[etni] Fwd: re: HOTs and numbers
- From: ETNI list <etni.list@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2010 22:20:00 +0300
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Avi Tsur <tsuravi@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RE: HOTs and numbers
Sharon Shalom. Thank you for your honest response to my mail. Believe
me, my responses to ETNI are mainly because I care both for the
profession and for the students. As you say: " Personally, it is my
impression ..." so I too have mine. I hope we can continue to respect
each others opinions as we move in to the coming year.
With the New Year on the horizon, I sincerely hope that we will all
move on to other issues that need our immediate consideration and that
the Irgun and the Ministry sort out their differences.
Shana Tova. Take care and all the best,
Avi
Sharon wrote:
> Dear List:
> And particularly for Avi:
> Avi - I appreciate the fact that you are one inspector who reads the
> list and responds and you certainly have the right to express your
> opinion. I did find the tone of your most recent posting a bit too
> strong, but that is true of many of the anti-HOT letters, including
> mine. We all tend to get a bit emotional about issues we feel strongly
> about.
> Personally, it is my impression that the majority is against HOTs in
> the new program (and of course, if that is true, we should listen to
> the arguments of the pro-HOTs minority...). I was at a meeting in the
> Sharon area of teachers with Judy Steiner and I would say that
> opinions ran about 10 to 1 against. But perhaps the reason that only
> the anti-HOTs people are giving any numbers is that the Ministry is
> not really interested in taking a serious vo teto see what the numbers
> are. The ministry tends to dictate pedagogical policy from the top
> down - not only in English. I doubt that the ministry wants to set a
> precedent of having teachers "vote" on a major pedagogical decision.
> At any rate, it is clear that a sizable number of experienced
> professionals do not think that literature should be taught through
> HOTs. Instead of trying to show what a small group we are, the
> ministry should listen carefully to what we have to say and see if
> there isn't any merit in our arguments.
> Two - in my experience the anti-HOTs people feel more strongly than
> the pro-program people. In fact, when I have met people who are not
> against the program, they never show enthusiasm for the HOTs element.
> Rather, they say things like, "Well, it's not so bad." or "Well, at
> least we have literature back in the bagrut program." I would venture
> to guess that if you asked the people who like the new program WHAT
> they like about it, HOTs would be in last place.
> Keep in mind that if there are MANY teachers who don't like HOTs in
> literature, there will no doubt be many STUDENTS who won't like it.
> Our students are real people who make no hesitation to vocalize their
> opinions about what we do in class. I did try out two HOTs units with
> one of my classes in order to get an idea of what it is like, and
> believe me, there were students who didn't like it. (In my class -
> most of them didn't like it). Some found it confusing, others a waste
> of time. Our students are not just some huge mass of humanity who
> enthusiastically cooperate with everything we do. We are the ones who
> will have to stand up in front of 35 very critical teenagers, trying
> to explain why it is important to know whether you are synthesizing or
> predicting, revealing motivation or cause and effect.
> And yes, I admit that my own lack of enthusiasm about HOTs might have
> somehow come through to the students, but that is precisely a
> consideration that the ministry should be taking into account. An
> element in a program that many teachers are not enthusiastic about is
> an element that will not come across well.
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