Kristy Kilpatrick believes (passionately) that along with teaching strategies that improve literacy skills, one of the single most important things she can do is expose her students to the natural world. "In this era of technology there seems to be a real disconnect between the outdoors and children, and I believe that if I can connect my students to nature, the more they will care about the world and their role in it." As a result, her students are outside at every opportunity. She also likes to involve her students in their community and believes on drawing on the expertise of others whether it's for community mapping, climate change, marine studies or ethnobotany. It's important to Kilpatrick that her students understand and value the unique opportunity of growing up on an island on the West Coast of Canada. Always looking for new experiences that she can bring first hand to her students, Ms. Kilpatrick spent 2 weeks with the Canadian Coast Guard travelling through the Northwest Passage in 2008 - climate change first hand. "Every day brings new challenges, new situations, and new teachable moments for me and my students - no two days are ever the same. Every day I get to mingle with close to 500 students between the ages of 11 and 14, a situation synonymous with chaos, noise, enthusiasm, crises, and varied learning styles and capabilities. I love every moment. As well as being a teacher, I have two amazing children of my own, I love to garden, I love to read, I love to listen to music, and I love to be outdoors. I like to travel, but my favourite part is always coming home." Less