Woodstock teacher receives award for excellence

TORONTO, Sept. 24, 2014 /CNW/ - Joshua Tellier, an elementary school teacher at Holy Family Catholic French Immersion School in Woodstock, was honoured with the OTIP Teaching Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Beginning Teacher Category at a ceremony in Toronto yesterday.

Joshua teaches French immersion to Grade 6 and 7 students. As stated in his nomination, "Josh is able to search for various ways to improve not only his own classroom but the entire school community." Students look forward to being in his class as his reputation throughout the school is well-known. He employs the latest technologies and has a class website and Twitter feed to keep students and parents informed. Joshua uses flipped classrooms where students view pre-recorded lessons at home, allowing him more one on one time with students. His school now has the status of an Eco-school, thanks to his organizing the Eco Club (Equipe Univert). He includes parents in club projects such as the Eco Sitting area in front of school and promotes eco diversity by such projects as maintaining school gardens and "litterless Thursday." As well as coaching numerous intramural sports, Joshua organizes several charity events for the school such as the Terry Fox Run and the United Way campaign. He is a part of the London Board team which is reviewing the revised FSL curriculum.

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.

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

About OTIP: Creating Insured Members for Life. At OTIP (www.otip.com), we not only understand the education system, we believe in it. OTIP has been committed to providing quality insurance benefits and advice for the best value since 1977. Across all lines of insurance, OTIP provides coverage to over 160,000 education employees in the province. Owned by Ontario's four education affiliates (AEFO, ETFO, OECTA and OSSTF) and directed by a Board of Trustees, OTIP was built on the belief that educators would be better served by a not-for-profit insurance advocate that was part of the education community. This remains our philosophy today. 

The Ontario Teachers' Federation (www.otffeo.on.ca) 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

Patricia Wilkinson-Bizjak, Director, Corporate Affairs and Communications, OTIP, 519.574.4997, 1.800.267.6847 ext. 2615, [email protected]; Rhonda Kimberley-Young, Secretary-Treasurer, OTF, 416.966.3424, 1.800.268.7061, [email protected]