[etni] Yearly grades and yearly heartache -- the ziun shnotti
- From: Barry Silverberg <barisil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ETNI list <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 01:44:56 +0300
Hello Highschool teachers.
Whatever happened to those beautiful rubrics set up by the inspectorate,
which included percentages for the project, literature, extended reading
etc..?
What ever happened to that lovely rhetoric -- that only we English teachers
offer our students the privilege of getting tested internally on different
skills and knowledge that is tested externally?
If this is what the inspectorate wants, much more effort should have been
put in to inform and train the principals. The principals and the parents
still believe that an English 'magen' is the best 'matconnet' exam grade
plus 10%.
Once again, the English teachers have been put in a very treacherous spot,
without the proper weapons needed to survive.
All the best,
Barry Silverberg.
----- Original Message -----
From: "sara g" <saragabai@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "ETNI list" <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 10:00 PM
Subject: [etni] Re: Fw: yearly grades
> I'm sorry but I don't agree with Batya.
> The grade we give used to be called the "magen" and it was defined
> as something that will "protect" a student who doesn't feel well on the
> day
> of the bagrut, but did study all year.
> but then the name was changed to "tziun shnati" and the explanation i
> heard
> from the MOE was that the student's final grade should be 50% - the bagrut
> test grade, and 50% - what s/he did in class - participation, homework,
> projects etc. And this can either help or harm the student. If this is
> explained to the students and parents over and over, starting in the 10th
> grade, even if they argue that the tziyun shanti is lower than what they
> will get in the test, they know what your answer is going to be.
>
> sara g
>
>
>
> 2010/5/22 Ask_Etni <ask@xxxxxxxx>
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: sbshai - sbshai@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Subject: yearly grades
>>
>>
>> Hi Michele,
>> In answer to your question about what would be accomplished by
>> eliminating
>> the school grade for the Bagrut, I'd like to first explain why many
>> teachers
>> find this to be a useless ordeal:
>>
>> First, it's an ordeal because we take great pains to be both considerate
>> and
>> fair -- i.e., we want to (realistically) reward students who have
>> attended
>> class (both physically and mentally!), prepared their assignments and
>> generally shown an effort to progress in their language proficiency. At
>> least, this is what we understand the purpose of the tziun shnati to be;
>> it
>> should serve as a magen for deserving students, especially those who
>> never
>> quite become 'mavens' at Bagrut stategy (all their practice
>> notwithstanding).
>>
>> The useless part figures in this way: No matter how hard we work at these
>> grades, we are inevitably deprived of a sense of satisfaction: Principals
>> may be disappointed that our averages aren't higher, parents are upset
>> and
>> students claim we've ruined their lives -- regardless of how generous
>> we've
>> actually been!
>> The sad result is that the best hagglers may win in the end simply by
>> wearing us down, which is clearly an unjust situation. Why should we be
>> subjected to such demeaning behavior?
>>
>> To top all this, there is no standardization throughout the country in
>> the
>> way these grades are given. For example, in some schools English
>> speakers
>> automatically get 100%, even if this is unwarranted according to their
>> work
>> record.
>> There are many schools who start with a bonus of 10 points for their
>> students, also without regard for any meaningful criteria.
>>
>> The bottom line is this -- and it's reiterated by principals, parents and
>> students: If the student can achieve a higher score on his Bagrut than
>> we've
>> given as a yearly grade (which can indeed happen as there's bound to be
>> any
>> easy enough exam among all the ones he's allowed to take, and he receives
>> THAT mark -- not an average of all his tests), then we do look stingy!
>>
>> So when all is said and done -- regardless of what we're told -- the
>> yearly
>> grade is not what it's cracked up to be! It's just an unnecessary hassle
>> for us, and the way the system works now, our students get enough chances
>> to
>> succeed on the Bagrut. (Hence, our ordeal is rather useless.)
>>
>> **
>> ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **
>> -----------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>
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