© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
CHANGES IN THE
LITERATURE PROGRAM
October 2013
Number of Texts

Five points (F):
2
poems
 3 short stories
 1 play or novel

Four points (D):
3
poems
 3 short stories
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Texts for the Exam – Module F

Option 1:
 The
Road Not Taken
 As I Grew Older
 A Summer’s Reading
 Mr. Know All
 Rules of the Game
 All My Sons / The Wave
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Texts for the Exam – Module F

Option 2:
 The
Road Not Taken
 Count That Day Lost
 A Summer’s Reading
 The Enemy
 The Split Cherry Tree
 All My Sons / The Wave
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Texts for the Exam – Module D

Option 1:
 The
Road Not Taken
 Count That Day Lost
 Introduction to Poetry
 The Treasure of Lemon Brown
 Thank You, Ma’m
 Mr. Know All
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Texts for the Exam – Module D

Option 2:
 The
Road Not Taken
 Count That Day Lost
 Grandmother
 The Treasure of Lemon Brown
 Thank You, Ma’m
 A Summer’s Reading
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Key Components
Pre-reading
 Basic Understanding
 Analysis and Interpretation
 Bridging Text and Context
 Post-reading
 Reflection
 Summative Assessment

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Bridging Text and Context

New definition:
 Activities
for Bridging Text and Context encourage
learners to understand connections between the
text, universal themes and relevant information
and ideas from other sources. These sources may
include the biography and personality of the
author, themes and aspects of the historical, social
and cultural contexts of the text. This component
may be taught at any stage in the teaching of the
unit.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Bridging Text and Context - Rubric

The rubrics for marking the Bridging Text and
Context component have been changed. See
the Handbook for more information.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Post-reading

Post-reading has not changed, but note the
changes in the Post-reading rubrics in the
Handbook.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Reflection
Reflection should be done 2-3 times during the
program.
 It is recommended to do it at the beginning,
middle and end of the program.

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment
In light of changes in the Table of
Specifications for the Bagrut exam, Summative
Assessment has been changed as well.
 Changes:

 Rubrics
 Question
types
 Number of questions
 Point distribution
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Rubrics
Rubrics have been added to the Handbook for
LOTS questions, HOTS questions and Extended
HOTS questions.
 The rubric for marking the Bridging Text and
Context question has been changed.

 Important
addition: “Answer explicitly states the
connection between the new information and the
text.”
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Question
Types

Summative Assessment should still contain:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) questions.
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions.
 a Bridging Text and Context question.

The Justification question has been replaced by
an Extended HOTS question.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question

For the Extended HOTS question, students must:
 choose
a HOTS to answer the question and name
the HOTS.
 answer the question showing appropriate evidence
of the use of the chosen thinking skill.

Students will no longer be asked to justify why
they chose the thinking skill.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
Students should be taught to use vocabulary
that is related to the thinking skill in their
answer to the question.
 A list of vocabulary for thinking skills can be
found in the Literature Handbook.

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
Examples of good answers to the Extended
HOTS Question (from the Handbook):
Question 1: How do you think Mr. Cattanzara
sees George? Support your answer with
information from the story.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
Thinking skill: Inferring
Answer: I think Mr. Cattanzara sees George as
someone who reminds him of himself. I infer
this from Mr. Cattanzara’s words: “Don’t do
what I did” which means that once Mr.
Cattanzara was in the same situation as
George and he doesn’t want George to
repeat his mistakes.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
Question 2: How does what we learn about
George’s family and/or his neighborhood help
explain his situation at the beginning of the
story?
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
Thinking skill: Explaining cause and effect
Answer: George’s family is poor and
uneducated. The fact that he had no educated
role model at home caused George to
misunderstand the importance of education
and also caused him to do nothing to improve
his life.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question

When marking the Extended HOTS question,
two rubrics must be used:
 The
HOTS question rubric (10 points)
 The Extended HOTS question rubric (5 points)

Note that points are deducted for language
only in the HOTS question rubric. All 5 points
for correct use of the HOTS are for content.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Extended
HOTS Question
The rubric:
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Number of
Questions
Your Summative Assessment must contain a
minimum number of questions for each question
type.
 Note that the Summative Assessments in the
course books do not meet the new criteria for
Summative Assessment.

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Number of
Questions

Module F:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) questions: at least 4
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions: at
least 4
 One
question must be an Extended HOTS question
 Bridging
Text and Context: 1 question
 Remember:
This question must provide the students with
new information that was not learned in class!
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Number of
Questions

Module D:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) questions: at least 5
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions: at
least 3
 One
question must be an Extended HOTS question
 Bridging
Text and Context: 1 question
 Remember:
This question must provide the students with
new information that was not learned in class!
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Point
Distribution

Module F:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) section: 20 points
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) section: 60
points
 Bridging Text and Context question: 20 points
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment – Point
Distribution

Module D:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) section: 45 points
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) section: 40
points
 Bridging Text and Context question: 15 points
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Summative Assessment
A few final words on Summative Assessment…
Summative Assessment must be done in class
under test conditions.
 Summative Assessment may not be done in
pairs or groups – it must be done individually.
 Open-book tests are not allowed.

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam

Changes to the exam:
 Question
types
 Number of questions
 Point distribution
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam – Question Types
The Justification questions will be replaced by
Extended HOTS questions.
 As of Summer 2015, the alternate question will
no longer be offered.

© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam – Number of
Questions

Module F:
2
Basic Understanding (LOTS) questions for each
text
 2 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions for
the shorter text (poem or story)
 3 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions for
the play/novel
 1 Bridging Text and Context question
* Note that Analysis and Interpretation questions can include
questions about literary terms
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam – Number of
Questions

Module D:
3
Basic Understanding (LOTS) questions for one text
 4 Basic Understanding (LOTS) questions for the
other text
 2 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions for
one text
 1 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) question for
the other text
 1 Bridging Text and Context question
* Note that Analysis and Interpretation questions can include
questions about literary terms
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam – Point Distribution

Module F:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) questions: 5 points
each for a total of 20 points
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions: 10
points for regular HOTS questions and 15 points
for Extended HOTS questions for a total of 60
points
 Bridging Text and Context: 20 points
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Bagrut Exam – Point Distribution

Module D:
 Basic
Understanding (LOTS) questions: 4 questions
worth 6 points and 3 questions worth 7 points for a
total of 45 points
 Analysis and Interpretation (HOTS) questions: 10
points for regular HOTS questions and 15 points
for Extended HOTS questions for a total of 40
points
 Bridging Text and Context: 15 points
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
The Literature Handbook


Please be sure to download a copy of the NEW
Literature Handbook from the TLC site at
http://tlc.cet.ac.il
Note that if you have already downloaded the
Handbook, there have been a number of
amendments. You can see them on the page where
you downloaded the Handbook.
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg
Questions?

Feel free to email me at:
bnirenberg@gmail.com
© 2013 Bari Nirenberg