[etni] musings #99 education; sorry for duplicates
- From: Batya <shilohmuse@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni write <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:29:15 -0800 (PST)
**** ETNI on the web http://www.etni.org.il http://www.etni.org ****
Almost a Hundred.This is #99. If any of you have any favorites, please let me
know, and I'll try to add some excerpts with the hundredth.
Musing #99
February 6, 2005
The 27th of Shvat
What?s Good for the Goose
Or
The Teacher Does The Homework Assignment
I?m a high school English teacher, and just last week I gave a composition
assignment to my Tenth Grade students. They had to write a short composition
and a list of ten rules (using the modals they had just learned). One of the
topic choices was: ?My Ideal School.? It was taken from their textbook, Full
Volume, UPP, and considering the Dovrat Commission?s recommendations in the
headlines I couldn?t resist doing this homework assignment along with my
students.
My Ideal School
By Batya Medad
It?s very possible that somewhere a school like my ideal one exists. That?s
because it wouldn?t be complicated to establish and run. It could be large or
small; size is irrelevant. My ideal school is for all ages; it?s really an
educational system, a curriculum.
Ten Rules for My Ideal School
Teachers may work part time.
Students can get credit for out-of-school learning.
Students should complete the core curriculum before graduation.
Parents must be in contact with the staff and be kept informed of their
child?s progress or difficulties.
Students mustn?t be absent from lessons without valid reasons, and if they
are absent, they are responsible for making up the work missed.
Students may want to continue studying in the school an extra year, and that
will be permitted.
Transfer students would be required to learn whatever they missed, even if
it means studying with younger students.
All students must master foundation skills of reading, writing, including
composition, basic arithmetic, Israeli geography, ancient and modern history
and Jewish studies before high school.
Students requiring alternative testing will be able to be tested according
to their needs.
Professionals, who aren?t certified teachers, may teach special courses
related to their fields.
School is supposed to prepare a child for life, and therefore, besides the
conventional academics, it must teach work ethics, how to function within the
rules and requirements of a formal framework, social relationships and
responsibility. A school should give each student sufficient vocational
skills, even if it?s to earn tuition needed for higher education. The goal of
education is to prepare the students to be loyal and contributing citizens of
Israel.
Courses should be combined and integrated. First because that way the students
will learn to see a larger picture of the world and they must be encouraged to
see the connections between the various subjects. For instance History,
Geography and Citizenship should be taught as one subject; when I was a student
in New York, we called it ?Social Studies.? Another example would be Hebrew;
Grammar, Literature, Composition and handwriting until at least the age of ten
are all one subject. This way the students have to adjust to fewer teachers;
there will be fewer tests, and less time wasted. Most important is that the
students will see the relevance of what they?re being taught in class.
The minimal amount of weekly hours allocated for foreign languages, including
English, should be four, preferably five or six. And the studies should start
no earlier than the Fifth Grade, after serious language skills in Hebrew (or
Arabic) are mastered, and that includes spelling, basic grammar and
composition. I highly suggest that we utilize teaching methods from the
countries that succeed in teaching foreign languages, like Holland, rather than
the American methods, which are never successful; that?s why they?re always
coming up with new ones.
Money can be saved by using ?blackboards? and training children to copy from
the board, which will also increase their learning. Classrooms must also be
arranged so that the students can easily see the teacher an ?erasable board.?
No more sitting in ?groups? which only cause attention/concentration problems.
Classes should be divided by the level of the students, so that the weaker ones
will be in smaller groups and get the remedial work they need to succeed, and
the students who learn most quickly should be able to get work on a higher
level to stimulate and encourage them to utilize their potential. And the
?average? students shouldn?t be distracted by their bored friends. One group
is bored, because they can?t keep up, and the other is bored, because the work
is too easy. Just like we all need different shape shoes, our children need
different teaching methods and paces.
The required school day should be a maximum six hours in elementary school and
eight hours in high school; fewer hours are fine if the curriculum fits.
Schools should have resource centers open after hours for students to do
homework, get extra help and enrichment. In order to stay alert so many hours,
it must be possible to eat a nutritious lunch, and they should have breakfast
before school starts, even if it?s a sandwich eaten on the way to school.
Proper eating habits will facilitate better learning. But that?s a topic for
another musing.
I could easily write more details and ideas on how to improve Israeli education
and probably will in the future. For the sake of our children, grandchildren
and country, I honestly hope that the Israeli Ministry of Education will
consider my ideas instead of Dovrat.
Batya Medad, Shiloh
Copyright©BatyaMedad, Contact me for publication permission; private
distribution encouraged.
Shilohmuse@xxxxxxxxx
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/
http://me-ander.blogspot.com/
http://www.shilo.org.il
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License. To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/ or send a letter to
Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.
Batya
http://shilohmusings.blogspot.com/
http://me-ander.blogspot.com/
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
##### To send a message to the ETNI list email: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx #####
##### Send queries and questions to: ask@xxxxxxxx #####
Other related posts:
- » [etni] musings #99 education; sorry for duplicates
