Recipient’s Name:  Zenalia Kroeger

School:  Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School

Grade: Grade 5

Number of Years Teaching:  14

Zenalia’s students’ enthusiasm for learning inspires her everyday to make a difference in their lives.  She loves their sense of humour and wonder and works hard every day to make sure her teaching is fun, stimulating and full of visual examples.  She sees her role as building up the esteem in each of her students, showing each of them that they are smart, unique, and special and have many strengths.  She shares herself with her students…telling them about her goals, her family and her faith.  Zenalia said, “I am so blessed to work with kids.  I am teaching each individual child and if they remember that I care about them then I have done my job.”

Terri nominated Zenalia.  She wrote:

In Zenalia’s class every child is taught at their level whether operating at a grade 2 level or a grade 6 level in grade 5.  Hence, all students have the opportunity to be successful because of the positive learning environment she creates.  She completes a multi-intelligence test at the start of the year.  All children find out their three areas of strength.  They place this on a bulletin board thus the students can see that everyone is smart at three things.  Zenalia’s favourite saying is “I want you to try your best.”

Zenalia treats everyone with a great deal of respect.  The children are invited to come up with the rules for the classroom which starts the community building.  The students are encouraged to freely express their thoughts and feelings to further develop the grade five community.  One of her students’ favourite activities is the Multicultural Lunch.  Everyone researches their heritage and presents an oral report. The culminating activity is each student brings in a food item for a special classroom lunch that represents his/her country.  The children soon realize that everyone is different on the outside but everyone experiences the same feelings on the inside.

As the students put it, “She is the best!”