Lieutenant Governor's Medal for Literacy 2007 Nominees

Photography by: Tracey Goncalves
Manitoba Government Photographer
February 27, 2007

Back row: Louise Gordey, Colleen Cawood, Candace Jones, Colleen Balsillie, Terrie Moar
Front row: Barbara Galessiere, Dr. Raymond Lavery, The Honourable John Harvard Lieutenant Governor,
Honourable Diane McGifford Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy, Lori Gauthier

Staff of Bookmates, Inc., Winnipeg

The Bookmates staff has assumed a strong leadership role in the development and the delivery of family literacy programs since 1984. Initially volunteers accompanied inner city preschoolers to the library once a week to read to them. In 1991 the staff began to offer inter-generational workshops for parents to learn how to engage their children with reading and writing. Currently the team provides ‘train-the-facilitator’ session to community members, including home visitors, childcare workers, early childhood educators, teachers and family resource program staff. Their training programs include Bookmates Rock and Read, English as an Addition Language Rock and Read, and the recently developed Tikanagan Rock & Read, and Alphabet Soup and Alphabet Soup in Motion. Bookmates has become an integral part of the community and they continue to develop new programs.

Barbara Galessiere, Steinbach

Barbara Galessiere is a mentor and a Language Arts Curriculum Support Teacher in all of the seventeen schools within Hanover School Division. Ms Glaessiere encourages and supports teachers, with one-on-one assistance and through seminars, as they focus on improving student learning, reading and writing success. As a classroom teacher in grades kindergarten to grade six, she has been actively programming literacy development. Ms Galessiere also created a Reading Strategies video and assisted in writing the “Balanced Literacy-Phases of Development” plan of action to move literacy forward in the school division.

Lori Gauthier, Lorette

Lori Gauthier has been the Literacy Support teacher at Dawson Trail School for the past five years. Ms Gauthier was instrumental in the writing of a literacy proposal that would ensure strong literacy skills in students in the early years. She also has developed and shared reading strategies for middle-years students. More recently, she has begun her quest to improve writing skills of the students. Lori takes research and turns the ideas into new reading techniques and learning strategies suitable for the classroom. To assist teachers, Ms Gauthier organized a Teacher Literacy Support Centre.

Dr. Raymond Hamilton Lavery, Winnipeg

Dr. Raymond Hamilton Lavery has dedicated over 40 years to Literacy Education in Manitoba. Dr. Lavery has demonstrated his capabilities in turning research into innovative and creative practical classroom practice for students and fellow teachers. He has also published numerous scholarly papers and has served as President of the Manitoba Association of Teachers of English, as well as the Executive Director of the Canadian Council of the Teachers of English Language Arts. He has spent the majority of the last decade as a curriculum developer and is currently providing leadership in the development of literacy assessment.