Year: 2018 – Province: Ontario
Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in STEM
Collège catholique Samuel-Genest
740 Carson Road
Ottawa, ON K1K 2H3
School telephone: 613-744-8344
School website: www.samuel-genest.ecolecatholique.ca
Subjects and grades taught: Math, Science, Programming and Innovation, Grade 8
Johanne Séguin is an innovative teacher who has made a difference by choosing to teach at a college whose student body mainly comes from an underprivileged background. Johanne's teaching methods allow her to include all students (some being new immigrants) into her academic activities. Her energy and her leadership shine both inside and outside the college.
Teaching approach
Johanne makes STEM part of her classroom in order to create a dynamic learning environment rooted in the reality of modern times. Her fun approach makes it easier for her students to learn the curriculum and to develop universal skills such as collaboration, communication and critical thinking.
STEM in the Classroom
- Integrates Classcraft in her program so that students can take part in a role-playing game in which they get to embody various characters
- Creates an inverted classroom system in which students teach themselves through online video clips
- Creates interactive math games similar to escape rooms to stimulate students' interest
- Incorporates Exploding Dots throughout her course as a means of connecting all classroom concepts and offering students the chance to work with young people from all over the world
- Organizes workshop days with the Maker Mobile group from the University of Ottawa's engineering faculty, aimed at teaching students about robotics, programming and 3D printing
Outstanding achievements
- Helps her students succeed through spiral learning, a method that allows students to regularly go over subjects from previous weeks
- Created a tutoring program led by former students to promote the success of young people with a more challenging educational pathway
- Co-founded a "girls only" engineering club with students from the University of Ottawa
Rave reviews
"In adopting a series of evermore innovative approaches, [Johanne] has mastered the art of making technology an integral part of learning in all of her math and science classes."