AWARDS
ALUMNA RECIPIENT OF PRIME MINISTER ’ S AWARD FOR TEACHING EXCELLENCE IN STEM
WARNING : BIOLOGY-HAZARD : A conversation with Heather Faris is likely to cause great enthusiasm for learning in creative and engaging ways , especially learning related to biology ! Heather ' s labs turn learning inside out , push the bottom to the top , and leave the middle out .
In May 2019 , alumna Heather Faris ( formerly Haynes ) got the news that she was a recipient of the Prime Minister ' s Award for teaching excellence in STEM . Regina-raised Faris ' s first thoughts were , " It ' s just what I do ! Talent is from God . I have a wonderful opportunity in this school to get to be the off-beat , artsy-thinking teacher . I ' m like , get an award for it ?! I did not expect it and it was such an honour !" Faris adds , " When my principal told me that she was working with a group of people to nominate me , it brings a person to tears , it ' s so humbling ... but at the same time affirms that this is what I am built and born to do ."
Surprisingly , Faris wasn ' t always headed for the teaching profession . She had an interest in biology , which began with dissecting earthworms in Grade 7 and with a love for the outdoors : " Just being outside on the farm with my Grandpa , walking in the fields , gardening , and knowing that I loved being outside in a way that not everybody did ." Thus , her first year at the University of Regina , after graduating from Sister McGuigan High School in 1989 , was spent studying biology with the goal of becoming a vet . " My art teacher , Rand Teed , had set me up in high school with the Regina Animal Clinic ," she explains . Then , because she would " pass out every time they started to operate ," Faris decided some hands on experience at the Humane Society would help her and it did .
However , two years of working with animals at the Humane Society had given Faris a clearer view of what she wanted to do : she decided to become a teacher . " I was that kid who had the classroom set up in my basement and corrected work . I found it really fun then ," she laughs . In 1995 , Faris graduated with her B . Ed . After travelling a bit , she then came back to teach as a substitute in Regina Catholic schools . After only two days of subbing , she was interviewed and given a short term contract at St . Augustine Community School to teach Grades 5 to 8 science . Then she was hired full-time at Archbishop M . C . O ' Neill High School . Thus began her , at this point , 22-year teaching career , including teaching science at Dr . Martin LeBoldus and currently senior science teacher at Miller Comprehensive High School .
When asked what qualities she thinks make for excellence in teaching , Faris responded , " There are a lot of qualities that make a good teacher that I possess but others don ’ t necessarily possess . And others possess qualities that make them good teachers that I don ’ t necessarily possess . So we are not all the same , we are very different . But a quality that makes me a good teacher is that I ’ m creative . I love creating , I wake up in the night because I realize how I can re-imagine that lesson and make it better . That ’ s one of my strengths ." Faris believes that all scientists are creative beings , pointing to Leeuwenhoek , DaVinci , and Bacon .
A second quality is being observant . Faris ' s science teaching has been inspired by what an art teacher once told her : " Draw what you see , not what you think you see ." For Faris that means , " Observe what you see , what you hear , what you smell , what you taste , what you touch . Not what you think you see , hear , smell , taste , and touch ." One can achieve this , she says , " by really being in the moment . I tell my students to walk through life with their eyes open . That means don ' t put in the headphones , or put up the hoodie . Look around and ask , ‘ Why does grass not grow under a pine tree but it grows under the deciduous trees ? Why do these trees have seeds and those trees do not ? Trust in yourself to hypothesize as to why .’ It ' s the synthesis of life when you walk with your eyes open ."
Passion for learning is a third quality that Faris thinks is important to demonstrate . She is a model of active learning for her students as she continues to learn . As an example , she says , " All my students know I have guitar lessons on Tuesdays at 3:30 ."
Faris ' s passion for learning extends to her craft in teaching biology . In 2010 , Faris returned to the U of R to do a Master ' s in Education . Through her research , she tested her own hypotheses about teaching and learning biology . She knew the followthe-recipe approach to labs had to change for science to become richer and more engaging for her students . Following a set of instructions and modelling the steps was not giving students an understanding of why the experiment worked or didn ' t work . She developed a new lab procedure , which she now calls an investigation or inquiry rather than lab : " I called it turning labs inside out . Push the bottom to the top . Leave the middle out , get there how you want to ." In their investigations , students are given an endpoint , for instance to create osmosis diffusion , and they are given all the materials they need to achieve the endpoint . No instructions are given . Students then spend one day in the library to discover how the materials work and what they do . Then they are given five days to play . They work in teams and can consult with other teams , but not her . At the end , students do photo write ups . " The story takes us on paths of things that didn ' t work and things that did , to the end point . So much of science is what didn ' t work . Like cancer research is not a direct path to success . The students told me it taught them to stick with it and not to give up . And how big small successes were when they had a hypothesis about something such as how benedict solution works ." The research validated what Faris was doing and hearing from her students about how they were engaged .
Excellence , for Faris , has also developed through participating in curriculum development with the Ministry of Education , through research opportunities such as an NSERC CRYSTAL project , and through seeing connections within the science curriculums , such as biochemistry and its connection to the health sciences and body systems .
Faris sees her role as being effective because of her care of students , more than a love for science : " I don ' t just teach my students science . Science is my vehicle . At the end of the day , it is not about these facts of science . At the end of the day if I can teach them about the love of learning , about being their awesome selves , and being where they are . They come here to learn about who they want to be in the world ." Her students are the wind beneath her wings : " When they come in and say this is my favourite class , I say , really ? We havent even done anything cool yet ."
As Faris considers her future steps , she says , " I ' m just walking and things unfold . We will have to see how it unfolds . I ' ve never experienced a change I didn ' t like better ."
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