About

After a 32 year career teaching in the public school system, I was ready to transition to a new beginning.  I knew that beginning had to involve teaching.  Teaching is what gives me joy. Without it, I might as well throw in the towel, completely. Interacting with and helping anyone wanting or needing to learn is a part of who I am as a human.  Of course, after years (and let’s face it, YEARS!) of experience, I have honed many teaching skills. I consider myself to be a very effective teacher.  That said, the strength that has been with me since I started working with youth (back in my pre-teen baby-sitting days and then teenage lifeguard/instructor/coach days) is also all about making connections. 

 

Building connections and relationships with my students is my superpower.  I don’t mean surface connections, which are NOT my strength, nor something I have the patience for. Instead, I am referring to authentic connections.  A positive and effective teacher is able to foster a teacher-student relationship that in turn leads to productive and willing learning, without the student necessarily realizing it.  When students feel understood, when they feel appreciated for who they are, when learning styles are accommodated, and when a learning environment is stress-free, students buy in, their minds open and effective learning inadvertently and gloriously takes place. This is one of the biggest assets I know that I offer students.

 

I have taught almost all grade levels, as well as adults, in many different subject areas. I have been a late-French immersion teacher (11 years), an early French immersion teacher (3 years), and a regular English-stream teacher (5 years). During the last 13 years of my public school career, I taught EAL or English Additional Language (aka ESL) to newcomers of varying ages. These students emigrated from many different countries with varying levels of English proficiency.

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As a young girl, teaching my imaginary students in the basement of my home (yes!  I really did this), along with my little alphabet chalkboard and the chalk I had borrowed from my school, I knew I would be a teacher someday. I loved everything about school as a young girl and wished someday to emulate the great teachers that I had. I valued teachers and education and I came from a family with parents who held educators to the highest esteem.  Teaching has been a part of me for as long as I can remember.  So, as my public school teaching career was nearing an end, I knew I had to prepare for my next steps in the teaching profession. 

In January of 2020, I registered my business with the province of Prince Edward Island and began to research and prepare my business plan.  Language and Literacy Learning PE was born and I could not have been more excited about the next chapter. I began teaching several EAL students, acquired through word-of-mouth, and began my foray into my teaching business. In March of 2020, I decided to officially retire from my public school position and accepted a contract position teaching newcomer women job readiness skills through Confederation Group in Charlottetown. This ‘Newcomer Empowerment’ program’s goal is to ultimately help these fantastic women acquire meaningful employment in PEI.