Sunday, May 26, 2019

The New Disconnect

Another semester is drawing to a close where I teach. Word on the street is that IRCC will be sending an auditor around to check our students' binders in June. Although the new PBLA guidelines prohibit the PBLA lead from coming round and checking my students' binders, there is nothing stopping my employer from simply shifting this task to the manager, which they have done.

There are two things that happen every five to six months at the school where I teach: 1) the end of one school semester and beginning of the next, marked by progress reports and student-teacher conferences and 2) performance evaluations of teachers by their manager culminating in the completion of a performance review and manager-teacher conference.

To get ready for the first of these semiannual rituals, artifacts, however you wish to spell that word, are tallied. During the semester, I enter every assessment--skill using or real-world task--into an Excel spreadsheet along with a mark that allows me to see whether the student received a beginning, developing or achieved score, or was absent. Calling on skills I acquired over years in clerical and quasi-technical roles, I have written formulas to do the math for me. It often feels as if I am becoming as much a statistician as language teacher. Having this tracking tool makes short work of the end-of-semester progress reports that we all must prepare. Some students will have collected enough artifacts--most of them successful--to have a benchmark changed in HARTs; others will not. In any case, it is the responsibility of the teacher to have provided students with about two "assessment opportunities" per skill per month.

As for the second of these twice-yearly protocols, the one I underwent last week marked the half-way point of my employment year. It is a time to check in with my manager regarding some non-negotiable goals tied to the IRCC contract and other goals that I was allowed to choose for myself from a list of the organization's core values.

Did I file all my reports on time? Yes, every month for the past nine years, my reports have been filed within 3 days of being due, and usually early. Are they slapdash reports? No. They have been held up as exemplary to newer employees.

Am I executing PBLA as mandated? Yes, my afternoon class was administered 32 assessments, all but one of them having been concluded before the onset of Ramadan.

How am I doing on my chosen value of "innovation?" Knocking that one out of the park, I'd say. Self development? Developing others? All my ratings were either satisfactory or 'excels.'

And yet...

Having brought one binder from each of my two classes to this meeting, I discovered alongside my manager that my wonderful student A, who worked for the federal government of her home country in a scientific role, had items in her "About Me" section that were not perfectly in the same order as listed on the inventory sheet. (This is the class that has been officially excused from "doing" PBLA, by the way; I have voluntarily done some PLBA with them just to keep abreast of how to do so with a higher level class should I ever need to dust off my resume and apply for LINC work elsewhere).

And so that is the goal assigned to me for the second six-month period: check every student binder, even if it means dedicating teaching assistant time to that, in order to ensure that every single paper filed in the binder is in perfect order according to the inventory sheet.

I know that this new manager is just doing her job. I know that she has already gotten an earful of how I feel about this, and I know that I've already received her pep talk about keeping it positive, especially in team meetings, more times than I can count. With a weak smile, I thank my manager for her time, sign the form, return to my classroom.

Driving home, I am already dreaming of the hours I can spend on a new project that has no connection to my next performance review. Once upon a time my passion and energy were connected to what happens in my classroom. Now there is a disconnect.

Few people seemed to understand why I posted the clip of the movie Cool Hand Luke, the scene in which he is made to dig and fill and re-dig and re-fill the same hole in the ground. The most demoralizing thing in the world is being forced to do something in which you see no value, no meaning. It's especially demeaning if you think the task you are being forced to perform is COUNTERPRODUCTIVE to your students' wellbeing.

How about you? Is your school year coming to a close or do you work through the summer months? Are you able to find meaning in your work?

40 comments:

  1. Absolutely. I find meaning and so do my students.
    Last week we completed Binder Reviews / Reflections together.
    Although I talk to my Beginner English Students every time I return an assessment / artefact - we all found this process to be a valuable experience prior to our one:one continue or promotion discussions.
    They already know. No surprises. Great two-way feedback. PBLA done right.

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    1. Dear "No Surprises,"
      Do you think that my students were ever surprised by a promotion or lack of one before PBLA? There were never any surprises back in those days, not in my classes. I always did TRUE formative assessment and always gave feedback--in the moment, at midweek, and at the end of a module. I continued to remind students of the criteria for promotion to the next class. We knew them by heart, almost. And I would consult my students, check in with them regarding confidence level. By the time end-of-term rolled around, each student knew full well whether s/he was staying with me or moving to the next teacher. Sometimes a student would beg to be allowed to stay with me a few more months, in which case we would hash out a compromise. I would say, "If I let you stay here two extra months, will you agree to move in X month?" It was no less a partnership than now. It worked and was both respectful and holistic. --KM

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    2. "PBLA done right." So self-assured! And so unpleasant.

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    3. Yes, thank you. That’s the right word—smug.

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  2. No. nope. My job has lost pretty much all meaning. PBLA has effectively ruined my ability to teach well. I have always loved my job. I almost hate it now. I don't feel like I'm teaching anymore unless you count how to organize a binder. Kelly this sounds atrocious what you (obviously a superb, intelligent and insightful teacher) are being put through re: binders. If you didn't do it would you fear losing your job? Who has time to do all of this nonsense? Where I work I get paid by the hour and not a penny more (teachers have been docked pay for arriving late due to slippery roads and snowstorms and by docked pay I mean to the tune of 15 minutes' worth - talk about demoralizing!) We have to collect employment insurance for the summer which means we can't leave the country or take an out of area vacation. So on top of seeing no value or meaning in PBLA and being forced to do it ( and I don't use language like reflect and artefact with my students because it's jargon although I do occasionally tell them that yes they have another 'test' to do and "teacher do we have a test tomorrow" is the every day mantra where I work especially now) by the end of the summer I will be broke. That means I'm forced to go back and do more PBLA. Yes. Utterly demoralizing. I understand the disconnect you speak of Kelly. I feel like a little kid who found a beautiful stone and gave it to an unloving and rotten parent who tossed it back out onto the street in scorn. The stone is the passion I used to have, disrespectfully and atrociously thrown out for a handful of gravel. That's what I've got now. No more colour or shine. I can't WAIT for summer vacation and to get the hell away from PBLA and fill my life with joy once again. I don't even want to get in my car tomorrow and drive to work.

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    1. I feel sad for your students.

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    2. Looks like Linda is back.

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    3. To Anonymous 5/26/2019 6.46 PM replying to 2.02 PM. I too feel sad for this person’s “Beginner English Students” (why the capitalization?) “We all found this process to be a valuable experience.” ALL? Really? Doubt it.

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    4. Thank you for your pot shots
      Should have read our students.

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    5. If I were the type of teacher who would go back to the retired scientist (who has perfect attendance and stellar performance in my class) and stand over her while she puts her About Me section in perfect order, I would feel sorry for my students. I am not going to demean her in that way. --KM

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    6. Exactly Kelly!
      Respect and responsibility. Two-way dialogue. No surprises.

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  3. Yes I feel sad for all the students who have been hit with PBLA. They should be learning how to speak English. What a mess. A homemade curriculum with tests that have no consistency from level to level and teacher to teacher is no way to teach ESL. When something fails so spectacularly (PBLA) shouldn't it be investigated? Also Kelly you have clerical skills but what about teachers who do not? We want to teach. Binders and inventory and counting stupid 'artefacts' . It's a sad joke.

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    1. Dear 2:25 AM,
      Yes, I am keenly aware that most teachers do not have the training in these areas nor the time it takes to mess with it all (nor the inclination, for that matter). To be honest, I am just searching out a way to have a sense of agency. I always enjoyed my clerical and my technical jobs, so I sometimes get a sort of perverse pleasure from spending hours playing with Excel, Word, or Google Drawing. All the while I'm doing it, I realize I am that one in 100 who would or could spend her time that way. --KM

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    2. Replying to Anonymous 5/27/2019 2:25 AM:

      And you're right; we ARE giving tests, NOT tasks in PBLA. The government may be delusional but let's keep our own sanity and nurture our ability to name things as they are.

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    3. "And you're right; we ARE giving tests, NOT tasks in PBLA." Ding, ding, ding, spot on! Students are not dumb. They know these are tests and it seems to be all that matters most of the time. They are so focused on these silly and poorly made 'tests' that it is hard to teach anything else. I don't know how many times I've heard it said that it's all about 'accountability'. What a crock! If they truly believed in accountability, they would measure student skills before and after to see if there was any improvement and when they found that pbla is an abject failure at improving student skills in English (as compared to 'normal' teaching methods, partly due to the huge amount of time wasted), they would fire the perpetrators of this fraud and institute real teaching once again.

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  4. We're all in this together6/02/2019 8:22 AM

    Thank-you again Kelly for providing this place where we can meet and know we are not alone.
    I was so sad to read your story about the one binder that was not in perfect order. PBLA is not about student agency and choice and becoming a successful, joyful lifelong learner who is ready to integrate into Canada. PBLA is about compliance and control and tracking useless pieces of paper. As a teacher, if I complete 32 tasks for 25 students in a term, and each task is 2 pages long (some are more, especially with the convoluted feedback forms we are being asked to use) then we're talking about 1600 pages for me to review with students. Insane!

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    1. Please.please,please continue to push back against PBLA. Progress is being made at some SPOs.

      CCLB and PBLA and "the funder" are not demanding the unrealistic conditions. YOUR EMPLOYERS ARE!!!! and they are responsible to the labour board of your province. Start asking questions of your union, or the labour board. Include your employer in the discussions. Stop the insanity.

      PBLA Practice Guidelines are guidelines only. They are not a working compendium.

      Stop allowing exploitation. Stop burning out.

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    2. I wish they were just guidelines, but it’s very clear from my interactions with the CCLB, that the guidelines are non-negotiable.

      On the bright side, the CCLB seems to be backing off a bit in their tone. They started out demanding that people do multi-level assessment (in designated one level classes) and now are just recommending that teachers “experiment” with it. To be clear this means that in a LINC 4 class, if I have a student with CLB 3 4 5 3, I would be expected to teach and assess at CLB 4, 5 & possibly 6. And that’s just one student’s profile! I think they’re oh so slowly understanding that we are being overworked and burning out big time. Get real! I say.

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    3. The language of the Canadian Government mandated "language delivery "protocol" (experiment) - Portfolio Based (Biased) Language Assessment (PBLA) is incoherent, dissembling, prevaricating and dissonant. Words like "mentor" (enforcer), training (indoctrination), resisters (anyone who has legitimate concerns and criticisms), learner directed (but highly prescriptive portfolio content) show this.
      So "Guidelines" become CCLB "Requirements" BUT IRCC and CCLB puts the onus on Administrators to enforce them - then turns around and blames them for the "abuse" and victimisation (Catch22). My favourite prevarication is the phrase about evidence that after four years of implementation PBLA is effective. "It (evidence of effectiveness) is coming"......


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    4. 1600 pages to review!! From day one I questioned the massive amounts of photocopying that would be required and it is even worse than I imagined. In a far more environmentally-conscious world, it is almost criminal how much paper is wasted. It is downright offensive! If there were any real accountability, the fraudsters who rammed this half-baked, poorly designed, unresearched disaster of non-teaching frivolity would be under investigation for the amount of money they have ripped the taxpayers off for and for the continuing rip off and the murder of countless trees!

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    5. "It (evidence of effectiveness) is coming"......
      HAHAHAHAHAHA a complete lie!! I and many other teachers have seen a collapse in student skills since the start of pbla. It is truly a disaster!

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  5. What about the fact that we are all spending hours creating assessment tools ....unpaid hours...(at our organization we are paid 8 minutes prep per hour) and being required to upload on shared drive for all teachers to use. Meanwhile, lead teachers are paid 5 extra hours per week to supposedly mentor us while teaching full time and evening....taking credit for assessment tasks that their co-teachers produce and critiquing our tasks...we are having to justify each question, spending hours explaining what we were thinking when using a level 2 question as opposed to a level three. To top it off, we receive 'gentle reminders' to upload modules in addition to resources and assessment tasks 'on time' for free.By the way, here in Alberta, we sign one year contracts so that we are misclassified as contractors. The government cuts classes, teachers are 'laid off' with a record of employment and grateful to receive ei. To think, we are consistently told to teach employment to people who simply dont have the language to meet the demands of that. We are supposed to teach them about how just our system is...how people have the right to speak, to pursue their rights and entitlements to severance...and thousands of teachers are enduring unfair and unjust treatment. Hypocrisy...tune in to employment hour in 30' on global channel Toronto to educate yourselves....we are being used and abused everyone. We are not contractors. Plumbers are contractors. We are employees. We are professionals. We should be paid overtime for ongoing increased duties. All teachers who are not being given enough notice should be receiving severance. Even if it's labeled as lay off, it is a termination. People should be pursuing their full entitlements according to common-law, not one or two weeks notice per year of service. Those are minimum entitlements. Imagine...they make us submit our work according to their schedules and timelines, critique it and let us go without considering our financial obligations in a government funded program that is paid with our tax dollars. It's disgusting, humiliating, degrading and illegal. If we dare to say anything, we are told we are negative, not team players and lead teachers are rolling their eyes. It's comic tragedy.

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    1. Dear Comic Tragedy,
      Until you said Alberta, I thought you were one of my coworkers! Yes, it is ironic that we teach our newcomers about labour laws and how to call Legal Aid if an employer breaks the law. Yet here we are, many of us feeling too intimidated to invite a ministry of labour officer to our next department meeting for a Q and A session. --KM

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    2. Government should not lie to the people.
      Government should not lie to newcomers.
      Governments should not exploit the workers.
      Governments should respect the law.
      Government should use taxpayer dollars wisely.
      The Canadian Government should adhere to Canadian values and principles, including the right to free speech.

      (Dear Admin and Leads and colleagues who love PBLA. Quit your eyerolling. It is your right to embrace PBLA. Knock yourself out if you truly believe it benefits newcomers and passes the common sense test. But don't force it on those that implemented it, gave it a fair shot, appraised it critically, but found it wanting.)

      Dear Comic Tragedy,

      Stay strong.
      I am forwarding your post to my MP and my MPP.

      Claudie


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    4. Comic-tragedy, what do you mean "full entitlements"? Just curious. Maybe that's what we all should do...if we're thinking along the same lines.

      -Norma

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    5. Overtime and 18-24 months pay (as after many years of service, without any notice, they changed the terms of our contract and I was told to leave if I didn't sign). Well, I was directed to see a lawyer and come back in the afternoon to sign so I could teach. Two lawyers saw my contract and said this is constructive dismissal ( a kind of termination). Employers think that when you are given a series of contracts (yearly in our case), we are contractors. That's not the case. If there are less than ninety days between contracts, you are an employee in the eyes of the law. Employers cannot change the terms of employment over night with no notice or severance. And severance is not based on provincial employment standards. Those are our minimum entitlements. According to common law, employees are entitled to much more based on years of service, age, position and salary. Therefore, you have the rights and entitlements of an employee. I cant explain everything as I am not a lawyer, but we have rights. Employers cant just let people go or cut hours without the appropriate severance and/or notice. And they cant demand all this extra work outside of our teaching hours without pay. Watch the program I mentioned, it explains everything. In fact, this past Sunday they referred to this scenario....teachers signing yearly contracts. However, if you are a member of a union, your union must pursue your rights and entitlements. I think teachers in linc programs in bc and Ontario should contact the lawyer on the program. The lawyers name is Lior Samfir. The program is 'employment hour in 30' on global Toronto or on internet. I learned a lot as I found myself going to work one morning, with lessons prepped, first day of semester instead driving around the city looking for a lawyer so I could return in the afternoon because as you know, we are not paid if we don't teach. My colleagues had signed because they were afraid or too intimidated to refuse. So...no ei, no income for me all of a sudden. By the way, that is a reprisal as you have every right to refuse to sign something if you dont understand it or agree to it if it is different from your original agreement.Back to the lawyer on the show, he is representing uber drivers in a class case as they have been misclassified as contractors as well. Finally, check out the severance pay calculator. Once people inform their employers what their entitlements are, they might just have to figure something out with the funder. Quite often service providers are not aware of the difference between an employment contract and a contract (that you have with a plumber or IT consultant). I am not saying people should cause problems, but service providers need to know how things work legally. I have seen many colleagues lose hours (that would amount to a decrease of 30 to 50 percent of their salary) or 'laid off' with no severance. They are just given their record of employment for ei with just a couple weeks notice.And they think that's okay because our employers have had cuts in funding or classes cut.It doesn't work that way. Anyway, check it out and spread the word to others, if not to know your own rights, to teach your students about their rights.

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    6. This is brilliant. Thank you so much. The links are http://stlawyers.ca/?gclid=CjwKCAjw67XpBRBqEiwA5RCoccwpwEh3wk_OTodG_-RAZGClSkXvH2yMcJDHfiruzUozgQl5Jzxc6RoCdHEQAvD_BwE
      and help@employmentlawyer.ca and http://stlawyers.ca/videos/

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    7. We need to wake up and stand up for ourselves with the same zeal and enthusiasm as we do for our students.

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    8. We need to wake up and stand up for ourselves with the same zeal and enthusiasm as we do for our students.

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    9. There is a certain "Gold Standard" School Board funded by MCI that has tortured their employees with PBLA (happily so). I can't begin to tell you how negatively PBLA has impacted the employees at the school board in south central Ontario when PBLA was implemented by people who are not trained in program implementation. They got the PBLA jobs because they were already in program support roles not because they had professional training in program development, program design or organizational change management or development. It DESTROYED people. People are doing twice the amount of work that they are being paid for, burning out and still being harassed by the original "champions". Maybe the "champions of PBLA" need to step back voluntarily or be removed by MCI.

      It is a sick and toxic work environment.

      There are still two months left to fix it. MCI and IRCC what the "f" are you going to to about it?

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    10. Anonymous 7/16/2019 1:58 PM,
      Note that Lior Samfir does take class action suits, as he is taking on a case on behalf of Uber drivers. I wonder if he can help the hundreds of teachers across Canada (or perhaps only in BC and Ontario) where our workload suddenly tripled without the corresponding increase in pay? I imagine many are owed back pay, at the very least. --KM

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  6. I am going to invite a ministry of labour officer to our next department meeting for a Q and A session. Brilliant suggestion. There is a big meeting coming up and guess who is getting an invite. Hold on. I will let you know how it goes.

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  7. You should also invite someone from IRCC and ask them to please listen to the teachers with years of experience (I have 30) teaching ESL and ask them to listen with an open mind to the question, "Is it working?" It's not. It's disastrous. To anonymous 2:08 AM. It's the same in Ontario. The irony... teaching students about their rights. It's also ironic that PBLA was somehow supposed to create more consistency in ESL programs across the country. It has done the opposite. If I hear 'gentle reminder' one more time I'm going to lose my mind. How's this for a gentle reminder: Give us back our jobs. Oh, and students, end of term, just a gentle reminder to take your binders with you when you leave (the class, the school, the country). There are over 40 binders in my classroom that have been left behind and our bins are overflowing with wasted paper - including 'tasks' students don't bother to pick up because they know they're bogus. Our photocopier is on the verge of crashing due to overuse (We used to have to account for the number of copies - imagine if they tried that now?) Our school pats itself on the back for being 'green'. What a mess. I"m embarrassed for whoever created this mess.

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  8. Make a Petition and express all your concerns. This is the best way to do it and to be heard. We did it last year on behalf of TESL professionals who are being mistreated by service providers. Petition was presented by our MP Tracey Ramsey and we got a reply from IRCC. As a result IRCC hired TESL Canada to do a research on our profession to come up with some standards which would be mandatory for service providers. Please, visit Tracey Ramsey's website and read the Petition if you are interested. Also you can find the latest letter from head of TESL Canada on TESL Canada website. She provides infotmation on the first part of their research.

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    1. What is the status of the paper petition on Tracey Ramsey's page and can you attach a link to TESL Canada letter that you are referring to?

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  9. That's funny....all these photocopies, all the money spent on 20 hours/month for lead teachers who were presented with a half baked project, poorly trained to teach the teachers for five years now....imagine if they invested that money in module development, assessments, rubrics, checklists,provided to teachers developed by people specialized in curriculum development with language assessment administered by instructors from other schools (just like the British council conducts two to three times a year..how's that for consistency? One thing our lead teachers were consistent with was referring to the health unit 'going to the doctor'..the sample module provided by the clb pbla gods. That's it....not one example of something they developed. And the funniest thing is that I've had students practically beg me not to cover health because they've done it extensively several times in the preceding courses and they are board with it. I literally feel like gagging everytime I'm referred to it. That would have probably cost less both emotionally and financially. In addition, teachers would not have had to sacrifice life balance. Finally, what about the fact that we're made to feel bad for using some materials from books. Somehow, books have lost any value or credibility. Or how about allowing us to deliver a task-supported language program? The possibilities are endless. The entire focus has been on number of assessments, inventories (table of contents) when the reality is that pbla is about task-based instruction. Have any of you ever had a lead teacher demonstrate how to teach? We haven't.

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  10. That's funny....all these photocopies, all the money spent on 20 hours/month for lead teachers who were presented with a half baked project, poorly trained to teach the teachers for five years now....imagine if they invested that money in module development, assessments, rubrics, checklists and resourçes provided to teachers developed by people specialized in curriculum development with language assessment administered by instructors from other schools (just like the British council conducts two to three times a year..how's that for consistency? One thing our lead teachers were consistent with was referring to the health unit 'going to the doctor'..the sample module provided by the clb pbla gods. That's it....not one example of something they developed. And the funniest thing is that I've had students practically beg me not to cover health because they've done it extensively several times in the preceding courses and they are board with it. I literally feel like gagging everytime I'm referred to it. That would have probably cost less both emotionally and financially. In addition, teachers would not have had to sacrifice life balance. Finally, what about the fact that we're made to feel bad for using some materials from books. Somehow, books have lost any value or credibility. Or how about allowing us to deliver a task-supported language program? The possibilities are endless. The entire focus has been on number of assessments, inventories (table of contents) when the reality is that pbla is about task-based instruction. Have any of you ever had a lead teacher conduct a demonstration lesson? We haven't, yet the job description stated that

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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.