I did not always want to be a teacher. Growing up, I saw my career choice as simply, Biologist OR Artist. After high school, I chose to do a biology degree because it would be the more challenging academically, and therefore, I'd be more likely to 'return' to art. I was right - I have returned to art, and the biology degree was more challenging than I could have imagined. Overcoming that challenge, of being a highly visual learner confronted with lecture-style instruction, was an experience which makes me a better, more empathetic teacher. It was also great training for my first job following graduation, working as an instructional designer.

In order to succeed as a student, I learned to translate my lectures into diagrams and images. At the same time, as my grades improved, I became involved in helping other struggling students through a mentor program that I established for our college. The mentor program partnered students with faculty, but as I found myself counselling many of the 180 student mentees, I discovered my own passion for teaching & learning.

I tested my teaching interest by working as a nature interpreter for the University Arboretum, teaching young children about forest ecosystems and performing a puppet show. I felt my spirits lift in that job, in an intoxicating way that was new to me. Shortly after, I was hired to be the program director of our French Residence on campus. A "living & learning centre", French House offered its 50 student occupants opportunities to learn about French language and culture in a variety of ways. My students and I attended plays, hosted traditional French celebrations, and ventured out on field trips. I reflect on that experience as having been great training in teaching without 'teaching' - it was my first taste of a student-centred approach which has since become a common theme of my teaching style.

That same year, I wanted to try a more traditional teaching experience as well. I volunteered in the Mammalogy laboratory where students received a 40 minute lecture at the start of each 3-hour lab. It was soon discovered that the best way for me to contribute to that 3 hours was to reproduce the diagrams that I had created for myself as a student, for the entire class each week. Eventually, I redrew the diagrams on large sheets of plastic which were in use for many semesters.

After finally finishing my BSc, and spending a wonderful summer as a research assistant, canoeing in Algonquin Park, studying turtles, I was hired by the Mammalogy professor. I was to act as laboratory instructor &, coordinator, and at the same time, to design a lab manual for the course. Teaching Support Services at the University of Guelph would only agree to fund my lab manual if I found a way to create it electronically. Although learning to draw on the computer was not a challenge that I would have chosen, I developed skills which opened-up a new career-path, and are the foundation of my current work as a graphic and instructional designer.

That year also confirmed that as much as I love biology, I love teaching it a little more. I felt moments of connection with my classes that I will always remember, I also made humiliating mistakes that taught me a great deal. Most of all, I came away with the sense that my teaching worked best when the class and I collaborated in an exchange of ideas. As I learned to release control, I found that my lectures would evolve considerably, depending on the contributions of the students. To this day, I feel nervous facing a fresh class, knowing that I can not predict where we will go.

Meanwhile, the finished electronic course manual for Mammalogy improved on paper versions in a number of ways: it was more portable (housed on a 3.5" diskette), included hundreds of colour drawings (whereas the paper version would have been black and white), and hyperlinked labelled & unlabelled diagrams (for self-study), as well as glossary terms. We could also make infinite copies of our manual without losing quality, spending money, or wasting paper. I became a fervent advocate of teaching with technology, seeing how digital technologies could support learning in simple but significant ways.

Over the next 4 years, I was a keen participant in the explosion of educational multimedia. Working as a project manager and artist with Cybernatural Software, I helped design and build a series of award-winning educational CDs. With each new project, I learned more about overcoming the challenges of instructional design, and became more creative in the art of illustrating concepts through multimedia.

In 1999, I joined the Acadia Institute for Teaching and Technology (AITT) at Acadia University, Canada's first mobile-computing university. Known as the centre for innovation at Acadia, it was our mandate to support faculty as they adjusted to their new technology-rich environment. We consulted with faculty on their curriculum, addressing the challenge of complimenting their teaching with technology, without losing sight of learning outcomes. I developed support materials, gave workshops, and ran units of study, also incorporating various creative forms of assessment and evaluation.

In 2000, I designed and taught my first week-long multimedia workshop series, in French, to teachers from the Acadian School Board. The success of that program helped to attract funding for 2 other ambitious teacher PD programs, one national, the other international. Each program brought teams of teachers, students, and administrators to Acadia for a week, to build curriculum-based projects for their classes or schools. In the second year, I was the lead instructor on both programs.

In 2003, the University of Southern Maine hired the AITT to help design professional development sessions for public school teachers, in preparation for the first ever, state-wide laptop program (targeting middle schools). I was sent to Maine as the instructional designer to consult with the program founders there, on the needs of teachers and students. On that incredible trip, I was inspired by the wisdom of the people running the Maine Learns program; by their optimism, and creativity. Most of all, I was overwhelmed by the students who, with laptops in hand, seemed to have found a new passion for school.

That same year, I co-taught 2 courses for pre-service teachers in the Acadia School of Education. Both project-based, each course modeled the use of computer technologies as a support to constructivist teaching.

Just before I left the AITT in 2003, I applied for and received funding from Industry Canada to implement a new project-based program for francophone teachers and students from communities across Canada. I co-wrote the curriculum for that week-long workshop with educators from the Université de Moncton. Our goal was to help otherwise isolated francophone communities connect through the internet, giving them a medium for exchange of ideas and cultural identity.

In 2003, after our first daughter was born, we moved back to Ontario where I first established my graphic and instructional design business Blue Chair Designs. Creating learning objects, websites, posters and logos, I draw on my teaching experience to use art for communication, conveying ideas as concisely as I can through visuals. In 2005, I also began doing occasional teaching for the Kawartha Outdoor Education Centre.

In 2008, when both of my children were in school for the first time, I also joined Scientists in School (SiS) as a presenter. My experience with SiS has been a welcome reminder of how at-home I feel in a classroom. In my 3 years with SiS, I was happy to get a glimpse of many classrooms in the KPRDSB, and always felt energised by the job of selling science to grade 7s.

Today, I teach 4 days/week at the Kawartha Outdoor Ed Centre at Camp Kawartha and at the Trent Environment Centre. I specialize in natural history, pond study, and ecology. I am also a substitute teacher for Peterborough's Ecology Park where every unit has been lovingly developed to emphasize environmental stewardship, and sustainable living. It is a pleasure to teach outdoors where I am happiest, and where students come alive with excitement in the sunshine and fresh air. Teaching at Kawartha and Ecology Park is less about providing instruction and more about helping kids connect with nature. Watching the connection happen is a joyful thing.