2 Hamilton educators win prestigious Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence
CBC
Children need to feel seen and heard. And students need to know it's OK to be wrong.
Those statements are key to the philosophies of two Hamilton educators who have been recognized with the Prime Minister's Awards for Teaching Excellence.
Ala Mohamed, a manager of children services at YWCA Hamilton, received a certificate of achievement in early childhood education.
Richard Rene White, who teaches math at Bishop Tonnos Catholic Secondary School, was awarded a certificate of achievement for teaching excellence in science, technology engineering and mathematics.
CBC Hamilton spoke with both educators about the work they do.
In particular, Mohamed's award recognizes work she's done to create inclusive programming.
She said that comes from her lived experience.
"I have an older brother who has special needs, so I've seen the struggle that families go through to find inclusive programming that speaks to their well-being, their values and creates that sense of belonging," Mohamed said.
Mohamed, who says she primarily works behind the scenes supporting YWCA staff, regularly hears from families asking if their children's needs can be accommodated, "and the answer is always yes." Mohamed said she and her teams work with families to create the right environment and staff support, and turn to outside resources when necessary.
This award also recognizes Mohamed's work with newcomers.
"I am a newcomer myself," she said, adding that she came to Canada from Sudan at a young age.
"I remember seeing the struggle that our families went through to create that communication, that well-being, that belonging with our educators."
In response to that need, she worked to implement a simple form families could fill out (in a language other than English if that's best for them) to share information such as what they like to do with their children and what they want their kids to work on while in childcare.
For a lot of newcomers, childcare is scary, she said.
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