Recipient’s Name:  Kevin Hashimoto

School:  Elgin Street Public School

Grade:  Grade 6

Number of Years Teaching:  22

Kevin said that is was his parents who were teachers and his former teachers that inspire him to teach with excellence.  These teachers taught him “LIFE”.  They took the time to sit down and discuss life with Kevin and now Kevin chooses to do the same thing with his students.  Kevin believes that school is where you can make mistakes, be forgiven and be redirected, inspired and encouraged to make good choices and at the same time learn to be responsible for all your choices. 

Kevin believes that every child can learn and that it is his job to find the right strategy for each individual child.  He listens to their personal concerns and lets them have a voice by holding regular classroom meetings where the students determine the issues and the solutions for their classroom.

A good day for Kevin is when the students share their life experiences with him, where they learn together, and where he sees a student smile and say to him, “thanks for a great day!”

Janey, one of Mr. Hashimoto’s students wrote:

Mr. Hashimoto is the best teacher I have ever had.  He plans his work to accommodate every child’s needs.  If a student is bright, he will try to challenge them.  If a child is slow, he will thoroughly explain things and give the student work at their particular level. 

Mr. Hashimoto ALWAYS makes learning fun.  We recently did “Smartie Math” where we were each given a box of Smarties and had to answer questions based on the candies.  In the end, we were allowed to eat them. 

Another reason Mr. Hashimoto should win this award is because he is extremely funny.  Not a day has gone by when he hasn’t made the entire class laugh about something he says.  Although these statements are funny, they never hurt anybody’s feelings. 

Mr. Hashimoto should definitely win this award!!