one year for a GCSE seems harsh, until we are left with 22 hours of teaching still at this stage of the year! 

What to do for the best?  Well, I have learned from last year; I need to make sure that I have planned around the other GCSE exams and that I have systems in place for the inevitable absences.  I have set up groups on Edmodo for my two classes for this half-term (I thought they would be good 'trial groups' - I may be wrong!).  There is the obvious medium-term plan/block plan in place - but I find myself asking lots of questions -

• What is most important?
• Should I teach some things before others?
• How much more exam technique practice can I pack in?
• When is the best time to do the past paper - do I do it sooner, so it doesn't demoralise any who have a bad day? or do I leave it until later, so that they have more opportunity to succeed, having learned more?
• What is the right balance between building knowledge and building understanding of the way the papers work?
• How can I ensure that they still 'see the point' in speaking activities, even though the speaking CAs are all complete (and they know it!)?
• What do I do for those students who are absent - the work missed is so vital?

They are questions we ask so regularly and every year; however, somehow it seems so important at this stage of the year for Year 11 students.  I am so proud of what they have learned - many of them only started learning German in September - in real terms, that is only 7 months ago ... I just want to make sure that they get a fair deal and that they have every opportunity to succeed.  I always find this the most challenging half-term of the year - so difficult to know if you're doing the right thing.

I think, no matter what, I will be asking the same questions next year (my big relief for next year though, is that 60% of the students studied German in KS3, and 30 of the 80 have chosen to spend one hour in Y10 'practising' German every week after school so that they didn't forget everything from Y7-9!), I just hope that we get it right for this year's students :)