As a teaching Headteacher, it has always been one of the most enjoyable parts of my working week. My A level Business students have kept me sane, teaching them and sharing their journey over the last 2 years has been a real pleasure. However, crunchtime this week, as their first A level exam beckoned. From all teachers, there is a great deal of time and thought put into effective revision and this week has seen me preparing all manner of support materials. Going through last minute ‘Top tips’, revisiting key terms that we may have forgotten are all useful, but for the first time I conducted a Walking Talking Mock (WTM).
2 hours before our first Business exam, students and I are huddled in Mr Wilkinson’s classroom, in order to use the visualiser – a bit of kit that projects my writing onto a screen in ‘live’ action. Overnight I have put myself through a practice A level paper and agonised over how to structure 15 mark essay questions. The idea behind a WTM is to ‘talk through’ my thought processes whilst demonstrating how to write the answers to an exam question. Not as easy as it sounds and despite having prepared my answers, I still took time to explain what I was looking for in the question, demonstrated how to underline command words and make brief notes as I was thinking, before structuring my essay. I enjoyed the experience and although now nervous about the impending exam, students seemed happy and confident in how to tackle the paper.
The worst bit was the waiting! Usually as the Headteacher, I help start off the exams and give last minute advice. This time, because I am the teacher of the subject being examined I am forbidden to enter the exam hall, so have to give final words of advice as they walk up the steps. 2 hours seemed to be an awfully long time, as I nervously paced the school. I have found many teachers pacing over the last few weeks and entirely understand why now. Happily at 3.40pm, students duly popped their heads in my office smiling. The paper was kind and they felt they had done themselves proud. Oddly this year our Business exams are being sat in a strange order – paper 2 was first, followed by paper 3- the hard one- and finishing with paper 1.
So on Monday …..paper 3 !
