Maple Green's Penny Hill honoured with Dyslexia Canada award

From left to right: Assistant Superintendent Jacob Sol, Executive Director of Dyslexia Canada Alicia Smith, LST Penny Hill and Maple Green Elementary Principal Michael Speak.Penny Hill, learning support teacher (LST) at Maple Green Elementary, was honoured with a Dyslexia Canada Educational Excellence Award at a school assembly on October 6.

Alicia Smith, executive director of Dyslexia Canada, travelled from Ottawa to present the award. Angie Calleberg, executive director of curriculum and assessment at the Ministry of Education and Child Care, also shared a message of congratulations.

The award recognizes educators who advance structured literacy instruction, universal screening and effective intervention, while supporting colleagues through leadership and knowledge-sharing.

Michael Speak, principal of Maple Green Elementary, said, "This award is so well deserved. Penny has spent her career making sure students with dyslexia are seen, understood and taught in ways that work for them. We are incredibly proud to have her at Maple Green."

Hill's path to this work began in her first year of teaching, when she noticed that some students responded to her instruction while others did not. In 2003, she attended a workshop in California and learned about dyslexia.

"I remember crying," she said. "I thought to myself, 'I can help these kids.'"

She began tutoring and brought what she had learned into her classroom, teaching all of her students as if they were dyslexic. Her focus was on building what she calls metaphonological awareness.

Her conclusion became the thesis of her master's degree in special education, which she completed under Dr. Linda Siegel, an internationally known authority on learning disabilities. Explicit, systematic, evidence-based instruction is "helpful for all, harmful for none and crucial for some," Hill said.

Screening for early reading difficulties began at Maple Green when Hill joined the team. Staff screen students using Acadience and DIBELS. Hill began sharing her knowledge with colleagues, and former principal Jennifer Pilchak recognized her expertise and encouraged staff to attend lunch-and-learn sessions. The encouragement, Hill joked, was free lunch.

Hill's influence reaches well beyond Maple Green Elementary. She has presented at conventions in Canada and abroad, guest lectured in university special education classes, led lunch-and-learns for colleagues and now mentors a cohort of LSTs.

She has also spent years sharing her views on early literacy with education leaders and decision-makers. "I have been knocking on doors of those in control of policy for decades," she said.

Hill said she sees the climate shifting. "I am encouraged that many more are thirsty for knowledge about dyslexia and how to ameliorate its effects," she said.

Congratulations, Penny, on this well-deserved recognition. Thank you for everything you do for our students.