[etni] Problems with class sizes
- From: David Graniewitz <davidzalman@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 18:32:46 +0200
Dear ETNIers,
I teach in two schools which have the same problem. Both are quite small
schools with 2 classes to a grade and in both there is a significant number
of English speakers and of weak pupils meaning that there are approximately
60 pupils to a year.
The pupils are divided up into 3 groups; English Speakers, a regular (alef)
group and a weak group (Bet). However, it seems to be that when this is
done, the regular group (i.e. those learning according to the Ministry
syllabus) is far larger than the rest. At the moment, in one of my schools,
for instance, I am teaching a class of 35 ?alef? pupils whilst the ES class
has only 11 pupils and the ?bet? group has about 15. There is a similar
situation in my other school where I teach 18 7th grade ES pupils. There the
alef class has 32 pupils and the weak group only 9.
It seems to me that this is an unavoidable situation as the ES class will
always be small as there don?t seem to be enough of them and naturally we
try to keep the weak groups as small as possible. The unfortunate
consequence of this is that the alef class becomes unmanageably large.
Having an ES class means that, ironically, those pupils who need the least
attention sit in small classes whilst those that need more sit in large
ones.
As the coordinator in one of my schools, I have been racking my brains
trying to think of a viable solution to this issue. One idea I have come up
with is reducing the hours for the ES class by giving them only 3 frontal
hours. They will get work to do on their own for the 4th hour whilst their
teacher will tutor some of the weaker kids from the alef group. I realise
that there are problems with this idea, but I feel that something must be
done to rectify this unfair situation. We don?t have the hours to bring in
another teacher to divide up the alef group. In one school we have put as
many strong non-ES pupils into the ES group with a certain amount of success
but there simply are not enough of them and the alef group is still too big.
English speakers seem to be a problem that is not discussed. Schools that
don?t have ES classes can have far more balanced classes as far as numbers
are concerned.
I?d like to know how hours are allocated at your schools if you have English
speakers. Are you facing the same problem? If so, have you found a creative
solution to it?
A gezinte vinter
David Graniewitz
Jerusalem
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