Seven Award Winning Programs Open Up Classrooms Beyond School Walls and Into Communities
Canadian educators honoured with the Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.
Educators from across the country have developed ambitious school-wide initiatives where students are driven by their own curiosity and community involvement, and in the process are creating exemplar program models for other school districts to follow.
Some of these winning entries (more details below) retool the notion of classrooms with fast-paced real-world creative and entrepreneurial focused projects that include student flex time, collaborative learning labs, and the active participation of community organizations and businesses; while others centre on teachers building deeper connections, trust, and engagement with their students – many of whom are high-risk and special needs learners.
For a booklet on all 15 Ken Spencer Award finalists: http://cea-ace.s3.amazonaws.com/media/CEA-2013-Ken-Spencer-Award-Finalists-Booklet.pdf
2012 KEN SPENCER AWARD WINNERS
FIRST PLACE - $7,000
Le Studio PURE
Engaging students through active community entrepreneurship
École Camille-Vautour – District scolaire francophone Sud
Saint-Antoine, New Brunswick
The Studio PURE (Pedagogy that is Unique, Renewed, and Entrepreneurial) program was inspired by the concern of teachers Kevin Ouellette and Monique Saulnier with the ever-increasing number of disengaged students in their classrooms. It has since evolved into a learning philosophy for this small francophone school in the village of Saint-Antoine, New Brunswick, where learning concepts using technology, differentiation, citizenship, and entrepreneurship has taken this community by storm, and has produced more autonomous learners.
For more information | Media Inquiries |
Kevin Ouellette and Monique Saulnier Daniel Cormier | Steve Lapierre André DeGrâce
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SECOND PLACE - $3,000
Saint Anne’s Inquiry-based Learning Community
Hallways filled with students’ projects help them to articulate their learning
Saint Anne School – Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
This school-wide inquiry-based learning environment unfolds in various ways at Saint Anne’s – from students managing an indoor garden and hosting a spring garden sale, to managing the “atelier”, which is a creative space filled with donated materials and objects from nature. Students reserve time to create works of art, gifts, class projects, and handmade paper, which can be exhibited in the gallery and broadcast on a monitor in the school’s front entry. Desks are gone and have been replaced with tables to facilitate group work and collaboration. Student-created materials are always prominently displayed.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Joanne Weninger | Donella Hoffman |
HONOURABLE MENTION - $1,000 Each
HWDSB Commons
A district wide blogging network that hones students’ digital citizenship
Hamilton Wentworth District School Board
Hamilton, Ontario
The HWDSB Commons is a collaborative virtual space that collects the myriad of voices of school district staff and students in a variety of public and private spaces, creating a stage where learners publish creative work and exchange feedback with their peers. Built on WordPress and BuddyPress – Open Source web tools offering features similar to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr – the HWDSB Commons creates an interactive space for learners to connect within a classroom, across the hall, within the school district, and around the world. Students develop personal blogs as online learning portfolios, and manage their digital footprint in a safe space while learning what it means to be a responsible digital citizen.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Peter Joshua | Jackie Penman |
HGI News and Entertainment
Telling the neighbourhood’s story, one broadcast at a time
Henry G. Izatt Middle School – Pembina Trails School Division
Winnipeg, Manitoba
HGI News and Entertainment connects students to the pulse of their community through the production of current affairs broadcasts. Originally spearheaded by one Grade 8 classroom, this creative process has become a sustainable school-wide initiative that integrates student flex time, student voice, and inquiry-based learning focused on explorations of what interests students.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Peggy Hobson | Stacey Ashley |
Summer Learning Gets R.E.A.L. (Resilient, Engaged, Active, Learning)
A summer school like no other gives at-risk students a new outlook for the fall
School District 42 – Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows
Pitt Meadows, B.C.
A team of eight teachers were challenged to reinvent their school district’s Summer School program to better connect with high-risk learners. The teachers focused on building resiliency over the course of twenty summer days. 149 Grade 8 and 9 students participated in an interdisciplinary inquiry project in a textbook-free environment. This was summer school like no other that built relationships with community members, sparked individualized learning, citizenship education, critical thinking, problem solving, flexibility and choice, and learning empowered by technology. These values and concepts are at the core of building the resilience of students, who can then apply these acquired skills upon their return to school in the fall.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Bruce Grady | Irena Pochop |
The High School Flexibility Enhancement Pilot Project
Students are now unable to go unnoticed and fall between the cracks
Wm. E. Hay Composite High School – Clearview School Division #71
Stettler, Alberta
Wm. E. Hay is one of 16 schools involved in Alberta Education’s Flexibility Enhancement Pilot Project – which grants the freedom to remove the Carnegie Unit – a standardized time requirement for the attainment of high school credits. This project provided educators with the latitude to redesign the school timetable and they worked tirelessly to rethink and personalize their students’ high school experience. Every facet of this school has been touched by this project, from teaching to assessment.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Norb Baharally | John Bailey
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Académie Parhélie
Opening minds beyond school walls
École Émilie-Tremblay – Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon
Whitehorse, Yukon
A team of teachers developed an original curriculum based on fine arts and the outdoors. Students study their basic subjects in the classroom and in the field. Environmental conservation, sports and the outdoors are also vital elements of this program. Much of Académie Parhélie’s learning takes place beyond school walls and students gain a different perspective of their milieu, and open their minds to the world.
For more program information | Media Inquiries |
Lorraine Taillefer | Isabelle Chouinard |
The recognition
The Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning was established with the generous contribution of Dr. Ken Spencer to:
- recognize and publicize innovative work taking place in schools and classrooms that is sustainable, has the potential of being taken up by others, and encourages transformative change in teaching and learning;
- encourage a focus on transformative change in schools; and
- provide profile for classroom innovation within school districts, schools, and the media.
Application information
Further Information
Requests for further information should be sent by e-mail to Cynthia Liberbaum at: cliberbaum@cea-ace.ca
About Ken Spencer
Dr. Ken Spencer is a Director of the Canadian Education Association (CEA) and retired CEO and co-founder of Creo Products. In 2011, he was inducted as a business laureate of the British Columbia Hall of Fame. Since 2009, he has generously donated the financial awards for CEA’s Ken Spencer Award for Innovation in Teaching and Learning
The current award holder:
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Le Studio PURE, Saint Anne’s Inquiry-based Learning Community, HWDSB Commons, HGI News and Entertainment, Summer Learning Gets R.E.A.L.,High School Flexibility Enhancement, Académie Parhélie
Previous winners:
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2011
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2010
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2009
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