Recipient: Laurie Douglas

School: Silverheights Public, presently at Chalmers Street Public

Number of Years Teaching: 26

Grade: 5 (presently grade 1)

Laurie Douglas has been teaching for 26 years.  Her nomination came from parents of one of her students at Silverheights where she taught for the past13 years.  This year she is teaching grade one at Chalmers Street Public School. 

Laurie said that her passion for teaching is inspired by children.  She delights in what they do, think and say and she finds that they teach her something everyday.  She is delighted to be teaching grade one at a school where children are in need of stability.  She works hard to create ‘ground' that they can grow in. 

Laurie tells her students every day, what a teacher once told her, "I believe in you."  She strives to teach them to be good learners so that they can learn to do anything.  She also teaches them that "they are in charge".  They won't be able to control the weather, other people and all situations but by being in charge of themselves, they can make good decisions, can turn a bad day into a good one, seek help when they need it and have the inner strength to face life.

Karen's youngest son had Laurie as a teacher in grades 1, 3 and 5.  Karen wrote:

Laurie Douglas is a teaching pioneer.  She never stops educating herself to provide her students with the best she has to offer.  Laurie sees every child as a winner with lots of potential.  She takes the time to get to know each student and then finds the resources to reach each one.  She exhausts all avenues and still won't give up.  Laurie never has a bad day in the classroom because that is not acceptable to her.  She believes that her students deserve the best she has to give them and that does not include "bad days" or "bad moods". 

Laurie's code is to ‘find the positive' at all times.  It is never "you forgot" it is always "please remember".  It is never "you got this wrong", it is always "you were so close".  She constantly and consistently does everything to encourage and praise her students.

One of Laurie's gifts to her students is her commitment to her craft…and with Laurie it is indeed a form of art.  Her love of children and her passion for education is evident in everything she does.  She is the best teacher I have ever seen in the ten years my children have been in school.