What Makes Our Local Teachers Great?
The short answer: a lot!
The Comox Valley is home to some of the most incredible people in British Columbia. We have world-class recreational sports teams, chefs, medical professionals, authors, and artists. We burst at the seams with creativity, intellect, compassion, and excellence.
In no group of people is this more apparent than in our teaching professionals.
Public school teachers in the Comox Valley (Members of the Comox District Teachers’ Association – CDTA) have quietly moved to the forefront of provincial and national frontiers in 21st century learning.
They’re Experts in Innovative Fields
We have experts in Makerspace and Design Thinking. These are teachers who turn their classroom into a workspace for children to gain valuable hands-on learning experience.
We have experts in technology education and ADST. These are teachers who constantly re-educate themselves in Web 2.0, robotics, engineering, and a host of online and hands on design tools.
We have national and world leaders in the Arts. G.P Vanier is piloting a program called the “Vanier Creative Collective” where a group of teachers is bringing students together to combine art, woodwork, metal work and electronics and to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. These are all teachers who take the lead in exploring creative learning opportunities for their students, encouraging young people to take risks while simultaneously maintaining a standard of excellence in their practice.
They’re Leaders of Inclusive Teaching
We have leaders in child development and inclusive teaching practice. These are teachers who have educated themselves in child development, inclusive educational practice, and educational intervention to support all learners.
We have spectacular leadership in Indigenous education, most notably with our district Indigenous education team as well as numerous classroom teachers who regularly incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing and learning into their curriculum.
They’re On The Cutting Edge of Learning Resources
Our district also hosts incredible leadership in resource acquisition and curation, led by teacher librarians. These are teachers who spend many hours each week finding current, age-appropriate, bilingual learning resources to support student learning, both online and in print.
In the arenas of Health education, we have a host of incredibly skilled teachers to choose from. These unbelievably talented people teach a wide range of health topics, including physical education, healthy eating, sexual wellness, and body awareness/mindfulness.
And let’s not forget our academic classroom teachers, who are the backbone of school culture and whose commitment to education is both unwavering and inspiring. These talented and passionate teachers of Science, Mathematics, English, and Social Studies are truly superior, and their standards of excellence allow our students to compete with the best across the province, the country, and around the world. They encourage, celebrate, applaud, train, and inspire our students to be their best version of themselves.
They Inspire Their Students
Teachers in the Comox Valley regularly inspire their students to compete at national and international levels in sports, robotics, creative arts, music, drama, design challenges, metalwork, engineering, software development, and the list perpetually gets longer. We consistently see Comox Valley students winning awards, gaining provincial and national acclaim, achieving recognition in their chosen field of study or profession, and drawing positive attention to our little community. These young people deserve kudos for their efforts, but the quiet heroes behind the scenes are often their teachers, who inspired these amazing young people and helped them find their passion.
The Quiet Heroes Behind The Scenes
This is a special call-out to those special unsung heroes, our teachers, who are lighting those fires in our young people – the unquenchable passion to learn and grow – and who do so much with little expectation of reward or acclaim beyond the private joy of seeing their students excel. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You have made this community a better place to live, play, learn, and work. You work hard in busy, diverse, complicated classrooms and for that we are forever in your debt.
Our kids and their teachers – worth investing in.
Comox District Teachers’ Association
www.cdta71.org
