Meet world's million dollar teacher honoured in Dubai

  DUBAI – With her award announced from space, Canadian Maggie MacDonnell was recognised as the world's best teacher, receiving a prize of $1 million in the Global Teacher Prize. "We matter, teachers matter... The greatest gift I will take from this event is the friendships I have made with the spectacular teachers who I share the stage with, and to all those 50 finalists, I have fallen in love with you and am re-energised by your spirit," a tearful MacDonnell said in her acceptance speech in Dubai on Sunday. MacDonnell bested nine other finalists who had flown in for the Global Education and Skills Forum held at Atlantis, The Palm. The prize was given away by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. For the last six years, MacDonnell has been a teacher in a fly-in Inuit village nestled in the Canadian Arctic, where she has turned around educational outcomes at Ikusik School. She teaches troubled children in the frigid northern territory where she had witnessed 10 student suicides in two years. Because of the harsh conditions, many young people here turn to drugs and self harm as a form of escape. There is also a high rate of teacher turnover, which is a big education barrier. MacDonnell helped change the mood by turning students from "problems" to "solutions", creating a life skills programme specifically for girls, which has seen a 500 percent improvement in girls' registration. She also involved her students in running a community kitchen and attending suicide prevention training. She has set up a fitness centre to help the youth grow physically and mentally stronger.

Here's her amazing story:

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