ARCHIVED—Michelle Lee

Year: 2009 – Province: Manitoba

Certificate of Achievement Recipient

Angus McKay School
850 Woodvale Street
Winnipeg MB R2K 2G8

Principal: Christine Anderson
School Tel.: 204-661-2378
School Fax: 204-668-4283
School Email: canderson@retsd.mb.ca
School Website: http://www.am.retsd.mb.ca/

Subjects and Grades Taught: Grade 6 subjects

Michelle Lee, who has been teaching for more than three decades, believes that teachers must put themselves on a steep learning curve. There are simply too many valuable advances in technology, too many opportunities to work with parents and businesses, and too many connections to be made with other schools and other cultures for teachers to stand still. It is her view that the only way teachers can take advantage of all these opportunities is to constantly work on professional development.

Teaching Approach

Mrs.Lee's project-based approach accommodates the learning styles and abilities of all students, including the sometimes forgotten high achievers. She provides continuous and constructive feedback to students and parents, often by email. She also establishes and maintains relationships with parents and local businesses to support and extend her teaching—from supplying materials for science activities and sponsoring and accompanying students to events.

Outstanding Achievements

• Mrs.Lee organizes her instruction so that critical thinking and creativity are always involved. For example, she uses role-playing projects that integrate English and French language arts, history, science and career study. A student might research the life of a famous scientist, explorer or figure in Canadian history and take on that role for a presentation, reinforcing it with props and computer-based slide shows.
• She pioneered the study of infectious disease at the Grade 6 level. Students gain extensive knowledge of the current work and challenges associated with the spread of infectious disease. They also learn about the types of careers that are available in this and related fields.
• Her students do advanced experiments and research on biotechnology and science topics. Mrs.Lee's expertise at introducing complex science to younger students has been recognized with invitations to make presentations to teachers' conferences across North America.
• In 2007, she was the first recipient of the Manitoba Ministry of Education's Award of Excellence in Teaching for Middle Years and received the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge Teacher Advisor Award.

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