Extra felicity O’Dell fce

You now have 45 seconds in which to look at Part 2.
F
Pupils may complain about taking exams but most
teachers would say it is far worse to have to
supervise candidates while they are writing their
exam papers. You have to keep alert for two or
sometimes even three hours. You are not allowed to
read, use your laptop or listen to a walkman. All you
can do is think. We asked an experienced teacher for
his tips for new invigilators. So David, what do you
do while your students are taking their Modern
European History A level?
M Well, first of all, of course, there are a number of
duties that you have to fulfil. You will undoubtedly be
given a list of these – make sure you read it carefully
well in advance of the exam and tick things off as
you do them. One thing that is not always on the list
but which you must do is to tell everyone to turn off
their mobile phones before the exam starts – and
turn your own off own too, of course!
Once the candidates have turned over their sheets
and got started, what do you do? Well, of course,
every now and then you have to walk up and down
the gangways to check that there is no cheating
going on. But you can’t do this all the time or it
would be very distracting for the pupils. Do it
more or less every 20 minutes. That should be
enough to ensure that there is no foul play without
interfering with candidates’ concentration.
How you spend the rest of your time depends on
whether you are a people, or a words or a
numbers person. If you are a people person,
identify all the pupils that you know in the room.
What do you recall about each person? Predict the
future prospects for each of these – will they be a
nuclear physicist, a politician or a criminal? Think
up what you would say to a reporter interviewing
each person’s old school teacher.
If you are a words person, you could try writing a
poem about the experience of being in the exam
room. Don’t get so engrossed in this that you forget
to pay attention to your pupils, though. Alternatively,
you could write an adventure story beginning with
the words ‘If I had not gone into teaching, I would
have ...’
If numbers are more your thing, you can certainly
while away a lot of time on some interesting
calculations. You could try working out, for
example, how many teaching days you have left
until you retire. That might be a bit depressing, I
suppose. You might prefer to think instead of the
summer holidays and to calculate how much
money you will be earning on each of those days
when you are reading the newspaper at home or
lying on a beach in the sunshine.
Activities like these will not only help to pass the
time but should also help you to stay alert enough
to notice any suspicious behaviour.
F
If any of our listeners have suggestions for passing
the time while invigilating please text us on ...