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Teacher-Grad Students Develop a Mother ’ s Program for High School Students
By Shuana Niessen
( Grades 10 - 12 and Psychology 30 ). Adopting a cohort model , they were able to provide differentiated instruction based on the ELA needs of each student in the cohort .
Sherrie Sveinson-Kuntz and Keeley Skrypnyk found their lives aligning : first , as professionals , teaching at Scott Collegiate — Sherrie teaching English Language Arts ( ELA ) since 2006 and Keeley teaching Mathematics since 2005 — and then , as grad students with the U of R , Faculty of Education — Sherrie in an M . Ed . program in Curriculum and Instruction and Keeley in an M . Ed . program in Educational Psychology .
( L-R ) Sherrie Sveinson-Kuntz and Keeley Skrypnyk
Through these connections , Keeley and Sherrie had opportunity for many discussions about the need they saw at Scott Collegiate , as they put it , “ to teach skills concerning parenting and raising children , while simultaneously helping students to meet Grade 12 outcomes ( in this case , ELA 10-30 and Psych 30 credits ).” These discussions were encouraged by the “ sense of community with our students at Scott Collegiate .” Keeley and Sherrie wanted to give the young mothers at Scott “ the opportunity to come together to find success , to share , and to learn .”
To meet this need at Scott Collegiate , and simultaneously to meet the requirements of their own U of R grad courses , Keeley and Sherrie co-developed a mother ’ s program . They named the program “ Nika ,” which is Cree for “ mother .”
Though difficult and time consuming , with the support and encouragement of their administrators , Principal Nancy Buission , and Vice Principal Mike Tomchuk , they blended curriculum objectives for ELA
All young mothers who attended Scott Collegiate at that time were encouraged to enroll . They met for 2 hours each morning in Semester 2 , from January to June , 2013 . Fifteen students were in the cohort for the duration of the project .
Sherrie and Keeley developed relevant assignments to facilitate the goal of helping these students “ make connections with community agencies that would help them be successful after high school .” The students researched community agencies that could help them as students and parents ; they did case studies with their own children , and they conducted interviews . For their final project , the students produced a film that they wrote , directed , and starred in .
Keeley and Sherrie maintained an interprofessional vision for the project . They arranged for the school nurse to check-in weekly to provide resources and supports , and to set up informational sessions on topics such as oral hygiene . The school ’ s addictions counselor also provided resources and conducted informational
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