Black Press and Staples, in partnership with Camosun College, are proud to recognize some of the great teachers found here in the Capital Region. We asked our readers to nominate teachers who havegone above and beyond to make a difference in the lives of the students they teach.
Pam Guilbault is an Itinerant Teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing across Greater Victoria including École Willows Elementary.
Nominator Susan Adams had this to say about her:
know I had to select a school and grade level here, but my nominee is an itinerant teacher, which means she works with all grades, all over the Victoria School District. Pam, who is an Itinerant Teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, supported my son, who is hard of hearing, through part of middle school and all of his high school years. She is an incredibly strong advocate for the students she works for. Any time there was a problem with equipment or the building itself, Pam immediately found a solution that worked for everyone. This required extensive knowledge of augmentative hearing equipment as well as, on occasion, knowledge of physical school structure and operation systems (where acoustically challenging materials were used in building, where pipes go, what school plant equipment interferes with hearing equipment signals, etc., etc). Since her students are spread at several different schools throughout the district, she needs to know this information about many different buildings. Not only that, in most schools, work space is at a premium, so she has to really advocate, and find a quiet space to work with her students at each school. Often only to find that the process needs to be repeated on the following visit…sometimes almost every visit. On top of that, she is very skilled in every aspect of her job, which requires her to support students whose ability levels are extremely varied, in all subjects, in all grades. In short, Pam is amazing!
Nominator Patrick Adams added:
Pam was my son’s teacher of the deaf. He is smart, but very hard of hearing. In his grade 12 year, on top of being deaf, he got very sick with mononucleosis. We let him miss the rest of that semester, so he had to catch up on English on his own time in order to graduate. I’m certain that it was only through Pam’s diligent support that he made it through. We are extremely grateful to her, and I’m sure our son will be too one day.