May 13, 2019 (Glengarry, ON) – Lindsey Howes, an intermediate teacher at Glengarry District High School, was presented with the Excellence in Teaching – Elementary Award from the Ontario Council for Technology Education (OCTE) on Friday, May 10 at the council’s annual awards banquet.

Howes was nominated for the award by a colleague and was recognized for her innovation, collaboration and promotion of science and technology education both in and outside of her classroom. Along with the recognition, Howes received a $500 bursary to be used for personal professional development and teaching resources.

Last year, Howes and her colleagues collaborated with Tagwi Secondary School and introduced the Skills Ontario challenge. In this challenge, teams of students from both schools designed and built model wind turbines. This year, they expanded the project to include two more Skills Ontario challenges and encouraged six UCDSB schools to participate in the Intermediate Skills Ontario Regional Qualifier.

Along with her collaboration with other schools, Howes has been working on developing more cross-curricular projects within her science class. She collaborates with the technology, construction and math programs to ensure her students make real-life connections in their assignments. Her class is currently planning to add raised gardens to the Community Living building in Alexandria.

“The connections that my students are making to and between curriculum expectations without even realizing it is worth all the extra planning and organizing,” Howes explained. “They are passionate about learning these skills because they are making the connection to why these skills are important outside of school. I hope that this will help keep some of our at-risk youth in school until graduation and encourage them to find a job they are passionate about.”

“On behalf of the entire UCDSB community, we want to thank Lindsey for the exemplary work she is doing. It’s so important that our students connect the dots between what they are learning and how it is applied in real life,” said Director of Education Stephen Sliwa. “We are so proud that she is has been recognized for her efforts at the provincial level.”

Howes has been teaching with the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) since 2009 and currently teaches grades 7, 8 and 11 at Glengarry DHS. She has taught at many other UCDSB schools including Char-Lan District High School, Williamstown Public School, Rothwell Osnabruck Public School, Tagwi Secondary School, Roxmore Public School, and Pleasant Corners Public School, mostly working with grades 7 and 8.