Do teachers in sec school usually mark homework?

[Zann]

It has been one over month since my son starts sec school. He completes his homework everyday but the teachers have never seem to collect and mark them. Occasionally, they gone through once or twice in class. Do sec school teachers mark homework? While term 1 common test is approaching, parents would appreciate if you are kind to share the situation like to your sec 1 child, be it IP or non-IP school. Thanks.

[daisyt]

I also have the same doubt. My girl in IP school, for chinese, the teacher random pick a few student’s work from the class to review and comment. For Math, the teacher would pick the difficult ones, ask the class to give the answser. And if the answer is wrong, he would tell the class to discuss (openly) the solutions. Bascially he also does not mark. For language art, they would do presentation of their homework in class, also no marking by teacher. Is this common in sec school ?


zann, your child is in IP or non IP ?

[csc]

It all depends on the teacher. My son’s science and maths teachers are hardworking ,so work is consistently marked. Answer keys are also provided on the students’ portal for independent checking.


As for his language art tr, she is a little "slack". She will go thru worksheets in class but never seems to mark them. Reflections on poems are also not returned since Jan.

[daisyt]

hi csc, your son's school is IP or non-IP ? I am just wondering if is there a difference because I heard that in IP, they want to train their independence and self learning. I am not sure my girl's teachers are not marking because of IP or ..... ???? :idea:

[csc]

Hi daisyt,


Ya, he is in an IP program. Well, I’m not sure if what the teachers are doing is typical of IP program or secondary school. If the teachers do review the homework in class, I feel that it should be fine. You can perhaps encourage your child to approach the teacher if she’s not sure what she is doing is in line with what is required.

The difference I sense in the IP program is that there is a great deal of research , projects, oral presentations and reflections. It is a shift away from the "spoonfeeding" and "drilling" methods the students have in their primary school days.I feel that it is a good move as it makes learning meaningful and interesting.

[spring5]

yup, IP is supposed to train the kids towards the University way of learning.

But taking the A levels is :stupid: as I think it's 1-step back.
I hope the Education Ministry will shift all IP kids to take the IB diploma instead as IB is more broad-based learning compared to A levels which stresses rout learning

[krazy]

hey

i am a secondary sch teacher. and yes i mark. although i take forever to mark.

reason being:
1) i teach 3 EL classes of 40 kids each on top of other LIT classes. many of these kids esp the normal academic ones do not write well. and marking 40 scripts is like writing 40 essays of my own or else, the kids will not know how to do corrections.

2) daily classes can end as late as 3pm and there after, there are CCAs and a normal day can finish at 6pm. If there are no CCAs, there are meetings and tutorials and what nots. I leave the school at 6pm, but still no time to do marking because my time in the afternoons are taken up by other more urgent matters like meetings and tutorials, or attending courses.

Still I need to mark. So I sleep lesser, steal time away from my daughter, or hide somewhere to mark. nowadays, i try to mark while i wait for my girl to finish her enrichment classes. not many scripts can be done at one time, at most 6 / 7 in that one hour time frame.

so .. the marked scripts will come in.

[pinky]

To krazy,

My sympathies to you on your predicament. I have a relative who teaches
maths in a sec school and her weekends are burned marking papers, setting
questions, organising enrichment class etc for her students.
Once I saw a teacher marking Maths papers
in a MRT train and she was holding a huge stack on her lap.
So much work and so little time, sigh…

[daisyt]

I feel that 40 students in a class is too big a group. Teachers also suffering when marking the papers. I personal feel that ideal is 20 but we are shortage of teachers and schools.


Random pick method, different kids have different mentality.

1st type is to think \"I won't be so lucky to get pick, so I anyhow do, anyway teachers don't mark all.\"

2nd type is prudent thinking \"What happen if I get pick, so I better do properly\"

3rd type is mature thinking \"I do it well is for my own benefit, its not a matter of whether teachers mark or don't\"

:lol:

[krazy]

pinky:

To krazy,

My sympathies to you on your predicament. I have a relative who teaches
maths in a sec school and her weekends are burned marking papers, setting
questions, organising enrichment class etc for her students.
Once I saw a teacher marking Maths papers
in a MRT train and she was holding a huge stack on her lap.
So much work and so little time, sigh...

yeah..
i used to mark on trains too until i felt really uncomfortable with people looking down on my students' scripts. so i stopped. haha.

yeah, many of my colleagues do not have a life and they stay behind in sch till 8, 9 pm. its a never ending job.