Terry Taylor, School District 10 Superintendent, is a champion of rural education and has tirelessly promoted the amazing work in this district as a model of world class learning in a rural environment.
In the last four years Taylor’s work has transcended the boarders of SD10 to include a role in the West Kootenay Teacher Education Program (WKTEP), which operates under the umbrella of the University of B.C.. Her efforts in the realm of pre-service teacher education have earned Taylor the accolades of UBC, who have honored her with the Marlane King and Joseph Ranallo Teaching Award for outstanding commitment and dedication to the preparation of teachers for rural settings.
The award was established in 2008 to honor the achievements of Marlane King and Joseph Ranallo who operated as the site coordinators for the WKETP program from 1990 to 2008.
WKETP is a 12 month program designed for teacher candidates to develop their profession within a rural and small school focus. Taylor became involved with WKETP when she was entreated to teach the English Language Arts program. At the time of request, Taylor was turning heads in the teaching world by exploring social justice lessons through a place-conscious learning model.
After two years of teaching English Language Arts for WKETP, Taylor shifted subjects to Social Studies, where she began collaborating with Eleanor Rix, Professor of Rural Education in UBC’s Faculty of Education and Dr. Linda Farr Darling. Darling works with the WKTEP in partnership with Selkirk College and was a member of the Marlane King and Joseph Ranallo Teaching Award selection committee.
In a letter informing Taylor of her selection, Darling praises Taylor for her commitment to the holistic preparation of teachers sighting her hospitality and continued efforts to foster community orientated learning opportunities for WKTEP students.
“Terry’s contributions to WKETP have been both stellar and unique,” Darling declares.
Friends and colleagues, Taylor and Darling have worked together on collaborative projects under the auspice of the WKTEP program and have co-authored educational papers on the subject of place-conscious learning with a rural focus.
“That interest in rural education is about recognizing that instead of a deficit model where being in a rural place means that you have less-fewer choices, fewer resources. In fact, in rural schools we have more,” Taylor explains. “We can work with pre-service teachers and really catapult them into thinking about their practice from the earliest days of becoming teachers and reflecting about what we know about good pedagogy.”
Taylor plans to continue the rural focused education of pre-service teachers by inviting more rural conscience collaboration between SD10 and pre-service students of WKETP.