Students often can鈥檛 help but agonize at young ages how their careers will pan out. For Living Sky School Division鈥檚 director of education, Brenda Vickers, earning her current position has been a long and winding road she couldn鈥檛 have predicted.
Vickers was born and grew up in Swift Current. She remembers as a student she liked school and was conscientious, although she warns, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to get my take on how I was.鈥�
鈥淲as I my best me? Probably not.鈥澛犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅犅�
Vickers was unsure what she wanted to do after graduating high school. Her father died when she was in Grade 12 and Vickers decided to stay home with her family. She worked at the Swift Current Union Hospital in the kitchen as a dietary aide until she was 22. Along with friends who were also in Swift Current, Vickers said, 鈥淲e had a lot of fun.鈥�
鈥淭here came a time when I wanted more than what I was getting out of my job, and so I knew I wanted to go to university.鈥�
Vickers said she chose education largely because of her aunt Phoebe, who was a teacher 鈥� first high school, then Grade 3 鈥� in Swift Current.
鈥淚 just admired her so much,鈥� Vickers said. 鈥淚 remember she sent me a tape of her retirement speech and I was really inspired by what she said teaching had meant to her throughout her lifetime.鈥�
Vickers enjoyed university, but being in front of a classroom is a much different experience than studying teaching.
鈥淲hen I hit the classroom, I just loved it.鈥�
Vickers interned in a Humboldt school, while her first teaching job after the internship was in St. Brieux, about 170 km northwest of Saskatoon. Teaching wasn鈥檛 all Vickers dedicated time to, as she joined a band as a drummer.
When Vickers was in Grade 3, her mother made her study music. Of the available band instruments, Vickers chose to play, as did her cousin to whom she looked up, the drums.
鈥淚 was just darn determined to play the drums because I know they鈥檇 be noisy and I was being stubborn, and if Mom said I had to play an instrument I鈥檇 play the drums.鈥�
Vickers鈥� first band, Duke, began when she was in Grade 8. The members lived near Jubilee Drive in Swift Current and the band covered KISS and Trooper at junior high dances.
Playing drums proved useful again during Vickers鈥� first year of teaching when she joined the band of the husband of a third grade teacher in St. Brieux.
鈥淚 joined this band and most weekends we were involved playing for weddings and things,鈥� Vickers said. The band, made of French Canadians, had an English language set and a French set they鈥檇 play at a number of gigs across the province.
After St. Brieux, Vickers took a temporary contract teaching Grade 4 in Humboldt for a year. Jobs at the time were scarce as the province was reducing the number of teachers. She chose Humboldt because the band was only an hour and a half away.
The band鈥檚 original drummer was returning from Japan, and Vickers then landed a permanent contract teaching Grade 1 in Melfort, although she had never taught Grade 1 before.
鈥淚t was one of the best things I ever did,鈥� Vickers said. 鈥淚n Grade 1 you have to know how to teach the same thing 100 different ways, and over and over without getting boring.
鈥淵ou see so much growth in Grade 1. They come in, some of them don鈥檛 know letters or sounds or even how to hold a pencil, all these things we take for granted.鈥�
Vickers said teaching Grade 1 made her a stronger teacher for a number of reasons. Since Grade 1 students lack fundamental skills, it allows teachers to evaluate, re-evaluate and perfect basic teaching skills. Attention spans among students are also short, so timing in lesson delivery is important. Since kids in class changed every year, 鈥渆ven if you taught the same subjects you were always looking for a better way to do something.鈥�
Vickers said the arts and science instruction, combined with learning and teaching theory, and the ability to think creatively were attractive features of teaching Grade 1.
One of the most rewarding events in Vickers鈥� teaching career has been when young students realize for the first time that they can read.
鈥淚n Grade 1, I was so worried that I wouldn鈥檛 get them to read, because 鈥� you try so many different things,鈥� Vickers said.
Patience is another skill learned as a teacher.聽聽
鈥淚 used to tell parents it鈥檚 kind of like shaking those Jiffy popcorn things. Some kernels pop right away, and others you shake and shake, but I said I鈥檓 going to keep shaking. Some [parents] would come and say, 鈥楳y friend鈥檚 child is reading right now,鈥� and all those kinds of things, and you just keep going. But to see that click. I remember I鈥檇 go away a weekend and the child wasn鈥檛 reading, and you鈥檇 come back and 鈥楬ey Ms. V, I can read this book.鈥欌��
Teaching presents all kinds of unexpected moments. Vickers once heard from a former student who was turning 30 who told Vickers when she was in Grade 6 that she鈥檇 run in the Boston Marathon before she was 30.聽聽聽
鈥淪o you make a difference, and sometimes you don鈥檛 know. She wasn鈥檛 even in my class.
鈥淎nd to get a hold of me just before she was 30. Those kinds of things are just, I don鈥檛 know what the word is. It鈥檚 just why you do it.鈥�
Despite teaching鈥檚 rewards, law has always interested Vickers.
鈥淢y mom said 鈥楤renda, I was watching Oprah the other day, and Oprah says 鈥業f you鈥檙e thinking on a change, sometimes it鈥檚 good to do that before you hit 40,鈥欌�� and I was approaching 40. So I thought, what the heck, I鈥檓 going to just write the LSAT.鈥�
Vickers studied during the summer, passed the test, and entered the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan. She said the first year was exciting, as it involved studying big cases, and one professor had worked with Nelson Mandala.聽聽聽
Yet teacher/student interactions at a basketball game in a school gym made Vickers realize that she missed teaching. She decided not to complete the law degree.
鈥淚 made a choice that I missed teaching, but now rather than just thinking [teaching] was great for me, I knew it. But I also knew if I wanted law, that was available to me.鈥�
Vickers then embarked on a master鈥檚 degree involving educational administration. Principal jobs in small towns near Regina were next, and following a post-graduate certificate in human resources administration, Vickers was hired as superintendent of human resources with Living Sky in 2010. Vickers said she especially enjoyed working under the board and former director of education Randy Fox, who made her feel empowered to make HR her own.
After acting as director since 2010, Fox retired. Dave Hutchinson began as director in Aug. 2016, but he and the board reached a 鈥渕utual termination of contract鈥� in May this year. Fox acted as director until Vickers was hired and began in August.
Vickers鈥� term as director begins with a number of challenges, not limited to uncertainty regarding the Ministry of Education鈥檚 idea of 鈥渢ransformational change.鈥� Committees featuring government and education administrators are in discussions regarding what such change will look like, but the division has seen decreased government funding and inquiries into the centralization of certain services, including payroll. Vickers said the uncertainty, along with future provincial budget decisions, is beginning to wear on people, but she sees a responsibility of the director role to maintain unity and calm.
鈥淓very person who works for this system is important and I want us to be a healthy team and get through whatever we need to and be gentle with each other as we go through hard times. So I think a lot of this year is going to be able to try to keep people calm, and healthy, and we鈥檒l be OK聽 until we see what鈥檚 going forward.鈥�
Vickers considers efforts for 鈥渢ransformational change鈥� the next major shift in Saskatchewan education policy, after a series of amalgamations spanning from 1995 to 2006 in which 119 school boards in the province became 28, including the formation of Living Sky from smaller divisions. After a number of adjustments, which included splitting certain former school divisions and re-distributing them into new, different divisions, Vickers said she likes the current structure, and believes in local voice and communities that value their schools.聽
Perceptions exist about public institutions that employees enter their ranks in order to vie for ascension. Teaching, Vickers said, is different because many teachers are more satisfied with being in the classroom than going after higher paying or more prestigious positions.
鈥淚 guess for me, and I think for many, teaching is a lifestyle. The students leave at 3:30, then your preparation for the next day and the next week and the next month begins,鈥� Vickers said. 鈥淚t has no boundaries. And I think many teachers just love being with their students.鈥�
In spite of moving to administration, it wasn鈥檛 always something Vickers considered and she said she could鈥檝e stayed in the classroom for the entire length of her career.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a passion,鈥� Vickers said about teaching. 鈥淵ou get up and you believe in what you do. You believe you can make a difference. And you do.鈥澛犅�
