Top award for passionate teacher
Running a school’s international programme during a global pandemic, while moving to teaching online as New Zealand went into lockdown, was no easy task. But it was one Wellington teacher Caroline Robertson rose to.
Robertson, a German teacher and director of international students at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, won the inaugural ASG Parents’ Award at the National Excellence in Teaching Awards, held virtually on Tuesday night.
Robertson, affectionately known to her students (and some parents) as Frau, said she felt humbled, and a bit overwhelmed, to receive the award.
‘‘It’s an award I should dedicate to a lot of people – my family, my students.’’
She said that over her 23 years as a teacher at Marsden, she had learned that it was all right to deviate from lesson plans when necessary, and that the most important thing for teachers was to get to know their students.
‘‘The kids know when they come into my lesson, it will be interactive – it’s not me teaching content at people.’’
It’s a style which occasionally sees her jumping on desks, playing a prank on the deputy principal while being appraised by her, and having students describing her classes as relaxed, ‘‘even a chill vibe’’.
‘‘Students need to know that you are interested in them, and as soon as you don’t have that level of interest, you need to go do something else.
‘‘I am very passionate about teaching, but I ammore passionate about the lives of young people than whether they can do German irregular verbs.’’
As well as moving her classes online during lockdown, Robertson had the added challenge of looking after 15 international students, including one who was not happy in her homestay.
‘‘I went online every day, I had interviews online with them, I rang host families, I did surveys.’’
The ASG Parents’ award is given to a teacher who parents nominate as having made a significant difference in the lives of their students, school families, and the community.
Robertson was one of six teachers to receive a National Excellence in Teaching Award this year.
The awards’ chairman, Allen Blewitt, said each of this year’s winners had demonstrated that student and teacher welfare was at least as important as educational outcomes.