[etni] more thoughts on Reed counseling
- From: Steve Hellmann <steveh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2011 22:41:37 +0300
Adele is most reassuring in her conviction that ". everything which Avi and
the dedicated counseling staff do is aimed at professional development and
improvement." Support expressed by teachers for Adele and her team is also
encouraging. I hope this puts paid to the reservations expressed by
Anonymous about overzealous bureaucratic inspection of unit planners for the
log, etc.
Where I share Anonymous's concern is in whether we will be able to nurture
enthusiasm and a love for literature in students who are assessed and graded
at every turn by teachers whose language and tools of instruction are
dictated solely by the handbook on
Integrating Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) with the Teaching of
Literature (updated as the version may be)
What chance do we have of convincing students who are bombarded with
literary terms, Hots and rubrics that the way to the garden of great grades
is not to beat a poem
".with a hose
to find out what it really means." but
".to waterski*
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore. (Billy Collins)
* NOTE: Waterskiing is not a simple automatic activity
How do we avoid the inexorable slide into explanations and arguments about
why did you "bring" me a 7 and not a 9?"
I would like to share the response of a 12th grade student after I had
worked with his class on comparing and contrasting. The works we had studied
were Fire and Ice by Robert Frost, and Leonard Cohen's Who by Fire? "This
is what the student wrote: "In our poetry lessons you always tell us about
listening carefully to the speakers and thinking about if we agree with what
they are saying. Next year I will go the army. I don't want to think about
the end of the world and if it is boiling or freezing. In Hebrew literature
we also spend a lot of time on tragedy and other bad stuff. We are seventeen
years old and want to live like young people. Why can't we study stories
and poems about things that make us smile? Why can't we choose for
ourselves?"
It does not require much imagination to realize how devastating it would be
for this student were his reflection to be assigned a number dictated by the
official rubric from a printed page. With a log ,written comments could be
added and the logic explained, but the number would dominate the focus
and the spirit battered. i prefer not to contemplate an exam assessment
done in July by a harassed external grader.
I know that it is time to get on with the what and the how, rather than
waste time on the why. It is my hope that a liberal approach to working the
log will offer sufficient flexibility to keep the demons from the door.
Steve Hellmann
Other related posts:
