A teacher at Spruce Ridge Community School in Durham has been named New Teacher of the Year. Grade 1 instructor, Tracy Napper Sharpe, is one of three teachers from Ontario to win this award. One of the reasons for the award is Napper Sharpe’s students are getting a worldwide education. For example — while teaching — she transformed her classroom into an exotic African hut and then into a Arctic Pole. Napper Sharpe does this with cardboard boxes, paint and a lot of hard work. Her students also create their own art work, like African masks for a rain making ceremony. Napper Sharpe feels education needs to be a life long process — “if you catch their interest right off the bat they will be motivated and enthusiastic to learn.” Napper Sharpe openly shares her ideas with other teachers to motivate them to take this approach. She says other instructors want their students to be interested and have an environment where they can learn in. Napper Sharpe says she see’s her students changing and growing.
