[etni] Fw: Philosophical questions about the "NEW" Bagrut exam
- From: "Ask Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "Etni" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:56:10 +0200
----- Original Message -----
From: Ruthi - rsheffer@xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Philosophical questions about the "NEW" Bagrut exam
Dear Fellow Etnians,
Ok I am going to write a long rant now so anyone who can't take it is
welcome to delete straight away.I am writing this letter from the
perspective of my sabbatical year ,so please feel free to take issue on
anything which you think I have got wrong.Also it is a culmination of talks
I have had with various friends at different schools, and in no way a
reflection only of the situation in my own school.
I have had nothing to do with the Bagrut this year whatsoever, so I have no
personal ax to grind.I am not writing anonymously because a). .I am not
scared of being fired since I know how many teachers are lacking in our
system, and that is a sad reflection of some of the things I am going to say
and b) I believe we should be honest within our own teaching community about
the things that bother us, even if we sometimes feel that nobody "upstairs"
is interested in what we have to say.
It seems to me that something is seriously wrong with the way we are going
about things . And I mean principally the New Bagrut program. And I don't
know why we continue to call it "NEW" (hence the inverted commas) because,
maybe we gave it the benefit of the doubt when it was teething but by now
the admin problems should all have been ironed out.They haven't. Far from
it.
The new system , as I understand it, was instituted in order to allow for
more borderline students to move from one level to another.
The second idea was that of alternative assessment as embodied within the
Project part of the exam.
So for a relatively small number of students to be allowed to complete
modules ,the whole system was rearranged at great cost to the teachers, who
spend hours preparing lists, more lists, and grading the different modules,
both at exam time ,and of course throughout the year.I personally have not
yet understood the difference between modules F and G (when often G is
easier than F bit that is a minor point)
Then there is the added stress of the Moed Bet. I still have not understood
the logic in having a second exam 3 weeks after the first, as if a student
is going to have studied in order to improve in such a short period of time.
I have other issues but am loath to overload Etni with all of them now,
especially as other people have pointed them out in the past.
Now I come to the subject of the Project ,which is intended as an example of
alternative assessment, to encourage creativity etc.
Well over the course of the past year I have spent some time examining what
EFL teachers in other countries are doing to encourage their students to
speak ,write, and read in English.And believe me there are some incredible
projects going on out there, and we could definitely
allow students to prepare oral presentations using Voicethread, or blogs
incorporating music and film on any number of free websites that they could
present to an examiner.Or ,students could collaborate with other classrooms
on world projects on eclassroom or the flat classroom. And any of these
would be a great form of alternative assessment, where students would be
engaged in using REAL English in the classroom and interacting with other
students in other countries.All of these would be NEW. The world the
students move in contains google, Facebook, and Instant messaging, none of
which are reflected in the so-called new bagrut, which in many ways
represents a retreat away from the Old Bagrut ,where at least we could
relate to the Literature on many levels,including Film .
But we can't get them to doany of this,if ultimately it is not tested in the
Bagrut...( I know we have extended reading but again, not tested in the
Bagrut,therefore hard to enforce)
Yet students in Qatar,Egypt, Finland , Italy and so on are doing all of
these things . I hardly think that a 10 page printed project mostly culled
from Wikipedia with a few pretty pictures stuck in is as fullfilling for the
students. And we all know how impossible it is for teachers to play cat and
mouse with students to find out who /where they cut and pasted from.
Sorry to go on so long,and I did want to mention the Listening fiasco with
the radios,but I am sure you are tired of me by now.
All comments appreciated,
Ruth
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