A Leedale Colony School teacher who once taught in the Danish school system has been awarded for her efforts in the one-room school.
Teacher/principal Gwen Olsen received the 2011 Outstanding Colony Educators’ Award recently at the Alberta Colony Educators’ Conference in Medicine Hat.
Olsen, 52, has taught at school in the Leedale Colony, southwest of Rimbey, since 2001.
Before joining Wolf Creek Public Schools, Olsen taught at both private and public schools in Denmark. She moved to the European country to be closer to family after teaching in Saskatchewan for about eight years.
Her three children had the same Danish math and English teacher from Grades 2 to 9.
Olsen said there was a real bond between the teachers and students.
“I could see the real advantage when we were in Denmark,” she said. “We were very close to the parents in the kids’ classes because we would do things together because we knew our kids would be in school together in a classroom for the next seven, eight or nine years.”
Olsen said the teacher also needs to look at things differently because she needs to figure out what works with what child because the teacher will teach that child for the ensuing years.
This was something that intrigued her as both a teacher and a parent.
“You have to figure out their learning style,” she said.
“Because if it goes off the track, it really goes off the track. If you don’t figure it out, it is not a very good experience for the teacher and the student.”
When Olsen and her family moved back to Canada in 1999, she wanted the same investment where she could “loop” or have her students for more than one school year.
She discovered the colony school when substituting there. In her school, she is both the teacher and principal with an educational assistant helping out during the school week. Her 10 students are in kindergarten to Grade 9.
Olsen was instrumental in the forming of the division’s first Colony Professional Learning team and is on the division’s Alberta Initiative for School Improvement team.
She has also led teams in completing a detailed analysis and sequencing of the language arts and math curriculum in the Wolf Creek colony schools.
There are five colony schools in the Wolf Creek jurisdiction.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com