[etni] Re: Fw: teaching literature
- From: Bari Nirenberg <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: ask@xxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:13:20 +0200
Thanks for the compliment, Esther :-)
I, too, enjoyed the course with Mitzi. However, as you, Esther, know, even
during the course, I expressed my reservations about 4-pointers being able
to deal with the HOTS program. In fact, it's one of my few objections to
the program. I, too, have done some HOTS literature lessons this year, but
mine have been in a good 5-point class and with gifted kids in the junior
high, which, of course, makes all the difference. The lessons worked well
with both the 5-pointers and the gifted students (future 5-pointers), but I
can definitely understand the difficulties that you had with your girls.
Although, for various reasons, my school plans on doing the log at all
levels, I am still deeply concerned about the fact that we have not seen a
sample D exam. I asked about this and was told that it would look more or
less like the F exam, but with more LOTS questions and fewer HOTS
questions. I didn't find that answer satisfactory and I strongly suspect
that the overwhelming majority of 4-pointers will be doing logs and not the
exam, which is, perhaps, what the Ministry is counting on -- I don't know.
Bari
2010/2/24 Ask_Etni <ask@xxxxxxxx>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Esther Revivo - estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: teaching literature
>
>
> Well, it looks like we're never going to be free of this HOTS issue!
> Phyllis, I liked your poem, by the way. (POEM it is indeed!)
>
> I had the pleasure of being with Bari Nirenberg in the same on-line HOTS
> course, and believe me she is what we call in the States a "cracker jack"
> teacher. (Translation: fantastic :) Bari wrote that teaching HOTS, "doesn't
> mean that you can't be creative or talk about the literature or do any of
> the things you've been doing all along." In essence she is correct if we
> had
> enough hours to teach literature; writing; listening comprehension;
> unseens;
> do projects; etc. (Ah! To think I never appreciated those years of 5 hours
> per week!) My HOTS course with Mitzi Gefen was the best in-service course I
> ever took in my 32 year teaching career.
>
> I started teaching HOTS in my horrifically weak 10th grade class this fall
> and stopped only when I heard the program was put on hold. (To remind all
> and sundry: 1/2 of my 10th grade class lives in Sederot and I decided not
> to
> make problems for them even though this makes me a "scab.") My girls are
> "intellectually challenged," to put it politely, and they would have
> problems digesting HOTS in their native tongue. Until this year I have
> always adored teaching literature, but teaching HOTS with the literature
> was
> for me like attaching a 10 ton anchor to my sailboat. I sank gloriously. My
> pupils had an extremely difficult time understanding what I wanted out of
> them, and I lost my joy of teaching literature. With the puny 4 hours a
> week
> I have, I felt unbelievable pressure and like a prisoner who got a reprieve
> when the program was put off.
>
> I am ALL in favor of teaching HOTS in the native tongue beginning in
> elementary school. As a child I never once decorated a school notebook.
> However, I clearly recall doing unseens in the fourth grade, and was
> assigned my first "research" project in seventh grade. Yes, our pupils need
> to be taught to THINK and not learn by rote. And yes, EFL teachers MUST
> teach literature; it is one of the joys of the English language and
> teachers
> who have refrained from teaching literature have been derelict in their
> duty. But why for heavens sake was the old Bagrut form of testing
> literature
> not reinstated instead of this HOTS business? The course was an
> intellectual
> challenge and a joy to do with Mitzi, but putting it into use in the
> classroom was anything but a joy for me this year.
>
> Hoping for a continued reprieve,
> Esther Revivo
> Ulpanat Tzvia Sedot Negev
>
>
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