EDUCATION

By Sara Bedal

Terrific Teachers

École Swan River South School, Swan River, Man.
Public • 308 students • K–8
Grade-one teacher Rachel Miller is known for her no-nonsense approach. Twenty-one years ago, Miller was one of the first French immersion teachers at this school 525 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, and she has received a certificate of excellence from the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers. She is known for her deep understanding of the grade-one psyche and for her emphasis on routine. For her, satisfaction comes from observing just how much these young pupils develop over the course of 10 months. She also shares tips on classroom discipline and school routines with first-year teachers at professional development workshops.

West Kent Elementary School, Charlottetown
Public • 150 students • 1–6
In school board terms, Chris Meuse counts as a 0.4 teacher at this downtown school, but in reality, he’s much more. As a physical education specialist, he views the noon-hour and after-school activities he runs as an integral part of his job (though technically they’re not). After school, Monday through Thursday, he coaches sports such as floor hockey, dodge ball, cross-country running or gymnastics. On Fridays, Meuse leads after-school drama. Last spring, Meuse was awarded PEI’s Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

McCaig Elementary School, Rosemere, Que.
Public • 600 students • K–6
Nominations cited McCaig’s teachers as “outstanding” and “really great,” but when one parent described Joanne Donato-Thomas as the “heartbeat” of the school, we wanted to know why. For starters, Donato-Thomas has been hooking kids onto music ever since she arrived at McCaig 25 years ago. She runs both junior and senior choirs, each boasting about 150 students. “It’s not cool not to be in the choir or the end-of-the-year musical production,” wrote parent Anna Chiesa-Rossi. Donato-Thomas not only masterminds these shows, but often rejigs them so that all kids have a part. At Christmastime, the choir goes out into the community, performing for kids with cancer or at a First Nations reserve.

Originally published in Today's Parent, September 2005