The beauty of learning is vast and complex, and Larry Katz, a CHS Class of 1965 Grade 6 and Class of 1971 Grade 12 alumnus and second-generation member of the school community (his mother was also a student), understands this well. Early in his career, Larry committed to understanding how people learn and how to use innovation and technology to improve human performance. He and his wife, Deborah, still live in Calgary and remain closely connected to the CJA community.
Larry’s journey at the school began at kindergarten. He remembers pivotal moments in the school’s history. From the opening of the new building in 1959 in Grade 1, to celebrating Israel’s Independence Day in Grade 6 when his class was able to dress up in the real uniforms of the Israel Defence Forces. One of his clearest memories, however, was of Mr. Eisenberg, a former teacher and principal of the school. Larry describes him as someone who had a “bark worse than his bite”, but Larry’s class was able to sway him towards friendship. Building this bridge helped Larry earn his first teaching opportunity as a volunteer part-time gym teacher, substitute teacher, and optional course teacher at just 18. He continued volunteering part-time for 13 years.
Larry received his PhD in Educational Psychology in 1984 and became a Kinesiology Professor and Director of the Sport Technology Research Lab at the University of Calgary in 1985. He continues to follow his passion for educational psychology and remains deeply involved in the Calgary Jewish community. He shares his understanding of the importance of teaching people how to learn with fellow educators. Larry states, “The best gift you can give students is the ability to learn and evaluate their own performances, rather than just giving them information.” He hopes that teachers can be a source of creative energy, particularly through his innovations, including Practical Technology in the Classroom (In Vivo), Multimedia and Communications (Kid TV), Physical Activity Challenge for Kids (PACK), and I Have Creative Energy.
His approach to education focuses on personally connecting with students, helping them learn about themselves as much as the material they’re expected to know. This is evident in Larry’s innovative achievements that he brought to the CJA; both projects appeared on TV and in the press: the Hockey Sweater Project (a multimedia French language learning resource) in 2007, the Fun Innovative Time Breaks project for integrating physical literacy and learning in the classroom (F.I.T. Breaks) in 2008. He also engaged Jr. High students with the Personalized Education Plan – Fitness (P.E.P. Fit) in 2006.
Larry’s son, Chaim, attended the CJA for Jr. High; his other son, William, currently has his daughters attending the CJA; and his daughter Sarah taught at the CJA for seven years before she moved to Victoria. Larry and his wife are blessed to walk their granddaughters to school each morning. “We get to talk…”, Larry describes the morning walks, “we discuss everything, if they had a bad day, about the future, sometimes we sing.” The secret ingredient? Tic Tacs at the end of the walk.
Larry and his family remain closely connected to the school, and he strongly believes the Jewish community has a responsibility to support one another and the next generation. As he shares, “We all need to contribute, and if we can make a difference for our children and for their future, that’s the key.”