Toronto teacher receives award for excellence

TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Nancy Dye, an elementary teacher with the Toronto District School Board, was honoured yesterday with the OTIP Teaching Award for excellence in teaching in the Elementary Teacher category.

A teacher for 25 years, Nancy has devoted her career to improving education for early years and preschool deaf and hard of hearing students. Her home school is Wexford PS.  Nancy developed a preschool program for deaf and hard of hearing students from the ground up - the space, the staff and the materials. This program started with 8 pre-schoolers and has grown to 14. She also created the Parent Lending Library which provides support materials to assist parents in all aspects of their child's learning. She started the Captioned Library of closed captioned materials which is used extensively by teachers across the board. Parents, administration and colleagues supported Nancy's nomination - a true indication of her contributions to our profession.

Nancy's love of children, her imagination in dealing with learning challenges and her desire to go the extra mile in helping students and parents have been the hallmark of her career.

More information and a video honouring Nancy are posted on the Teaching Awards website: teachingawards.ca.

The Ontario Teachers Insurance Plan (OTIP) and the Ontario Teachers' Federation co-sponsor the OTIP Teaching Awards for excellence in teaching in the publicly funded school system. Three awards are presented: secondary school teacher, elementary school teacher and beginning teacher. Anyone can nominate a teacher in Ontario's publicly funded schools, including public, Catholic, and francophone school boards.

Winning teachers are hosted at a fall awards ceremony in Toronto where they are presented with a personal award of $1,000 and a Certificate of Recognition. Their schools are recognized as well with a $1,000 prize and a Certificate of Recognition.

OTIP is a non-profit organization serving education employees and their families with reliable, affordable insurance and financial solutions.

The Ontario Teachers' Federation is the advocate for the teaching profession in Ontario and for its 160,000 teachers. OTF members are full-time, part-time and occasional teachers in all publicly-funded schools in the province - elementary, secondary, public, Catholic and francophone.

SOURCE: Ontario Teachers' Federation

Rhonda Kimberley-Young
Secretary-Treasurer, OTF
416.966.3424