A little about me
Where I'm From
Born and raised in Montréal, I have (almost) always wanted to be a teacher. After getting lost in customer service and office work for close to ten years, I decided to go back to school and get my Brevet so that I could teach in and around Montréal. I chose McGill's MATL program as it promised a focus on both theory and practice and lots of in-class experience. I chose to focus on English Language Arts since I have always loved how books can both bridge a gap between writer and community as well as allow for a (relatively safe) space for exploring questions of social justice.
Where (and What) I've taught
2022-2023 school year: I taught grade 9 & 11 English Language Arts and Home Economics in the Alternative program at CVR. I helped organize CVR's first ever Poetry Night and worked with poet and motivational speaker Svens Telemaque, who worked with students in grade 8 and 9 to write and deliver spoken word poems.
2020-2021 school year: I taught Visual Arts and ERC at CVR (NFSB). I organized a painting unit with Grade 10 students to create and deliver personalized paintings to several dozen residents at the CHSLD in Ormstown.
2019-2020 school year: I taught English Language Arts, Cooking, and ERC at CVR (NFSB). I helped organize a new library mural, done in collaboration with En Masse, which was funded by a Culture in the Schools grant. I also applied for and won a Book Love Foundation Grant to grow my classroom library.
2018-2019 school year: I taught English Language Arts at CVR (NFSB). Along with Grade-10 teacher colleague, Roberta Filiatrault, we developed and published a book of student writings. Read more about our project on the ATEQ journal, ELA Today, here.
Picasso-inspired self-portrait created with Secondary 1 Visual Arts students at Lake of Two Mountains High School
2017-2018 school year: I taught English Language Arts, ERC and Science at CVR (NFSB). With a grant from the Association of Teachers of English of Quebec (ATEQ), I developed a Grade 9 ELA unit on Residential Schools and Indigenous Resistance, which was turned into a Book Trunk for ATEQ. Extracurricularly, I created a weekly after-school 'Conditioning Club' for senior girls, which included boxing, yoga, and meditation.
2016-2017 school year: I taught Visual Arts, ERC and Contemporary World at Lake of Two Mountains High School (SWLSB). In addition to classroom-based projects - like art zines, scanner photography, re-imagined album covers and an artist dinner party - I worked with students, staff and administration to create LTM's first ever end of year art show as well as an after-school art club. Students also had the privilege of working with Montreal-based artist collective En Masse on a large scale art mural for the school library and in October 2016, students' art zines were sold at Expozine, an annual small press, comic, and zine fair in Montreal.
2015-2016 school year: I taught English Language Arts at Alexander Galt Regional High School (ETSB). With support from Galt's administration, I was lucky enough to work with students on several interesting creative projects (they created Flash Fiction stories, filmed book trailers, designed websites, and wrote opinion pieces for the Local Paper).
2015-2016 school year: I taught English Language Arts and ERC as a student teacher at LaurenHill Academy (EMSB). In ELA, students wrote BlackOut poetry, created Holiday Monsters, and did a study of the YA Novel, The 121 Express, using the Hero's Journey. In ERC, our discussion on stereotypes (including a guest visit with local motivational speaker and author, Svens Telemaque).
2014-2015 school year: I taught English Language Arts as a student teacher at James Lyng High School (EMSB). Grade 7 students focused on writing short personal narratives that show rather than tell, and Grade 9 students focused on writing and delivering speeches.
A few of my favourite things...
