[etni] conference and bagrut
- From: michele ben <benfam@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ETNI Discussion List <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004 00:30:03 +0300
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First of all, I would like to thank everyone involved in
organizing the conference for all your hard work. The
conference was great and your work is appreciated.
Now, at the risk of being attacked and chastised, I
would like to comment on the modular Bagrut. Like most of
us, I think that the E through G tests were a bit "off."
The texts were not especially stimulating and the shorter
texts were harder to comprehend than the longer ones on the
point tests, as others have pointed out. When I read the
tests and did them, I thought that the questions were
AWFUL. There were quite a few questions with quite a few
answers that in my humble opinion could all be considered
correct. On one hand, I know that testers are supposed to
allow for all correct answers as long as they are
reasonable. On the other hand, it seems to me that there
shouldn't be so many different ways to come up with a
reasonable answer. Many questions were ambiguous. When I
found myself referring back to the passage repeatedly to
find answers, I knew something had to be wrong. In
addition, our staff members couldn't agree on correct
answers.
HOWEVER - I think it's wonderful that so many problems
came up. This was the first time the tests were tried. I
have faith that the glitches will be worked out. ALL of our
"native speakers" redid the test for moed bet, as did many
12th graders. Until now I thought that this moed bet
business was idiotic, but since English is such an important
subject, I now realize that it is imperative that the kids
get a second chance if the first test was poorly written.
The modular system is fantastic. It gives the weaker
kids a chance to do well and get ahead. It gives kids on
the border between 3 and 4 to try for 4 and still leave
school with a Bagrut certificate if they fail the 4. We had
a class of extremely weak 10th graders who all did A and all
passed! Now they have one point of their bagrut. I am sure
that this will motivate them to actually try for 3. My 3
pointers in yud aleph who want to move to 4 points did the C
module along with the A. It was difficult for me to cover
the work for the school grade when not everyone in the class
was going to the same tests, but I managed, they managed and
their grades were given according to the guidelines. The
results were amazing. My lowest C grade was an 86. My 3
pointers did better than many of the 4 pointers who did the
test. I am sure that this happened because they knew that
they would be rewarded for a good grade by moving up. These
kids will do B in winter and try D and E in summer. Again,
it will be hard to get the school grades done correctly but
it is doable.
One more thing. A "native speaker" who didn't do well
on the modular bagrut at the end of ELEVENTH grade still has
two (four with the moed bet) more opportunites to try and
improve the grade. I think that getting so upset over the
results is counterproductive. No one will be harmed. No
bodily harm will come to a pupil who repeats a test. If
teachers don't get hysterical then no mental or emotional
harm will come to them either.
We should keep in mind that it's English that we are
trying to teach and get the kids to learn. English. Not
Bagrut. If they learn English then they'll do well on the
Bagrut. A glitchy first try at the format does not mean
that the modular system is bad. It just means that there
was a glitchy first try. If things are like this in a
couple of years then there will be reason to blow our
stacks. Meanwhile, I personally am trying to keep things in
proportion.
Michele
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