Friday, 27 January 2012

Marking

Marking students written work is boring and it can be quite depressing at times (most of the time).  The standard of writing I see every day is absolutely appalling. I genuinely have students who misspell their own names. For many English is their second or third language and so some of it can be blamed on that. However often it just comes down to lack of effort. Particularly with homework. It's all rushed and done in two minutes, often at break before coming into the classroom. I remember doing that.

Sometimes however marking work can provide a chuckle or two. I really should do it more...

A recent homework assignment was to do with electronics. The kids had to do some research into Silicon valley and answer four questions. The answers I had back from various kids had me doing a google search myself just to try and figure out what the hell they are on about. I'm still none the wiser.

The question was "Why is it called Silicon valley?"

I had the following responses:

"The father of silicon valley is called silicon valley"

"In 1971 the name was used for the first time and used a couple more times etc"

"For religion reasons"

 and the most perplexing contribution

"A japanese man couldn't find New England on the map"



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