[etni] some things to think about for next year
- From: "Bari Nirenberg" <bnirenberg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Etni <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 13:28:02 +0300
One of the reasons I became a Bagrut marker was because I felt that it would
improve my teaching. There's nothing like seeing the same mistake a few
hundred times to make you aware of the things that you need to emphasize in
class. I often share what I learn with other teachers on the English staff
at my school and I thought it would be helpful to take a short break from
marking and to share some of it here, too. I hope that other Bagrut markers
will have things to add.
I've just finished marking a batch of 19 exams (G). One of the things that
stood out in this batch was that every single kid, without exception, wrote
his or her composition in clear paragraphs with an introduction and a
conclusion. The content between the introduction and conclusion wasn't
always great, but it was very clear to me that the teacher of this
particular class had really worked on organization. This made it much
easier for me to mark the exams (try reading a few hundred compositions
without paragraphs and you'll understand) and, of course, it gave the kids
points. We can't teach every student to use advanced language structures
correctly or even to use advanced vocabulary, but we can (and must) teach
them how to organize a composition. Don't rely on the Hebrew teachers to do
it -- take a look at what some of these kids write in Hebrew and you'll
understand why.
Handwriting is another thing we need to emphasize more. Of course, we can't
make every kid write perfectly formed letters, but their handwriting should,
at very least, be legible. That means teaching them the difference between
lower case and capital letters (yes, in high school) and not accepting work
from students that can barely be read. One of my own pet peeves is kids who
write so small that I need a magnifying glass to read their work. Yes, some
people naturally write small, but try to get your students to write big
enough for a weary Bagrut marker to be able to actually make out the
different letters.
Much of what I have learned is simple test-taking skills. For example,
don't let your students use three dots instead of words. They need to write
out the WHOLE answer. Also, they need to know that the composition doesn't
have to fit onto one page. They can use the back page of the exam, they can
ask for extra paper -- they can write the composition pretty much anywhere
and it will be checked. In fact, perhaps the mistaken assumption that it
all has to fit onto one page is the reason why some of these kids write so
small.
There's one more thing that I can think of right now. Incredibly, even
5-point students occasionally choose more than one answer to a multiple
choice question. Unless the instructions state otherwise, there is only ONE
correct answer. We all know this, but I guess it seems so obvious to us
that we don't always bother to explain it to our students. With weaker
students (or maybe all students), it's also important to constantly review
the instructions for various question types. When there is more than one
answer to a question ("Put an X by the TWO correct answers"), the number of
required answers is always emphasized. Unfortunately, the kids don't always
see it. I see a lot of A examinees who choose more than the required number
of answers (or who don't even choose answers -- some of them try to number
the answers according to some kind of order).
That's what comes to mind right now. I hope that other Bagrut markers will
add to my list and that we can all learn how to better prepare our students
for their exams.
Back to marking...
Bari
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