The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Alberta teachers among Canada's top history teachers

Anne Gatha from Calgary and David Smith from Red Deer are both finalists for the 2000 Governor General's Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Gatha and Smith were selected from teachers across Canada who were nominated for their dynamic and innovative approach to teaching Canadian history.

Gatha, an elementary teacher at Mother Mary Green Elementary School, has written historical novels based on the exploits of three elementary students who travel through time. She uses the novels to give her students an understanding of life in different historical periods by combining history, art and music. "Looking at the history of a period gives meaning to the music," explains Gatha. By reading her novels, students learn not only about the daily lives of the people but become familiar with other aspects of life at that time—transportation, food, clothing, shelter, art and recreation.

Smith, a teacher a Lindsay Thurber High School, uses the review of primary documents to focus students' attention on events such as Confederation, the founding of the CCF, the "King-Byng Affair" and the beginning of World War I. For the last, his classes review primary World War I documents including the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia and German war dispatches. On a more contemporary front, his students review the Massey Commission online, critically examining its purpose.

The Canadian history award program, established in 1996 by Canada's National History Service, recognizes and rewards the efforts of outstanding Canadian history teachers, celebrates Canadian history and promotes the sharing of great history teaching ideas. Twelve finalists are selected annually but only one award recipient is chosen from among the finalists. Finalists will be honoured by the Governor General of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall later this fall.

Prime minister gives Alberta teachers a mark of excellence

Three teachers from Edmonton and one from Calgary are among the 16 recipients of the 19992000 Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence. Edmonton Teachers Darwin Martin (Eastglen High School), Bill French (Lansdowne School) and Stephen Gallagher (W.P. Wagner), and Calgarian Lindsay Johnston (Calgary Science Centre School) received certificates of excellence from Prime Minister Jean Chrétien during a ceremony in Ottawa on May 10. The teachers were each awarded $5,000 to be spent in their schools, under their direction.

The Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence also recognize outstanding performance in a local category. Four teachers from Edmonton's McNally High School received certificates of achievement: Doreen Czajkowsky, Kay Jauch, David Oberholtzer and Laurel Usher. Elmer Riegel, a teacher at Bishop Grandin High School in Calgary, and Rob Billington, Mitford Middle School, Cochrane, were each awarded $1,000 for their respective schools.

Teacher PD gets $10,000 shot in the arm

Joni Turville, a technology coordinator and teacher at Ronald Harvey School in St. Albert and an Association Instructor, is off to Ottawa this September with her principal to pick up a $10,000 grant from Industry Canada. The grant, based on a proposal written by Turville for Schoolnet, will support a teacher professional development and school-based technology mentoring project. "There were only 30 schools selected in Canada, so we feel pretty fortunate to have won," commented Turville.

Banff students win for anti-drinking and driving video

Martin Werner, Ian Higginbottom and Joy Rattie from Banff Community High School, Banff, directed and produced a video on drinking and driving as part of their optional English project. For their efforts, the trio took home a $500 cash prize and their video was entered in a national competition. The video aired on CBC from mid-May to June.

Gala banquet thrown for PanCanadian Students' Choice Award winners

Teachers in southern Alberta were fêted during a ceremony held in June at Calgary's Palliser Hotel. The PanCanadian Students' Choice Awards is a teacher recognition program offered throughout southern Alberta that encourages students to acknowledge and celebrate teachers who have made a significant difference in the lives of their students. Recipients receive a certificate and cheque for $2,500 toward professional development. The recipient's school receives a $2,500 cash award.

As well as teachers, two schools were recognized for their contributions to education. The PanCanadian Learning Innovation School Award and Learning Innovation Project Award were presented to Calgary's Forest Lawn School for its wellness centre and to Raymond Elementary School for its parent/preschool program.

Recipients of the award are

• Irene Kovats, Monsignor E.L. Doyle School, Calgary Catholic School Board
• Karen Decoux, Janet Johnstone Elementary School, Calgary Board of Education
• Bonnie Spooner, West Dover Elementary School, Calgary Board of Education
• Vicki Hardage, Banded Peak School, Rockyview School Division
• Cathy Crawford, Hillhurst Community School, Calgary Board of Education
• Ron van Rootsellar, Hawkwood School, Calgary Board of Education
• Ken Zelez, Senator Patrick Burns Junior High School, Calgary Board of Education
• Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Tom Baines School, Calgary Board of Education
• Elizabeth Critchley, Red Deer Lake School, Foothills School Division
• Dennis Cantrill, Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary Board of Education
• Patrick Welsgerber, McCoy High School, Medicine Hat Catholic
• Kevin Tennant, Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, Red Deer Public
• Mary Ellen Kavanagh, principal, Monsignor E.L. Doyle School, Calgary Catholic School Board
• John Powell, principal, Tilley School, Grasslands School Division

Middle school teachers honoured for team teaching

Four teaching teams from across Alberta have each received $500 for their work enhancing the learning experiences of middle years students.

The team from Senator Riley Middle School in High River focused on accommodating students with special needs in an integrated, rather than segregated, learning environment. Teachers Brook Colbran, Sandy Evans and Lesley Mercer-Pronchuk work with 55 Grade 7 students in one large classroom for all core subjects.

Gillian Wallsten and Kimberly Epp, two Grade 6 teachers from Ecole Coloniale Estates School in Beaumont, developed an integrated project in which students create a fictitious society. Students were engaged in exercising, reinforcing and extending previously learned curriculum concepts in the areas of social, science, math and language arts.

Grade 6 teachers at Central Middle School in Red Deer adopted a unique and constructivist learning approach to the social studies topic of China. Students wrote a mystery located in China and incorporated knowledge and skills obtained through the four core areas of instruction.

Teachers Blair Norton, Terry Hannan and Dale Franchuk from Dr. Swift Middle School in Lac La Biche focused on integrating social studies and language skills in a Grade 7 project entitled "Cultural Heritage of the Metis through Legends."

Teaching through Teaming awards, offered by the Alberta Middle School Association, recognize the high quality of professionals working with youth.

ATA staff officer recognized for doctoral dissertation

The Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies has awarded its annual Dissertation Award jointly to J-C Couture, ATA Executive Assistant, Professional Development, and Renée Norman, University of British Columbia.

This national award recognizes scholarship at the doctoral level at a Canadian university. Couture's dissertation, entitled, "The Gift of Failure: Teacher Commitment in the Postmodern Classroom," explores how the intensification of teachers' work, manifested by high stakes testing and the relentless pressures to integrate technology without adequate resources, contributes to a "poisoned culture of insufficiency" in the psychic life of schools.

Couture's dissertation demonstrates how a psychoanalytic cultural critique can be a powerful tool to help teachers cultivate hope. For example, Couture suggests, "we need to re-invigorate our efforts in teacher preparation and professional growth with stories of teachers working through difficulty and personal set-backs: persistence and resiliency are powerful qualities that do not get honoured enough in our work as educators."