Invigilate means ‘to proctor’ and that’s what I did today.
We are at the end of the first trimester. For some reason the school blocked off from Nov 28th through Dec 16th to give exams. That’s a lot of days considering there are two given a day. But…aha! Forgot to factor in holidays! In that time period there are 6 holidays, yes 6.
So I need to vent. If you’re not a teacher or a student this might be dull so skip to my pictures.
The morning exam period is from 8-11. I’ve noticed that the exams don’t really start until 8:30 but that’s ok it’s Ghana time… Here’s how my morning went.
8:10 I went up to the exam room for the math exam I was to give to my students. One problem… it was being TYPED! This was ok though because the students were all still in Wednesday Morning Worship Assembly. I looked around and saw one frazzled man stapling together accounting exams (that were to be given at 8) I found a functional stapler (which was not an easy task) and helped him. There were about 200 of them. There were only about 5 people in office madly stapling other exams together.
9:00 Still stapling and counting out exams. A woman comes in and proceeds to START typing the Biology exam which was to be given at 8 that morning. (Assembly running long kids still not out)
9:30 Typist disappears with the math exam to get it copied. There is only one man in the entire school of 1800 kids and 85 staff who is allowed to make copies…hope he wasn’t sent to market. Teachers appear for the Biology and Math exams are only mildly surprised they aren’t ready. Kids still in assembly.
10:00 No exam yet. Biology lady still typing. (I helped her make columns-she asked if she could come over and learn the computer with me. I said sure.) I casually say “Boy we should really try to get this done before the day of the exams” All agree. Kids still in assembly 2 hours after exams are supposed to have started.
10:15 Kids are out of assembly. No Math Exams. Accounting is ready to go. Biology lady still typing.
10:25 Here come the Math exams!
10:30 We start our 2 hour exam 2 1/2 hours late. I start working the problems, curious about how my students will do. I find 4 multiple choice questions with no correct answers and 2 rather serious typos. I get someone to cover my room and under the blazing December sun visit all 10 math classrooms in different buildings to read the corrections.
12:30 Back to exam office. I ask if the exams for next week (tomorrow,Friday and Monday are holidays) are typed and could I help. I’m given 3 exams to type. I tell them I will bring back some functional staplers when I come back from Christmas. I say-We really should try to have these exams done ahead of time. All agree. I am now co-head of exam committee.
A few pictures:
This cow and his buddies stopped traffic on a busy road the other day for about 10 minutes.
This box full of spidery/dusty yet totally functional graphing calculators was brought to my house. It was donated to the school over a year ago and had not been touched. I cleaned them all up. I’m bringing back 20 dozen batteries. I’ve worked with a lot of the math teachers and will continue next term. We WILL be using them!
Another project. Sorting through these old, donated, maybe working, monitors and hard drives and picking out the 20 best to use in our ‘internet café’ that I’m working on with a fellow teacher.
Last week at the third meeting of my Women in Mathematics club we made pentagonal and octagonal snowflakes. The activity was so popular 12 girls skipped dinner to make one more.
ELECTION COMING: This Sunday will be the Presidential Election. There are 8 people running, if there isn’t a clear winner there will be a run off. I hear it takes 2-3 days for results to be known. The ads for months have been calling for a peaceful election. Recently my favorite ads on TV say: Vote early. Do not attempt to vote more than once. If you are a minor and attempt to vote you will be arrested. My school is a polling place-I can watch out my kitchen window-this will be interesting-I’ll report back!
1 comment:
Oh Leslie! I can feel your frustration! Invigilation is NOT fun! Well done to find the mistakes, I'm sure your students appreciate it. :) I didn't find your post boring at all and I love hearing how things are going. I want to hear about your Thanksgiving too! My week was crazy with Ellen being here (which I LOVED) and with my brother's gf being here (which I LOATHED) thus, my lack of Skyping. Enjoy the next few weeks before your break!
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