Maple Bear Faculty
Alan Novak
Alan is a graduate of the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor’s Degree in both Physical Education and Education. Through 16 years of middle years and senior years teaching experience, he has taught physical education, math and science. He also brings forth considerable experience in leadership development as well as athletic coaching. He is currently a French Immersion mathematics teacher at Miles Macdonell Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Alan is a curriculum program writer for Maple Bear Global Schools and is currently developing a Year 10 Student Leadership Course.
Anastasia Sych-Yereniuk
Anastasia Sych-Yereniuk offers more than 30 years of achievement in developing productive student focused curricula and environments. An educator in innovative leadership, teaching and learning, Anastasia holds a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology), Bachelor of Education and Masters in Education (Curriculum and Instruction). She has worked with all levels of school from N- Grade 12, as a teacher and school administrator around the world, to create powerful learning opportunities and maximize learning for teachers and students. Her belief that meaningful change can only happen when you first connect to people’s hearts is consistently modelled in her everyday teaching practice. A passion for working in administration, writing curriculum, developing materials and training teachers has afforded her with a diverse range of experiences with Maple Bear including, writing curricula, training owners, coordinators and teachers and nudging school development.
Angela Quinn
Angela Quinn has over 35 years of experience teaching from Kindergarten to Grade 12 as well as adults. She has a Master's degree from the University of Ottawa as well as Specialist Certification in Second Language Learning and Special Education. Angela has worked as a classroom teacher, an Elementary School Principal and Second Language Curriculum Consultant. She has presented workshops on the following topics: literacy strategies (read aloud, shared reading, guided reading and independent reading), writing, organizing and implementing learning centres, comprehension strategies, differentiated learning, classroom management, assessment and evaluation, planning and delivery of curriculum.
Angela has worked as a Maple Bear Academic Support trainer in Brazil, Mexico and Morocco.
Arpi (Alexandra) Babaian
Joining Maple Bear has been a gratifying way for Arpi to continue to do work she loves -- helping teachers and students learn. The joy of meeting new people and experiencing their country’s culture, history, art, cuisine, flora and fauna, of being immersed in the busy lives of fellow educators, sustains her enthusiasm for this work. Although Arpi has done some work in Quality Assurance, she feels particularly fortunate to be a Maple Bear trainer – especially as she usually gets to work with her husband, Stewart Shinnan, whose skillset complements her own. They both enjoy settling into a place and, through collaboration, helping schools reach their goals for professional growth. Her 40 years of service in the Canadian public school system as a Kindergarten to Grade 12 teacher and principal have proven useful!
Art Pfeffer
Art Pfeffer has 34 years of experience teaching levels 1-9 with a specialization in early years and special needs children. He has an Administrative and Principal certification, as well as a double Post Baccalaureate in Administration and English as an Additional Language. He has an extensive background working with adults and mentoring graduating student teachers at the University of Winnipeg, Faculty of Education. His work has included designing and presenting on-line training seminars for new teachers in preparation for work in Asia, working as a school director and country curriculum director in South Korea, as well as writing and editing curriculum. He has worked for Maple Bear for 11 years since 2007 and has provided service in Korea, China, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, and Brasil. His Maple Bear experience helping schools to become established, ordering books and materials, supporting teacher training and mentoring of administration, as well as a wide range of teacher and parent presentations.
Audrey Siemens
Audrey Siemens has been a teacher in the Louis Riel School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba for many years. She is currently teaching in a high school setting as a student services teacher.
Audrey attended the University of Manitoba where she received a Bachelor of Education degree in 1981. She began her teaching career in St. Amant Centre working with children with special needs. Audrey attained a Post-Baccalaureate degree in 1986. She has taught in several different elementary schools (Kindergarten - Gr. 8) as a classroom teacher, a special education teacher and a resource teacher. She attained a second Post-Baccalaureate degree in 2004 and secured a position as a high school student services teacher (Gr. 9-12). She later received a Master's degree with Honours in 2008 at the University of Manitoba. A few years later she published a book, Stories of Resilience of Young Adults, now available online at Amazon, More Books and the Lambert Academic Publishing company.
She enjoys hiking, biking, kayaking and crafts such as knitting, crochet and scrapbooking in her free time.
Beverley Bennett
Beverley Bennett’s introduction to Maple Bear was as acting principal to assist with a school opening in Brasilia in 2010. Since then, she has had the opportunity to visit ten Maple Bear countries, providing a wide range of services from initial training, classroom support, to training and quality assurance. A highlight for Beverley has been developing and delivering literacy instruction workshops.
On top of her training work, she has also worked in Sao Paulo in the central office and teaches University of Winnipeg courses to Maple Bear teachers in Brazil as well as to Canadian education students in Thailand and China. She especially enjoys her role in preparing new Canadian expert trainers for their first assignments. Beverley holds a Master of Education from McGill University. For her, Maple Bear has been a fulfilling second career in education.
Bill Morgan
William (Bill) Morgan is a Canadian educator with more than 35 years of experience working in schools from Kindergarten to Grade 12. With degrees from the University of Manitoba (Canada) and Northern Illinois University (USA) Bill has developed a passion for creating educational opportunities for children that will ignite their love of learning and unlock their potential. Bill's roles in education have included a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, school administrator and university instructor. Recently, Bill was the administrator of a school for children with learning differences in the Middle East where he was honoured for his leadership and support for children with special needs. In his role with Maple Bear Global Schools Bill has served as a Quality Assurance reviewer for schools in Brazil and Mexico. He has just finished his role as the Academic Director for Maple Bear Brazil.
Brenda Gear
Brenda Gear holds an M Ed from the University of Western Ontario and a B Ed from the University of Windsor. She holds certificates as a Primary Education specialist and a Special Education specialist. Brenda has worked as a Kindergarten teacher, elementary teacher, teacher of gifted students and a School District Consultant in Special Education early years. Brenda is the recipient of the Award of Distinction for outstanding contributions to education in London, Ontario. She has had a very successful career as a Principal and Vice Principal of elementary Schools in Ontario, Canada. Brenda served as Director of Maple Bear in Korea for two years and has also conducted Maple Bear extensive training sessions in India, Brazil and Mexico.
Brendene Barkley
Brendene Barkley has taught for 37 years. She served as a Math/ Science Consultant in her school division in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. She served as vice-principal then principal before retiring. Brendene was also a writer and team leader for the Kindergarten to Grade 4 Science curriculum for the Manitoba Department of Education. She was a writer for the Science Everywhere and Math Everywhere science textbooks published by Harcourt Canada. Brendene began working with Maple Bear Global Schools in 2013 as a curriculum writer and trainer (Nursery, Jr K., and IK). Aside from education, Brendene loves spending time with her grandchildren, painting, music and travelling.
Bunny Mitchell
Bernice (Bunny) Mitchell has over 35 year’s professional experience in the field of education. She has taught students in the primary, elementary, junior high and high school grades and students with special needs. She has worked as a Student Services teacher (resource and counselling). Her leadership experience includes positions as a district coordinator, school vice-principal and principal at the elementary, high school and post-secondary levels. Bunny has delivered professional development on several topics including numeracy and literacy, social emotional needs, learning strategies, differentiated instruction and behavioral management.
Bunny holds a Master’s in Education (Educational Psychology), Pre-Master’s (Counselling) and a Bachelor of Education. She holds Level 1 and Level 2 School Administrator’s Certificates. Her roles within Maple Bear include in-school training and initial training, along with mathematics implementation guide writing for grades 3 and 4. In addition, Bunny has conducted several central office math workshops and has helped prepare trainers to conduct initial training.
Carole Kuryk
Carole Kuryk was thrilled to join the Maple Bear team in 2015. As a University of Manitoba graduate with a Post Baccalaureate In Education, Carole willingly shares her background knowledge (Early Years Education, Reading Recovery and Resource). Having experience as a faculty advisor with the University of Manitoba and as a sessional instructor, Carole feels privileged to be guiding young teachers as they learn and adopt Canadian methodology. Most recently, Carole has in-serviced Brazilian teachers on differentiated instruction (ways to meet the varying learning styles of students). Watching young children develop their potential as they grow to be the citizens of tomorrow is certainly a passion for Carole.
Cathy Gamble
Cathy Gamble brings over 30 years teaching experience to Maple Bear. Having taught in both Canada and Australia, she contributes expertise in multi-age and regular classrooms from Kindergarten to Grade 5. Her professional development has been dedicated to literacy and numeracy with emphasis on reading comprehension, the reading and writing process, and planning for success with struggling learners. Her most recent study has looked to improve mathematical reasoning and problem-solving outcomes. It is her belief that teacher-student relationship and self-regulation are paramount to student success. Over the course of her career she has served as an acting principal and a mentor to new teachers. Cathy has provided Maple Bear Academic Support in both Brazil and Mexico.
Christer Nilsson
As a successful educator with over forty years of experience Christer Nilsson was a teacher, science consultant, assistant principal, and principal with the Toronto District School Board. After retiring he instructed in the teacher education program at the University of Toronto. Christer then joined the International community as a Principal and Assistant Superintendent at the American Creative Academy in Kuwait.
During his years as an educator and curriculum leader Christer was involved with curriculum development at the school board level and commercially with GTK press as a writer of science textbooks. As a principal with the Toronto District School and The American Creativity Academy and as an instructor at the University of Toronto he was involved in teaching and mentoring new teachers.
Currently Christer is a member of the Maple Bear Global Schools team conducting Quality Assurance.
Colleen MacDonald Macleod
Colleen MacDonald MacLeod is a graduate of St Francis Xavier University 1973-74 with BA and B.Ed. and a Certificate in Educational Technology from Cape Breton University 2002. The Strait Regional School Board employed her for 32 years, teaching elementary education in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Upon her retirement she took the opportunity to travel and has spent time in schools in Oman, Egypt and Kenya. In 2011 she began working as a Maple Bear Trainer and more recently as an Initial Trainer.
Colleen lives in Judique, NS, with her husband Archie where they raised their five children. She is a volunteer member of ‘Inverness County Cares’ providing educational and daily life support to the 280 students of the St Charles Lwanga School in Ruai, Nairobi.
Colin McDonald
Colin is a graduate from the University of Winnipeg and has been in field of education for over 16 years. He has 5 years experience teaching Science, Math and Physical Education at the middle years level and 9 years as a Physical Educator and Science Teacher at Miles Macdonell Collegiate. In 2017, Colin was appointed to an administrative role in the River East Transcona School Division. He is presently the Vice Principal of John Henderson Junior High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Colin is a curriculum program writer for Maple Bear Global Schools. He is presently developing a Year 10 Student Leadership Course and will be further developing a Year 11 Student Leadership Course in the future.
Colin has a deep passion for student inquiry and learning. Globally, he believes that as educators, it is important to build a leadership mindset within our students. Thus, providing students with many opportunities to demonstrate a greater understanding of who they are and the potential they possess to be effective and charismatic leaders in their personal, school and community life.
Darlene Noga
Darlene Noga is an educator and mother of two adult children from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a retired teacher with over 30 years in the Manitoba school system. When she is not busy travelling you can find her tutoring students of various age levels or supporting teachers in the classroom. In 2013 her love of children, learning and travelling led to a position as a trainer with Maple Bear Schools. As a trainer she enjoys encouraging teachers struggling with classroom management. Her focus on using positives to obtain a desired behaviour is well received by teachers. She frequently travels to various Maple Bear schools in Brazil to train teachers and also enjoy the Brazilian sun, cake, ice cream and hospitality.
Donna Ward
Prior to becoming a Maple Bear trainer in 2016, Donna enjoyed a career as an elementary teacher for 33 years in Carleton Place, Ontario. She is passionate about children, education, travel and adventure, so working as a trainer is a dream come true for her! Donna finds it extremely gratifying and rewarding that Maple Bear teachers and administrators are so deeply committed to providing quality education for their students. She is thrilled to be a part of the Maple Bear family!
Elaine Beltran-Sellitti
After teaching elementary and high school in Brazil, Elaine found her passion educating young children when she studied Early Childhood Education at the Vancouver Community College. She has taken many roles in the field of early learning in the last twenty-five years. This includes teaching young children and instructing adults in a variety of contexts, such as college courses and workshops about inquiry-based learning through the arts and sciences, clay, wire and drama. She is a certified elementary school teacher in British Columbia and she currently teaches early childhood education at Capilano University in North Vancouver.
An enthusiast of Reggio Emilia pedagogy, she received her Masters of Arts in Education from Simon Fraser University, where she is currently pursuing a PhD, with research interests in the complex and multi-faceted roles of educators co-constructing inquiry projects with children, as well as the connection between passion and teaching. Her co-authored book based on her Masters research will be published in 2018 by Redleaf Press.
Florence Campbell
Florence Campbell works for Maple Bear in both a training as well as a quality assurance capacity. She has spent her 29 year Canadian career working in immersion schools from Kindergarten to Y8. She has also been an administrator for 14 years: 10 as principal and 4 as Assistant Principal. She took her administrative skillset abroad as well in a principal role of a Canadian high school for 2 years in China from 2011-2013. As a classroom teacher, she taught all subjects from Y1-Y8.
Florence is a passionate educator who especially loves to work in programming for students with special needs, coaching and mentoring school leaders and developing reading and writing skills in the classroom. She is a solution-focused, practical educator who loves people, travel and working with educators.
Florence and her husband have 4 wonderful children and 1 beautiful granddaughter.
Heidi Reimer
Heidi has a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Calgary. She is currently working on a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma in Education at the Université de Saint-Boniface. The focus of her studies and her teaching career has been in second-language teaching, both in Modern foreign languages (French, German and Spanish) as well as English as an Additional Language. In addition to being a classroom teacher, Heidi has also worked in curriculum and professional development and she has been a learning support teacher for newcomer and international students. Heidi is currently working on developing EAL supports for late-entry students at Maple Bear schools. Heidi and her husband, Ken, have two beautiful children and they live in Winnipeg, Canada.
Janet Potter
Janet Potter is a retired teacher, resource teacher, mother and grandmother living in Winnipeg, Canada with her husband of 40 years. After working in the elementary school system for 35 years, she retired and has enjoyed working as a trainer and writer for Maple Bear Schools in Korea, Brazil and Mexico since 2014. She enjoys collaborating with teachers as they arduously endeavor to create their own wonderfully rich and meaningful learning environments where children can joyfully grow, acquire knowledge and excel. Her special interests are developing motivated readers, writers, and problem solvers, listeners, speakers and thinkers who can apply their talents in meaningful ways.
Jeff Anderson
Jeff holds the degrees of M.Ed. (School Administration), B.Ed. (Intermediate and Senior Sciences), M. Sc. (Plant Systematics) and B. Sc. (Honours Biology). He also has been awarded Levels 1 and 2 School Administrators Certificates. Mr. Anderson has served as a teacher of advanced sciences in High School, Science Department Head, Provincial Curriculum Consultant for elementary and senior years Sciences, and Vice Principal and Principal of French Immersion Schools. Mr. Anderson has studied in various English and French language universities in Ontario and Manitoba. His primary interests include school administration, immersion education and science education. Mr. Anderson’s contributions to Maple Bear include writing science program guides and conducting science workshops and in-school training in Brazil.
Judy Hiebert
Judy Hiebert has been an Early Years educator in Manitoba for over 30 years, having served as a classroom teacher, a resource teacher, and an administrator. She recently retired after eleven years as principal of Niverville Elementary School. Excited to continue engaging her passion for education, she is now a trainer with Maple Bear. She believes that building relationships and ensuring learning are at the core of what educators do, and this is best achieved through facilitating teamwork and providing professional development for all teachers and staff.
Judy lives in Steinbach, MB with her husband, a professor of sociology. Their two adult sons and daughter-in-law bring much joy to her life. Her avocational interests include hiking, swimming, reading, gardening, and travelling
Judy Kyliuk
Thirty-four years of experience as an elementary school administrator and teacher in the Canadian school system has given Judy the skills to train educators working with early toddler to Year 4 and middle years students. Her six years experience as a trainer and initial trainer for new school start-ups and acting principal at Maple Bear schools in Brazil has familiarized her with all aspects of Maple Bear School curriculum and implementation of its programs. Judy has a strong background in school organization and planning. Her teacher training emphasizes effective planning, assessment, and improving literacy, numeracy and science skills for all students. She has collaborated with staff to create a respectful, safe, secure, happy environment where learning is emphasized and effective classroom management skills practiced. Judy has conducted both teacher training workshops and parent information workshops and enjoys working as a trainer for Maple Bear Global Schools.
Karen Carter
Karen Carter has a Masters degree in Special Education and initially worked with deaf and hard of hearing students. She has taught children of all ages in public and private schools, as well as adults studying English as newcomers to Canada in college settings and in the workplace. Karen has taught in Japan and in 4 provinces in Canada where she initiated and implemented an international student programme. More recently Karen was the Primary Years Programme coordinator in a private International Baccalaureate School in Vancouver. She also had the privilege of working with teachers in training in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. Karen has had a varied and extremely satisfying career as an educator. She finds the opportunity to share her experience and knowledge with teachers in Maple Bear schools very rewarding.
Karen David
Karen David’s career includes 20 years teaching in Early and Middle School classrooms and 10 years as an Elementary & Middle School Program Consultant. Currently she is consulting on K-12 literacy projects in Manitoba and the Middle East. Much of her professional development service has been devoted to the areas of early literacy development, the reading and writing process, comprehensive literacy, formative assessment, literacy planning and literacy coaching.
Karen has served on numerous writing teams including the provincial ELA Curriculum and ELA Assessments teams, the TD National Reading Project and numerous Sunrise Division foundational projects such as teacher and student reading and writing continuums. She is a member of the writing team for Literacy Place for the Early Years and Moving Up with Literacy Place, the first comprehensive literacy programs written for Canadian teachers, published by Scholastic Canada. Karen’s training work for Maple Bear begins in Brazil.
Kathy Glenesk
This is Kathy’s 11th year as the Literacy Coach in Red River Valley after 25 years in early years teaching, 13 years of which included a focus in Reading Recovery.
Kathy spends time supporting teachers in 14 different schools with Kindergarten up to Grade 9 (sometimes Grade 9-12). Her support work consists of modeling, co-teaching or sitting-in on lessons (small group, large group and 1-1) in order to help teachers with instruction in reading and writing. She spends a lot of her focus in supporting the at-risk students, but also teaches strategies that will help all students.
Kathy facilitates four different professional learning groups (Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2-4 and Grade 5-9 teacher groups) that meet 6 times in the school year. These groups focus on different areas of literacy in order to build teacher capacity when working with all students. Kathy does the running record and Observation Survey training for any new teachers in the division each year. Ongoing workshops are a part of her role; she runs workshops on a variety of topics based on teachers’ needs in schools.
Her workshop experience has come into play with her work at Maple Bear: in her work in Brazil the last 3 summers, she drew on many of the strategies and resources to help guide and support the teachers in Maple Bear schools at all grade levels.
Ken Reimer
Kenneth (Ken) Reimer is an Assistant Professor at the University of Winnipeg (Canada). Prior to this, he had a twenty-five year career in Canada’s public school system. This included positions as a mainstream, special education, and resource teacher, guidance counsellor, and school principal in six different schools in two different school divisions. Dr. Reimer holds a PhD in Education from the University of Manitoba. His primary research interests have focused on inclusive special education, school leadership, creativity, educational policy, graduation rates, at-risk learners, and teacher collaboration. He has served as President of the Manitoba Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Reimer has taught at the University of Winnipeg (Canada), University of Manitoba (Canada), and guest lectured at North-Caucasus Federal University (Russia). He has presented papers at several different provincial, national, and international conference sites. In May 2017 he was a keynote speaker at the Maple Bear Owners’ Convention.
Kim Saunders
Kim has had a fabulous career in teaching, working in Elementary Education for most of her 25-year career with the Toronto District School Board. Her career continues to be rich and varied as she worked in special education, early education as well as administration internationally. Her strong interest in working with young teachers in a mentorship role has been excellent preparation for the teacher training work she is doing with Maple Bear. In 2015, she returned to university to pursue her Masters in Educational Leadership, again with a focus on supporting beginning teachers and mentorship. She is thrilled to be living back home in Newfoundland.
Lesley Weisshaar
Lesley joined Maple Bear as a trainer in 2015 and worked with teachers and schools in Brazil and Mexico. Currently, she is writing a document on Individual Education and Behaviour Planning for Diverse Learners.
Lesley’s career in education spans 47 years and she has worked from pre- school to post- secondary as a Teacher, Resource Teacher, Principal, Assistant- Superintendent/ Student Services and Executive Director of a provincial School Improvement program. Areas of passion include literacy, inclusion and education for diverse learners.
In her career, Lesley has been a leader, a mentor and an advocate for students, teachers and administrators. Working as a Maple Bear trainer has allowed her to continue these roles and indulge her passion for education and life- long learning.
Lynda Richard
Lynda Richard has been an educator for over 30 years. She has worked in Early Childhood Education, in Special Education, as a Consultant for the Blind and as both a classroom and resource teacher with Pembina Trails in Winnipeg.
Her academic degrees include Home Economics/Human Development, Special Education certificate and Masters in Education.
Lynda joined the Maple Bear team in 2016. She has since accepted numerous training trips to Brazil and Turkey. Lynda has led two-day Preschool Math workshops at Central Training.
Since retirement in 2010, Lynda has enjoyed volunteering to support theater as well as developing social justice programs at Winnipeg Harvest Food Bank. Lynda and her husband Louis are following their passion to explore new people and cultures as they travel the world.
Margaret Coady
Margaret Coady is a retired Canadian elementary classroom teacher (BA, BEd, MEd). While retired, she does contract work with various educational groups and institutions. She is currently teaching Kindergarten in Abu Dhabi, UAE and will return to Nova Scotia in June 2018. She has successfully completed two Maple Bear postings in Brazil.
Maria Kerkinos
Maria has worked in all levels of schools, from elementary through to high school, for over 30 years. For 15 years she worked as the department head of Student Services at a high school. She has specialized in integrating students with special needs in regular classroom settings at all grade levels. She has provided support for teachers in differentiating instruction to support all students in regular classrooms.
She has also worked as a hospital consultant to schools for students that were experiencing mental health issues in school. More specifically she has provided workshops for students and teachers in the areas of anxiety, Autism and ADHD.
Maria has worked with students and classrooms to support students that were experiencing behavioural concerns in the classroom. She has also offered workshops in the area of self-regulation for both students and teachers.
She has worked as a trainer for Maple Bear Global schools since 2016 and has provided workshops for teachers in the areas of behaviour and self-regulation.
Matt Champion
Matt joined the Maple Bear team in January of 2018 as a trainer. He comes to Maple Bear with almost 35 years of experience in education as teacher, administrator, and consultant at all levels from Kindergarten to Post-Secondary.
He received his Bachelor of Education from Brock University with certification from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and has specialist qualifications in Special Education and Reading Instruction. He also has extensive training in classroom observation and instructional coaching. In recent years Matt has worked in Beijing, China as a teacher trainer and ESL teacher at all levels of the Chinese school system.
Matt makes his home in Toronto Ontario, Canada. When not travelling he enjoys relaxing in his garden with a good book.
Nicole Vinet
Nicole Vinet is a program writer with Maple Bear, and is currently working on the Year 2 Math support document. She participated in Central Training in Brazil for the first time in 2018 and enjoyed facilitating Professional Development on Math with enthusiastic Year One and Two teachers. She has been teaching for 25 years in Manitoba, Canada with students ranging from Preschool to Grade 8. She began her work with teachers as a literacy mentor, and this role gradually moved into Mathematics. She developed a passion for Numeracy which eventually led her to working as a Numeracy Coach, supporting teachers in 16 schools in her School Division. She is passionate about building capacity in teachers, and especially about building positive mathematical mindsets in both students and teachers.
Philippe Le Dorze
Philippe Le Dorze is currently Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Université de Saint-Boniface. Previously, for a decade he was Language Coordinator for an urban school division in Winnipeg, Canada and President of the Canadian Association of Immersion Teachers (CAIT/ACPI) from 2010 to 2013. In the early days of French immersion in Canada, he co-authored grade six materials for the Portes ouvertes sur notre pays Collection published by Guérin. Philippe Le Dorze has participated in four Quality Assurance tours to Maple Bear schools in Brazil since 2015. He tweets about languages in both French and English at @pledorze2.
Robert Gendron
Robert Gendron is proud to work with Maple Bear in the capacity of Quality Assurance and as an Associate Director in Sao Paulo.
For the past three years (2014-2017), Robert had the privilege of being the principal for Maple Bear Brasilia. Prior to this experience, he spent 35 years as a teacher and principal in Pembina Trails School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Robert holds a B.ED degree as well as a Post Baccalaureate degree in Educational Administration from the University of Manitoba. He holds Level 1 and 2 principal’s certificates; certificate in Professional Excellence in Educational Coaching, Assessment, Cognitive Coaching and Restitution Theory. He is also a certified trainer for “Safe and Caring Schools.”
He is the proud grandfather of 4 grandchildren and enjoys all sports and woodworking.
Ruth Robillard
Ruth Robillard moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early 80’s from her hometown of Montreal, Quebec. She studied education at McGill University and completed Master Degrees from Acadia and Mount Saint Vincent Universities. Her 40-year teaching career includes experience as a Classroom and Resource teacher as well as a Literacy Consultant and Teacher Leader training grade 1 teachers in Reading Recovery. She just returned from living overseas for 3 years in Abu Dhabi, UAE where she combined her love of teaching with travel. As a Trainer with Maple Bear Global Schools, Ruth is able to passionately offer professional training and support to teachers, assisting them with current instructional strategies. In her free time, Ruth loves to be outdoors in nature, whether it’s hiking and biking in summer or snowshoeing and skating in winter.
Shelley Lynch
After retiring from a fulfilling teaching career, Shelly was looking for another challenge and Maple Bear was it! Years of experience as an Ontario elementary classroom teacher as well as her experience teaching French as a second language prepared her for the many aspects of her role as trainer. The great people she interacts with in Brazil as well as Canada, and the travel abroad have made this a wonderful opportunity for Shelley – both personally and professionally. Her favourite Brazilian treat … brigadeiro!
Shelley Wilson
Shelley Wilson has been teaching for over 32 years after receiving her degree and nomination for the gold medal through the University of Manitoba. The majority of her teaching was within RETSD in Winnipeg where leadership skills and an expertise in the elementary years developed. As a Maple Bear Teacher Trainer she encourages teachers to build a foundation for creative, differentiated and continual learning. Collaboration to assist with child-centred learning using a co-operative group focus that incorporates multiple intelligence strategies is vital. Shelley has a passion to develop people who are socially responsible, problem-solving and self-reflective individuals. As a trainer she provides skills to empower those in teaching to afford a foundation of learning to affect change that will benefit society while exploring their talents within a global community.
Sherry Faller
Sherry has a B.Ed. from the University of Manitoba. She has taught grades K-6 for 36 years, 16 as a Teacher Librarian in Winnipeg. In 1982, Sherry did a teaching exchange in Adelaide, South Australia. She has worked collaboratively with teachers to create Inquiry-Based Learning units at all grade levels. As the IT representative for her schools, Sherry helped staff and students expand their technological skills. She chaired school Professional Development teams and trained peers in Differentiated Instruction, Cooperative Learning, Assessment, Science Design Process, Best Teaching Practices, and Literacy with Technology. At Maple Bear, she is presently a trainer, a role she finds most rewarding. Travel, nature adventures, travel, family and friends, travel, reading and the gym are her other enjoyments.
Stewart Shinnan
Stewart Shinnan is a retired school principal who spent 30 years in Manitoba’s public-school system, in both elementary and high school. He is an experienced, proven educator who came to Maple Bear to remain connected to a profession he loves.
Stewart works mostly as a Maple Bear trainer, as this affords the opportunity to spend time building relationships with enthusiastic Maple Bear School staffs. However, Stewart also served as the principal of Maple Bear Chihuahua, and has travelled extensively to do quality assurance. Stewart often teams with his wife, Arpi Babaian, also a Maple Bear trainer.
Susan Hayward
Susan graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.A. and B.Ed. Her career includes classroom experiences from Grade 1-12 with a concentration in middle years for over 30 years. Her involvement with Maple Bear began in Brazil in 2017 with Quality Assurance and a teacher-training experience in 2018.
In addition, she was an assessment and literacy consultant before going into administration at both the Early Years and Senior High levels. Susan has served on Manitoba Education projects involving integrated units with multimedia, assessment practices, tracking student data to support graduation, and the ELA curriculum. She has been a faculty supervisor with the University of Winnipeg, a president for an early childhood daycare board, and president for the Manitoba Reading Association.
Susan Masterson
Susan Masterson is a Quality Assessor for Maple Bear. For 35 years, Susan served as a teacher, principal & superintendent in public K-12 schools, a program developer and faculty member within the university and technical college systems, and an educational consultant at Wisconsin’s State Department of Public Instruction (DPI). Susan also directs ABLE, (Assessment-Based Licensure for Educators), a Wisconsin DPI approved license by equivalency program which supports global educators to obtain their teaching licenses. Outside of her career in education, Susan is involved in the performing arts as well as with her local food shelf program.
Terril Butterworth
Terril Butterworth has extensive teaching experience from Kindergarten to Grade 8, in addition to having been an Elementary Curriculum Consultant, a Coordinator of Elementary Curriculum for a large school district and an Elementary School Vice-principal and Principal. Terril’s Bachelor of Education is from the University of British Columbia. She has additional specialist qualifications in Primary Education, and in Science in Primary Junior Education from Queen's University (Ontario), and Principal's Qualifications from the University of Ottawa.
Terril has mentored student teachers from the University of Ottawa, Nipissing University, State University of New York (Potsdam) and Queen's University. She received an award from Queen's University for her work as an Associate Teacher.
Terril has provided professional development to early childhood educators, elementary and secondary teachers, principals, and parent groups. She has been part of the province of Ontario’s curriculum implementation teams. Internationally Terril taught two summer programs in Beira, Chimoio and Nhamatanga, Mozambique. She has also done considerable work with Maple Bear Schools in Brazil, Mexico, China, Morocco and the USA.
Trish Ward
Trish Ward has been working as a writer and a trainer with Maple Bear since the Spring of 2014. Her experience has been exciting, challenging and, for someone whose whole adult life has been about students and education, enormously satisfying.
Before joining Maple Bear Trish was involved in schools and education in a variety of capacities. Her classroom experience included both English and French Immersion programs, Special Education, Adult Literacy and university post-graduate instructing. School support positions she enjoyed included Resource Teacher, Counsellor and divisional Early Childhood Consultant.
As the area of early childhood had always been a particular passion, it was indeed a joy for her to be able to establish, and become the manager of, the Department of Community Initiatives within the River East Transcona School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Working with Maple Bear has allowed her to continue supporting teachers and parents during these precious early years, ensuring that they are always “a time for learning and a time for joy”!
Valeria Taylor
Valeria Taylor began teaching in Scotland, then in North York Board of Education and York Region District School Board in Ontario. She has taught all grades JK – 11, High School Special Education, and French.
In addition to teaching in a classroom setting, Val was a Consultant and Coordinator for YRDSB; was seconded to York University Faculty of Education to design, teach, and assess the Primary/Junior Consecutive Education course; taught Additional Qualifications courses for practicing teachers; was seconded to the Ontario Ministry of Education to design e-learning modules, provide training for system leaders, and co-write a Junior Literacy document for all schools in Ontario; and provided leadership as a school principal in a number of schools.
Val is passionate about the clear connections between effective teaching, student engagement, and student achievement; and enjoys working with teachers in classrooms.