ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 TO MY FAMILY

I would like to thank my wife Trudy,  and my boys Chris and Scott for supporting my career in education.

Without their patience and understanding, I would not have been able to support my staff and students to the extent that I did. 

I would not have been able to positively influence my educational settings and support the many years of new teacher candidates without their support. 

I am forever grateful ! 

No words are enough to express my gratitude to you. 

TO MY PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES

I have been privileged to have had many supportive mentors and individuals that supported my educational journey. 

This exciting career path would not have been possible without you.  

I would like to publicly recognize you here.

BROCK UNIVERSITY COLLEAGUES

I have had many colleagues that have been amazing mentors and have  given me amazing opportunities.  

The students have been a pleasure to support. 

It continues to be a privilege to stay in touch with many of you.

Dr. Hilary Brown - Methodology Team Leader  

Dr. Brown provided me with the opportunity to teach at Brock. 

For that, I will be forever grateful. 

Professorial Mentors for my Master of Education

Thanks to my academic colleagues and mentors who inspired me and made completing a Master of Education possible:

Dr. Dolana Mogadime

Dr. Mary-Louise Vanderlee

Dr. David Hutchison 

International Education ESL Program Colleagues:

The following individuals have been a constant source of inspiration.  

Cheryl Ende

A very special THANK YOU goes to ESL Course Director Cheryl Ende for her incredible support and leadership.  I owe my success in ESL to Cheryl.  

We lost Cheryl due to ALS in Dec. 2020. 

Thanks also to my following partners for your wonderful collaborative leadership in taking students on international ESL field placements to China.

Paul Logan

James Savelli

Colleagues at the Faculty of Education and their influence on my professional development: 

Dr. Candace Figg - Technology applications for the classroom 

Dr. Ruth Scott      - Leadership Recognition

Dr. Sheila Bennett - Spec. Ed. Leadership

Thanks to these special mentors & colleagues who shared their talents and skills. 

Cohort Partners at the Faculty of Education who were Principals and Vice Principals and their influence on my professional development: 

Thanks to my outstanding collaborative teaching partners who were previous Principals:

Remo Persutti      - Outstanding class act.

Cathy Bauslaugh - Incredible researcher and collaborator 

Ingrid Goertz       - Outstanding collaborator 

Lydia Swanson     - Outstanding experienced partner 

Tony Cafazzo        - My Halton colleague who inspired me to work at Brock

Cohort Partners at the Faculty of Education who were previous consultants or professors and their influence on my professional development: 

Giselle Whyte 

Thanks to Giselle who was integral in supporting my application for my teaching awards and recognition received at Brock.  A fabulous partner!

Thanks to these outstanding collaborative partners, who participated in the design and delivery of engaging programming for the Brock Cohorts at the Faculty of Education, Brock University:

Dr. Gail Phillips - Climate Building based on Tribes TLC

Dr. Camille Rutherford - Technology enhanced pedagogy

Dr. Cathy Miyata - Story Telling and Tribes 

Linda Hall - Collaborative partner 

Cathy Rose - The first partner who inspired me to take my Master of Education.

Sharon Abbey - Sharon brought me onboard to supervise the teaching blocks in

                            Cape Town, (Athlone) South Africa.  This started my journey into

                            developing international education opportunities for students. 

Our Librarian and Tech Staff.

I learned a significant amount from each one these colleagues during our collaborations. 

This team ran amazing MakerSpace Workshops that I loved to support.

Dino Giancola - The best "IT" lead you could ever dream of working with.

Kim Pelchat - Role model for participatory leadership and head of the IRC program on both Campuses. Positive leadership with a smile that would brighten up everyone's day. 

Main Campus IRC in St. Catharines 

This team was always very helpful and a phenomenal support to me and my students. Thank you to:

Tamara Dover 

Teresa Mozol

Sharon Smith

Dave Potts - Inspirational technology educator (and previous student)

Satellite Campus IRC in Hamilton and Burlington 

Mary Louise Duncan - Phenomenal support during my Master of Education. Thank You!

Shannon Welbourn - Team player 

Mark Walker -  Positive team player and very helpful 

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THANKS TO MY HALTON DSB  MENTORS AND COLLEAGUES

They are listed below with their leadership influence.

These leaders were significant role models.  

They taught me how to positively engage all of the stakeholders of the school community.  

Administrative Principal Partners and what I learned from them:

Mike Hawkins - School improvement plans based on data

Jeff Blackwell - Co-Principaling; Engaging all stakeholders; Being visible; 

                           Facility management; Using Smart Goals 

Scott Pritchard - Empowering Administrative Partners 

Janice Hambrock - Building School Effectiveness Plans

Special thanks to the following administrators who started me on my way as a VP in the Halton DSB.

Nicole Dolson - Interview skills; Time management 

Dianne Vekemans - Persistence 

Special mention to my very supportive principal colleagues in the HDSB and their influence on my professional development: 

Rick Nodwell - Collaborative leadership 

Peter Milovanovic - Connecting with students; Engaging all stakeholders 

Heather Stewart - Building influential committees

Bryce Leggett - Collaborative leadership; Respect

My Role Models and their influence on my professional development: 

Special mention also goes to the administrators I had as a teacher who were outstanding role models: 

Ron Beckett - Calm problem solving; Listen and lead.

Bev Bowra - Team Building; Taking risks; Designing relevant affective focussed   

                      curriculum; unit planning 

Susan Busby - Developing a special education team; School Climate

Laura Clarke - Collaborative leadership

Grant Clatworthy - Collaborative leadership

Harv Collison - Developing staff leaders.  

                           Harv deserves special recognition.

                           I student taught intermediate grades with Harv in 1977/78 at John T. Tuck

                           School. He was the most significant role model during my career as an

                           educator.  He was the educator I always aspired to become. He was the

                           most influential colleague in my career with the Halton District School

                           Board.  

                           Harv was also the school principal who put my name forward to become a

                           school administrator in 1998. It was due to his influence of promoting

                           me as a future administrator that I was eventually able to apply to Brock

                           University as an instructor. 

                           No words can express how grateful I am. 

                           Thanks for everything. 

                           With Gratitude, Mark!

Dorothy Fowler - Assessment guides your instruction; leading from behind 

Gail Grant - Special Education Programming

Norm Howell - How to mentor and support new teachers

Carl Hymers - Collaborative leadership

Carol Knill - Programming for and supporting students with learning challenges

Brian Lower - Supporting staff at recess

Barb Rust - Creative leadership and the arts

Gerry Smith - Teaching with Inquiry Based Learning; Integrating technology;

                         Developing a professional learning community (PLC); Developing a vision

Outstanding academic colleagues and friends and their influence on my professional development: 

Chuck Phillips 

Thank you to Apple Distinguished Educator and colleague, Chuck Phillips, who has been a constant source of inspiration on the future of technology in schools. 

Chuck still sends me amazing professional development articles to this day for this website. 

Peter Stratford

Thank you to Pete for being an incredibly supportive colleague and friend. Pete was the most talented, high energy educator that I have ever known. An extremely skilled volleyball coach and inspiring physical education instructor who was focused on student wellness.  Every student deserves to be taught by such a talented educator. 

John Cowles

Thanks to John who was a role model of how to use Drama, Music and the Arts to put on school plays that energized a whole student body for the year.  John was one of the best and most talented directors of school productions that Halton ever hired. I would never want to run a school without him.

Jim Berry

I have known Jim, since I was 10 years old. Jim became a Superintendent of Special Education in the Waterloo Regional District School Board. Jim was the first educational colleague to take me to China to teach their educators in Qingdao.  We spent a month there in two locations.  It set the stage for my own educational initiatives in China! I have now been 6 times as of 2021. I continue to be involved in online international academic initiatives and local international summer camps. 

Thanks Jim!

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A THANK YOU TO THE

SPECIAL ATHLETE TRACK MEET LEADERSHIP TEAM 

and SUPPORT STAFF 

of the Halton District School Board

1987 to 2017

My Co-Founders Sue Amos and Linda Leppek were phenomenal partners 

THANK YOU TO MY INCREDIBLE TEAM of "FIELD MARSHALS" 

They designed the events and on the day of the meet were responsible for running and / or supervising the student leaders who ran the competitions.  

Thanks to:

Corinne Stratford

Leslie Davis

Barry Koepke

Alison McGurk Pabst

Thank you to these incredible educators for the amazing job of running this event for decades.   Through the years they brought students officials from a variety of schools, who ran the events with incredible enthusiasm and leadership.

Thanks Also To:

Steve Morrison for taking over at the mike and for announcing with enthusiasm 

Shelley Gauthier for running Boccia for the last few years.

Please see the Special Athlete Tab for a full list of staff that supported this event

Posted to this Web / Blog July 1, 2017.

Edited October 2024 

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