[etni] Re: 4-5 p catch
- From: Sandra Yosef-Hassidim <hassidim@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Ruthi <rsheffer@xxxxxxxxx>, etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 06:46:42 -0700 (PDT)
Hi Ruthi
We actually have set up some kind of an English teachers' forum. This forum has
met on several occasions, put down in writing all the issues English teachers
have to deal with without getting paid for -way beyond what's accepted as
"normal" among teachers of other subjects-such as the insanity of English
coordination, the modular tests, the projects etc..., and this forum has
even met with Judy Steiner, who is, by the way, well aware of the problems in
English teaching and -hopefully-willing to help us improve our conditions.
But... as we well know by now, if the government doesn't take a strategic
decision to start investing in education, nothing will really change. If people
are interested in seeing this document, I will ask the head of this forum,
Alumma Avron, if she can publish it on Etni.
Sandra
----- Original Message ----
From: Ruthi <rsheffer@xxxxxxxxx>
To: hassidim@xxxxxxxxx; Ask <ask@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 4, 2008 1:22:29 PM
Subject: Re: [etni] 4-5 p catch
Sandra you are dead right. That's why maybe we need a separate union for
English teachers to protect our interests.
The other subjects (with the possible exception of Math which is more
objective- no essays to mark, no LD concessions except time)
All these considerations put a burden on our time and energy.
This was suggested on Etni and I think we should seriously think about it...
Ruth
On Fri, Jul 4, 2008 at 10:30 AM, Sandra Yosef-Hassidim <hassidim@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Hi everyone. Re the 4-5 point dilemma.
We have all been dealing with this issue somehow. At my school there is a clear
policy of pushing students up to 5p. I teach at a very prestigious school and
the students won't settle for less unless they're really weak and even those
usually get their parents to exercize pressure on our management so they will
be given the opportunity to "prove" themselves (even if their other grades all
show failing grades) mamash up to the very day of the matkonet. The students
are all too aware of the new opportunities the modular bagrut offers. They have
safety nets all around them and they can try and retry without risking or
paying anything. The sad result is that doing the bagrut in English has really
become some kind of a roulette. The problem is that the flexiblity of the
system has made everything very confusing to the student. And it has undermined
the teacher's authority and his/her professional judgement. In fact, we
teachers, are nowadays expected to
teach under the humiliating conditions of the public school system (I trust I
won't have to give any examples...)while offering the students the testing
opportunities of an external/private school system. In my opinion, this is the
worst aspect of the new bagrut. And it is wearing me out. What does this have
to do with the 4-5 dilemma, you might ask. Well, I think that we English
teachers have enough work on our plates. We should just be teaching and we
shouldn't have to be bothered by questions such as university requirements or
planning strategies how to make it possible for a student to try for F and G
while at the same time preparing a magen for C and D, just in case... Because
what we are actually doing here is providing an individual learning program for
about 30% of our 40 pupils counting classes. Preparing extra magens
means writing and marking extra tests , which we are not paid for-of course.
But even worse is the fact that students know
how the system works and they know they can try for the 5p in any case, so
instead of working hard at a 4p level, proving themselves and then moving up to
the 5p level (isn't that every teacher's dream?), they waste their energy on
fighting placement decisions, stop working when they are forced to sit in a 4p
group and keep trying to get into the 5p because anyway, they feel they won't
lose anything by doing so;once they do E in yudalef, they can do C and D in
winter and F and G in summer. We teachers know that most of these students
won't live up to a 5p level-especially when for 2 years they have been
planning strategies instead of actually working on their English-but sadly the
students do not see it that way. Because they are misled by this half private
system. That's why they keep telling their teachers "ma echpatlach she ashev be
5 ani tamid jahol lehashlim le 4". They have lost the sense of "first having to
prove yourself"-they want it
INSTANT-now, like a 5p kochav nolad! With minimum investment and maximum
opportunities! And that's what the new bagrut has been teaching them. Real
great education. Well I am not for it at all. I want to do what I am paid (?)
for: teaching them at their current level and trying to get them to improve
through hard work, so I can move them up to the next level. And I want ALL my
35 students to be at a similar level, taking the same tests, at the same moed
until THEY have proven they can move up. And then I want them to move up to
ANOTHER group, because I am fed up with splitting myself up into 4 levels of
teaching. Is that too much to ask for?
Sandra
--
For people who like peace and quiet - a phoneless cord
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