Tips for Dealing with
the Logistics of the
Log
How to begin?

Have your program approved by your regional
English inspector.

If you have chosen to teach the texts on the Bagrut
exam , you also need to notify your English
inspector of that.

Teach those pieces that you like best. This way
you’ll give the best of yourself.
Plan ahead:


Get acquainted with all the materials on the pieces you
want to teach.
Calculate how many lessons you will need to cover
each unit.

Work as a team or very closely with a colleague to
share the workload.

Adjust your program to suit your students’ level,
needs and interests.

Plan the program and schedule for teaching the texts
and genres either as a team or individually, as best
fits your school.
Once you start teaching:

Remind your students that they MUST write
the work for the Logs in their OWN
handwriting. Encourage them to write as
neatly as possible.

Decide on the rules about making up work
and/or improving their work, within a time
frame.
Be Organized

Have the students use a two–ring binder to keep all
of their work together.

Assess each piece of work as it is completed; do
NOT let units of work get backlogged. Remember:
you need to grade only the Summative Assessment
and one additional component.

Keep an organized record of literary texts that
the student has studied, completed and that
you have marked.

This is VERY important especially in case
there is change of teacher or the student
moves classes or schools! Since you
NEVER know when that can happen, be
prepared!
Piece :
Student
Prereading
Basic
understanding
Analysis
Bridging
Post
reading
Reflection
Test
Participation
Unit
Grade
Log
pts
Pts
so
far
The Components of a Unit
 Suggestions
 Common
misunderstandings
Pre-reading

Examples: Brainstorm, a song, a video clip, a drama
activity, discussion about a picture, answering a thoughtprovoking question and then sharing the answers, etc.

It is NOT – teaching vocabulary, teaching grammar, or
reading the piece (!).

It is generally not appropriate for this component to be
the graded task.
Basic Understanding

Reading the piece, teaching vocabulary, asking
questions to make sure the students understand the
basic plot. (Who, what, where, when? Not “why?” if it
involves drawing a conclusion)

If the piece is long, teach it in chunks – teach vocabulary
and ask questions after each chunk, rather than after the
entire story.

If you are using a textbook, you can choose the
questions vocabulary exercises that you think are useful
for your students.
Basic Understanding (cont.)

Let them make up questions for each other, or check each other’s
answers.

If you see that they have a good understanding of the story, move
on. It is not necessary to beat the piece to death!

If you want to use this component as a graded task, ask your
students to tell the story briefly, or describe one of the characters.
Don’t give a vocabulary quiz.
Analysis and Interpretation

Choose one of the HOTS which is actually
useful in analyzing the particular piece you
are teaching.

First, present this HOTS explicitly – not in
connection with the text. This activity should
be quick, experiential, and memorable. – a
joke, a video clip, a picture, etc.
Analysis and Interpretation
(cont.)

Next, use the HOTS to get to a deeper understanding of the
piece.
*Examine the motivation of one or more
of the characters for their action
* Compare and contrast two characters
* Notice a pattern of behavior of a
character so as to predict his/her next move
* infer meaning from certain lines of dialogue to
understand a character’s thoughts, etc.
Analysis and Interpretation
(cont.)


This is the component to teach a literary term
or two. Even if many literary terms are
appropriate, choose only one or two new
terms to teach, so they will be remembered.
Ask other questions which require HOTS to
answer, only naming the HOTS if it has been
taught previously.
Analysis and Interpretation
(cont.)



You can use a thought provoking question in
this component for the graded task
You can incorporate drama activities to
illustrate the HOTS in analyzing the story
The graded task should not be a list of
questions to answer.
Bridging Text and Context



Making the connection between factual
background information or a quote by the
author and the piece.
Watch Bari’s presentation to understand how
to do this!
Relating information to the text can be the
graded task. Do not give a quiz on the
background information.
Post Reading

This is a personal, creative task which shows
you that the student has thoroughly
understood the piece.
Examples:
* Write a page in the diary of one of
the characters

Post Reading
* Write what you would do if you
were in the situation of one of the
characters
* Tell the story ( or a scene from the story) from a
different point of view from which it is told ( a
different character narrates, or an objective narrator
if the story is told in the first person .
Post Reading (cont.)
*A dramatic enactment of one of the
scenes
* an artistic representation of one of
the scenes with a written or oral
explanation
*Make a PowerPoint presentation or
video clip representing the story or
poem.
Rubric for grading post
reading task





Activity clearly shows connections with the
text.
Activity integrates information from different
parts of the text.
All information is relevant and accurate.
Content is well organized.
Message is clear.
Important points about grading the
post reading task:

Note that there are NO points added or subtracted for
artistic or dramatic excellence. All content points should
be given according to the elements in the rubric.

If the activity is artistic or dramatic, there must be a
written element or individual oral explanation if you want
this to be the graded task.

Doing the written task in class assures that the student is
giving you his own work.
Summative Assessment

5 points:
20 points – LOTS questions – can
include vocabulary
50 points – HOTS questions plus
literary terms.
30 points – Bridging Text and Context
question – this must include the
bridging information or quote
Pure grammar questions are not appropriate!
Summative Assessment- 4
points:

36 points – LOTS questions – can
include vocabulary

40 points – HOTS questions plus
literary terms.

24 points – Bridging question – this
must include the bridging
information or quote
Pure grammar questions are not appropriate

Reflection


3 or 4 questions about the learning process:
1-2 personal question(s) –
*Did you enjoy reading the piece?
Why or why not?
*Do you identify with/ agree with the
message of the piece? Why? Why
not?
* Copy a line or sentence from the piece to
which you had a strong reaction. Explain
why.
Reflection (cont.)

1 question about the usefulness of using the HOTS
to analyze the piece or the bridging information to
understand the influences on the author when
writing the piece.
Example:
*How does using the skill X help the
reader understand the story/poem
on a deeper level?
*How does knowing about X help us
understand what may have inspired the
writer to write this piece?
Reflection (cont.)

1 question about the usefulness of the HOTS
in life in general or other subjects in school,
or about knowing background information, in
general, or in other subjects in school.

Important!! In this component, we do NOT test the
students on anything they have learned in the unit. We
also do NOT grade this component. We do write a
comment after reading the reflection.
General tips


Your students should use dividers to separate the
work done on the units, and the units should appear
in the order they were taught. This way you can see
their improvement as the module progresses.
The first page of each unit should be the unit
chart/checklist which indicates (very) briefly what
was done for each component, what grades were
received, and the final grade for the unit.
Description of task
In
Log
?
Pre-reading
Activity
Basic
Understanding
Analysis and
Interpretation
Bridging Text and
Context
Post-reading
Activity
Reflection
Test
Participation
Unit Grade
Points for Log
Points so far
grade


You do not have to check every item in the
log, but there should be some indication that
you have seen the page – a checkmark in the
corner, a comment about one mistake, etc.
There should be a rubric on each graded
task:
5 pointscontent 80-_______
4 points90-_______
accuracy 20 - ______
10- ______
Reality check

If you feel overwhelmed and drowning, you are
probably doing much too much grading, and/or
giving your students too much work!

If you are spending more than 8 lessons on a
poem, even with a weak class, something is wrong.
( Too many questions, too many tasks, too much
analyzing, etc)
Reality check

If you are spending more than 12 lessons on a story
( unless it is a really long story), you have chosen a
story that is too difficult for your class, or you are
demanding too much work.

Both you and your students should be enjoying this
module! The most important thing is the literature
itself.
Questions?
Thanks for listening!