7 minute read
Take 5 with Terry LaValle
INTRODUCTION WRITTEN BY JOHN BARRON, NL | BRILLIANT LABS PROGRAM COORDINATOR
It is a pleasure to introduce Terry LaVallee, Assistant Principal and Grade 6 Teacher in Pasadena, NL. Teaching for over 24 years, he is passionate about focusing his classrooms around student collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking, creativity and problem-solving. Terry helped to develop one of the first maker spaces in his region. Supporting and building capacity in his school so students can have unique learning opportunities is important to him. He did this by starting the Genius Hour where students are given the opportunity to work on projects they are most passionate about. Inspiring young people by connecting with them, giving them encouragement and essential feedback helps Terry create an environment where students can become the very best version of themselves. Sharing and staying connected is an important part of Terry’s work-life balance. To support this, he is active on social media to support good practices with colleagues who reach out to him for help.
Terry shares his work with students locally, nationally and internationally by engaging students where they are, both physically and within their journey as learners. This style of teaching is fostering active and engaged life-long learners. Understanding this connection that is paramount to developing critical thinking, communication, character and citizenship. Let’s chat with Terry and Take:5 tips from our discussion!
You've been a teacher for how many years?
This is Year 25 in education. Most of those years were in administration as Principal. I have re-invested myself in the classroom directly for the past 4 ½ years. Why did you become a teacher? There’s no simple or easy answer to that. It took me some time to find my calling when I was younger. I studied pharmacy in university, but it wasn’t my calling. Next I experimented with business courses but I was never a blatant self promoter; we need entrepreneurs for that! I have no family members who are teachers so it was, to put it bluntly, a process of elimination. I always felt satisfied when I was helping people. I certainly do not regret my decision!
Take 2: Knowing that learners function differently and, to be successful, we need teach each individual child.
In your lifetime has anyone inspired you to change your mind, for the better, to overcome an obstacle?
So many possible answers to that question. My grade 11 teacher, Mr. Joe Bonvie, inspired me to think outside the box. He taught history 3201 but he made it real, he made me think, he got you to role-play - he made the content come to life and inspired me to study history in university. In my first year of teaching there was a young student in upper elementary who struggled significantly in school. It was my first year teaching, 24 years old, and green. The educational psychologist for the school recommended that I record myself onto cassette tapes so that my student could listen to me reading different selections the night before we did the content in class. I was very resistant at first, selfishly thinking about my own possibility of embarrassment. But I followed the advice of the “expert” and started recording selections from the language arts program for him. Within a few weeks, engagement had changed significantly. Every now and then his mother would make fun of me walking up and down the road, saying she loves to listen to my voice! That was embarrassing, but the young man’s commitment to trying to do better, based on that one intervention, inspired me to understand that learners function differently and that, to be successful, I had to start tying into each individual child. That was in 1996. A former administrator friend of mine practised the mantra “less is more”. No other words have done more for me in assisting students, peers, even parents and guardians in understanding how different needs for different learners can unfold, be tapped into and serviced. That thinking has helped me set up my classroom, manage and direct my schools, and guide and inspire all levels of learning. Learning is about purity; it’s about relationships between people, not the nice desks, or the pretty organizers, or the laminated posters, or anything along those lines. Trust is my resource for teaching, everything else is superfluous - less is more.
What is the most memorable moment as a teacher?
Way way too many to list. Any “a-ha” moment for a student in our classroom. Professional development-wise, hands down, the trip I was honoured to be given based on collaboration between TESIC in our province and Brilliant Labs. We got to attend ISTE 2019 in New Orleans. SINCE THEN, I have become a stronger advocate for student-driven curricula. Has a student ever inspired you? Period by period. Every class. Every day.
Tell us about a project (or challenge) that helped students improve their learning experience? How did it make you feel?
I take gambles on pedagogy that seems to incorporate student voice in any decisions around the resource or strategy. My gamble always pays off. Any time you build your learning events around students' lives and their interests, causing them to connect to the content, you’re going to have success. Whether that’s with technology, robots, drama, manipulatives, or anything else, all else is irrelevant. Recently I was able to get some PD in Minecraft. The achievement of 100% engagement in a math task, live, organized by me but led by them, was a moment I was proud of and definitely felt was a success for all of us!
Since last March, we’ve seen incredible changes in our world and its effect on education. What is your perspective on virtual learning and what advice would you give to teachers?
It highlighted many strengths and inequities in the virtual world within the education of our children’s population and families. We cannot go back in time to last March , so I cannot offer advice, because it’ll never happen for the first time again. I would advise people who teach, in case you go back online again, to make sure you have a connection with every single student you are responsible for, especially before you go to the virtual learning platforms. Otherwise, disconnected students are the first ones who will not bother to turn on the computer, let alone go face-to-face with you or check their emails. We’ll never be able to build on the foundation that comes from your classroom, through their computer screen and into their homes, without this connection between teacher and learner.
How has your classroom experience changed and how do you inspire your students?
Teaching doesn’t feel onerous nor “routine” for me. Every year a lesson, task, unit or project unfolds differently based on the students in our group. Last year Genius Hour was easily embedded in the instruction. This year, with such less access to technology due to COVID-19 rules, different specifics need to be used to maximize engagement, differently from last year. I inspire my students to challenge themselves and me to find the most engaging learning video, to make instructional videos by and for their peers, to communicate their learning to ALL (peers, home, other teachers / schools), and to not be afraid of making mistakes. As we say daily in class, “Failure is Step 1” Other closing thoughts? The faster we professionals in the teaching field give up our tight grasp on how the objectives have to be taught, and allow collaboration from the students (if not ownership) of how they want to learn these objectives, the closer we will be to a more universal design for learning, and for helping to shape the 22nd century learner.
Terry’s Good Reads
Jo Boaler - Limitless Mind Malcolm Gladwell Outliers John Hattie - Visible Learning Robert Munsch - Love You Forever David Shannon - No David! Guy Strickland - Bad Teachers
TAKE 5 is a regular feature in Brilliant Labs magazine. If you know a teacher who has inspired students or community. Let’s connect and share their story. Email info@brilliantlabs.ca Subject: TAKE 5
