Report Cards

I hear that it's report card season back in Canada, so I thought I'd share some of my experiences with report cards here, and other educational differences that I've noticed (aside from the fact that two year olds are 'taught' how to colour).

I have to do reports at both of my schools. For the nursery school, the director asked me a week in advance if I could prepare the marks for all of the kids. I had to grade them in four different areas, with marks ranging from 1-3. No big deal. Anyway, it turns out that these reports were a big deal for the school. The teachers had just rewritten them, as they decided the old ones were too difficult and time consuming (and who wants to do this kind of thing in June? she asked me). To prove her point, the director showed my a sample of the previous report that the parents got. The report was three pages of anecdotal comments on the childs progress throughout the year. It was only done in June. The kids are 2-5yrs old. The parents pay a couple of thousand euros a year to send their kids to the school. The biggest class has 15 kids. Anyway. They changed it to a two page chart where the kids will be given marks for everything. Then a short space for some general comments. Not a terrible idea, until I saw how they were going to be marked. The 4year old teacher gave the class colouring sheets, sat down at a separate table with one other student, the report card in front of her, and tested them. And marked them directly on the report card.

Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't particularly enjoy writing report cards last year. Lets be honest. They really weren't fun at all. All the teachers in the staff room at my school would always talk about how clean their houses were around report card time. How you all of a sudden have time to start that home improvement project, and take up Japanese cooking. In fact I believe I really got into learning how to speak Japanese in the middle of one reporting period. But I couldn't believe that the teachers complained about doing it ONCE a year, and it got changed. Similar situation at the other school. The reports were handed out for us to complete. It was a general one page checklist-type, with a whole page for comments on the back. The next week the director sends us all an email apologizing for giving us the wrong forms. We should fill out the new short form reports, as was decided at a staff meeting in the fall. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, but I am still finding that there are so many better things to do here in Paris than fill out those reports...

Other interesting things that I've noticed about school:
-the kids learn how to write in cursive first. The four and five year olds at the nursery school have a special 'graphisme' teacher to teaches them how to write. Many of my 8-9year olds have a difficult time reading my printing (although I think they'd have a harder time reading my cursive...)
-no pencils allowed! When kids start school, they write with fountain pens. Not a ball point pen, but the kind with the ink cartridge. Which can mean a huge mess if students decide that playing with their pen is more interesting than listening to you. It also means that NONE of my 8-9yr olds ever have a pencil with them in class. They do have copious amounts of white out and other ink erasing devices. Basically, they are not allowed to make mistakes.
-younger kids NEVER sit on the carpet. I've had a hard time with this one. The 2-3 year olds are alright at it, but from 4+, it's just not something they do. They put their chairs in a circle formation if they need to, but basically all of their learning at school is done at their desk. My 8-9yr olds have the hardest time on the carpet. When I read a story, there is always at least three kids who just can't do it. They go back to their seats.
-I still have a hard time with the fact that there is a 'right' and a 'wrong' way to do everything (and of course I feel like I'm always doing it the 'wrong' way). From sitting on your chair (both legs under the table at all times), to colouring (you're not allowed to turn the paper), to eating (use your fork and knife), to writing (there is only one way to form your numbers, regardless of how they look if you form them another way).

That's about it. I don't mean to be critical, but I do find the differences to be incredibly interesting. Kind of like when we were in Japan. But I understand a lot more of what's going on here. And it's the complete opposite: no teachers working 24/7 to prepare their grade one marching band during their summer vacation.