Year: 2020 — Province: Ontario
Certificate of Excellence Recipient
Morning Star Middle School
Visual Arts, English as a Second Language, grades 6 to 8
Mississauga, Ontario
For Ms. Sekhon, the neighbourhood, city, country and world are each our classroom, and our sketchbooks, cameras or paintbrushes—paired with our informed judgment and willingness to make a positive difference—are powerful tools to improve the world.
Teaching in a community affected by socioeconomic challenges, Neeru Sekhon capitalizes on the richest resources she has access to—her students. They, in turn, appreciate all she has done to empower them, so much so that a group of 34 students nominated their beloved teacher for a Prime Minister's Award.
Teaching approach
Neeru nurtures students to be critical thinkers, exercise self-awareness and be attuned to peers' needs. Rather than taking a how-to approach, she builds a learning environment in which students learn to trust and honour themselves, so that they are confident in exploring and charting their own paths.
In the classroom
- Encourages students to use their identities as assets when exploring technology: they take and edit portraits in a studio complete with backdrops integrating textiles and props from their heritages; students created a school stock photography platform of images of themselves and their many backgrounds and abilities.
- Centres learning on student voices: students uncomfortable with the mispronunciation of their names at school created an application containing an audio dictionary of the names (and any preferred pronouns) of all members of the school community—from lunchroom supervisors to custodians to students.
- Initiated school's yoga and mind-body awareness program co-facilitated by anti-oppression and trauma-informed facilitators: 30 students become more aware of social, cognitive, biological and emotional stressors that affect them, and were invited to share their testimonials with the principal and board officials.
- Engages female-identifying students in STEAM through twice monthly lunch-and-learns and by connecting them with professional women who share their journey to a STEAM career.
Outstanding achievements
- Coordinates Local Outreach, a service-learning program that grew so large it necessitated six additional teachers to help steward students' projects: one group worked with the local seniors' home to reduce loneliness by pairing isolated seniors with teens in an intergenerational conversation club.
- Set up school-based, contemporary art gallery: students of varied backgrounds, levels and abilities direct art projects, lead visitors as docents, install exhibitions, document events as photographers and videographers, and advertise programs as digital marketers.
- Harnesses online connectivity to share multimedia tools with educators: for each art exhibition, teachers can access an online audio, video or text gallery guide and accompanying cross-curricular lessons aligned with the K-8 curriculum; students share their multimedia gallery walkthroughs with peers in Cape Dorset.
- Delivers training and writes curricula on arts education and inclusive education: has presented on respecting Indigenous ways of knowing; has written curriculum on culturally responsive and relevant pedagogy, community stewardship and trauma-informed arts education.
Get in touch!
Morning Star Middle School
3131 Morning Star Drive
Mississauga ON L4T 1X3
905-677-0300
morningstar.ms@peelsb.com
https://schools.peelschools.org/1114/Pages/default.aspx
Twitter: @MorningStarMS