[etni] Fw: Re: Hots again
- From: "Ask_Etni" <ask@xxxxxxxx>
- To: "ETNI List" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 18 May 2010 11:00:57 +0300
----- Original Message -----
From: Phylllis Oded <phylliso@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Hots again
Dear Ben Sommers:
I agree with you 100% that the students coming from the elementary
schools are at a lower level every year, even in the 'good areas'. Not to
mention the school by name, but last year my granddaughters had three
English teachers in one year and the gap subsequently caused will NEVER be
adequately closed.
l. Most of the parents weren't even aware of this problem, 2. the
principal decided that it could be closed the following year and 3. some
parents gave their children private lessons. Those who had the private
lessons are the only ones to date who are up to the required level!
Therefore, if students enter junior high with inadequate vocabulary and
reading/writing/grammar/speaking skills, how does the Board of Education
think these students can be taught the HOTS skills later on down the road
when the teachers are trying to close the huge gaps.......or don't they
think? Don't they see the 'big picture'? It's easy to say 'DO IT' but WE are
the ones in the classrooms daily.
There have been so many complaints yet they seem to fall on deaf ears.
Literature [and subsequently the HOTS skills] need a good basis, one our
students don't seem to be coming with from their elementary schools. Is it
because of poor teaching skills on the part of the teacher? Overcrowded
classrooms? Too few hours? or a combination of all three? Why doesn't the
Board of Education deal with these problems from the BOTTOM instead of
forcing/demanding things from the top?
Yours, Phyllis Oded
Ben wrote:
> I have been following the hot debate with interest.
> I feel we are arguing about the cream on the cake - students who can
> handle literature are fine by me.
> Our real problem is the ever increasing number of students who come out of
> primary school without being close to the required standard in English (or
> Math).
> It occurs to me that the years of budget cuts hacking into the primary
> system have really taken their toll, and that this is the real situation
> that has to be rectified.
> If most of my work in Junior and High School is trying to close enormous
> gaps that should never have been there in the first place, - ( one's heart
> asks how could all this not have been detected and fixed when the
> problems, and students, were still small) - literature is frankly not
> really
> a big help in this.
> I love teaching literature, and wish it could be done more often.
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