Meeting the Minister of Education

A week ago, I was fortunate enough to meet the Minister of Education, the Honourable Nancy Allan.

Back in October/November of 2012, the principal of my school nominated me for the province's Outstanding New Teacher award. I was humbled and touched by the gesture, and the thought of "I'm just doing my job" flew through my mind. Nevertheless, I accepted the nomination, was endorsed by two colleagues, and found myself on April 18th, 2013 accepting an award from the Minister. The news release can be found here.



The entire ceremony (a beautiful luncheon) was very overwhelming, being in a room with innovative and inspiring educators, their family, and friends. The Minister read some background about each recipient before being presented their award, and they were given the floor for a quick acceptance speech. You can read the biographies of the recipients here.



Of course, I had prepared a speech, memorized it, and rehearsed it 5 times on the way to the Legislative building and another 2 times since I had sat down. However, I had never given a speech in public before, especially not an acceptance speech, so the minute I stepped into the aisle, I became tongue-tied and forgot every word. I tried to salvage what I remembered of my speech, but forgot to thank the most important person - and one of the only people to give me a shot so early in my career: my principal.

Below is the speech I would have given if I weren't so overwhelmed.

Thank you very much. First of all, I would like to thank the selection committee for choosing me to receive this award from a pool of what I am sure were some very worthy candidates. You know, I never knew if I wanted to be a teacher. At one point, I thought I might, so upon graduation, I entered the faculty of Education at the University of Winnipeg. I was fortunate enough to have an excellent foundation laid for me there, and at St. Maurice High School where I did my first high school practicum. That foundation continued to develop when I went to Dakota Collegiate. But it was when I was interviewed for and received my current position at Ashern Central School that I knew I made the right decision. I'm not one to make an impression, but somehow, some way, the principal at ACS, Neil, saw something in me. I would like to take this time to thank him, my fiance, my family, my friends, and my two endorsers, Erika and Chelsey for their support over the last year and a half. I would not be receiving this award today if it weren't for them and their collective efforts. So thank you.

Making a pre-research plan

Outcome 3.1.4 - I can make a pre-research plan

Part of this outcome means that students brainstorm what they already know and anticipate the places they will go for their research. This is a huge struggle in grade 11 ELA for many of my kids, because they simply go straight to google without thinking about what they're looking for.

One of my artists in grade 11 decided that she was going to map out her thought process before beginning research. Below is what she produced.



When we started talking, I asked her about something that she was interested in. She said "anchors". In my head, I wondered "what in the world do I have to offer her in terms of knowledge to help her get to something she can research?"

It turns out, I didn't need to do that. She did it all on her own. In her representation of her thought process, she moved from thinking about anchors to boats, and that reminded her of sailors, islands and beaches, which reminded her of treasure, shiny objects, and compasses, time, the phrase 'x marks the spot' in a digital age (and what that means - hence the plug at the bottom of the earth), and finally the evolution of GPS devices.

All of this came together when she added her title: How did ancient sailors navigate the globe?


These pictures don't do this particular project justice, in person, the poster is phenomenal.

After her brainstorm session, she found some poster board and a classmate suggested she make it look like a map and burn the edges. Then, she asked me how to make it look old. Now THIS was something I could help with. I suggested using a tea bag and boiling water, dipping the tea bag into the water, and using it like a brush across the poster paper, before doing any of the drawing or burning. It worked! And turned out fantastic!

This is just one example of how some of my students have approached the outcomes. I would have never been able to come up with something like that. A significant aspect to this way of delivering ELA is the quality one-on-one time with students and verbally communicating their knowledge. Some of my students have a difficult time writing down their thoughts, but in a conversation, I can ask them questions to evaluate how well they can make connections, something they may spend a half hour writing a response for. I cherish that time. And more importantly, I cherish my students.