The Manitoba Council of Reading Clinicians is pleased to announce the winners of the Barbara Koffman Scholarship Award. We remember Barbara fondly as a born educator and leader who inspired both teachers and students alike. Congratulations to Emily Kipe-Broduer, Nicole Doering and Joan Coppens!
Meet the honourable recipients!
I started my career in Hanover School Division as a grade 2 teacher. I worked at Woodlawn School for nine years as a Grade 3 Teacher. In 2015, I moved to Niverville Elementary and have taught grade 3, grade 4, and a 3/4 split class. In 2000, I started my journey towards becoming a literacy specialist through studies at the University of Manitoba working towards a Master’s degree in Language and Literacy. In 2021-2022 I worked in a half-time position at NES as a literacy support teacher. This turned into full-time this year (2022-2023) and I am now fully immersed in literacy. I graduated this June with my Master of Education degree. I love my job! I enjoy co-planning and co-teaching the most effective literacy pedagogical practices with classroom teachers. I get excited when I see students acquiring new skills that help them progress in reading in the classroom and through literacy intervention. The next step for me is applying for a reading clinician or reading clinician associate position. My desire is to continue to grow as a human, teacher, and future reading clinician. I am very grateful to MCRC and the Barbara Koffman family for this scholarship!
My name is Nicole Doering, and I am currently a middle school English teacher at Meadows West School in Winnipeg School Division. I recently graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Master of Education in Language and Literacy, researching the importance of bringing multiliteracies into the classroom for my students and taking courses to one day work as a reading clinician.
Dancing was a passion of mine growing up, driving me to learn more about how to best support students’ literacy learning in multiple ways. I was a dance instructor for many years, competed in multiple competitions, practiced ballet at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and represented Canada in Germany’s National Tap dance championships in 2007, winning the gold medal with my team.
Multimodality was an essential strategy for my learning, and those skills I acquired as a student have transferred into my classroom. I incorporate what I have learned into my daily practice with my students, focusing on multimodality, mindset, metacognitive strategies, and literacy across the curriculum, using assessment skills I developed throughout my training and learning. As a teacher, my goal is to support the 21st-century skills of our learners through engaging reading and writing, fostering students’ love of literacy. Thank you MCRC and the Barbara Koffman family for this honour!
Hello, my name is Joan Coppens. On May 29, 2023, I had the pleasure of attending the MCRC AGM. It was a great experience being among some of Manitoba’s finest Reading Clinicians and to be presented with the Barbara Koffman Scholarship. Barbara Koffman is remembered as a remarkable Reading Clinician with a great sense of humour.
I hope to one day secure a position as a Reading Clinician myself and to acquire a skill set such as Barbara Koffman. I have just completed my Masters of Language and Literacy at the University of Manitoba where I studied with the Winnipeg School Division Cohort. Our cohort was made up of a group of brilliant teachers with different teaching backgrounds but whom all shared a passion for literacy.
I have been a French-Immersion elementary teacher for 20+ years. My focus was mainly on early years and I have had the privilege of teaching the French version of Reading Recovery for the last few years. It was through this role that I really became impassioned about helping struggling students with their reading.
I have also had the personal experience of raising a daughter with a reading disability as a single-parent, therefore I can relate to the pain a student suffers when presented with a reading deficit and also the pain a parent suffers alongside their child.
When the opportunity came along to join the cohort and gain the qualifications to become a reading clinician, it was an easy decision to make as I was eager to deepen my understanding of reading difficulties and better equip myself to hopefully make a difference for the students I work with daily.
Congratulations to our recipients and best of luck in your future endeavors!
