----- Original Message ----- From: ELEANOR ZWEBNER <eleanorz541@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: RE: Haaretz articles on education also relevant to HOTS Excellent reading for teachers and a reply to Batya and her HOT remarks 2 relevant articles, indeed 2 articles that all educators should find of interest, both translated from the Hebrew editions of Haaretz and found in the English editions. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091699.html Yochi Brandes—The failure behind the success: Yochi found 2 exceptions to the general abysmal failure of teaching Bible in the classroom Doron Koren: "Dangerous Minds" – Problems, especially discipline, in the Israeli classroom as well as the curriculum http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1094012.html Author Yochi Brandes, who was a Bible teacher before becoming a renowned author, discusses the academization of Bible in the classroom, causing it to become sterile prose instead of the world's greatest story. Pupils are learning a lot of terminology instead of discussing the frailties of human beings. She also reports that many teachers ignore the peculiar fact that the Bible tells OUR story about THIS land – "the source of our identity and culture." In last week's Hebrew magazine and this week's English version, literature critic, Doron Koren discusses his stint as a homeroom teacher and a Bible teacher in a junior high school in Bat Yam. He too discusses the curriculum which has destroyed most teaching, particularly on the junior high school level. For example: whole language: the kids can't read; Bible, in addition to their inability to read it, he too discusses the sterilization of the greatest book of all. EVERYTHING these two have written is relevant to us as teachers in general and specifically to those of us who are having this HOTshot program shoved down our throats. And of course, this does not include my repeated comments regarding the additional work, saving the MOE money at our expense because it will save the ministry one module of exams, and lastly, being on the battlefront facing pupils, parents and often administrators, when giving a BAGRUT grade which will no longer be a standardized exam. Eleanor ----------------------------------------------- ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org or - http://www.etni.org.il ** ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------