[etni] Fw: HOTS in Lit

From: "Ask_Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
To: "ETNI" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2008 13:27:29 +0200
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Dr. Rachel Segev-Miller 
Subject: Re: HOTS in Lit


[1]

Subject: [etni] My reflections on the literature course
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:13:17 +0200

 

Anonymous wrote:

 

"I have nothing against teaching higher order thinking skills - on the 
contrary, I spend a lot of time on that (without giving it a name... ), but I 
don't think that it should be on literature's back."

 

I agree. Since literature, at its most basic level, requires reading 
comprehension, and since reading comprehension has been and still is a problem 
for many students (see: one reaction below), and is not explicitly taught by 
most L2 English teachers (or L1 Hebrew and Arabic, for that matter) as a result 
of lack of adequate preparation (see: my 2003 article in ETAI Forum), I have 
already suggested elsewhere (e.g., Segev-Miller, 2008a, 2008b) that instead of 
the HOTS in Lit courses, courses in reading (with an emphasis on strategies 
rather than questions, or process rather than product) should be offered to 
English teachers. I think the decision to apply the HOTS to literature rather 
than reading is a mistake. 

 

According to a recent survey, 82% of students' learning time in high school and 
college is devoted to "learning from text", or reading. However, many of our 
students cannot read at the level of "learning from text" either in their L1 
(Hebrew or Arabic) or L2 (English, or L3 in the case of Arab students). Reading 
is also a precondition for entering literate society (Brown & Campione, 1996). 
This is especially true today of the ability to read in English (Briggs, 2008). 
 

 

 

[2]

Subject: [etni] Re: Literature to Anonymous
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:57:35 +0200

 

FROM ONE ANONYMOUS REACTION:

 

"The Ministry should be dealing with the real problems of the growing numbers 
of teenagers who cannot read and write in English and (.)."

 

 

[3]

Subject: [etni] Re: Literature to Anonymous
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 10:57:35 +0200

 

FROM STILL ANOTHER ANONYMOUS REACTION:

 

"The focus seems to me about teaching HOTS rather than teaching literature. In 
other words, rather than making our kids aware of the art within the pieces of 
literature and thus appreciate literature for its own sake (making them 
sensitive to irony, symbols etc. etc.), we are supposed to teach them THINKING 
SKILLS."

 

With regard to the issue of higher-order thinking skills (a term which is 
almost as passé as Bloom's 57 year-old taxonomy), once again, as in the case of 
reading, writing, grammar, etc., English teachers are required to take care of 
issues which should have been dealt with earlier (e.g., primary school) by the 
teachers of other subjects taught in the students' L1.





Dr. Rachel Segev-Miller
The English Department, The Center of Academic Literacy,
& The M.Ed. Program in Interdisciplinary Education
Kibbutzim College of Education;
& The M.Ed. Programs in Language Education & Learning and Instruction
Levinsky College of Education
Tel-Aviv, Israel
email: aki_seg@xxxxxxxxxx; aki.segev@xxxxxxxxx

-----------------------------------------------
        Call for Articles
      The Etni Rag needs you

** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org 
   or - http://www.etni.org.il **
** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx **
** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
-----------------------------------------------
[etni] Fw: HOTS in Lit

Other related posts:
