How did these teachers win an award? They let students do exactly what they want
Margie Taylor, left, and Jill Rose both won the Prime Minister's Award in Teaching Excellence for their work at Waterford Valley High. (Submitted by Margie Taylor)
A pair of St. John's teachers have won an award for their creation of a program that provides students with one simple thing: an hour each to do work on something they find meaningful.
Waterford Valley High School teachers Jill Rose and Margie Taylor say the idea came after listening to what the students said they needed.
"We both noticed that even our high achievers were not coming to school," Taylor said. "They didn't need to come to school. There was nothing exciting for them to do."
Rose says students were looking for something they found personally fulfilling.
"We spend a lot of time listening to and talking with students, and we realized that they wanted something a little different from their education," said Rose.
Earlier this week, the teachers were named among this year's winners of the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence for the program they implemented last year.
Students in Grades 11 and 12 were given a free slot in their day to pursue their own interests, says Taylor. They had the freedom to choose their own projects and were matched with mentors from the wider community. Some students used the time to assist their peers with their curriculum.
How the students spent their hour
The passion projects students worked on throughout the year were as varied as the students' interests.
One student created an app for new Canadians to learn Newfoundland sayings and find job opportunities, say the teachers. Another student designed an engine that runs on solar power and water. One student worked on a novel and is now designing its cover.
Rose said one of their sport students had broken a tooth a couple of times and was very interested in dentistry.
"She wanted to find or develop some sort of prototype for a mouth guard that was more esthetically pleasing and easier to use," Rose said.
Some passion projects were not necessarily concrete, says Rose. Some students wanted to work on improving their interpersonal skills, like conflict resolution and teamwork.
"They became interested themselves in helping other students in the school, in terms of tutoring and other things," she said.
Aside from the credit they receive for completing these projects and collaborating with other students, Taylor says the experiences have long-lasting benefits. Students can include them on their resumes as evidence of their skills and knowledge acquired outside of the regular school curriculum. Especially when technologies like artificial intelligence is influencing the landscape of students' future.
"Education has changed so much in the past few years, and it continues to change tremendously," Rose said. "But one thing that doesn't change is that students need to learn how to learn, right? They need to know where to get the information, how to network, and how to self-direct. And all of these things were part of this program."
For Taylor, the most meaningful thing is hearing students say they enjoy coming to school because of the program.
"We had one student who we thought we were going to lose, and he developed his own song. He said that for the first time in his life, he enjoyed coming to school because of something he could do. As a teacher, that's probably one of the biggest accolades you could actually get."
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