Being a first-year teacher can be daunting enough, but throw in having to start your career in the midst of the first world-wide pandemic of our lifetime might be enough to make some people consider a change to their chosen field.

But not Charnelle Fulcher, a first-year teacher at Chestermere's East Lake School and Rocky View Schools' (RVS) nominee for the Edwin Parr Award, given out annually by the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA).  

When she was first hired in June to be a teacher at East Lake, Fulcher was hired to teach Grade 3 in the school's English stream.  As she was preparing for the role, one week before the start of class, RVS informed her that her job was changing, before it even got started.  Instead of Grade 3, Fulcher would now be a Grade 5/6 combined class teacher and her class would be French Immersion.

Rather than panicking at the curveball thrown at her (well, there may have been a bit of panic) Fulcher hit that ball clear out of the park, excelling in her unexpected role, setting high expectations and providing support to students by giving them the chance to be the drivers in their educational experience, even during COVID-19.  

Fulcher utilizes strong collaboration and communication skills to involve students' parents and school community members in the learning process.  She has helped advance her own teaching skills and that of her peers through being willing to share and collaborate with them.  

Her bio presented at a recent meeting of the RVS School Board says, "There seems to be no doubt that Charnelle Fulcher is on the path to becoming a master teacher of Rocky View Schools."

Each year RVS has a process to nominate a first-year teacher to receive the ASBA's Edwin Parr Award for Zone 5.   

Edwin Parr began his career in educational affairs as a member of the board with the George Lake School District.   He served as chair of the board with the Athabasca School Division and was on the council of the County of Athabasca from its formation in 1959 until his death in January 1963.

He was President of the Alberta School Trustees’ Association (now ASBA) from 1956 to 1962.  Parr instituted an Annual Teacher Award in his school system. To honour his memory, the Alberta School Trustees’ Association (now ASBA) established the Edwin Parr Teacher Award in 1964.

The provincial Edwin Parr Teacher Awards will be presented to each of the six recipients from the provincial regions at the ASBA Fall General Meeting, November 14-16, 2021.

Several other first-year teachers were also nominated for the award in RVS, including two Airdrie teachers and one from Crossfield.

Erin Quiring who teaches at Nose Creek Elementary School in Airdrie and Laura McCaffrey, a first-year teacher at A.E. Bowers Elementary received nominations as did Jillian Engler from W.G. Murdoch School in Crossfield.  Tara Myden, a first-year teacher at Springbank Middle School was also nominated for the award.  

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