Jasper Elementary School
Bringing music to the classroom
After years of teaching adults and teenagers, Colleen Macza is now distilling her knowledge to elementary school students, as a part-time music teacher.
Macza, who has lived in Jasper since 2004 and previously worked in the biology department at the University of Saskatchewan and as the coordinator for continuing studies at Aurora College in Fort Smith, NWT, is also a classically trained pianist, who completed Grade 8 in the Royal Conservatory of Music.
In her Kindergarten to Grade 5 music classes, she will be teaching the students about notes, singing, rhythm, harmonies and the instruments in an orchestra.
鈥淭hey have to cover a fair bit of terminology,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e supposed to be able to read music, and they play recorders and instruments in class.鈥�
New culture, 鈥榳eird鈥� accent
For nine months, Phillippe Mondou will share his French Canadian culture with Jasper鈥檚 youth.
The 19-year-old from Quebec is spending his 鈥済ap year鈥� in Jasper working as a language assistant in the French immersion program at JES. He landed the gig through the Odyssey language assistant program, which sends people like Mondou to Canadian schools to assist with language and cultural studies.
鈥淭hey want me to bring the French Canadian culture because kids don鈥檛 get to speak with first language French speakers,鈥� he said, noting that the kids keep telling him his accent is 鈥渨eird.鈥�
While in Jasper, he will be working with students from Kindergarten to Grade 6.
Mondou, an avid mountain biker and skier, said he鈥檚 excited to have this opportunity to teach and spend time in Jasper. 鈥淚 love this town.鈥�
Creating a solid base
Twenty years ago, H茅l猫ne Caron moved to Jasper with a marketing degree in her pocket and a desire to learn English.
Shortly after, the Rimouski, Que. native met her husband and started a family in Jasper. Three children later and Caron realized teaching was her passion, so she returned to school in 2006 to obtain an education degree at the University of Alberta.
Since then, she has been teaching Kindergarten, beginning at 脡cole Desrochers and now at JES as a French immersion teacher.
鈥淚鈥檝e gotten really into the pre-reading and the importance of Kindergarten,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople always say it鈥檚 just play, and it is playing, but there鈥檚 a purpose to the playing. You鈥檙e creating a base.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 like your first year, it鈥檚 tough,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you like the first few years, you set up a beautiful base for the future.鈥�
Jasper Junior/Senior High School
鈥業 want them to find joy in it鈥�
While in South Africa, Bryan Hofbauer often drove past kids who walked miles to get to school.
At the time, he was working on a film about several communities struggling with HIV. He was trying to weave together their stories in a meaningful way. But something about the kids struck him.
鈥淚 remember thinking from an alien perspective that teaching within a community makes a lot of sense, as opposed to coming to a world and 鈥� taking stories and fabricating a script around it,鈥� he said.
He鈥檚 still involved in making films, but the new English and fine arts teacher at Jasper Junior/Senior High School said his students are his first priority.
鈥淚t鈥檚 my role to help them express themselves: to be able to speak well, to comprehend well, to write well, and to own it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want them to find joy in it.鈥�
Big plans for math and science teacher
As soon as Amelia Bird completed her bachelor of education degree, she snagged a full-time job teaching junior high in Edson, where she showed such 鈥渙utstanding promise鈥� she was nominated for the prestigious Edwin Par award.
This year, however, she is really in her element, teaching high school math in Jasper.
But don鈥檛 peg her as just a math geek, because Bird鈥檚 interests as a teacher run the gamut.
At her last school she was involved in the volleyball team, the basketball team, and even her school鈥檚 drama program.
There, she helped students put on the musical 鈥淢ulan.鈥� When one of the performers got sick she nearly had to jump in and play the role herself.
鈥淚 was actually in the middle of painting on my beard when he walked in and said he would do it,鈥� she recalled with a laugh.
Pushing teaching to its limits
Chad Krayenhoff looks around his classroom, nodding.
When Krayenhoff, a teacher at the junior high, first did his practicum in Jasper, his mentor handed him a competed lesson plan. Krayenhoff looked at it, decided it wasn鈥檛 for him, and proceeded to ignore everything.
Now that he runs his own classroom, he is free to push the boundaries even further. Not only does he allow cellphones in his classroom, he integrates them into his teaching.
He has even set up a kind of online suggestion box that students can access to leave him anonymous feedback.
The Vancouver Island boy made waves during his eight years at the University of Alberta too, pushing the school to become carbon neutral.
He鈥檚 carrying on his environmental advocacy in Jasper as well, taking over the high school鈥檚 sustainability club.
脡cole Desrochers
Making the connections
Although Judith Fillion grew up in francophone Montreal, the new Grade 5 and 6 teacher at 脡cole Desrochers has only the slightest trace of an accent. She admits, though, that because she鈥檚 out of practice, she sometimes has trouble finding the correct words in English.
Her arrival in Jasper less than three weeks ago marked her first time here, and her first significant experience with the Canadian West.
鈥淚 had my nose pressed against the window the whole ride in,鈥� she said with a giggle.
So far she said she鈥檚 overwhelmed by how kind people in the town are, and by how active everyone is. In Montrael, she explains, people hurry by without ever making eye contact. But in Jasper even the joggers will stop and ask her how her day is going.
鈥淧eople are just so awesome here,鈥� she said.
