Tuesday 18 May 2010

Exam fever

It's full on exam time in my house.
I have several classes of frantic students fretting and stressing over various levels of assessment.
No. 1 pride and joy is in the throes of Intermediate 2 exams in 7 subjects and Standard grade in 1, and pride and joy no. 2 will start his (admittedly not as significant) S1 exams next week.
The thing that strikes me most is the contrasting approaches. My students are, on the whole, stressed and panicy (?), many having left it far too late to make an impact on the volume of work accumulated throughout the year. No 1 son is confident and chilled though obviously comprehending the importance of the situation and , with a bit of encouragement, seems to be working surprisingly hard, whereas no. 2 son is resistant to all attempts to encourage him to study believing (with the innocence of the young) that he knows it all already!
The proof, I believe, will be in the pudding!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The proof will be in the pudding"? Is that your Random Aphorism Mangler software at work? Which son is "the pudding"?

Ruth said...

"Aphorism"? Did you swallow a dictionary for dinner tonight?
I had to look it up!

Anonymous said...

I was a geeky child, famous for always carrying my Collins Pocket Gem dictionary when other boys had pockets full of fags and football cards. I thought you might have guessed that. But then I grew out of that nonsense and got into something much more healthy.... molecular orbital theory, magnetic resonance and enzyme stereochemistry. It's amazing I turned out so normal, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

And funnily enough I still remember the exact Collins Pocket Gem definition, because I spouted it out in Chemistry 2B, Room 701, Trinity Academy, surprisingly without impressing the girls... it was "Aphorism: A short pithy maxim."

Eg: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating", or the mangled Ruth version "The proof will be in the pudding." Still, always remember A bird in the hand is better than counting your chickens in the bush... or something like that

Ruth said...

I like to be original!
Besides...you know what I meant ;-)

Anonymous said...

"You know what I meant"...

Oh... that sounds familiar. Students... complaining about not getting the mark... because they wrote down mangled rubbish... How easily you forget as soon as you leave work.

Ruth said...

I didn't know I was being examined on my blog!
I suspect I may only scrape a "C".

Anonymous said...

Should we continue with the difficult, debatable and much disputed distinction (or not) between an aphorism and a proverb? Or should we just call it a day and move on? Move on, I say (but your checklist is missing quite a few ticks at present). Goodnight.

Ruth said...

Oh dear ....should I resubmit?
or am I beyond redemption?

Anonymous said...

Deferral, referral, or perhaps both. (Heck I hope I've got that spelling right - remember I'm allowed to switch between US and UK English at will)

Claude said...

Awesome dialogue. Learning from you, Ruth, how to hold my own with a difficult teacher. To have to answer for the words I would choose is one of the multiple reasons why I didn't follow Andrew's (and Sean's) strong suggestion to start a blog. I wouldn't survive the comment page! Of course, I could do the blog in French....

Here's wishing you the best during your sons' Exam Time.

Ruth said...

I suspect I am a difficult student, Claudia!
I have been told before (by someone who knows me better than most, and means it in the kindest of ways) that I would benefit from giving more thought to my words at times. I know it is true, but it is hard to change the habits of a life-time. Now my words are in black and white and open to scrutiny, it becomes even more apparent :-)

......... smileys allowed here!

And thank you for your good wishes..