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Recipient:
Joy Coghill
School: Parkway Public School
Number of Years Teaching: 24
Grade: kindergarten to grade six
Subject: Resource Teacher
Inspiration/Motivation for being a teacher of excellence:
As we walked away after meeting Joy, one of her colleagues said, This school would fall apart without her! It seems that her students would fall apart without her too! Joy loves children and cannot wait to meet with them individually to help find them a path on which they can learn. Joy was inspired at an early age to become a teacher, by two teachers who were totally different in nature. Her grade 4 teacher was wonderful and caring. Her grade 7 teacher was cruel. She remembers how he made a boy who couldnt read, cry because of the humiliation he felt about being centred out in class. Joy decided that she would teach kids in an environment that would never cause them humiliation.
Joy noted that she is a very positive person who always tries to build up students and teach them that there is ALWAYS hope. Her school is a needier school so the students greatly appreciate care, time to talk, and just knowing that someone is available for them. Many of her students keep coming back to Joy for support and encouragement.
A parent of one of Joys students wrote this of her;
Joy impresses me with her compassion and care for the children. She is listening to the needs of the pupils. She is attuned to their emotional health. Joy has taken it upon herself to meet those special needs by establishing unique groups for children who are coping with divorce in their families. In addition, she has created groups to address self-esteem issues. I am a single parent of two girls attending Parkway who availed themselves of these groups during a difficult period in our lives. The work Joy did had a profound influence. Joy is an outstanding human being.