The Sound of Drumming ...

... coming from the classroom next door. But only with a cover teacher and when I was in the office - I couldn't hear anything next door over the noise of my own lovelies this afternoon. I wonder why I bothered turning up for the Year 10 lesson, really. The highest mark in the exam was just over 40%, and eight students failed. Most got Gs. So I'd planned a lesson (with lots of pictures and a pinch of humour) to go over the shared weaknesses and help them improve - but instead they decided they wanted to play cards and/or dance insanely and inanely around the classroom. With some friends who should have been somewhere else. The one student who is always on the ball, really thoughtful and friendly, had failed to get a G by one mark, so he decided "Why should I bother?", and it was only when I explained to him towards the end that he has the knowledge inside his head - indeed, in some of the questions he was almost the only one who actually knew what he was talking about, he just hadn't written it down - and that next year we'll spend a lot of time practicing exam answers, that he brightened up a bit and decided to take down a few notes. Nice lad. He makes it all worthwhile. Had something similar with the Year 8s - lots don't do anything, and are noisy and disruptive, but at one point I counted those working, and there were 12 of them - so again, that's why I do it.