Every pilot pauses before taking off!
Plane taking off in the sky
A trend I am noticing across my students this week in the final lead up to the GCSE and A Level examinations is that they are getting in their own way when it comes to showing what they can do. Many of them actually have fantastic knowledge of the texts, the context and the examination requirements. However, they are second guessing themselves when it comes to constructing their answers in practice questions. Then, because the magical quotation or stroke of analysis does not come to their fingertips instantly, they panic and declare they are not ready. My job this week has been to convince them that they really are.
One example from a session the other evening. We were doing a Jekyll and Hyde practice question - a text we have pulled apart and put back together again multiple times since January. She is more than ready but she was getting stressed as she could not find an immediate quotation about why a reader might not feel sympathy for Jekyll. Rather than give her a quotation (which is always soooo tempting as a one to one tutor), I got her to take a step back. We did a brainstorm of what we knew and realised the main problem with Jekyll is that he is entirely the author of his own fate. He took on forces of which he had no understanding and messed about with them. We then thought about any warning signs we are given in the novel about what Jekyll is doing. Who is the biggest critic of his work? Lanyon! What does Lanyon say about Jekyll? He has gone ‘wrong, wrong in my mind’. Suddenly, the quotation and the shape of the paragraph were there. By taking that step back, she has found a great quotation to use. Most importantly, she realised she knew the novel far better than she realised.
Another student was really struggling with how to start his paragraphs. He had been taught PEEL relentlessly but something was not sticking. So I got him to pick two quotations from an extract for me in order to answer the question. He did it almost instantly. I asked why he had chosen these quotations. He gave me great answers for both. They were perfect ways to start the paragraph off and literally all he needed to do was go back a step. The answer was already there inside his head; he just did not trust that it was.
We put so much emphasis on quotation learning in English and this creates so much stress and anxiety for the students. Some feel that if they cannot recite Macbeth from start to finish, they are definitely not ready. But this is not what the examiners want. Otherwise the exam would consist of writing out speeches from memory. It is the understanding behind the text that we need and my students this week need reassuring that they have it. There is nothing new they need to learn and to be perfectly honest, there is no point in trying to learn new material with days to go until the first exam. What they need are those small little tweaks that will enable their analysis to flow on the day. Taking the time just to breathe and slow down is helping them see what they need to do and stop them from getting in their own way.
Before a plane takes off, there is always that brief pause at the end of the runway. That is what they need to do next week; take that small moment to collect and consolidate, before getting ready to fly.
