Leadership and Teaching
About Me
The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates
From an early age, I loved to learn and find out more about the world. A career in education came naturally to me, because I would much rather spend my life bettering myself and others, than doing anything else.
In the decade I have spent as an educator, more than half of that has been in leadership positions. With a strong ethos and concept of what it means for me to be a leader, I have helped schools grow, develop their program, and strengthen their educational infrastructure.
Technology is leading us into the future, because done right, it serves to make our daily experiences easier. Similarly, I try to frame myself as a servent leader – someone who can work with administration to organize, work with teachers to enhance their practice, and work with students to learn, in this way, everyone grows.
At each institution I have worked, my legacy has continued past my time there, in curriculum, programs, infrastructure and robust digital platforms, that have allowed the schools to do what is most important, improve the quality and results of their teaching.
Leadership
| OCAC – ICT Director | CISGG – Principal | Maple College – Head Teacher |
OCAC Suzhou
Director of ICT – January 2018 – July 2021- Established a rich digital infrastructure
of cloud solutions at OCAC Suzhou.
- Audited and selected digital platforms for use within the school.
- Deployed services both locally and on the cloud
- Ran regular performance and diagnostic tests on school platforms to ensure their reliability and sustainability
- Administered a wide variety of enterprise and open-source solutions for the school.
- SIS Systems: ManageBac, Gibbon
- Library Management Systems: Destiny, Koha
- LMS Systems: Canvas, Moodle, Kognity
- Communication Platforms: ClassDojo, Open Source Social Network, Matrix and Element
- Data Analysis: Learning Locker and xAPI integrations for different platforms
- Other platforms: Kimai2, EasyBookings, LimeSurvey, ParentInterview
- Developed unique solutions for the school based off open-source platforms.
- WordPress Based:
- Online stores for classroom marketplaces
- Organic vegetable shop for teachers that was partnered with local farms
- Parent information and school notices platform
- Job postings and recruitment
- Digital Grade 5 PYP Exhibitions
- Moodle Based:
- Admissions portal
- Formal staff appraisal platform
- Student training
- Parent training and extra classes
- Tryouts and recruitment platform
- WordPress Based:
- Led the development, design and deployment of the school website.
- Conducted annual software and systems audit to evaluate platforms.
- Plan and administer the yearly ICT budget.
- Development of staff training workshops, both in-person and online to help staff upskill across many platforms.
- Office 365 suite
- ManageBac
- Moodle
- WordPress
- Established an online training platform for staff
- Participants earn badges for completing lessons and learning activities. This acted as a form on internal professional development – with badges being a completion certificate.
- Educational consultant for the development on an in-house Student Information System.
- Curriculum development and implementation
- Worked with the IB and national curriculum standards to help establish a vertical articulation for our core IT program from G3-12
CISGG
Principal – 2016-2017 School Year
- Oversaw the delivery of curriculum and content for the entire school
- Oversaw the implementation of the new British Columbian teaching curriculum, running workshops with staff on how to build a more concept/inquiry based teaching methodology.
- Reworked and developed the pastoral system to include regular activity and greater oversight of students
- Developed partnerships with other BC and Canadian schools in China to help share curriculum and further collaboration among staff members.
- Deployed online file sharing platforms to maintain behavioural student records.
- Helped implement and maintain an English-language based housing system.
- Developed after-school and lunch-hour study programs for at risk students and had the first 100% graduation rate in school history.
- Redesigned and oversaw the night-study program, establishing better oversight and standards.
- Hosted regular parent information sessions for both existing and new students, allaying concerns and helping to ensure high levels of recruitment and retention.
- Ran and organized summer recruitment
- Organized and prepared whole school events including talent shows, science fairs, grammar rodeos, movie dubbing competitions, graduation and more.
- Ran professional development programs for the local government, introducing discover and inquiry based teaching to Guangxi teachers and administration.
- Developed a partnership with local schools wherein our high-school students would prepare and teach English lessons to local middle school students.
- Reviewed course overviews and ensured that classroom teaching met the BC Curriculum program standards
- Worked to expand mental health support available to students through relationships with both local schools and mental health professionals.
- Led Collaborative Inquiry PLCs focusing on the improving student performance in school.
Maple College
Head Teacher – 2013-2014- Responsible for 8 foreign staff, teaching over 700 students
- Organized and moderated regular professional development seminars for foreign staff
- Assisted new teachers with lesson development
- Designed and curated a weekly student newspaper, along with comprehension and response questions, that was differentiated for students of different English levels
- Prepared bi-monthly, school-wide assessments of students
- Held regular parent information sessions to introduce the school and increase student enrollment
- Helped staff to acclimate to life in Korea
Teaching
| OCAC | CISGG | Korea |
OCAC Suzhou
PYP and MYP Teacher – September 2017 – July 2020MYP English Language Acquisition Teacher Program Design:
- Setup the English phasing system and established a standards based progression for students to move along the phases
- Ensured vertical and horizontal alignment across grade levels and phases by establishing thematic continuity horizontally, and progressive skill development vertically (along phase alignments)
- Norm-referenced phasings to the internationally recognized CEFR standards
- Organized, implemented and administered APTIS testing as a yearly diagnostic benchmark of all students from Grades 6-10
- Held regular parent meetings and trainings to introduce
- Inquiry based language acquisition
- MYP standards and assessment criteria
- Corpus linguistics
- Extensive reading programs
- Established an extensive reading library at the school and setup the extensive reading program at the school
- Collaborated with teachers to prepare vertically and horizontally articulated Units of Inquiry that aligned across phases and grades
- Worked on transdisciplinary inquiry units with a many different subjects.
- Used Corpus Linguistic measures to ensure repeated exposure of vocabulary for students to aid in language acquisition
- Incorporated a wealth of different media platforms to give students authentic experiences producing language in a variety of contexts including:
- Song and dramatic expression
- Short stories and essay writing
- Blogs (WordPress)
- Interactive digital storytelling (Twines)
- Online storyboards (Sway)
- Web design (Elementor + WordPress)
- Collaborated with teachers to create a rich resource bank of materials and exercises, allowing for easy differentiation dependent on student mastery of specific language skills
PYP Teacher
- Helped establish the language, mathematics and science program as a founding teacher at a new school
- Implemented an inquiry-based learning curriculum with an embedded RtI support model
- Used a repeated readings poetry program to develop cadence, fluency, listening and speaking
- Used a reciprocal teaching reading program that supported students of all levels, developing independence in reading, with scaffolded support from both peers and teachers
- Initiated a comprehensive ATL/Regulatory skill development program that included daily reflections and goal setting
- Implemented STEAM and digital learning activities through the school year
Additional Responsibilities:
- Chief Yearbook Editor (2017-2019)
- Host of numerous ICT CCAs (Extra-Curriculars):
- Blogging Club (Grades 3-5)
- RPG Game Maker club (Grades 3-5)
- Webdesign and Intro to Programming (Grades 6-10)
- Led the Model United Nations
- Organized the Grammar Rodeo
- Organized a trip to Guizhou for Week Without Walls that explored authentic service for needy communities, working with the Miao, Dong and Buyi minority groups.
CISGG
English/IT/Social Studies Teacher – September 2015 – June 2017
Professional Responsibilities:
- 100% student success rate on the Grade 10 British Columbian English exams
- Developed core skills through project and discovery based units, with a focus on collaboration and SRL skills
- Taught programming and web design (Python, Javascript, JQuery, Bootstrap, HTML, CSS, Git)
- Developed digital media competencies through a range of initiatives (twines, digital collaboration, local cloud suites)
- Planning, organizing and promoting whole school events including a grammar rodeo (student made carnival games based around grammar concepts), talent show and more
- Created and led the campus student council
- Designed a prototype RPG game to reinforce student grammar skills
- Led a game design club
Korean English Academies
English Language Acquisition Teacher – March 2011 – August 2014- Worked independently to develop a strong, vertically articulated language program
- Incorporated rote learning with choral recitation and grammar drills
- Used TBI (Total Body Interaction) style teaching to engage young learners and develop English phonics through play
- Developed comprehensive novel studies including culminating projects for Summer Camps
- Wrote monthly student reports and documented learning and growth
- Led TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS classes
- Worked with students to tailor and improve their university applications
- Helped students prepare for international school and post-secondary admissions through both intensive classes and mock interview sessions.
Professional Qualifications
Education:
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Queen’s University – Professional Masters of Education
July 2016-August 2018
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Lakehead University – Bachelor of Education
September 2014 – May 2015
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York University – Bachelor of Arts: English Literature
September 2006 – May 2009
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Professional Certificates
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| Moodlebites – Moodle Develop Level 1 (Winter 2020) | Making the MYP Happen – Category A (Fall 2019) | MYP Language Acquisition – Category B (Fall 2018) | DP English B – Category A (Spring 2016) | BC Teacher’s Certification – K-12 | Ontario Teacher’s Certification – P/J | ontesol TESOL Certificate |