27th Cylus, 717
Tei'serin had a love-hate relationship with grading papers. Most of the few teachers she had met during her arcs as a teacher hated doing it. And Tei'serin could understand why. Grading any kind of test, or assignment was a long, tedious, thankless task. It was rare that the students ever did more than glance at the graded assignment briefly before shoving it into their bags, or glare at her if they had done poorly enough to merit having to show the assignment to their parents to get it signed. It was even more rare for one of the children to thank her for her efforts, and when one did, they were often ridiculed by their peers and called a "teacher's pet" for their trouble.
Of course, grading does have its funny moments, too. Tei'serin thought in amusement as she began grading Torrin's spelling test.
At the tender age of seven arcs, Torrin was one of her younger students. He had a fascination with snakes. Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer was always the same; a snake. One of the vocabulary words she had assigned his arc group the week before was test. And there, in handwriting that was quite good for a child of his arcs, was the carefully written word - tesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst. Next to the long, drawn out word, the correct spelling of the word was written in parentheses. Tei'serin couldn't help it; she giggled.
Is he actually pretending to be a snake now, not just wanting to be one when he grows up? she thought as she reined in her amusement.
Tei'serin marked the answer as correct, since the word in parentheses proved that the young boy knew the correct spelling of the word. Then she added a cautionary note, warning Torrin that snakes ate mice, and other rodents, not the frosted sugar cookies that he loved so much. She also made a mental note to remember to keep an eye on the young boy so she could step in quickly should he decide to start giving his fellow students "snake bites." Seven arcs should be old enough for a child to have learned that biting people wasn't acceptable, but experience had taught her that one could never be entirely certain what a little imp like Torrin was likely to come up with in his pursuit of mischief and fun.
She moved on to the next spelling test. When Tei'serin saw that the exam belonged to Harald, she couldn't help but frown. The eight arc old Lotharro boy was a brilliant student...when he wanted to be. "When he wanted to be" was the key phrase there. In history, he was at the top of his arc group. His knowledge of the subject even rivaled that of students who were arcs older than he was. Harald loved history so much that he devoured any history book he could get his hands on. He preferred learning about various battles, possibly due to his Lotharro heritage. But he wasn't very pick when it came to historical events; if it happened in the past, then he wanted to know all about it.
Harald was one of those students who had to be kept interested in what he was learning, and challenged if you wanted to have any hope of keeping his mind on his studies. Vocabulary wasn't a subject that interested him...and it showed in the results of his test. It was painfully obvious that the boy had not bothered to study for the spelling test at all. By the time that Tei'serin had finished marking the exam, the paper was filled with bright red marks, each one identifying an incorrect answer. With a sigh, she wrote the boy's grade at the top of the exam, and circled it. Harald had failed the exam, having gotten only one of the words she had tested them on right.
Harald could be as good at spelling as he is with history if he wanted to be. Memorizing vocabulary words is no harder than memorizing historical facts, and dates. In fact, it might even be easier. He just needs to put the effort into it. How can I make him see that? she wondered.
Tei'serin considered the problem. Harald was plenty smart enough to learn the material. And laziness wasn't the problem, either. He spent many breaks reading the history books she suggested to him, and he was always quick to ask for history assignments that he could do for extra credit. No, the boy wasn't lazy, in the slightest. His problem was the lack of motivation to put in the effort needed; if he wasn't motivated to do the work, he rushed through it as quickly as possible. Spelling wasn't the only subject that suffered from his lack of interest.
So how do I motivate him? As of now, he is failing spelling...and he doesn't care. Is there a way to make it interesting to him? I could try to use history themed words in the exams...but, no, that wouldn't really work. Harald might be willing to learn how to spell the words that interested him, but he is going to need to know how to spell a lot more than just history related words. So, what then?
Tei'serin's eyes widened as she thought of a possible solution to her problem.
What if I offered him a reward for doing well in his weaker subjects? I could offer him extra history lessons each time he got an A on a spelling, or math exam. And if he gets everything right in a big exam, I could give him a history book of his choice? Bribing a child to study is hardly professional, but if it works, I'll take it at this point. It won't work indefinitely, but if I can just get him to understand that learning more words will help him read the more difficult history books, it may not have too. Hmm...maybe I can use that, too. If I give him one of the harder history tests that I know is a little too difficult for him now, it might prove to him that he needs to put more effort into studying his vocabulary.
Tei'serin had a love-hate relationship with grading papers. Most of the few teachers she had met during her arcs as a teacher hated doing it. And Tei'serin could understand why. Grading any kind of test, or assignment was a long, tedious, thankless task. It was rare that the students ever did more than glance at the graded assignment briefly before shoving it into their bags, or glare at her if they had done poorly enough to merit having to show the assignment to their parents to get it signed. It was even more rare for one of the children to thank her for her efforts, and when one did, they were often ridiculed by their peers and called a "teacher's pet" for their trouble.
Of course, grading does have its funny moments, too. Tei'serin thought in amusement as she began grading Torrin's spelling test.
At the tender age of seven arcs, Torrin was one of her younger students. He had a fascination with snakes. Whenever anyone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, the answer was always the same; a snake. One of the vocabulary words she had assigned his arc group the week before was test. And there, in handwriting that was quite good for a child of his arcs, was the carefully written word - tesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst. Next to the long, drawn out word, the correct spelling of the word was written in parentheses. Tei'serin couldn't help it; she giggled.
Is he actually pretending to be a snake now, not just wanting to be one when he grows up? she thought as she reined in her amusement.
Tei'serin marked the answer as correct, since the word in parentheses proved that the young boy knew the correct spelling of the word. Then she added a cautionary note, warning Torrin that snakes ate mice, and other rodents, not the frosted sugar cookies that he loved so much. She also made a mental note to remember to keep an eye on the young boy so she could step in quickly should he decide to start giving his fellow students "snake bites." Seven arcs should be old enough for a child to have learned that biting people wasn't acceptable, but experience had taught her that one could never be entirely certain what a little imp like Torrin was likely to come up with in his pursuit of mischief and fun.
She moved on to the next spelling test. When Tei'serin saw that the exam belonged to Harald, she couldn't help but frown. The eight arc old Lotharro boy was a brilliant student...when he wanted to be. "When he wanted to be" was the key phrase there. In history, he was at the top of his arc group. His knowledge of the subject even rivaled that of students who were arcs older than he was. Harald loved history so much that he devoured any history book he could get his hands on. He preferred learning about various battles, possibly due to his Lotharro heritage. But he wasn't very pick when it came to historical events; if it happened in the past, then he wanted to know all about it.
Harald was one of those students who had to be kept interested in what he was learning, and challenged if you wanted to have any hope of keeping his mind on his studies. Vocabulary wasn't a subject that interested him...and it showed in the results of his test. It was painfully obvious that the boy had not bothered to study for the spelling test at all. By the time that Tei'serin had finished marking the exam, the paper was filled with bright red marks, each one identifying an incorrect answer. With a sigh, she wrote the boy's grade at the top of the exam, and circled it. Harald had failed the exam, having gotten only one of the words she had tested them on right.
Harald could be as good at spelling as he is with history if he wanted to be. Memorizing vocabulary words is no harder than memorizing historical facts, and dates. In fact, it might even be easier. He just needs to put the effort into it. How can I make him see that? she wondered.
Tei'serin considered the problem. Harald was plenty smart enough to learn the material. And laziness wasn't the problem, either. He spent many breaks reading the history books she suggested to him, and he was always quick to ask for history assignments that he could do for extra credit. No, the boy wasn't lazy, in the slightest. His problem was the lack of motivation to put in the effort needed; if he wasn't motivated to do the work, he rushed through it as quickly as possible. Spelling wasn't the only subject that suffered from his lack of interest.
So how do I motivate him? As of now, he is failing spelling...and he doesn't care. Is there a way to make it interesting to him? I could try to use history themed words in the exams...but, no, that wouldn't really work. Harald might be willing to learn how to spell the words that interested him, but he is going to need to know how to spell a lot more than just history related words. So, what then?
Tei'serin's eyes widened as she thought of a possible solution to her problem.
What if I offered him a reward for doing well in his weaker subjects? I could offer him extra history lessons each time he got an A on a spelling, or math exam. And if he gets everything right in a big exam, I could give him a history book of his choice? Bribing a child to study is hardly professional, but if it works, I'll take it at this point. It won't work indefinitely, but if I can just get him to understand that learning more words will help him read the more difficult history books, it may not have too. Hmm...maybe I can use that, too. If I give him one of the harder history tests that I know is a little too difficult for him now, it might prove to him that he needs to put more effort into studying his vocabulary.
