ERAMOSA – Eramosa Public School teacher Allison Semanyk has been named the recipient of the Schulich School of Education Associate Teacher Award, an award recognizing an associate teacher that “went above and beyond to help their teacher candidate thrive.”
In the nomination letter teacher candidate Jocelyn Dunsmoor said watching Semanyk teach and interact with students reassured her that teaching is the career for her.
“I had the privilege of learning from Allison who exuberates positivity to all the students and staff at Eramosa Public School,” Dunsmoor stated in the letter.
“When you enter Mrs. Semanyk’s class, it is immediately evident that she is a kind and caring teacher that puts her students first.
“She is an exceptional educator and her love for teaching is clear immediately upon meeting her.”
Semanyk mentored Dunsmoor for eight weeks, teaching her skills like classroom management and assessment evaluations.
“She could just tell when she walked in this was a great learning environment and that’s all I ever want for the kids that come into my classroom and now for anyone else,” Semanyk explained.
“If it’s an associate teacher I want to portray that to them so that whenever they go into their own classroom, maybe they’ll take whatever they saw from me and apply it into their room.”
Semanyk said the biggest thing for her as a teacher is to give feedback, whether it’s for her students or student teachers.
For anything she was doing, Semanyk would make an extra copy and prepare it in a folder for Dunsmoor to ensure she would have a binder ready for when she heads into teaching on her own.
“I felt for me as a teacher I need to be helping her to get on her feet so that if she had a supply job when she first gets out and she needed to have something she could go directly to the information that I had given her so she’s already ready, she doesn’t feel like she’s starting fresh,” Semanyk explained.
Semanyk also had Dunsmoor get in front of the class and teach her own lessons to help build confidence teaching.
“I hope that she comes out of it feeling confident and having a better understanding of who she wants to be as a teacher and what goals she wants for herself,” said Semanyk.
She added her goal as an associate teacher is to show incoming teachers that teaching isn’t just paper and pen, but so much more for the children.
When student teachers come in, she just wants to be able to show them how fun the job is and all the different things that you can do teaching and the relationships you can develop with students.
She added that while she is flattered by the award, she’s just doing what she loves.
“I love teaching. I understand children very well and so I feel I need to just show other teachers that are coming in how to give children encouragement, what kids need in the classroom … being their leader all the time because it’s about confidence,” she said.
“It’s about taking risks in the classroom and the only way you can do that is if they know their teacher has their back.
“No matter how the children learn, because all children learn differently, they’ll always know that no matter what they do, good or if they make mistakes, ‘Mrs. Sem will always be there, and she’ll always support me.’”
