Sunday, April 21, 2019

A New Leaf

Whether you celebrated Nowruz a month ago, celebrated Passover this weekend, are celebrating Easter today, or celebrate nothing at all, I raise a glass in your direction and echo my partner's dinner table toast: to rebirth, to freedom, to spring.
Classic Southern Buttermilk Pie

Perhaps it is the longer days and emerging light green shoots affecting my spirit, but it does feel to me to be a time of fresh starts and beckoning freedom.

One of my colleagues is leaving us this week for the birth and early bonding with her second baby while another teacher prepares to fill her shoes while she's away. Some of us are using the new PBLA guidelines as a reason to purge file cabinets of forms no longer needed (sorry, trees!) and rethink our entire approach to complying with the government-mandated framework. Others hear freedom's call and are looking to broaden their horizons, seeking new opportunities and other ways to use their gifts, experience, skills, and education.

I am in Ohio today with a group of rowdy, mostly extroverted men who are quickly endearing themselves to me. They are beginning to feel to me like family. It's good to know that one can begin again at any stage of life.

How about you?

16 comments:

  1. Spring is here and life is short. Soul searching this weekend and decided I want out. PBLA has sucked the joy out of my job and I don't want to live without joy in my life. I'm packing it in and rethinking my career choices. 100% because of PBLA. I may check in here from time to time but likely will not once I'm finally out the door. Good luck to you all. May ESL the way it used to be, return at some distant point in the future.

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    1. Dear Packing It In,
      I hope you will come back here just one more time after you quit--and sign your name. We all wish you the best. --KM

      Delete
  2. Oh! Which forms are you purging? There will be a meeting with admin soon to figure out a moving forward strategy. Can't wait to get PBLA slim going.

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  3. I had made up a bunch of pictorial “My Story” forms with illustrated jobs on the back. Those got dumped the other day.

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  4. Packing It In,

    I'm devastated by your news.

    I respect your decision to move out but I am sad. Just as I respect (but mourn) decision of the many other highly qualified teachers that had contributed so greatly to the profession of teaching ESL/EAL, had served the learners with devotion and smarts, were role models for new teachers, kept programs alive, but - after trying PBLA - decided that enough is enough and quit. (Interestingly I learned that FRENCH teachers that now have to "implement" the French version (ELBP) are also "withdrawing" from teaching French!))

    No doubt Joanne Pettis (retired) and the PBLA thugs (if the cap fits wear it) will rejoice - and belittle and blame YOU for "struggling" with PBLA. With fewer people left who have the professional knowledge and experience to challenge and to point out the invalidity, the lack of common sense and logic, the impracticality, the lack of efficacy, the unsuitability of this approach for "citizenship requirement evidence" - Joanne and Co. can settle in to congratulating themselves that "Change has come to ESL. The old ESL is dead". Ah but when you take away the old way of doing things and throw away the good practices you had better make certain that you have something of value to replace them with.

    What IS the value of PBLA? NO ONE has shown it to have any true value. Even the "champions". All but a couple of Leads that I know say "We don't like it either, but what can you do?" Other criticise it outright and regret taking on the role of "Trainer".

    We all know that PBLA is NOT about helping newcomers integrate better and faster into Canadian life (which is what the "Old ESL" that you taught was about) - but it is becoming clear that the agenda of PBLC (and the CLBs) is that of providing a simple (???) way of "showing" English "competency" for application for citizenship. This is an IRCC "Integration Department" need. The mistake of IRCC policy analysts and managers is in thinking that "PBLA" is a SIMPLE way to solve the COMPLICATED problem of who is deemed worthy of becoming a Canadian citizen. Whatever the weaknesses of ESL/EAL were before - (and there were weakness, of course) they are multiplied tenfold now..so NOTHING IS OF VALUE. Not teaching (which is why Packing it in is bowing out) not of having a clear, level approach to citizenship requirements. Using "PBLA" as the vehicle to deliver "English" (or French) language and ASSESSMENT, knowing that it is high stakes, knowing it to be invalid, inconsistent, unreliable IS cheating. ALL is smoke and mirrors. In PBLA ALL is falsity, unfair, unequal, and unethical. (Sorry, it IS unethical to have a huge bunch of teachers, inexpert assessment creators, create 2,000 x 32 tests and expect validity, consistency, reliability across the country. These TESTS will decide the course of newcomers' lives. ) It is CHEATING not just the newcomers but the Canadian people to pretend this is fair, right, honest, professional. We do not want our elected officials, or our civil servants, to knowingly deceive newcomers, or us.

    Epic FAIL imo.

    https://www.language.ca/resourcesexpertise/for-immigration-or-citizenship

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    1. PBLA has destroyed ESL.

      No learner will ever have the security of having a teacher know them, help them succeed and become a fluent speaker because students are not important in PBLA. Only the task and the checklist matter in PBLA. Why are students not protesting?

      Delete
  5. Students don't protest because they largely come from cultures where they're not permitted to (or encouraged to) question authority, and teachers are supposed to know what they're doing. If they tried this trick (PBLA) on a class of university students who have lived in Canada long enough to know that their voice matters it would have been petitioned out long ago. Also our students are vulnerable and maybe just tired of fighting and happy to have solid ground under their feet. If you are a refugee claimant waiting to see if you'll even be allowed to stay here, there's probably a good chance you're not going to loudly protest what is being taught in your ESL class. When one person starts to go along with it (and this is what has happened with a bunch of teachers) then other people think - oh well it must be okay if he's doing it. Given the vulnerability of our student population, it makes it almost seem kind of exploitative doesn't it? this whole PBLA experiment? As for my students, the majority hate the binders. I mean they really hate them. The ones that are really good and/or highly educated go directly to TOEFL or IELTS (home studies , online) and head to university if they can. They immediately see PBLA as the farce it is. The rest just ask me ten times a week when we're having another test or when I'm going to give them the magic number to move them on to the next level. I remember when the after school questions used to be about some new vocabulary or idioms they'd heard or could I explain to them the present perfect tense. Now I dread the early arrivals and stragglers. It's embarrassing and kind of heart breaking for me to see how desperate they feel in their quest to complete and pass. Many of them only want to come to school on test day. I hate PBLA.

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  6. One of the best spring changes comes in the form of the TESL Ontario Webinar Team’s email outlining the new chat box protocol.
    “Restrict your comments to webinar content and refrain from lengthy input or off topic (PBLA agenda pushing) comments.”
    Not to worry though. We still have this venue thanks to Kelly.

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    1. Ha! Guess you recognised censorship when you saw it. (Under the guise of "Practicality") . I don't believe that the communique was written by a volunteer, a colleague, one of the many that serve us through volunteering for TESLOntario and keep the spirit of collegiality alive.T his is a "top down" directive intended to stifle dialogue AND prevent connection between teachers. Too bad. By stifling dialogue even the presenters lose the opportunity to learn and be enriched by input from the community...Well, my experience of TESLOntario - always, but especially when they went to the John Carver "Policy Governance" model - was that it never welcomed questions or constructive criticism. It does not see itself as an advocate for teachers. It explicitly tells us it is not a union. Perhaps at the Affilliate level it is still a grassroots organisation. I'll still attend webinars - and if I think it is relevant and iI have something useful and important (imho) to contribute I will comment or ask a question I'll try to make clear to the presenters that it is not them I am questioning (if we're talking about PBLA ) - but the process.
      btw - if you do "DM" someone in the backchannel - be aware, of course, that the moderator can see your message too. Don't get personal (as if).
      I believe in democracy. It IS better than the alternative.

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    2. This is so funny because I was actually thinking about you Claudie and your lengthy off topic PBLA agenda pushing comments during the webinars. I find it very distracting and have complained in the after webinar surveys. I appreciate when presenters ignore, redirect or dismiss your irrelevant commenting.
      Like I said in my post - don’t worry - you still have this venue.

      Delete
    3. And I appreciated the people that DM'd me and thanked me for being open, courageous, honest, forthright. I know my lengthy (blame my Dad for insisting I learn to touchtype) ANTI PBLA comments gave them strength and hope. I often questioned what I thought were onesided views and hoped to present other views. You could have pointed out to ME that you did not appreciate my comments...but you didn't. I also added - as many others do - resources and references about many other topics (as just this week on a Tutela webinar) that I thought would be helpful. I will continue to do that. I do see the point that the backchannel side discussions can be horribly distracting - especially when there is only one hour to cover much material...and presenters come on board as volunteers not expecting there to be any discussion apart from clarification questions - and they need to feel safe and comfortable. So point taken with regard to respecting presenters (it was always about the process and not the people) BUT - I will still comment. TESLONTARIO DOES NOT BELONG ONLY TO PBLA SUPPORTERS. You may feel my comments are irrelevant. Others do not. I will try to be more succinct.

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    4. Claudie,
      It is commendable of you to respond so professionally to someone who called you out by name without signing his/her own name. I think that if you are going to take one person to task on this forum, the least you can do is sign your own name. --KM

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    5. "Anonymous4/27/2019 7:54 AM"

      With sincerity, I wonder at what level of administration, or false administration level (PBLA Lead) you work at. A leader you are not, but an unkind person. Really, why snap at Claudie.

      There is a serious workload issue that Claudie is brave enough to speak about. Where I work, 20 hours of unpaid work is expected, only SPO created rubrics and copycat OTTAWA TASK BANK tests are allowed, LEADS don't teach, and harsh criticism is constant.

      PBLA is a problem. Leave Claudie alone

      Delete
  7. I don’t always agree with everything Claudie has to say (but mostly I do!) and she’s crossed the line on occasion, in my opinion, but quickly made amends. HOWEVER, she is a HERO. Don’t doubt it. Make no mistake, teacher input is being REPRESSED big time. And that’s arguably the biggest flaw in the delivery of PBLA. Why wouldn’t you welcome feedback from the people actually implementing the thing? I’m incredibly thankful that Claudie uses every opportunity to advocate for our students and for teachers. Thank you, Claudie.
    —Norma

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  8. Another anonymous voice4/29/2019 1:11 PM

    I want to add my voice of support and thanks to Claudie for her courage in saying what so many of us are thinking, and to Kelly for providing us with this safe place, even if many of us fear reprisals, were we to post publicly. I was astounded at the TESL Ontario chat guidelines for webinars; I only hope that Tutela doesn't follow suit. A webinar is an online class where people should be able to freely share ideas, but it seems that we are not to be allowed to do that. I am sad.

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    1. Loving Kindness. Thank you to those who openly expressed such loving kindness towards me - it meant a lot. I was hurt, mortified, sad at the personal attack (I am almost sure I know where it came from). But comforted by you and Norma, and by the "Leave Claudie alone" remark. I am glad someone else noticed that the TESLOntario Tutela chat "guidelines" are very different from the "mind your manners" that one usually sees. I am no longer involved actively in TESLOntario (I was on the Board for three years as an Affiliate Director) but I do still pay both the membership and the certification fees. I think that gives me the right to express my views - and now my concern that TESLOntario has taken steps to (apparently) silence one individual (a paid up member....) Cause for concern? Sigh. I think so. But I started this on a note of gratitude so that's where I want to end. Thank you all again for your care, compassion and loving kindness to me. Be blessed. Claudie

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Thank you for participating in this forum. Anonymous commenting is available, but is not intended to shield those taking pot shots at those of us challenging PBLA. If you are here to do that, please use your name.