What I Would Like the Most

"I'd like to be able to walk into a bare classroom and be allowed to paint it whatever colour I want and furnish it with flexible, comfortable chairs and desks that aren't too small for the students. The space would then promote learning instead of dampening it."

"At the beginning of Grade 7, I tell my students that all sound starts from silence and that silence is the canvas on which they paint. To give my students a full palette to work with, I'd like to provide them with digital audio workstations that produce any sound, any timbre, any instrument in the world so that they could compose, arrange, produce and burn their own highly professional CDs. I think the world needs more composers, and I'd like to help my students become those composers."

"I'd like to have enough money to upgrade my computers and probe-ware so that there was enough for a whole class to use to work in small groups, and nothing would break down midway through an experiment."

"1. Equipment to improve and enhance our sensory integration room, where my autistic students can explore sensory input in a safe environment: lights that surround the room, piped-in music , vibrating pillows, fibre optic cables to move around. 2. Equipment to help my students use their potential and develop marketable skills: computer equipment, a digital camera and a video camera. 3. Items to add to our collections in the classroom: books and Beanie Babies (see "B is for Beanie Baby" )."

"I began thinking on a grand scale, and thought to design a school with a humanities wing with drama space and classes arranged around it. But more realistically a bigger classroom, more 'play' space for the students to act out our readings and a proper shadow screen and lights would be great."

"I'd really like to have a touch-sensitive smart board to assist special needs students in the school; vision-impaired and fine-motor-impaired students would be able to use the board to access learning material."

"I'd like to build a sound stage at our school, to re-equip the school to create a movie studio, so that when film companies come to town, they could use the facilities, and students would benefit from job experience and the community would benefit from increased business."

"The first obvious answer would be a $10 million theatre complex, but since that's really unlikely, I'd like some new lights for our theatre. We currently have lighting instruments that are so antiquated I'm almost frightened to use them. We have to rent lights for our larger productions. Other things I'd like to have to provide kids with this kind of authentic experience: a prop room, a make-up room and a media arts video/film studio."

"I'd love to have the paperwork of field trips reduced and made easier. Outdoor trips and many field trips are being lost because so few teachers are able to keep up with the certification requirements and the paperwork."

"I'd like to see an unrestricted policy on field trips so that I could take kids wherever I wanted and provide a wide variety of legitimate experiences. At this time, field trips are very difficult to arrange. There are so many requirements, concerns about liability and paperwork to wade through, it's next to impossible to run a field trip outside the immediate area."

"We have most of the equipment and software we need, but there are still some experiences that my students are missing. I'd like to be able to take students to major computer events once a year. I find exposing them to that environment is what really 'sets them on fire.'"

"Unrestricted access and necessary funds for field trips would really help me give my students some great learning experiences. I'd love to be able to take the kids to Drumheller during our dinosaur unit, to see the dinosaur bones and sleep in the museum, but it's just not possible."

"Too many teachers have lost sight of why they entered the teaching profession. I'd like them to be able to learn new ways of teaching, visit other schools, observe and teach with other teachers, see what others do well, to do whatever's necessary to re-kindle the inner 'new teacher' enthusiasm."

"While I'd like to have more and better equipment, I think I would emphasize commitment to teaching. I'd like to have the personnel at my school all trained in innovative teaching techniques. For example, there are many courses available that could help teachers get boys re-interested in school. Yes, I know that teachers are all so busy already, but I think it's important to move beyond seeing ourselves as primarily fact transmitters and see ourselves more, as Peter Gallant put it, as building kids."

"I'd like for elementary teachers to become more comfortable with teaching drama. Every kid needs drama, but elementary teachers tend to be afraid of the lack of structure and control in drama. I'd like there to be training and support for them. Younger students should discover the magic and fun of drama. Drama really does affect everything!"

"I'd like it if there were one person in each department in the school thinking about innovation and willing to spend the time and energy to make new and interesting things happen."

"A permanent building for my program would give my students stability and permanence. With the kind of program that I run [an alternative school program], when the initial start-up funding runs out, it's difficult to tell where more funding is going to come from, and maybe the political agenda has moved on to something else. But once you have a permanent building, it's harder for funding organizations to overlook you."

"There is a dire lack of recognition for the contribution of teachers to the lives of children, families and society. There's a lack of support and equality for teaching and education. Schools in well-to-do areas have lots because parents fundraise; schools in poorer areas have little to nothing. My wish would be that there be an attitude change about teaching, that schools and teachers should get support, finances, appreciation and equality."

"Of all the specific things I would like, one magic thing would be open and honest discussion about public education. If society and government could embrace the diversity of teachers the way they embrace diversity elsewhere, and if the rhetoric about caring for children were actually put into action, if governments showed us that they actually care about education, it would be wonderful."

"Looking at my school, we certainly need a lot. But the best teaching moments I've had were without a lot of materials, when we had to be creative and innovative to develop learning opportunities. I think it's more important to have a team of people who share the same vision, energy and excitement to work together so we can put our efforts into building education."

"I wouldn't be where I am today without my principal. He's caused me to stretch, to think beyond my original idea, to say 'Why not?' He's there to protect and support the staff and it's invaluable."

"I would hold on to the reputation of my program to the death. I know there is a real need for this [special education] class. To me, the need is self-evident but I don't know if there is anyone paying attention, who is aware that these kids need this service. It is the only class for them. Without it, they would be integrated into regular classes with no support, and face their future alienated and disconnected."

"The science department at my school is a team; we all work together and pull together really well. I'd hate to lose that collegiality. When everything else is crashing down, the team is a rock to hold you up."

"I'd love our own space with a structured, predictable environment designed to meet the unique needs of our children and supported by visual aids and highly trained educational assistants. Complete integration can be good, but it's not always appropriate. Some children do better when they have a safe, secure, separate space to base themselves and then move out to quality integration opportunities."

"If I didn't have the autonomy to decide what I teach and how I teach, I'd quit. I'm treated as a professional by parents and administration and that's essential."

"It may sound obvious, but I couldn't do without the students. In the North, there is a real problem with teenage suicide. It drives home just how precious our children are."