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Back to school for teachers

Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Feb 14/05) - Teachers will be returning to their student days next week.

From Feb. 21-25, 508 kindergarten to Grade 12 teachers from across Nunavut are expected in Iqaluit for the Nunavut Teachers Conference.

"It's very exciting," said conference organizer Dominique Wielgosch-Budgell.

"There are 149 workshops for them to choose from. There are a wide range of needs to be covered."

Nakasuk school, Inuksuk high school and possibly the new Joamie school will be the main venues for workshops that range from ulu making to a four-day course on "control theory."

All students will be off school that week.

Special guests include Monte Hummel, president of the World Wildlife Fund, and Dave Nikkel, an award-winning teacher and singer-songwriter from Winnipeg.

The conference is meant to rejuvenate and inspire Northern teachers.

"Teachers don't get a lot of support for the work they do," said Wielgosch-Budgell.

A core planning committee of eight teachers, rounded out by Richard Kurtz, Brenda Illaszewicz, Don Wilson, Jay Thomas, Denise Cooper, Brenda Mercer and John Stewart, put the program together.

Kurtz, a Grade 2 teacher in Cambridge Bay, is looking forward to networking with other elementary teachers and attending the course on yoga and how to incorporate that into physical education classes.

"It's a technique to get students relaxed. Some times you'll have a kid that needs a time out. And the yoga could really help."