[etni] Re: Merit Pay
- From: "Marlene" <marlenegay@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lev.abramov@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:57:01 +0200
So they have external companies hired by the school to teach 3 pointers how
to answer bagrut tests without understanding the text, learning test
strategies - using LOTS questions. Instead of simplifying the text to the
class level, with questions they can understand and deal with - and testing
them on what they know, the students aim to succeed on a test. Rather than
learning a language, they are learning test taking.
In my C-stream group I provide simple texts, stories with questions they
learn to answer using the grammatical structure/vocabulary that I intend to
teach. This level needs very structured exercises, lots of repetition,
reentry of vocabulary, etc. They love simple stories (literature) - but on
their level.
Now the Meitsav exam is approaching in April, but their regular teacher is
coming back. Will there be sanctions again?
I also agree with your second point - where the administration calls the
shots or the principal [sic] is at stake.
Moreover, I've noticed that there has been a graying of the teaching
profession, i.e., not too many young teachers, but mostly over 50'ers,
recalled from early retirement or whatever. Not too many bright young
people, it seems, willing to take on the enormously tasking profession of
teaching. But us oldies seem to be used to sucking it in, grit our teeth and
taking it.
Marlene
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Lev Abramov" <lev.abramov@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 8:17 AM
To: <drh16@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [etni] Re: Merit Pay
> But this is exactly what has happened - has been happening :) - to the
> English teaching over the past 20 years. Instead of teaching the
> language, teachers tend to teach towards bagrut more and more. this
> inevitably shifts their teaching from aiming at the mastery of the
> language towards raising mediocre students with good test-taking
> skills. Who can be blamed but the system?!
>
> And, of course, you are right in your prediction: merit will be
> determined fairly - but fairness will be applied the way the school
> administration sees fit.
>
> Lev
>
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 2:04 AM, David R. Herz <drh16@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> This would be an unmitigated disaster, and is as bad in theory as it
>> would
>> be in practice. Merit pay will always be attached to some measure, which
>> will always be established by someone outside the classroom, which will
>> increase stress levels and orient teaching in various unwanted
>> directions.
>> What most people want of an educational system are things that are very
>> difficult to measure. Let's take active engagement and ownership of the
>> material - let's take Laurie Orenstein and poetry - as an example. As
>> Ms.
>> Widerker related, her child engaged in spontaneous poetry writing.
>> Others
>> might read more. Others might just engage with what they read
>> differently
>> or more actively. Do any of you think that "active engagement and
>> ownership
>> of the material" would be a basis for merit pay? What will be a basis
>> are
>> things than are easy to measure, think vocabularies and certain
>> grammatical
>> structures, which students can master without taking the context - the
>> actual ability to powerfully use a language - into account. As a result,
>> teachers will turn their attention from what really matters to those
>> things
>> that are rewarded, the irony being that if they do engage in what I say
>> really matters, those skills that are rewarded will advance at a much
>> greater pace, but the pressure will be on spending time drilling on the
>> things that will be tested.
>>
>>
>> What is needed is a fair competitive compensation package so that there
>> are
>> always people willing to take on teaching as a profession, a solid
>> structure
>> for support and improvement, and a fair manner to remove teachers who are
>> not working out.
>>
>>
>>
>> Yours truly,
>>
>>
>>
>> David R. Herz
>>
>> drherz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> www.educatingisrael.com
>>
>> Bet Rimon
>>
>> 052-579-1859
>>
>>
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