[etni] Re: Meitzav test
- From: michele ben <benfam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: liahb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 09:50:52 +0200
**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
I honestly don't know what you do to prepare for the meitzav other than normal
teaching. We taught English as usual at all levels. One week before the test
we gave the kids a copy of the example test that we were given 2 years ago.
They did it as an exercise, we went over it, they took it home to get used to
the format and that's it. We also did a few listening comp exercises with a
tape. We explained to our weakest kids that the test would be hard for them but
that's OK. We said that it doesn't reflect on them and the efforts they are
making in English and that they should continue trying to do their best. We
also said that they don't have to worry, that their grades won't reflect badly
on the school because we know that they are doing their best. We have about 15%
very weak English learners in the eighth grade level, and another 15% weakish,
and I just hope that everyone else did well enough to reflect the hard work we
do throughout the year.
Michele
Liya Barak wrote:
> **** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
>
> Finally the histery is over, and we can return back to normal teaching! Did
> I say" normal"? and what about the "wasted" months which were dedicated
> solly to preparing for the "MEIZAV"? Wake up teachers! What have we been
> doing for the last months? We have been cheating ourselves. What did we
> want to prove? That we are excellent teachers, that our schools are reaching
> results that are far above the norms, that we are cooperating with the
> system. Unfortunately, it happens to be, the same system we are opposing, or
> actually, yearning to improve... We're doing that by feeding it with
> distorted data. On the one hand, we witness in our soul and blood, that we
> are in desperate need for assistance, for adjusting material to different
> population etc. On the other hand - when THE DAY comes - we exempt our weak
> pupils from doing the test (without warning them. I've met some real
> frustrated kids who don't understand why they were not allowed to attend the
> test, .One of them told me: I'm probably "mefager"... In other cases, pupils
> reported that the teachers actually "helped" them find the answers. In
> other cases pupils were simply told to stay at home... They didn't even
> have to fake an excuse. )What does all this tell about US? What message are
> we teaching our pupils? A test which is supposed to mirror the state of the
> education, actually mirrors nothing but US!! GOOD SIMHAS and don't forget to
> be update with the class curriculum! Or you'll be punished by the
> inspector...
> P.S . All this excludes, by definition ,some Zadikim in Sedom...LIYA:
> <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 8:09 PM
> Subject: [etni] 5th grade Meitzav test
>
> > **** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks so much to Renee for her professional and careful comments about
> the
> > test yesterday. I too felt so badly for the kids that were trying to hard
> to
> > figure out what was being asked of them. I was able to stop the tape in
> one
> > class and give the kids time to think but the "official" in the other
> class
> > would not allow it and i wasn't there to insist. There was just not enough
> > time for the kids to think and figure out what was being asked of them.
> >
> > The "weekly newspaper" section was so difficult. I think some students
> would
> > have had difficulty with the same task even if it was in Hebrew. What is
> the
> > point of frustrating the kids and making them feel so inadequate? In my
> > opinion some of the questions and answers seemed designed to trick them.
> >
> > To whoever is involved in designing these tests: Please include elementary
> > school teachers who are currently in the field to help design these tests
> in
> > the future.
> >
> >
> > The only consolation is that we can now get back to teaching normally.
> >
> > mara
> >
> > > Grade 5 - I think that many parts of the test (especially the accessing
> > > information from written texts, otherwise known as reading comp) tried
> to
> > > assess the benchmarks that should be reached by the END of the
> foundation
> > > level e.g the end of grade 6. More specifically:
> > > Listening 1 was fair; even easy.
> > >
> > > Listening 2 was more difficult, but doable if the teacher was allowed to
> > > stop the tape while the pupils marked each answer, in order to give the
> > kids
> > > time to think (and we DO want them to think, don't we?)
> > >
> >
> >
> >
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