Meet the Teachers
- Carl Goulding
- Valerie Pike
- Nancy Barkhouse
- Ross Thompson
- Kelly Brownrigg
- Deb Robinson
- Matt Dawber
- Helen Pat Hansen
- Marie Hockley
- Mike Hussey
- Doug MacCorkindale
- Ian Naisbitt
- Jean-Daniel Roy
- Mary Lou Mastromonaco
- Lee Curtis
- Carol Livingstone
- Doug Grunert
- Brad Talbot
- Rod Osiowy
Carl Goulding
Mount Pearl Intermediate School and Mount Pearl Senior
High School
Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador
Grades 7-12: music, social studies, religion
Carl Goulding believes that students must not only be taught effectively, but also must take ownership of their learning. For example, his students develop self-confidence and responsibility by sharing the planning, development and staging of musical performances. As a music teacher, Goulding also believes that students develop musicianship, literacy skills and musical and theoretical understanding through choral performance. It is the transformation from the academic and theoretical to practice and performance that delivers the greatest achievement.
Goulding started several choirs at Mount Pearl Intermediate School and Mount Pearl Senior High School. Choir participation grew from 11 students to more than 200 in one year, and the various groups now include 21 percent of the school population. Students show significant improvement in communication, decision making, problem solving and organizational skills, with his choirs and music classes emphasizing teamwork, collaboration and peer mentoring.
The Mount Pearl Show Choir features singers and dancers and is very involved in the musical heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. The choir toured the province as part of the 1999 Provincial Soiree Celebration Tour, which paid homage to the traditional Newfoundland gatherings called soirees, and as part of the Viking 1000: Celebrate the Journey Tour. The choir has excelled at international competitions in New York, the Bahamas and Florida.
Mount Pearl Intermediate School and Mount Pearl Senior
High School
50 Ruth Avenue
Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador A1N 2H5
Telephone: 709-364-1433
Fax: 709-364-1871
Email: carlgoulding@roadrunner.nf.net
Websites:
- MPI Online - 'The Home Of The Panthers' (www.panther.k12.nf.ca/)
- Mount Pearl Senior High (www.mps.k12.nf.ca/mpsh)
Valerie Pike
Prince of Wales Collegiate
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
Grades 10-12: French (core and immersion), international studies
Valerie Pike sees her role as an educator as contributing both to students' formal education and to their moral and civic education. She enables her students to open doors to the rest of the world through language and cultural studies, to view themselves as citizens of the world and to learn about themselves and the subjects they study.
To that end, Pike spearheaded the transformation of her school's French department into a department of modern languages, offering popular programs in French, Spanish, Russian and international studies. These programs are much sought after by students, even though the courses require a major commitment of time and effort.
Pike was part of a team that designed the international studies course, which is unique in the province. The course, which sees 25 students a year travel to Cuba, was founded on partnerships with Canada World Youth and the Cuban ministry of education, and has gained accreditation as a university admission course. Pike was also a member of the first steering committee for Le Français pour l'avenir, a national on-line conference for French immersion and Francophone high school students.
Pike is the recipient of a number of honours, including the 2000-2001 Canadian Parents for French Teacher of the Year award for French Immersion in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Rotary Award for Teaching Excellence for 2000-2001.
Prince of Wales Collegiate
24 Paton Street
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B
3E7
Telephone: 709-576-4061
Fax: 709-576-4920
Email: vpike@pwc.k12.nf.ca
Websites: www.pwc.k12.nf.ca
Nancy Barkhouse
Atlantic View Elementary School
Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia
Grade 4: all subjects
Nancy Barkhouse believes that many technological resources in today's schools are still underused. To address this deficiency, she creates technology-based projects that build up the skills and equipment in the school, allowing students (and teachers!) to continue to expand their technology use even after the initial project is finished.
An early adopter of technology in the classroom, Barkhouse began by bringing her own computer to the classroom in 1987 (and creating the first Nova Scotia elementary school web page in January 1995), and slowly built on that base for the next 15 years. Her classroom in that small, rural school has featured as many as 12 Internet-accessible computers.
Barkhouse excels at enhancing each year's teaching program to meet the needs of specific groups in that class. For example, she developed an in-school technology training program for Grade 4 and 5 students. The program boosted their technology skills and prepared them to teach those skills to other students. This not only increased the use of technological resources at the school, but also reduced the school's dependence on its single technology resources teacher. Barkhouse has also led the development of several SchoolNet Grassroots projects and successfully applied for grants from a variety of organizations.
Believing that teachers who continue to experience the frustrations and joys of learning new things make better teachers, Barkhouse has continued to develop her own professional skills, completing a master's degree in on-line education from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia. She also shares her skills with other teachers. She produced a video for fellow educators describing how children with Down Syndrome are integrated into classrooms and looking at some of the technology used to make this process easier.
Atlantic View Elementary School
3391 Lawrencetown Road
Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia B2Z 1R5
Telephone: 902-464-5245
Fax: 902-464-5246
Email: nbarkhouse@accesswave.ca
Websites: www.aves.ednet.ns.ca
Ross Thompson
New Minas Elementary School
New Minas, Nova Scotia
Grades 1-5: music
In a caring, respectful manner, Ross Thompson finds and develops the individual strengths of every student, not just the ones who have a demonstrated ability for music. He builds on classroom teaching with extracurricular activities that create a lifelong love of music.
Convinced that performance carries a multitude of valuable learning experiences, Thompson creates as many opportunities as possible for his students to perform, including choirs for girls and boys, a chimes club and guitar club, and many opportunities to play the recorder and use in-class keyboard and computer technology. Thompson and his students were selected as a pilot school for the innovative computer-assisted composing program CIVIC. This program was developed by Acadia University in cooperation with the Nova Scotia department of education.
The school choir was featured among the best choirs in Atlantic Canada on a special CD of Christmas music produced by Sobeys Ltd. With these experiences, students learn confidence and become comfortable communicating in public. These lessons are easily transferred to other parts of their lives.
Thompson shares his enthusiasm and love of music with the whole community. He and a team of enthusiastic amateurs produce the annual performance of Fezziwig's Family Christmas Frolic. Since 1995, this community production has allowed performers ranging from five-year-old amateurs to seasoned pros to work together to entertain sold-out audiences. Each year Thompson creates a fresh and novel musical score for the event. Thompson is also the founder of the Annapolis Valley Honour Choir, which is now in its 14th year. Under his direction, the choir competed provincially and nationally and went to England, Wales, Austria and Germany.
New Minas Elementary School
34 Jones Road
New Minas, Nova Scotia B4N 3N1
Telephone: 902-681-4900
Fax: 902-681-4904
Email: rosst@av.eastlink.ca
Websites: http://newminaselem.ednet.ns.ca/
Kelly Brownrigg
Guardian Angels Catholic School
Stittsville, Ontario
Grade 6: all subjects except French
A teacher for 14 years, Kelly Brownrigg sees each child in her class as a precious gift. Her aim is to give her students a positive sense of themselves, hope for the future, and respect for themselves, others and the environment. To nurture these attributes, she fosters individual creativity, awareness and positive thinking in her students with a rich and innovative curriculum. Brownrigg brings zest and interest to her profession: team teaching in an open concept classroom, co-writing curricula for her school board, presenting workshops on the use of rubrics for assessment, and acting as curriculum leader at her school. She is equally enthusiastic about the potential of technology in teaching and acts as computer site administrator at her school and as coordinator of the Tech-Connect project. Whether working with students or peers, volunteering for pilot projects, attending workshops and specialist courses, or completing a master's degree in education while teaching full time, Brownrigg exemplifies the importance of lifelong learning to all who know her.
Guardian Angels Catholic School
4 Baywood Drive
Stittsville, Ontario K2S 1K5
Telephone: 613-836-7423
Fax: 613-831-5620
Email: Kelly_Brownrigg@occdsb.on.ca
Websites: www.occdsb.on.ca/~gua/
Deb Robinson
Guardian Angels Catholic School
Stittsville, Ontario
School principal
Deb Robinson regularly sets up community and educational partnerships to enhance student learning. For example, Robinson developed a partnership with local art galleries so students could display their work and enter juried art shows. In conjunction with the municipal creative arts department, she brought local artists into the school. Another partnership, this time with the Royal Canadian Legion, brings seniors and students together. Student choirs entertain the seniors at their dinners.
With the Tech-Connect project, she seeks and develops links between her Catholic elementary school (she is the principal) and its associate Catholic high school, Sacred Heart Catholic High School. These links support teaching and sharing between schools and provide opportunities for multi-age and peer coaching that benefit both schools.
Robinson acts as the facilitator of her board's mentorship program for principals and vice-principals and at numerous professional development sessions. She also wrote the board's administrator's handbook. She received the Award of Excellence from the Council for Exceptional Children and was nominated for her board's Director's Award.
Guardian Angels Catholic School
4 Baywood Drive
Stittsville, Ontario K2S 1K5
Telephone: 613-836-7423
Fax: 613-831-5620
Email: Deborah_Robinson@occdsb.on.ca
Websites: www.occdsb.on.ca/~gua/
Matt Dawber
Sacred Heart Catholic High School
Stittsville, Ontario
Grades 7-8: English and music, information technology team leader
Matt Dawber successfully combines a love of music and an interest in technology with his enjoyment of teaching. He is committed to self-improvement and continuous learning for both himself and his students. This commitment plays out in several ways. Dawber founded the music program for intermediate and senior students at Sacred Heart, and it has seen a steady increase in enrolment. With student collaboration, he created on-line music courses and a collaborative music project, and pioneered the use of Web-based portfolios at the school. As part of the Tech-Connect project and team, Dawber encourages his students to use technology to enhance their music learning. In one project, students recorded and created a CD of the Guardian Angels Catholic School choir. His activities benefit the entire school. Dawber planned, redesigned and maintains the school website, and encourages teacher collaboration in the arts and English, including teacher exchanges, peer workshops and other professional development sessions. Dawber has also written provincial Grade 10 music curriculum.
Sacred Heart Catholic High School
5870 Abbott Street
Stittsville, Ontario K2S 1X4
Telephone: 613-831-6643
Fax: 613-831-6647
Email: Matt_Dawber@occdsb.on.ca
Websites: www.occdsb.on.ca/~shh
Helen Pat Hansen
Sacred Heart Catholic High School
Stittsville, Ontario
Grades 11 to OAC: law, communications
and technology, and travel and tourism
"Learning should parallel life," says Helen Pat Hansen. She is skilled at aligning ministry curriculum objectives with the Conference Board of Canada's Employability Skills Profile to create significant, interesting and rewarding learning experiences for her students. This practical approach and philosophy have led an increasing number of students to enrol in her courses.
Hansen encourages and promotes the educational use of technology across the curriculum by involving herself in innovative projects within her school. These activities extend outside the school as well, through her work on the Tech-Connect project. She also acts as the site administrator for computers and technology at Sacred Heart, is a member of the school's information technology team, and carries out staff training in computer technology and as an associate teacher.
Hansen is recognized as a leader outside her school. In her teaching career, she has developed and implemented programs for both behavioural and gifted students. One such program involved the training and placement of students in the high-tech industry, a forerunner of today's partnerships between industry and high schools.
Sacred Heart Catholic High School
5870 Abbott Street
Stittsville, Ontario K2S 1X4
Telephone: 613-831-6643
Fax: 613-831-6647
Email: HelenPat_Hansen@occdsb.on.ca
Websites: www.occdsb.on.ca/~shh
Marie Hockley
Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School
Ridgeway, Ontario
Grades 9 to OAC: English, history
Recognizing that we live in a competitive world with high standards and demands, Marie Hockley prepares her students by setting high standards for them. "Teachers who set high standards are rarely disappointed," she explains. In addition, she fosters her students' growth by integrating academics with employability skills, teaching skills in both the cognitive and affective domains and encouraging students to take responsibility for their actions.
Her challenging, student-centred approach to learning brings out the best in students. An independent research project for her senior students develops confidence and research skills and improves literacy. Her Grade 12 and OAC students research the essential components of the Grade 9 reading and writing curriculum and the strategies to teach them. The students then develop lesson plans and tutor a Grade 9 student in his or her identified areas of weakness.
Hockley teaches "guess the test" strategies that encourage good note taking and study skills. Using these strategies, students significantly improve their test results. Both her academic and vocational students have a high success rate; several vocational stream students have been inspired to transfer to the academic stream through her peer tutoring initiative.
Hockley is also a leader within the school, working on assessment and literacy. In the latter, she led a team that developed the school's cross-curricular literacy plan, involving considerable in-service training and work with elementary teachers to help them develop literacy skills in younger students.
Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School
576 Ridge Road, Box 310
Ridgeway, Ontario L0S 1N0
Telephone: 905-894-3461
Fax: 905-894-3390
Email: marie.hockley@dsbn.edu.on.ca
Mike Hussey
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
Toronto, Ontario
Grades 9 to OAC: English
Mike Hussey teaches much more than English. He creates a critical awareness of the power of language and encourages students to take risks by creating an atmosphere based on mutual respect and support. Named most supportive teacher by the graduating class four years in a row, Hussey uses humour, innovative teaching practices sometimes disguised as eccentricities, gentle but effective discipline ("I am not your friend. I am your teacher." ) and uncompromising standards for everyone, including himself.
Recognizing students' need for opportunities to hone their critical thinking and writing skills, Hussey designed with student input a Grade 11 course called Ethics and the Philosophy of Science, considered by many graduates to be the most essential of their high school courses.
He also designed the school's Advanced Placement English program and has overseen its growth from 36 students to more than 100, including students recently promoted from the school's English as a Second Language (ESL) program. He has worked with colleagues on bridging programs for ESL students moving into mainstream English classes, and is part of a school board curriculum committee working on this issue.
A founding member of the school's nationally recognized TOPS (Talented Offerings for Programs in the Sciences) science and mathematics focus program, Hussey is the only non-sciences teacher involved. He designed a TOPS "safety net" program of cooperative learning, problem solving and student bonding to improve retention rates in this demanding program.
As scholarship coach for Marc Garneau Collegiate, Hussey has helped students receive seven National Scholarships in the past six years (a Canadian record), and more than $400 000 in scholarships in the last six years alone.
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
135 Overlea Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario M3C 1B3
Telephone: 416-396-2410
Fax: 416-396-2407
Email: cogito@sympatico.ca
Websites: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/marcgarneau
Doug MacCorkindale
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
Toronto, Ontario
Grades 9-12: broad-based technology, transportation technology
Doug MacCorkindale believes that the methods of business and industry provide valuable examples for education and the classroom. He models his classroom procedures on successful approaches used in industry, especially teamwork. Convinced of the value and efficiency of the apprenticeship learning process, he uses a holistic, blended approach to skills development. Students learn theoretical, analytical and application skills through hands-on projects and work in a learning environment with sound business practices, with impressive results.
Student teams created three one-third scale models of the Canadarm2 and designed and flew an American Eaglet sailplane. They also designed and manufactured a series of microgravity experiments that flew on NASA's KC135 ZeroG astronaut training aircraft. Many of MacCorkindale's former students have gone on to successful careers in technology and industry, with some even returning to the school to mentor the newest of his students.
MacCorkindale applies his convictions outside the classroom, too. He designed the East York school board's regulations and procedures for automobile design and construction in schools, and later created the curriculum, course material and handouts for Metropolitan Toronto's first project design course.
MacCorkindale also initiated partnerships with community and government organizations, including MD Robotics, the Discovery Channel and the Canadian Space Agency, to provide the means and opportunity for students to expand their learning.
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute
135 Overlea Boulevard
Toronto, Ontario M3C 1B3
Telephone: 416-396-2410
Fax: 416-396-2407
Email: gloria.maccorkindale@sympatico.ca
Websites: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/marcgarneau
Ian Naisbitt
Concord Public School
Windsor, Ontario
Grades 5-6: mathematics, English, art, physical education, science, social studies
Ian Naisbitt has, in the words of one parent, "literally moved a mountain, a mountain of garbage." In the process, he's taught hundreds of students the values and skills that will make them valuable Canadian citizens in the future. Naisbitt uses the powerful message that students can make a difference to teach academic knowledge and the communication and organization skills students need to succeed in their school careers and environmental efforts, and in their lives.
To teach this lesson to his students and the school, Naisbitt and colleague Bryan Johnson organize moving Remembrance Day ceremonies, run the Kids for Saving the Earth Club at the school and donate blood regularly. Naisbitt also had the privilege of donating bone marrow on one occasion. His largest project is the Little River Enhancement Group, which is dedicated to the restoration of the entire Little River watershed. This non-profit organization grew out of a classroom project to clean up a section of the river. A significant amount of fund-raising, public awareness campaigning and letter writing (and learning!) by the students back up this ongoing environmental effort.
Happy to share his insights and expertise with other teachers, Naisbitt has published professional development materials on environmental education in both French and English, answers emailed questions from teachers around the world, and leads professional development sessions in Windsor-area schools.
Concord Public School
6700 Raymond
Windsor, Ontario N8S 2A1
Telephone: 519-974-3450
Fax: 519-974-3825
Email: ian_naisbitt@gecdsb.on.ca
Websites: www.gecdsb.on.ca/sub/schools/elem/concord/first_page.htm
Jean-Daniel Roy
École Sainte-Anne
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Grade 5: all subjects
Since receiving his Prime Minister's Award, Jean-Daniel Roy and his class have visited the Maginot Line in France (an elaborate system of defences built by France against Germany after World War I). It was a trip he had been planning for a long time. He approached students and their parents to discuss the possibility four years before they were due to enter his Grade 5 class. Previously, he had connected up with a teacher in northern France, researched possible activities and, unlike the builders of the Maginot Line, prepared for unexpected possibilities. And, he began all of this before he was given a permanent teaching position at his school.
Roy is the kind of person who thinks in the long term — who plants little acorns knowing that they will grow into big oaks trees, providing shade, shelter, homes for animals and, eventually, useful lumber.
For example, he associated himself with a small company that produces and distributes educational materials. From this humble beginning came a number of new technologies including Pyramide mathématique, a math-teaching software widely used in Quebec. In 1999, Roy was honoured by AQUOPS (an association of elementary and secondary school teachers who use software in the classroom) for his leadership in introducing technology into the classroom.
Equally important to Roy is a seed of a subtler sort: the respectful behaviour he insists on in his classes.
École Sainte-Anne
851, rue de l'Ontario
Sherbrooke, Quebec J1N 2N3
Telephone: 819-822-5674
Fax: 819-822-5675
Email: jd@educatic.qc.ca
Websites:
- Presse Jeunesse (www.educatic.qc.ca/presjeun)
- Échange Québec - France (www.educatic.qc.ca/quebec-france/)
Mary Lou Mastromonaco
Bishop Grandin High School
Calgary, Alberta
Grades 10-12: English as a Second Language
Mary Lou Mastromonaco sees English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers as having a two-fold role: teaching English skills, as well as helping students to learn about and embrace Canadian culture, while encouraging them to take pride in their own language, culture and traditions. Twelve years' experience as an academic English teacher and a deep interest in the dynamics of second-language learning equip her to provide a solid learning base to her students.
Mastromonaco has developed several initiatives to help her students quickly and effectively adapt to their new country. She works with community organizations on partnership programs that give ESL students job skills, and training and employment opportunities. She coordinates innovative adjunct classes with fellow teachers to help ESL students succeed in mainstream English and social studies courses. She also set up a volunteer host and tutor program that pairs Canadian students with ESL students. The students learn about each other's culture. This program also provides the ESL students with English language practice and tutoring in specific subject areas. In addition, she organizes extracurricular activities for her students, such as horseback riding, and trips to a local television station, theatre productions and Calgary Flames hockey games.
In an effort both to improve her own teaching and broaden other teachers' understanding of the challenges facing high school ESL students, Mastromonaco has hosted and organized ESL professional development days and created several teaching units on local history and culture. She is currently teaching 50 students who have come to Canada from 24 countries on five continents.
Bishop Grandin High School
111 Haddon Road SW
Calgary, Alberta T2V 2Y2
Telephone: 403-252-7541
Fax: 403-640-0116
Email: marylou.mastromonaco@cssd.ab.ca
Websites: www.bghs.ca/
Lee Curtis
Langford Alternative Education Program
Victoria, British Columbia
Grades 8-9: mathematics, English, science, physical education, social science,
keyboarding, art, career preparation
Lee Curtis carefully and skilfully draws the Grade 8 and 9 students in the Langford Alternative Education Program into a deliberate process of personal change and academic success. He begins by helping students see themselves as capable masters of their destiny, rather than angry and dispirited victims of circumstance, abuse or disability. He then offers students a mix of life skills and academic learning according to their needs, lessons in social responsibility, truthfulness and citizenship, and activities to strengthen reading and employability skills. Students succeed against considerable odds, many returning to the regular school program as successful participants and academic achievers.
After three years of teaching grades 4 and 5, Curtis moved to teaching alternative programs, which he has been doing for the past 22 years. To improve his own teaching skills, Curtis completed a master's degree in school counselling in 1993. He has worked as a practicum supervisor for students in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria for the past 14 years, and has spoken on several occasions at the university and to other groups on working with at-risk youth.
In addition, he represents his school district on the Victoria Family Court and Youth Justice Committee (VFCYJC), which advocates for youth and families involved in the court system. Curtis also heads the VFCYJC's subcommittee on education, which makes recommendations on issues that affect at-risk students and the legal system.
Langford Alternative Education Program
2724 Jacklin Road
Victoria, British Columbia V9B 3Y7
Telephone: 250-478-5114
Fax: 250-478-5114
Email: lcurt@islandnet.com
Carol Livingstone
Hugh Boyd Secondary School
Richmond, British Columbia
Grades 11-12: business education, business computer applications
Carol Livingstone reshapes her classroom into a boardroom: her business education students work as a team to run a company and she is a facilitator. Students develop skills in sales, marketing, finance and customer relations through class-run desktop publishing ventures.
She augments students' business learning with lessons in personal development, leadership, networking, cultural sensitivity and community involvement. These lessons are often part of projects, such as one on the cultural history of indigenous peoples, which promotes better understanding of First Nations peoples, and another in which the students published a fund-raising cookbook for the Boys and Girls Club in the Comox Valley.
Since becoming head of the business education department at Hugh Boyd Secondary in 1995, Livingstone has worked hard to make business education interesting and rewarding for students. She introduced the Entrepreneurship Career Preparation program, developed the Boyd Business Diploma program, and instituted corporate-style incentives, including shares, salaries and scholarships. Student demand for business education courses has increased dramatically as a result. A third of Grade 11 and 12 students now take these classes.
Livingstone has received numerous awards for her innovative and influential teaching, including the provincial Outstanding Business Educator award and several Junior Achievement awards for teaching excellence. She contributes to national and provincial business education through participation in University of Toronto research, ministerial task forces, curriculum development and presentations at conferences and other professional development sessions.
Hugh Boyd Secondary School
9200 No. 1 Road
Richmond, British Columbia V7E 6L5
Telephone: 604-668-6615
Fax: 604-668-6569
Email: clivingstone@richmond.sd38.bc.ca
Websites: www.sd38.bc.ca:8004/~BoydWeb/
Doug Grunert
Rutland Senior Secondary School
Kelowna, British Columbia
Grades 10-12: science, environmental science, chemistry, career preparation
Doug Grunert is dedicated to improving science education in his school and area. A teacher since1978, Grunert has been actively involved in science curricular development, in both the Kootenay and Okanagan valleys of British Columbia. In recent years, he set up the Advance Placement chemistry program at Rutland Senior Secondary School. He also secured funding to equip his chemistry lab with spectrophotometers, digital pH meters and analytical balances. In 1992, Grunert and fellow teacher Brad Talbot began working together to create a new way of teaching the sciences. They blended biology, chemistry and the province's mandatory work experience program into a new course called Environmental Science. The course moves out of the classroom and into the real world as often as possible. For example, Environmental Science students manage an annual community toxic waste disposal weekend in Kelowna and participate in Project COOL (Clean our Okanagan Lake). Students with SCUBA diving experience help clean up the estimated tonnes of debris from Okanagan Lake annually. Today, Grunert can be found conducting tutorials for students outside of school hours, working as an external evaluator for the Okanagan University College chemistry department, training students in SCUBA diving, or snowboarding down the local ski hill as a member of the Canadian Ski Patrol.
Rutland Senior Secondary School
650 Dodd Road
Kelowna, British Columbia V1X 2X3
Telephone: 250-765-1407
Fax: 250-765-4783
Email: dgrunert@sd23.bc.ca
Websites: www.rss.sd23.bc.ca/
Brad Talbot
Rutland Senior Secondary School
Kelowna, British Columbia
Grades 10-12: science, environmental science, biology, career preparation
A biology teacher since 1976, Brad Talbot brings a wide variety of learning experiences to his students. For example, he arranges partnerships with veterinarians, pharmacies and pet store owners to allow his students to interact directly in animal husbandry programs. Field trips enhance a "hands-on" approach to learning and are an important aspect of his teaching style.
In the Environmental Science course that he developed and team-teaches with colleague Doug Grunert, students are immersed in life skill experiences. Students raise Kokanee salmon in the classroom, are stewards of a local stream and still find time to spend two weeks on a foreign excursion exploring numerous ecosystems around the world.
Talbot has contributed to science education outside his classroom as well. With a master's degree in administration and curriculum, he served as head of the science departments at Rutland Senior Secondary between 1979 and 1993, and coordinated Advanced Placement courses from 1988 to 1990. He was president of the Central Okanagan Biology Teachers' Association for two years and sat on several committees, including the district examination committee and the staff advisory committee.
Rutland Senior Secondary School
650 Dodd Road
Kelowna, British Columbia V1X 2X3
Telephone: 250-765-1407
Fax: 250-765-4783
Email: btalbot@sd23.bc.ca
Websites: www.rss.sd23.bc.ca/
Rod Osiowy
Mount Baker Secondary School
Cranbrook, British Columbia
Grades 10-12: video/TV, acting, stagecraft, theatre
Rod Osiowy sees theatre and the arts as the heart of all education. With that in mind, he sets out to reach his students with a careful blend of practical and emotional challenges. He designs projects with science, English, music, hospitality and social studies teachers that integrate and expand learning, including his own, and encourages students to reflect, respond and critique everyone's work.
This work includes student-created public awareness videos on a wide variety of issues (these led to a UNESCO-sponsored media project on youth social justice in Costa Rica) and at least three student-run theatre productions each year.
Osiowy's leadership has almost doubled participation in the school's drama program, with students achieving a 99 percent pass rate. Many of his graduating theatre and video students receive scholarships for post-secondary education. Former students now have successful careers with major theatre companies, including those at the Stratford Festival and Circle in the Square in New York. Others have found work in the film industry as technicians and actors.
Osiowy constantly expands his own, and the school's, students' and other teachers' capabilities by bringing new technologies into the classroom and upgrading his skills whenever possible. He co-founded an international association for flying effects in theatre, currently serves as president of the provincial drama educators' association, and is part of the provincial drama curriculum-writing team. He also publishes articles in professional journals and maintains the British Columbia drama teachers' website.
Mount Baker Secondary School
1410 Baker Street
Cranbrook, British Columbia V1C 1B2
Telephone: 250-426-5241
Fax: 250-426-6673
Email: studi-o@shaw.ca
Websites: http://mbaker.com