According to her students, Marguerite Miller is the teacher that every student wants - kind, encouraging, and inspiring, with clear expectations that they rise to meet, helping them grow both academically and personally.
“Whatever you need, she is there for you,” said Grade 8 student Jenelle Kardash.
Kardash and her classmates at Iron River School are quick to list all of the things that make Ms. Miller an amazing teacher.
“We have three different class pets - a bearded dragon, guinea pigs and fish,” Kardash explained, noting the students fundraised to purchase the lizard, and take responsibility for bathing it regularly and feeding it crickets.
Miller’s warm and welcoming classroom features a comfort corner that is stocked with snacks, including homemade bread and jams, cereal and hot chocolate.
Her field trips are always fun, even when they include an educational component.
“She taught us math and how to budget by taking us shopping for items for Operation Christmas Child,” explained Grade 8 student Alisha Nelson.
Providing students with opportunities to demonstrate citizenship and leadership in their schools is a common thread in the activities students highlight.
“She gives us passion projects where she puts up options and we have to pick one,” said Erika Hansen in Grade 7. The options usually include something creative, something for the community and something academic. Right now, some students are working on a project that involves baking cookies from a book they are reading and then selling them to raise money.
Miller supports the students as they take on leadership roles in the school.
“Our first project this year was welcoming Jon Hanson to our school and holding a welcome back to school event,” explained Grade 7 student Jenna Tkachuk. “We all had to contribute and she makes sure that if you volunteer for something, you follow through.”
The students served hamburgers and ice cream to everyone in attendance. The students also planned and led activities for Halloween and Remembrance Day. They are currently working on a script for this year’s Christmas concert titled “The Canadian Christmas.” The performance will feature songs, tone chimes and other performances by students. For each of the events, the students were given full creative autonomy to plan, prepare, shop, implement, and clean up afterwards.
“The sense of pride and accomplishment that they experience and share with each other are some of the greatest accomplishments of educational experiences that I have witnessed,” said Principal Dustin Blake.
Chelsea Benio, Grade 8, said Miller also empowers them to excel academically.
“She gives us a list of all of our assignments once a week to review,” she explained. “She lets us do corrections on our work and she also lets us earn bonus marks. She gives us artistic projects to be creative and help us express ourselves, and she gives us group work to help us get out of our comfort zone.”
Miller is also an inspiration to her colleagues, including Blake.
“She creates an atmosphere in her classroom that encourages her students to be leaders, take charge of their education, explore their passions, and showcase their learning in a wide array of projects,” he said. “She has truly built a thinking classroom and once you spend a minute in there you know that it is true. Her passion and love for her job and the success of her students is infectious and inspiring.”
Miller says her approach to teaching was in part inspired by a professional development session she attended many years ago.
“A long long time ago at a PD session far far away, a keynote speaker, whose name I can only guess at, advised an audience of teachers to never do anything in a classroom that an authoritarian would like. I am not sure how successful I am in creating a classroom community that would irk an authoritarian, but I find it a very satisfying aspiration,” she said.
Marguerite Miller is the Northern Lights Public Schools Staff Shining Star for December. Her unwavering commitment to her students, her colleagues, and the values of education continues to leave an indelible mark. Each month during the 2024-2025 school year, NLPS is proud to recognize staff like Ms. Miller, who embody excellence and inspire those around them.