About the Author...
Joy Forbes is a retired French teacher who is very proud to be Canadian, and strongly believes in the importance of teaching students and the community about the history of their country. She has been an inclusive teacher who writes plays and creates activities so that all her students can be successful. Joy has found that when people dance and act out historical scenes, sing, draw, or participate in playing games, they find the experience to be both rewarding and fun, and better retain the information they have learned.
To celebrate the Millennium, Joy wanted to teach students and the community about the history of Canada and the history of Canadian education during the last one hundred years. Over 300 adults and students of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Nepean performed in her bilingual musical “Our Country Canada Notre Pays 1900-2000”. Each decade of the play had an original script, authentic costumes, songs, dances, games and history of that period.
In 2004-2005, students researched, wrote scripts, and role-played about the people who passed through Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. To showcase their knowledge, students, along with parents and grandparents, performed the musical “Let’s Pier into the Past” (written, produced and directed by Joy) on April 5, 2005. Joy and her students performed songs from the musical in front of the Governor General at Rideau Hall in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of War Brides arriving in Canada. She produced a documentary video “Let’s Pier into the Past” which has been shown at the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax.
The Ottawa Valley has a rich oral history that will quickly disappear if it is not documented. Through numerous interviews, Joy has captured multifaceted lives in one-room schoolhouses with her book “Perseverance, Pranks & Pride”.
Joy was the winner of the Sharon Hiscott Memorial Award for Leadership and Excellence in Elementary Creative Arts in 2002, finalist for the Governor General’s Awards of Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, winner of the OCRI Capital Educators’ Awards Program in 2003, and winner of the National Arts Centre Leadership in the Arts Award in 2007.
To celebrate the Millennium, Joy wanted to teach students and the community about the history of Canada and the history of Canadian education during the last one hundred years. Over 300 adults and students of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Nepean performed in her bilingual musical “Our Country Canada Notre Pays 1900-2000”. Each decade of the play had an original script, authentic costumes, songs, dances, games and history of that period.
In 2004-2005, students researched, wrote scripts, and role-played about the people who passed through Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. To showcase their knowledge, students, along with parents and grandparents, performed the musical “Let’s Pier into the Past” (written, produced and directed by Joy) on April 5, 2005. Joy and her students performed songs from the musical in front of the Governor General at Rideau Hall in celebration of the 60th Anniversary of War Brides arriving in Canada. She produced a documentary video “Let’s Pier into the Past” which has been shown at the Pier 21 Museum in Halifax.
The Ottawa Valley has a rich oral history that will quickly disappear if it is not documented. Through numerous interviews, Joy has captured multifaceted lives in one-room schoolhouses with her book “Perseverance, Pranks & Pride”.
Joy was the winner of the Sharon Hiscott Memorial Award for Leadership and Excellence in Elementary Creative Arts in 2002, finalist for the Governor General’s Awards of Excellence in Teaching Canadian History, winner of the OCRI Capital Educators’ Awards Program in 2003, and winner of the National Arts Centre Leadership in the Arts Award in 2007.
Publicity photograph for “Our Country Canada Notre Pays 1900-2000”, in front of S.S. No. 10 Nepean - Jockvale School
Home | About the Schools | Gallery | Stories | Book Launch | Book Tour Dates | Order the Book | Contact | Links
