Please allow me to introduce myself (pt.1) . . .
I'm a teacher. I'm married with 2 cats and a dog, but no kids of my own. I've been teaching since 1974 when I faced my first class of grade 7's in Beaconsfield High outside of Montreal, Quebec. I have taught in 3 different provinces and at least 8 different schools. I have taught English, French, math, and science to students from grades 7-11 and GED to adults. I have been a classroom teacher, a learning specialist and work experience/co-op teacher, and I've worked with student teachers.
In August of 2000 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Unable for a while to carry on with what was my life's work, I became a 'breast cancer victim'. All through the treatment all I wanted was to get back to my classroom and my students, but when I did return, the work simply didn't feel as wonderful as I thought it would.
I had read that many survivors looked on having cancer as a weird sort of blessing because it was the push they needed to throw over their lives and follow their passions. That made no sense because as time went on, it felt like I had been robbed of mine. I had lost my way. Even a switch to a new school didn't shake me out of a deepening depression. I was on the verge of becoming one of those 30+ year classroom veterans who simply had become too tired and too jaded to carry on -- and so retired.
8 years have passed since my diagnosis, which now makes me a 'breast cancer survivor' -- and only recently have I begun to realize that as I was undergoing treatment getting back to school became symbolic of a greater need to get back to my normal life. Looking back now, I think I had lost my way long before I was diagnosed, but my life was so filled with trying to be a perfect teacher that it crowded out any time or desire to reflect.
It took 3 months pre- & post-surgery, 6 months of chemo, a month of radiation, 4 months of recovery, 2 years of trying only partially successfully to reconnect with my old classroom identity, and 4 years in the new job to realize that it was actually my old life that was not so wonderful. It has taken finding a new passion as an educator to set both my career and my life on a new path. Simply put, I've become fascinated with the power of technology to make schoolwork more dynamic.
Over the past year I've gone from not knowing what a Powerpoint was to giving workshops on how to incorporate web-based tools and resources into classroom work. I have always considered myself a capable crafter of strong lessons and good courses, but I have suddenly and quite unexpectedly become creative. I can hardly wait for the next new tool to come into my e-mailbox, to try it out and then to find someone else who might like to share it. I guess in a way that gives me a lot in common with my students, and isn't that what good teaching is all about -- forging connections as a starting place for engaging them in learning?
