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REGINA–Ten schools in Saskatchewan will each receive a $10,000 grant to support student nutrition after being selected to win this year’s Mosaic Extreme School Makeover Challenge.

Saskatchewan educators have been getting a helping paw while teaching from home the past few months. Check out the #SaskBulletin to see some of our members' furry friends. #skteach #saskteachers

Judging by the response on the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation social media pages, there were plenty of educators out there who had cast an eye on the contribution of Shayna Zubko in the May digital version of the Saskatchewan Bulletin.

In the middle of March, something very interesting happened in education. In the midst of a worldwide pandemic, our schools were closed and remote/supplemental learning began. The virtual classroom became the only classroom for our students. The conditions of closures included students moving on to the next grade, “bumped” to a pass if need be, receiving the grade they had up until that point or engaging in supplementary learning with an opportunity to improve one’s standing.

Considering the worldwide impact of COVID-19, there was not a lot of time and options available. There was also not a lot of time to prepare students for the supplemental learning/virtual classroom experience. The words uncharted and unprecedented have been used to describe this entire situation, and the world of education has not been an exception.

It’s a refrain you hear often these days–who knows how the future will unfold given the fact you’re almost led to wonder if the world really is round like they have been telling us all these years.

So if we can agree that there are precious few guarantees when it comes to gazing into the crystal ball, suppose I dedicate this space to something that I do know about. Take a journey with me, if you will, retracing some of the amazing folks I have met during the past school year–and yes that includes the last few months when visits to actual schools have been few and far between.

I can tell you that as different as many of the situations I have experienced in various parts of this vast province are on the surface, there are undeniably a few traits that teachers share. Let’s be up front about this–it is a truism that it is not my practice to seek out mediocrity when it comes to trying to fill the pages or the screens of the Saskatchewan Bulletin. Be that as it may, it is not hyperbole to suggest that there are some truly remarkable teachers among the 13,500 who share this profession in Saskatchewan.