I'm sure you are wondering. So here it goes:
Project One: Mon prof adore lire
This is the individual project. In my school board we have spent a lot of time, energy and money on new literacy initiatives. One resource we have been using at the Primary level is Lucy Calkins' writing curriculum for primary grades. This is a wonderful resource that shows teachers how to run an effective writing program. It uses mentor or touchstone books to begin each lesson. For example, the personal narrative lessons recommend the use of several wonderful children's books, that are personal narratives, to show the students what good writers do. The picture books are crucial to the outcomes.
Unfortunately, French Immersion teachers have been struggling to use this resource. You see, only ONE of the mentor texts that Lucy Calkins uses is available in French. This leaves French Immersion teachers with a huge problem. Most have solved the problem by searching for other quality books to use during Writer's workshop. This has been a difficult, time-consuming and frustrating undertaking. It has been made all the worse by the fact that the school board has purchased a set of the recommended texts for each school. English teachers have exactly what they need to implement Lucy Calkin's writing curriculum. French Immersion teachers do not.
My project proposes to find quality French books that dovetail with Lucy Calkin's resource, purchase them for classrooms in our school board, and workshop their use with all the French Immersion teachers in our Board.
PROJECT 2: Ici on Ecrit
This is the team project. Again, the project is based on a missing resource for French Immersion teachers. In this case the missing resource is a set of Writing Exemplars for French Immersion. The Ministry of Education has published a set of Writing Exemplars for each grade level, in English and in French. However, the French exemplars are intended for use by French First Language teachers, not Immersion. Exemplars show teachers what their students should be doing at each grade level, and provide examples of work at level 1,2,3 and 4. This is a valuable resource for teachers.
Francine, Cheryl and I intend to create these Exemplars for Immersion teachers. We will be collecting writing samples from Immersion students across the school board, marking them using a common rubric, and publishing our findings. We will need the cooperation of all Immersion teachers to undertake this project. The proposal is so expensive because of the time needed to collect, mark and publish our findings. 3 teachers working together, means 3 supply teachers in our classrooms- a considerable expense. In addition, we will need to meet with all the other French Immersion teachers in our board on several occasions. This means more supply teachers.
I hope these two outlines will help you understand the scope of our projects. Needless to say, Francine, Cheryl and I have a lot of work to do in the coming months!
