If you are a high school teacher, you have probably had the experience of students telling you the previous year's teacher didn't teach them "anything", or that they "never" learned the thing you are asking them if they know. We know this isn't true, but the issue remains - there is a learning gap that … Continue reading →

A little over three years ago, I volunteered to be a part of a group of French teachers in my school district (Surrey, BC) who would try new programs with their classes in order to determine what the best fit would be for French learners in our district. We had been using Communi-Quête (link here … Continue reading →

As I wrote here and here, my collaboration partner and I have spent a lot of time developing effective learning maps for our French classes. (If you're not familiar with learning maps, they are essentially a blueprint for assessment in a given subject area for a given grade level. This book is highly recommended if … Continue reading →

In the previous post, I focused on the story of how my collaboration partner and I got here. This post is dedicated to where we are now, and where we hope to go. Even though our collaboration started with a focus on our French as a second language classes, I am also trained as an … Continue reading →

There is a growing body of evidence to support the premise that teacher collaboration supports student achievement. It also suggests that this collaboration works best if it is sustained, high quality, and connected to instructional strategies, curriculum and assessment. That all sounds good - as teachers, we tend to want things that will benefit our … Continue reading →