Year: 2016 – Province: Alberta
Certificate of Achievement Recipient
École Secondaire Notre Dame High School
50 Lees Street
Red Deer, Alberta T4R 2P6
Principal: Rose McQuay
School telephone: 403-342-4800
School website: http://notredamehigh.ca/
Subjects and grades taught: English as a Second Language, Social Studies, Canadian Studies, grades 10 to 12
Mandy Reed ensures not only that her students have every opportunity to succeed in school but also that new Canadians and their families are integrated into the school and have the supports they need there and at home to build a new life.
Teaching approach
Working with a large population of immigrants and second-language learners, Mrs. Reed makes it a priority to get to know her students, their interests and their immigration stories, and then incorporates this knowledge into her daily teaching.
Outstanding achievements
- Recognized as a master teacher and English as a Second Language specialist, she regularly helps colleagues in other disciplines integrate strategies for supporting English-language learners in their classes.
- Developed the Taste of Home study unit: students brought recipes and memories of home to class, which became the basis for language arts, social studies, science and math lessons; the unit ended with a feast of dishes from students' countries of origin cooked at school with parents' help.
- Develops immersive classroom activities to stimulate and engage students while connecting with the curriculum: for a unit on the federal political system, for example, her classroom became Reedania; students learned the vocabulary and concepts of the parliamentary system and then held a two-week mock Parliament.
- Created and co-presented a professional development workshop in which her students presented both heartfelt and hilarious stories of what it is like to be an English-language learner.
- Involved student leaders in a school-wide fundraising campaign for victims of a devastating typhoon in the Philippines, from where the families of many of the school's students emigrated.
Rave reviews
"Mandy is a true servant leader. … She is always there to serve and does so with an open heart and a contagious smile."
"[Mandy] leads with a firm but fair approach in a safe and caring environment which allows her students to take risks in their learning."