English Language Arts 8-12 Curriculum Update

The new ELA 8-12 curriculum should be available for review in September. Originally, it was to be posted in February, then got pushed back to May. Let’s hope it gets posted this time! Check out the Ministry web site and this link: www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/drafts/

It is crucial that teachers familiarize themselves with this draft document and provide their input. I can’t think of a better use of a school-based professional day!

BCTELA will do its part to advocate for adequate resources to implement this new curriculum (full implementation as of September 2008). At this point, the Ministry has no plans to produce a Classroom Assessment Model (CAM), which they have done for previous curricula. CAMs are not prescriptive by nature, and most teachers have found them useful in terms of providing suggested teaching and assessment strategies. On an individual and school level, teachers need to let Minister of Education Shirley Bond know they expect support in terms of release time, proper in-servicing, and Ministry produced CAMs.

On a different topic, SFU’s Master’s of Arts for Teachers of English (MATE) Program is off to a very good start, with the 1st cohort’s 12 students completing 2 graduate courses. For info about the program, check the SFU English Dept. website: www.sfu.ca/english.
Cheers,
Dave

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