Our children no longer know how to write, it’s appalling! Listening to the CAQ falcon, the students no longer have the skills to pass their fifth secondary ministerial test. It is so sketch that even MC Gilles took the liberty of defending the great return of traditional dictations to Everybody talks about it. Help !
If we summarize the tape that we hear ad nauseam in the media, it’s the apocalypse in French classes. Let’s relativize. Yes, the problem is real, but solutions exist.
Mr. Drainville, you are well aware of the issues related to the quality of writing skills of Quebec students. Rather than dwelling on what is going wrong, as French teachers, we suggest that you take action directly. One of the easiest solutions to put in place, and this, from the start of the next school year, is the return to a two report card evaluation system. Here’s why.
Evaluate instead of teach
Between September and October, teachers must create meaningful connections with all their students, teach them new concepts and assess their understanding in order to be able to produce a report card. immediately. Result ? Students write more often in a summative assessment context than in a learning context.
To undermine the development of students’ writing skills, there is no better. No choice, the first bulletin is published at the beginning of November.
Three report cards per school year is too much. The disadvantages of such a system are many, but the most obvious is the fact that it forces teachers to assess writing skills of their pupils instead of helping them to improve it. We lack the time to focus on winning teaching strategies such as having students write every day, having them experience creative writing workshops or providing them with relevant feedback on a regular basis. Proven practices are not lacking, but time, yes!
An essential communication
We understand that issuing only two report cards per year may seem unfavorable for parents who wish to be kept informed of their child’s progress. This is a completely legitimate desire.
However, it is not because the first report is given in January that the parents have no information as to the school results of their child, quite the contrary! Between the publication of the two bulletins, the teachers would only have to produce a communication to the parents (a qualitative assessment of the student’s progress) in order to keep them informed of the strengths and challenges of their child. These two communications, combined with the evaluation results that are already published periodically on the school’s portal, would make it possible to quickly target students in difficulty and find concrete ways to support them.
Mr. Drainville, like you, we are very concerned about improving students’ writing skills. Obviously, one of the ways of contributing to this would be to return to a two-step model of assessment which, moreover, would be equally beneficial for all subjects. Teachers from across Quebec have already mobilized in the fall to assert the merits of this proposal. More than 6275 teachers had supported them.
Your government says it places education at the top of its priorities and you will agree that teachers are by far the best placed to help you meet this commitment.
Trust in our skills.
To read in the News section: the text by Hugo Pilon-Larose