A + for rural educators

On World Teacher Day, two West Hants educators certainly made the grade when they were awarded the prestigious 2009 Prime Minster’s Award for Teaching Excellence. The awards were presented in Ottawa October 5. They recognize teachers who instill in their students a love of learning, and who use information and communications technology to help students meet the challenges of a 21st century society and economy.



Pathfinder in technology integration

Steven Van Zoost teaches Advanced English and Film and Video Production at Avon View High School in Windsor. He says his own roots help him to recognize the needs of rural students.

“I grew up on a sheep farm in Cumberland County, so I know what its like to live in a rural community and how important it is for students to have access to learning and technology, in and beyond the classroom. This award allows me to promote that belief.”

He said the award ceremony was a great opportunity to meet other teachers who work in rural public education. “It was very encouraging to learn what they have been doing and to share those ideas.”

Van Zoost is one of six Nova Scotian teachers to receive a Prime Minister’s Award this year, but the only one to receive the Certificate of Teaching Excellence. The citation names him a “pathfinder in integrating technology into the curriculum, emphasizing student collaboration and preparing young people for careers in the 21st century economy.”

He is a provincial pioneer in adopting new teaching technologies, including Moodle, a course platform software emphasizing collaboration. Van Zoost and his students were featured in the 2007 documentary Promises and Pitfall of ICT, commenting on integration of information and communications (ICT) in the classroom.

Over his 15-year career, Van Zoost has become known as a constant innovator who continues to research education techniques and practices based on classroom experience. The Department of Education asked him to prepare a curriculum guide for Grade 10–12 English teachers province-wide and to develop the curricula for a number of courses.

Students, parents and fellow teachers give him rave reviews. In a recent press release, Canadian poet and playwright George Elliott Clarke describes Steven Van Zoost as “a poet of pedagogy.”

Despite these accolades, Van Zoost says teachers are largely unaware of their influence. “We plant the seed and it’s usually years later we hear from a student that we’ve made a difference.”

Receiving the award from the Prime Minister is a strong endorsement of the commitment to education in this province and all of Canada, he says. “It’s quite an honour to the teaching profession and a privilege to represent the good work of teachers with students in all areas.”

Classroom inspiration

Curious minds, not awards are his goal. “If I can encourage that passion for learning beyond the classroom and have students asking the big question about the world and see it more critically, then I’ve done my job right.”

Working on projects across disciplines is one of Van Zoost’s strengths. He has worked to produce cross-curricular student performances, with history students doing research; English students writing the scripts and drama students performing them; while the band plays and choir sings; and art students display response pieces in PowerPoint presentations designed by technology students.

In response to student interest, he developed a number of advanced courses for the school and introduced vocal music courses, giving Avon View the first high school choir in the county.

He says the students are his inspiration. “My students are so awesome. They charge me up and encourage that passion for teaching.

“Young people often get a bad rap but that’s not been my experience in Hants County.”



Promoting publishing from the classroom



Another recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence has local roots.

Montreal-area teacher Michael Sweet received the award October 5 in ” recognition of his founding a student press.” Sweet grew up in Martock, attending Windsor Forks Elementary School and Windsor Regional High School. He was a youth advocacy writer for The Hants Journal.

Sweet founded the Learning for a Cause Student Press, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster, publish and promote the socio-political writings of high school students.

Through the press, he publishes and promotes award-winning anthologies of student writing through Learning for a Cause (LFC).

LFC anthologies involve more than 100 student writers focusing on topics of social concern, including poverty, violence, racism and the environment. The 2009 anthology, Raising Humanity, featured a foreword and glowing endorsement from Hollywood celebrity Martin Sheen.

In 2010, LFC will release its fifth anniversary edition, featuring the best work of its past four years alongside writings from Canadian playwright Drew Hayden Taylor and Hollywood celebrity Candy Spelling.

The LFC anthologies are radically challenging English class traditions, Sweet said. “No longer are students writing for the recycle bin. Real students are now writing real books, on real issues. Now, students can share their voices with the world; students can speak up and speak out about what matters to them. It’s an amazing time to be publishing from the classroom.”

Rewarding teaching

In addition to the Prime Minister’s award, the Lester B. Pearson High School teacher has received the prestigious Pearson Prize for Teen Literature. Next month, he will be conferred a National Council of Teachers of English High School Teacher of Excellence Award in Philadelphia. He has also been inducted in the U.S. National Teachers’ Hall of Fame/Wall of Fame and profiled in the World’s Who’s Who.

Sweet says his love of learning comes from his grandmother Muriel. “My grandmother taught for more than forty years and speaking with her former students following her death inspired me to enter (teaching.)”

"I am very pleased, excited and honored to receive this national award. Although I have expanded my teaching practice beyond my classroom with student publishing and work for UNESCO, I still treasure those everyday moments with my students the most. Teaching really is the best career."



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