Carolyn McGuire

Year: 2016 – Province: Ontario

Certificate of Achievement Recipient

Carolyn McGuire

Richmond Public School
3499 McBean Street
Richmond, Ontario  K0A 2Z0

Principal: Wally Stagg
School telephone: 613-838-2371
School website: https://richmondps.ocdsb.ca/Pages/home.aspx

Subjects and grades taught: Grade 3, all subjects

Carolyn McGuire's unique combination of intuition, nurturing and behaviour management skills bring about transformative changes in children with academic, social and behavioural challenges.

Teaching approach

Mrs. McGuire believes that every child deserves to be surrounded by caring, enthusiastic, positive and knowledgeable people, and tailors her program so children work at the level and speed that is exactly right for them. Students are never made to feel they are ahead or behind.

Outstanding achievements

  • Develops a wide variety of strategies—more than 100 for one child—so students with severe behavioural problems can become productive and successful members of the class.
  • Fosters constructive relationships with parents: provides email and other updates on students' successes and challenges; leaves positive messages on family answering machines for parents and students to hear; coaches parents on the strategies she uses in the class so families can practise them at home and children can experience success there, too.
  • Creates leadership opportunities for students: Grade 3s lead Kindergarten students in art, math, language and science activities; a Grade 4 student needing to reinforce his skills teaches his Grade 3 classmates; "child teachers" (current and former students) design and lead classroom exercises in writing, crafts and science.
  • Created the Girls Circle, a self-esteem and character development program, that was offered at multiple grade levels at the school.
  • Achieved notable improvement in student results on Grade 3 provincial assessments: in just one year, the proportion of students who attained the highest level for reading rose from 67 percent to 81 percent, with large improvements in writing and math scores as well.

Rave reviews

"Carolyn has given [my son] something that I don't think anyone else would have been able to do, or taken the time to do. She saved our son and our family."

Parent

"Mrs. McGuire fosters a safe environment for the entire class, allowing them to lead, share and learn."

Parent