Greg Tjosvold

Year: 2016 – Province: British Columbia

Certificate of Achievement Recipient

Greg Tjosvold

Citadel Middle School
1265 Citadel Drive
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia  V3C 5X6

Principal: Abby Soh
School telephone: 604-945-6187
School email: 102-office@sd43.bc.ca
School website: http://www.sd43.bc.ca/middle/citadel

Subjects and grades taught: Grade 6, all subjects

Author, world traveller, tech enthusiast, blogger, photographer and educator, Greg Tjosvold inspires children's minds and nourishes their hearts, challenging gifted students and helping those struggling to take their next steps.

Teaching approach

In Mr. Tjosvold's class, students learn to learn and then teach each other, creating a true learning community. His class is also a creating community and one in which mastery of subjects is of critical importance.

Outstanding achievements

  • Created the Authorship program for middle school students to conceive, write, edit, re-write, print and bind their own novels—initially on paper but now using publishing software. Students find a place for success here, with one non-verbal student, for example, noting that Authorship was his favourite class.
  • Chosen as an inaugural teacher for a middle-years cluster of highly gifted students which is considered as a program of choice in the school district.
  • Inspires excellence in his students: one was able to challenge Grade 9 English and go straight to Grade 10 based on his work in the Authorship program; another achieved top place in the world on two consecutive international math contests.
  • Instituted Community Circle to provide a safe place at the start of each day for these same high-achieving students to work through personal and interpersonal challenges.
  • Embraced the learning management system Moodle before the school district was on board with similar technology; supports technology use across the school; is an advocate at the district level for bringing innovative technology to schools.

Rave reviews

"Through his innovative teaching practices, his students become engaged; through the connection and care he has for each individual, abilities are magnified; and through his use of technology, his students' impact is broadened."

Colleague and nominator

"Mr. Tjosvold is the best teacher I have ever had, hands down. In my opinion, his persistent use of technology and outside-the-box teaching should be used by all teachers."

Former student