The Angela Thacker Memorial Award has been established in memory of Angela Thacker, teacher-librarian, library coordinator, and school library colleague, mentor, leader and advocate who served the Association for Teacher-Librarianship in Canada (ATLC) and the Canada School Library Association (CSLA) in many capacities. This award honours teacher-librarians who have made contributions to the profession through publications, productions or professional development activities that deal with topics relevant to teacher-librarianship and/or school library learning commons.
Canadian School Libraries was very pleased to present the awards at the TMC7 Kick-Off Dinner in New Westminster, BC, on Friday October 21. Two of the four recipients were able to attend the dinner, and the other two participated virtually. We are very pleased to present our four award recipients, and share their acceptance speeches here.
Leigh Borden is a K-4 teacher-librarian and President of Teacher Librarians of Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the past decade, she’s worked to advocate for school librarians and teacher-librarians across Newfoundland and Labrador, and has served on a variety of committees and working groups intended to grow the school library learning commons movement in the province. Leigh completed a BA (Hons) at Memorial University of Newfoundland, an MA in English literature at the University of Toronto, and a Master of Teaching at OISE/UT. When not happily working in her school library, Leigh loves to read, run, hike, and camp.
Leigh Borden’s contributions to the advancement of teacher librarians includes a lengthy list of positions and activities. Since 2008, Leigh has organized and/or facilitated a wide range of professional learning sessions for teacher librarians through Teacher Librarians of Newfoundland and Labrador (TLNL), the Department of Education, and the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District including membership on the writing team of the new curriculum support document Extending the Classroom, NL Department of Education, 2016-18. Leigh is currently Teacher Librarian at Holy Trinity Elementary School, Torbay NL.
Leigh’s Acceptance Speech
Good evening. I’m Leigh Borden in St. John’s Newfoundland. I am honoured to accept the Angela Thacker Memorial Award this evening. I want to say thank you to my nominators, Jill Handrigan, Beth Power and Heather Godden, Belinda Loder and Darlene Tilley. I’d also like to thank my principal and vice-principal, Debbie Peddle and Rodney Mitchell, and the staff of Holy Trinity Elementary for supporting me and all my wild ideas.
It’s important that I give thanks to Teacher-Librarians of Newfoundland and Labrador (TLNL). This is our Special Interest Council which is part of our union, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association. Without the many many dedicated members of TLNL we wouldn’t have been able to achieve the wonderful things that we have in Newfoundland and Labrador over the past few years.
I think it’s important that I say thank you to the volunteers who come to my school library every day and make it possible to engage in the instructional work that I do, but also the advocacy work that I do outside of school hours. Without them I couldn’t accomplish anywhere near as much. It’s important to me to say thank you to the many children that I’ve taught at Holy Trinity Elementary over the past fourteen and a bit years. They make it a joy for me to go to work every single day.
Again I’m honoured to receive the Angela Thacker Memorial Award and I wish I was there in person, but as you can guess it’s an extremely long flight from St. John’s to British Columbia. Over the next few years I hope that we will be able to expand our amazing teacher-librarian professional learning network to include many more in-person friendships. Good night.
View the video of Leigh’s acceptance speech.
Rabia Khokhar is a teacher and teacher-librarian with the Toronto District School Board and a PhD student at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education and an equity and educational consultant at Rabia Teaches. She is passionate about ensuring schools are inclusive spaces where all students with their multiple and intersectional identities are reflected, represented, included and seen through an asset-based lens. Rabia is a strong advocate for the school library and believes it plays a central role in raising students who are critical thinkers and committed to issues around equity and justice. Rabia is passionate about books and the role libraries can play in creating positive change.
Rabia has made an impact in the school communities where she has taught. Rabia reflects on her own experiences as a racialized Muslim teacher-librarian to advocate for diversity and equitable representation in book collections. Her work focuses on carefully curating and selecting book collections and library school programming based on equity, diversity and inclusion. Rabia has made a significant difference in libraries at the local, provincial and national level. Rabia has contributed articles and worked on projects with Canadian School Libraries Journal, The Teaching Librarian, and Treasure Mountain Canada, and continues to make book recommendations to the Toronto Star. She has presented workshops at the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference as well as presented to teacher-librarians and library professionals nationally. Through social media like her Twitter platform, Rabia continues to reach a wide audience locally and nationally. She shares her thinking, passion, learning, ideas, experiences, book recommendations and current research with teacher-librarians, teachers, library professional and community members.
Rabia’s Acceptance Speech
The love for the library and for reading was planted in me early when my parents took my sister and I to the public library every Saturday. So when I became a teacher-librarian, I couldn’t believe that this magical job was real. I fell in love with it completely and in advocating for the school library, relevant and responsive books and learning experiences for students, I found myself.
A classroom is a site for change, hope and transformation. I believe the school library is the biggest classroom in the school community so imagine the role it can play in creating inclusion and change in the entire school community. I will continue to do my part in advocating for the school library because all students need libraries to affirm and expand their identities and experiences. I wholeheartedly believe it’s one of the ways that we can together work towards a more inclusive and equitable world and communities.
Thank you so much for this tremendous recognition, it means the world to me.
View the video of Rabia accepting her award on Twitter.
Rebeca Rubio is the Coordinator for Libraries and Information Services in SD38 Richmond, where she supports teacher-librarians in developing programs, managing spaces and developing learning commons spaces. She supports teachers and schools with resource acquisition, database navigation, digital literacy and other literacy initiatives. She also manages and maintains the District Resource Centre, acquiring and circulating valuable resources for all SD38 educators. Every year, Rebeca coordinates, plans and executes a full district conference for all 50 SD38 Teacher Librarians. She manages the District Resource Center (DRC) focusing on creating quality kits that support equity and diversity. Through her leadership the DRC has a robust Indigenous collection and she is currently working on Righting Canada’s Wrongs (focus on Japanese internment, residential schools etc.).
Rebeca has brought Diversity Audits (DA) to her district. Last year all the secondary sites completed a robust DA, and this year she discovered that DAs have been written into the district’s Strategic Plan. Rebeca works with schools undergoing seismic upgrades, by supporting with visioning and creating flexible learning spaces in libraries and labs.
Rebeca has done presentations and published locally, provincially, nationally and internationally on many subjects related to library learning commons including involvement with the CSL Diversity Toolkit, travelling to South Carolina in July 2022 to present it at International Association of School Librarianship (IASL). Rebeca is a contributor to the Canadian School Libraries Journal and to TM Canada Symposia.
at the dinner.
Rebeca’s Acceptance Speech
I would like to begin by saying what an incredible honour it is to be one of the recipients of the Angela Thacker Memorial Award. I’d also like to congratulate my fellow recipients, Rabia Khokar, Leigh Borden, and Jonelle St Aubyn.
These women are a true force and to be included among them is humbling. Last night, a very special friend of mine sent me a message that said, “Take the day to reflect on all the amazing work and educational leadership you have engaged in, and take pride in knowing you are doing very important work.”
His words moved me because they spoke not just to my work, but to OUR work as TLs – across the district, the province and the country. The reality is that we do really hard, important, and sometimes scary work. And many days, it takes courage to do what we do.
It takes courage to tell that seasoned colleague that it’s probably time to retire that old lesson plan based on that old book (no matter how much they love it), because our world has changed, our children have changed and we need to engage them and challenge them in new, relevant ways.
It takes courage to tackle a new piece of technology and pretend how to use it, just minutes before a full class of grade 4s comes charging into our library. We will not be undone by cricut machines, podcasting equipment, new apps, audiobooks, green screens or 3D printers.
It takes courage to remind the principal that no, he can’t use Netflix in the classroom, and no there isn’t a work around and no, you can’t just pretend that copyright doesn’t exist.
Most importantly though, it takes courage to do the equity work. It takes courage to hand that LGBTQ book to that child who really needs it, knowing that it is like handing dynamite if the parents find out… It takes courage to stand up for those students who haven’t been given a voice, who need our libraries as an accessible, safe space and a space to be their true selves. It takes courage to stand up to that angry, intolerant parent who demands certain books be taken off our shelves and who insists that their privilege gives them to right to override the rights of all those children in our care.It takes courage to truly examine our collections and programs with an equity lens and ask ourselves the hard questions about whose identities and stories have been misrepresented or excluded and what it will take to make that right again. It takes courage to make space for all of our patrons: those fighting to be included and seen as enough; those fighting to know and tell their story; those fighting to be connected. It takes courage to disrupt established systems of power and oppression.
It’s quiet work. It’s humble work. It’s hard, important work and I’m proud to do it.
My strong sense of justice comes from my parents who are joining me here today. They didn’t use words like privilege, positionality or allyship. But they taught us that it was important to protect the vulnerable; that the earth belonged to all of us and shouldn’t be “owned” by the wealthy; that activism is important. I know that equity work and social justice are key values which guide my work, and I also know that my parents instilled those values deep in my core.
I’m very fortunate to work in the Richmond School District, a district that recognizes the important role that TLs and the LLCs play in the education of our students. Their unwavering support of my vision, of our programs, of our collections and of our professional development is what makes this work possible. I’d like to thank the Richmond School District, the amazing TLs and Lib Techs, my team at the DRC/LAC for trusting me to guide them through these important times of change. Finally, I’d like to thank the Canada School Libraries and Treasure Mountain for this honour tonight. I am grateful. Thank you.
Jonelle St. Aubyn has been teaching for 21 years with the last 7 being in the School Library Learning Commons (LLC) as the full-time Teacher Librarian at Louise Arbour Secondary School in the Peel District School Board, Ontario, transforming the space and programming from a traditional library to an LLC, making it a focal point and educational hub of the school. Recently, she was one of the team members that revised the Teacher-Librarianship Additional Qualification course guidelines for the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT). She has presented at numerous conferences, events and workshops, including nationally at the Quebec Library Association (ABQLA) Conference, provincially at the Ontario Library Association (OLA) Super Conference and locally at various PDSB workshops and Family of Schools (FOS) events.
Jonelle is a published author, contributing numerous education packages, resources and articles to Treasure Mountain Canada (TMC), Hot Docs – Docs for Schools, and TEACH Magazine. She is currently the chair of the Peel Fiction Review Committee which reviews books from local vendors and determines their suitability for secondary schools in the PDSB. In 2020, she was a recipient of the OSSTF District 19 Inspiring Moments Campaign Award and the Teachers Life Exceptional Educator Award. In 2022, she was a recipient of an OSSTF District 19 Teacher Recognition Award. Passionate about social justice, equity and human rights, Jonelle has been curating resources for staff, students and community members to move this work forward at Louise Arbour Secondary School and beyond.
Carol Koechlin at the dinner.
Jonelle’s Acceptance Speech
Fair warning, I am from Ontario, so normally I would have been asleep two hours ago. So I’m going to do my best, and if I’m not as eloquent as I normally like to be, please forgive me. I also want to say it’s so nice to see so many of you in person instead of fan-girling / stalking some of you on social media. You know who you are. I’m a big fan of many of you in the room tonight, so it’s an honour and a pleasure to meet you in person.
I just want to thank Canadian School Libraries for this honour, and congratulate all of the other award winners tonight. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working with Anita and Carol on so many other projects. These ladies are the epitome of what teacher-librarians should be. I’m so honoured that they take the time to mentor and live with me, and have been there through my library journey.
I’ve only been a teacher-librarian for eight years, but I’ve been teaching for 21, so it’s been a long time, but I love this work. I love what I do and I love the students and I have a great passion for the work that I do. It’s not just something that’s fun and games, it’s and everyday struggle, and I’m not afraid to get messy. I think all of us in this room know what that’s like. As Rebeca said, it is about challenging the norms, it is about standing up. Equity work isn’t just an add-on, it’s something that saves lives. It’s something that students are counting on us to do every day. It’s something that I personally believe in, because I see the difference when kids see themselves in what we do and in the spaces that we provide. It’s not always easy unfortunately, but it’s work that we don’t do alone, either.
I have an amazing team. I’ve worked with Chrissy Niro, my righthand woman for many years in the library, and my current partner Punam Dhaliwal. You can’t do this work alone. I need money, I need resources, and I’m always banging at the door for those things, even when it’s getting shut in my face, I pretty much never take no for an answer. If I can’t go one way, I’m going another. For many of us, just as Rebeca said, I got that from my Mom. She can’t be here tonight but I know she’s happy to see this and is very very proud.
There’s something that has been said and is always in the back of my mind. “Libraries always remind me that there are good things in this world.” We are that good thing for so many of your students. When they don’t have someone to talk to or a safe place to go, we are the safe place for them to go. I’m so proud that that’s the work I get to do every day. When I told people that I was going to be a teacher they were like, “What? They’re so rude, they’re so bad, they always see the negative in students.” But there’s so much good within them, sometimes they’re just waiting for us to bring that out. And so this is the right job for me. I’m so lucky to have found it. I started as a camp counsellor at sports camp when I was 18 years old, and I knew this was it. I wanted to be a teacher, and I’ve followed that path and I’ve not regretted a day since.
Thank you ladies so much for this opportunity. I’ll try not to cry. This means so much to me. Thank you to my school board and my colleagues. Thank you to all of the other recipients and people here, who are doing the work every day. We appreciate you. And my colleagues from Ontario who came out tonight to be here, we’re all exhausted, trust me, but I’m so happy to hear with you tonight. I appreciate this honour so much. Thank you.
For more information about the award recipients and their contributions, please visit this news story on the main CSL website.