Ste Anne teacher wins Teaching Excellence Award

Jenna Desilets was born to be a teacher. As a young girl she would play school with her teddy bears and dolls and growing up she had teachers as role models, which made her decision to be a teacher that much easier.

Now, after a teaching career that has hit 15 years (11 of which are spent at Ste Anne Elementary), she has been awarded the Teaching Excellence Award after being nominated by her peers. She said it was the pinnacle of her career.

“I’m very honoured to win it. I feel very grateful…Reading their nomination letters, to me that was the most touching and important and meaningful part to me and it’s something that I go back to reread quite often to remind myself what is my passion? What is my purpose? And how do others see me in that role? Because sometimes there’s hard days and having those to reflect back upon is the greatest honour for me.”

The Grade 5/6 teacher said she tries to have a student-centred curriculum where she knows her students’ interests and educational needs, which is one of the reasons she was nominated. The other reason she was nominated was the inclusion of Indigenous education into her curriculum.

“I’m a non-Indigenous person but I’m an ally and as an educator it’s really important that we honour the 94 calls to action. They’re not suggestions. It’s something that we’re called to do. All Canadians are called to our various roles and responsibilities…to those 94 calls to action and as a teacher I feel it’s very important. I also feel that it’s important that all my students are represented. So that’s something that I weave through all subject areas of my teaching,” she said.

Desilets not only included Indigenous studies into her classroom, but she has also become a key resource person on Indigenous education in the school. From 2018 to 2024, she served on the Seine River Teachers’ Association and chaired its Indigenous Education committee for four years. In this capacity, she developed support material for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

“A lot of the materials that I developed, I developed them first with my students in mind. And they were materials that I used in my classroom or used in my school. Honestly, it wasn’t with the division in mind or Seine River Teachers’ (Association) however I felt very honoured that those materials could be used again, and used in various capacities, and can inspire other growth from other educators,” she said.