The Literature Program November 2015 By Dr.Judy Steiner Chief Inspector for English Language Education

Incredible work done by: Names of the Steering Committee (alphabetical order): Marsha Hachmon Dr. Miriam Kluska Tziona Levy Dr. Debbie Lifschitz Dr. Shoshana Plavin Dr. Judy Steiner Debby Toperoff Dr. Avi Tsur Special Thanks to: Adele Raemer Judie Segal

The Literature Program The program is based on innovative Ministry of Education policy to teach and assess higher- order thinking skills (HOTS). The program is in response to teacher feedback concerning the assessment in the current Bagrut program.

The Literature Program The literature program is school-based assessment. Students will be assessed via one of three options: –Unit Logs –An internal exam –A school-based initiative (starting in September 2016) Three-point students will only be assessed via Unit Logs.

Rationale for the Literature Program Allow students to achieve the benchmarks for the domain of Appreciation of Literature and Culture. Ensure that literature is given due emphasis in the teaching of English. Promote reading, enjoying, and appreciating literature. Facilitate the interpretation and analysis of pieces of literature by integrating higher-order thinking skills with the teaching of literature. Raise students’ awareness of the interrelationship between language, literature, and culture. Provide opportunities for students to apply higher-order thinking skills in other domains as well as to their own lives.

Lower-order thinking skills are used to understand the basic story line or literal meaning of a story, play, or poem. This includes: -wh questions teaching relevant lexical items relating to grammatical structures when relevant Lower-Order Thinking Skills (LOTS)

Key Words for LOTS Questions –Who? –What? –Where? –When? –Do you know…? –Can you identify…? –Name…. –List……

After the LOTS……. Once a student has mastered the basic understanding of a text, s/he is ready to move on to the next level which involves using that information in some way. This entails applying higher-order thinking skills, known as HOTS.

Higher-order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Higher-order thinking requires students to manipulate information and ideas in ways that transform their meaning and implications.

HOTS for Analyzing Literary Texts Predicting Inferring Sequencing Identifying parts and whole Classifying Comparing and contrasting Explaining patterns Evaluating Explaining cause and effect Distinguishing different perspectives Problem solving Uncovering motives Generating possibilities Synthesizing Making connections

Why Teach HOTS? What does the research say? These skills are necessary in our rapidly changing, technologically- oriented world. Although many people once believed that we are born either with or without creative and critical thinking abilities, research has shown that these skills are teachable and learnable. Many students lack well-developed thinking skills. Student performance has been shown to improve as a result of both direct teaching and inferential learning of thinking skills. Training teachers to teach thinking skills is associated with gains in student achievement.

Two Facets to the Program The first facet is the explicit teaching of targeted HOTS and their application to the literary text studied and the students’ lives and other areas of learning. The second facet is teaching literature according to Key Components, which include tasks that require higher-order thinking.

The Key Components Pre-Reading Activity Basic Understanding Analysis and Interpretation Bridging Text and Context Post-Reading Activity Summative Assessment

The Unit Logs The Unit Logs provide evidence of students' learning. The Unit Logs enable students to gain insights into the application of diverse strategies that can be used to analyze literature. The Unit Logs also show how students become increasingly and actively involved in the process of learning both thinking skills and literature.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) How can we ensure the reliability of the marking of the Unit Logs? The following can be found on the TLC site: Rubrics for marking the Post-reading graded component Rubrics for marking the Bridging Text and Context graded component Rubrics for marking Summative Assessment Calculation of the grade of a Unit Log Calculation of the final grade for the literature program

FAQs (continued) What are the differences between the three, four and the five-point literature programs? Three-Point program Four-Point Program Five-Point Program Number of literary texts studied 3 texts two short stories one poem 6 texts three short stories three poems 6 texts one play or novel three short stories two poems Assessment Criteria Content 100%Content 90% Language 10% Content 80% Language 20%

Good teachers see themselves as accountable to transform their students through their learning.

For more information… 1.Subscribe to the English Inspectorate site: TLC – Thinking Literature and Culture 3.Be in touch with your regional literature counselor.