Imagine living with students and then waking up the next day and teaching those same students. This happens everyday at all boarding schools and its the norm! I work at a boarding school, and its a different beast. I don't work directly in boarding, but I know a few people that do. Today I bring in Andrew McNiven, a Business Teacher from Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario. Andrew has worked at Ridley for 12 years and works with the student boarders at the school as Head of House on campus and has been in this role for five years and worked as an Assistant Housemaster for 5 years prior ..read more

As a kid growing up in an Asian household, the dream for my parents was for their children to become a doctor. My brother helped my parents achieve that dream. I failed miserably. I couldn't even make it out of grade 10 chemistry! So many students and parents want to become doctors, but in reality have no idea what the job entails! Are people just chasing the title of "doctor" for prestige? Are they misinformed by what television shows them? This episode dives into the realities of becoming a doctor and what the journey looks like. Today I bring in my good friend, Dr. Andrew Lim. Andrew is a ..read more

Ever think about making a career change as a teacher into the world of guidance? Look no further!  So today I bring in Adrienne Tolton, a guidance counsellor from Garth Webb Secondary School in the Halton District School Board. Adrienne has been a guidance counsellor for four years. Before guidance, she was a teacher 18 years teaching Math and Science in Ontario and Internationally. She got her B.Ed from OISE at the University of Toronto. Today we talk about: What qualifications and training do you need to become a guidance counsellor? What are the general responsibilities of a guidanc ..read more

Ever wonder what the heck the folks in HR are looking for before submitting your resume? How can school boards possibly sift through all those resumes and pick the right candidate? Oh and once you get an interview, now you need to prep for that gauntlet!  On todays episode, I hope to peek behind the curtain and help with the job application process. Today I chat with  Majella Hillsdon, our Chief People Officer at Appleby College. Majella has been at Appleby for 17 years.  In this episode we talk about: Resume - What makes a strong resume? Do buzzwords matter? Does experience ..read more

Most of us grew up or have taught in a co-ed school. What would it be like though to teach at a single gendered school? Today I bring in an old friend, Alan Chan, an IB Economics and Math Teacher from Upper Canada College, one of the most prestigious all boys schools in Toronto. Alan has been working at UCC for eight years and outside of the classroom has been the Head Coach of the Varsity Boys Volleyball Team and U16 Badminton Team. He also served as Assistant Coach to the U14 Volleyball Team. He also spent some time being involved in the schools boarding life program as a Residential Assist ..read more

It is September! That means future teachers are beginning to think about if they want to start the journey of becoming a teacher! So lets' take a few episodes to review some of the Teacher Education programs available to us in Ontario. Today I bring in two guests: Niki Boytchuk-Hale and Miles Duke. Niki is a concurrent education, entering her third year at Queens University. At the same time she is completing her bachelors in fine arts with a minor in Indigenous Studies and Certificate in Law. As for her practicum, Niki was placed at St. Mildreds, teaching grade 1's and was hired back for a f ..read more

Nature or Nurture? Biology versus Environment? This is a classic question that has commonly come up in regards to child development. As teachers, we should be interested in finding out the answer to this question because we see our students 8 hours a day for 5 days a week for 10 months! So I went to our expert, Dr. Aletha Harven, an Associate Professor in the department of Psychology and Child Development  at California State University. Dr. Harven holds a Ph.D. in Education from UCLA, a Master of Arts degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development from Californi ..read more

I'm pretty sure every Ontario teacher knows we have a pension. But do you even know what a pension is? Why the Ontario Teacher Pension Plan is regarded as one of the best ones? What implications does it have when it comes to your retirement? We'll we are going to talk about our financial future and how our pension plan is going to help us live a comfortable lifestyle in retirement!  On this episode, I chat with Trevor Wright, an Investment Analyst at the Ontario Teacher Pension Plan. We chat about: What exactly is a pension?  Whats the difference between Defined Benefit vs. Define ..read more

Teachers, have you ever had a student in your class with ADHD, Dyslexia, ODD or perhaps even a student that is super gifted and intellectually, way ahead of the curve? It must be difficult to support these students in a large classroom. There has to be a better way! Well, one school in Calgary, Alberta thinks there is. Let me introduce to you Rundle Studio, an independent virtual school that is dedicated to support students with various learning needs. On this episode, I chat with the Principal of the school John Wolf. We talk about why this learning model will be best to serve this student p ..read more

With online learning, teachers did not have the same opportunity to make the same connections we normally would with our students in the classroom. There were a lot of blindspots that we missed. I wanted to get an honest opinion from students of how the school year actually went for them? What better way then to go directly to the students and ask them?!  This week I chat with three former students of mine: Adrian Davila, Dawson Meloche, and Erik Ponikvar. I wanted to know: What feedback do they have for teachers? How was the students mental health? What were their thoughts on an outdoo ..read more