About Me

My name is Cameron, and I am a first year teacher candidate at the University of Ottawa, in the Intermediate/Senior division. My teachable subjects are English and History. I am also a graduate of UOttawa, with a bachelor’s degree in political science.

I first realized I wanted to become a teacher in the summer of 2018, when I worked at Sandbanks Provincial Park as a Natural Heritage Education ranger. A significant part of my duties involved running the educational programs offered by the park. It was much different than classroom teaching: I rarely saw the same visitors more than once or twice, for instance, and the woods and dunes of the park reminded me little of the classrooms I was accustomed to as a student. Nevertheless, I had never felt the sort of satisfaction I got when a visitor was enthralled in a program I had designed and delivered. I wanted to recapture that feeling. Six years later, here I am at last.

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching principals are fundamentally democratic. I see myself as a facilitator of learning in a space that is primarily for the learning of my students. I learn about teaching as I perform it as well, but it is the learning of my students that is the ultimate goal. Since this class is a shared learning space belonging to each student, it stands to reason that they should have a say in how this learning takes place wherever it is conducive to their learning.

I am by no means an expert on my own profession yet; that will come with years of experience, and since I am a committed student of my craft, that expertise will develop further throughout my entire career. I approach my position in the classroom with the humility associated with being a good learner. I make mistakes, and I must listen to my students when they signal (whether they know they are signalling this or not) that I have made a bad decision which detracts from their learning.

That being said, I have experience and training as an educator that my students do not, and from this knowledge I draw the authority to make higher-order decisions that structure the education of my students. I must set a certain amount of non-negotiable routines, rules, and content considerations, unique to each class that I find myself teaching.

I cannot merely oversee independent learning without providing my students with the tools to succeed, and teaching them the value of these tools. To maximize what my students take away from my classroom, they must understand why we learn what we do, in the way that we do. Therefore, one of my primary functions as an educator is to define the parameters of what routines, behaviours, and structures are acceptable in the learning environment, and to provide my students the means to explore options within these limits through differentiation of both product and process. My teaching philosophy is not simply democratic, then, but also metacognitive; I plan to teach my students why and how we learn what we do, because I want my students to make informed decisions pertaining to how they approach their own education.

First Placement: Bell High School

Since November of 2024, I have had the pleasure of being placed at Bell High School in the neighbourhood of Bell’s Corners. I have been teaching First Nations, Metis, and Inuit studies as well as Canadian and World Studies to eleventh and twelfth grade students alongside my associate teacher, Shannon Mills.

Bell’s robust ESL program has resulted in a diverse student body with a wide range of experiences. I have had the pleasure of getting to know students from every walk of life imaginable, and to play a small role in their education. My mother immigrated to Canada from Slovakia when she was fifteen years old, so the education system’s role in welcoming and acclimatizing new Canadians has always been an interest of mine. I could not have asked for a placement that so perfectly represents what draws me to teaching as a profession.

I would like to thank Shannon and all the staff at Bell for the warm welcome and constant support they have offered me throughout this learning experience.

Second Placement: Ridgemont High School

My second placement was in Ridgemont High School, in Alta Vista. I quickly learned that Ridgemont has a similar demographic to Bell, in that it has a large ESL program and, consequently, a student body with a majority of immigrants both recent and past.

I resolved during my placement to get hands-on experience teaching ESL, and was welcomed by another teacher, Nicole Sheffield, to join her for one period a day teaching ELDCO/DO. I found I had great rapport with both the students and my co-teacher, and I took to the class environment right away. Also, compared to university-level grade 12 courses where learning tends to be incremental and fine-tuned, it was exciting to see the amount of progress that can be made over the course of a few short months in an ELD classroom.

I would like to thank the staff at Ridgemont for helping me to learn and grow as a teacher; particularly my associate teacher Kelly Granum, who welcomed me into her class and helped me to develop my independence as a young teacher; and Nicole Sheffield, who cultivated my interest in teaching multi-language learners.

Bachelor of Education 2024 - Present
Honours Bachelor of Social Science in Political Science 2017 - 2021

Academic Experience

Professional Experience

Teacher Candidate, Bell High School, November 2024 - April 2025

Practicum placement organised by the University of Ottawa.
Taught under the supervision of an experienced Associate Teacher.
Duties included lesson planning and delivery, designing and delivering assessments related to curriculum, grading with respect to Ontario’s Growing Success guidelines, and interpreting Individual Education Plans to ensure the effective differentiation of the classroom.

Children’s Services Assistant, Hastings County, 2019

Duties were both clerical and interpersonal: cases were assessed on the computer based on the information that had been provided by the client. Where necessary, clients were contacted directly to procure this information.
Clients often belonged to vulnerable sectors.

Natural Heritage Education Ranger, Sandbanks Provincial Park, 2018

Duties included operating the park’s Visitor’s Centre by performing sales and communication roles, invasive species management, and assisting in the delivery of leisure and education programs provided by the Park.
Communication with clients occurred in both English and French.

Teacher Candidate, Ridgemont High School, September 2025 - January 2026

Practicum placement organised by the University of Ottawa.
Taught under the supervision of an experienced Associate Teacher.
Duties included lesson planning and delivery, designing and delivering assessments related to curriculum, grading with respect to Ontario’s Growing Success guidelines, and interpreting Individual Education Plans to ensure the effective differentiation of the classroom.

Occasional Teacher, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, February 2025 - Present

Duties include the supervision of students in classrooms, as well as the delivery of lesson plans provided by the absent teacher.
In cases where no lesson plan is provided, emergency lessons are planned with reference to the relevant Ontario curriculum.