[etni] Literature Module negotiations

From: evelyn solomonov <efs@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:54:54 +0300
Dear Colleagues,
I have sent the following letter to the Minister of Education with copies to 
Dr. Shoshani, Ran Erez, and Judy Steiner.  If you are concerned with the same 
issues as I and would like to send a letter, feel free to use mine with your 
name or please write your own.  The only way we can get organized- without 
striking, I hope, is to demand that the union and the ministry "get their act 
together".  
After all,  if we English teachers don?t speak up and demand action from both 
the Ministry and the Irgun, then ?The fault, dear teachers [sic] is not in our 
stars,/ But in ourselves, that we are underlings.? (W.. Shakespeare, Julius 
Caesar, Act I, sc.ii)
Thanks for considering action!
Evelyn Solomonov

Minister of Education, Gideon Sa?ar

 

Dear Sir,

 

In several weeks, the 2009-2010 school year will begin.  Unfortunately, much 
like in previous years, the high school English teachers once again find 
themselves ?between a rock and a hard place?.  

 

With the implementation of the ?New Literature Module? set to replace the 
present Modules D and F matriculation exams for those tenth graders entering 
high school this year, high school English teachers are already being faced 
with a problem.  The English Department of the Ministry has posted The 
Teachers? Handbook- Integrating Higher-Order Thinking Skills with the Teaching 
of Literature and the guidelines on its website, while attached to the Handbook 
is a letter stating that only teachers taking the workshop explaining how to 
teach this new program will be allowed to prepare students for the Literature 
Module (F/D modules).  However, the Irgun has told its members NOT to attend 
workshops and not to do the preparation and class work needed for this program 
because an agreement has not yet been reached about remuneration for the 
work/hours the teachers will have to devote to this new module.

 

As always, we teachers and our students bear the brunt of the inability and 
intractability of both the Ministry and the Irgun to sit down and iron out 
their differences.  Whether we support the implementation of the Literature 
Module or not is irrelevant.  As members of the Irgun, we must follow its 
directives whether or not we agree with them. However, it is time for both 
sides to sit down and talk and come to some agreement regarding this new 
program.  Passivity will not reach an understanding.  Doing nothing harms only 
the students and the teachers. A lack of agreement does not permit teachers who 
want to prepare for a successful year to do so. 

 

It is time for the Ministry and the Irgun to realistically approach the demands 
and to arrive at solution that will enable us- English teachers and students- 
to begin the year in a productive manner. Will another year begin without a 
program followed by all high school English teachers?  Will another year begin 
in which last minutes changes to the ?project? requirement need to be made so 
that our students won?t be ?punished? if they have teachers who follow the 
directives of the Irgun?  Will yet another year begin promising ?catch-up? 
rather than organized, focused yearly plans?  For once, abandon politics and 
self-serving actions: think of the teachers and students who take the state of 
our education seriously.

 

Sincerely, 

 

Evelyn Fisher Solomonov, English teacher

Herzog High School, Kfar Saba



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[etni] Literature Module negotiations

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