<h1>What Makes a Great Teacher?</h1><br />
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<p>What is it about this year's Great Teacher Awards winners that makes them so, well, <i>great</i>? We caught up with Janet Shillinglaw, Kevin Hrycay and Ramy Melhem to find out what makes them tick. From their proudest teaching moments to their favourite part of the job, here's what you need to know about this year's winners.</p>
6th Annual Great Teacher Awards: What Makes a Great Teacher?
<h1>Janet Shillinglaw</h1><br />
<p><i>Junior and Senior Kindergarten</i></p><br />
<p><i>St. Patrick Catholic School, Peterborough, Ont.</i></p><br />
<p><i>31 years in the classroom</i></p><br />
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<strong>CF: If you could get into a </strong><strong>time machine and go back </strong><strong>to the beginning of your teaching career and tell </strong><strong>your young self something, </strong><strong>what would it be?</strong><br />
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<strong>Janet Shillinglaw:</strong> I would say: Be acutely aware that you will be part of the life story of every child you teach. You will have membership in a privileged group of people who will shape how the children in your care see themselves and their<br />
places in the world. Stay the course! Act justly and walk humbly. Live your career with the goal that, at the end of it all, you will know that you were good to children, good with children and good for children.<br />
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<a href="http://www.canadianfamily.ca/2012/08/6th-annual-great-teacher-awards-winner-janet-shillinglaw/">Read more about Janet Shillinglaw here >></a>
Photography by Colleen Nicholson
6th Annual Great Teacher Awards: What Makes a Great Teacher?
<h1>Kevin Hrycay</h1><br />
<p><i>Kindergarten–Grade 8 Music</i></p><br />
<p><i>Birch Cliff Heights Public School and Chine Drive Public School, Toronto</i></p><br />
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<strong>CF: What was your proudest </strong><strong>teaching moment?</strong><br />
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<strong>Kevin Hrycay:</strong> When I knew that I was changing the spirit of the school due to the successes that my program was having. When I started to hear that the school I worked in was becoming known as a “music school” or that parents enrolled their children into the school specifically for the music program, then I knew that I must be doing something right.<br />
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<a href="http://www.canadianfamily.ca/2012/08/6th-annual-great-teacher-awards-winner-kevin-hrycay/">Read more about Kevin Hrycay here >></a>
Photography by Colleen Nicholson
6th Annual Great Teacher Awards: What Makes a Great Teacher?
<h1>Ramy Melhem</h1><br />
<p><i>Grade 3</i></p><br />
<p><i>Edmonton Islamic Academy, Edmonton</i></p><br />
<p><i>10 years in the classroom</i></p><br />
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<strong><strong>CF: </strong>What do you love the most about your job?</strong><br />
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<strong>Ramy Melhem:</strong> My most valued aspect of teaching is that it matters. Teaching matters at the individual and community level, socially and educationally. I love the impact I have in the formation of students’ lives, best exemplified by the expression the students show when they experience what we educators like to call the “aha” moment. This is priceless.<br />
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<a href="http://www.canadianfamily.ca/2012/08/6th-annual-great-teacher-awards-winner-ramy-melhem/">Read more about Ramy Melhem here >></a>
Photography by Laughing Dog Photography
6th Annual Great Teacher Awards: What Makes a Great Teacher?
