All teachers have years when their classrooms run smoothly and those when things are more challenging. Throughout my career, I felt so lucky that even in the tough years, I liked going to work. I really did enjoy teaching – and I learned as much or perhaps more than I taught.

Over the twenty plus years of my career, I gained a good understanding of how classrooms function, how teachers think about their work and of how schools operate. But, in spite of all my experience and knowledge about schools, when I went into schools as a parent, I sometimes felt a little lost, even intimidated. This was especially true if I was anxious about some part of my children’s education.

After I retired from full time teaching, I decided to write Talking with Teachers – A Parent’s Month-by-Month Guide to the School Year because I believe that what I learned as a parent and as a teacher could help you develop effective working relationships with the teachers, principals and other adults you will meet as your children progress through elementary school.

My interest in teaching started in high school years when I joined the Future Teachers Club. However, it took me a few years to actually start teaching. After getting my undergraduate degree, I worked in different jobs and travelled before completing my Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto and entering the profession in 1974.

I taught Grades 6 to 8 in suburban Toronto until the early 1980’s when I took time off for the birth of my first child in 1982 followed by his twin brothers a few years later. In 1989, I left the public system to be the Executive Director of the Waterfront Montessori Children’s Centre, a childcare centre for two to six year olds in downtown Toronto.

Being a parent gave me a genuine appreciation of the emotions and responsibilities that go with being a mom. Being a school administrator gave me better understanding of how a whole school functions. When I returned to the public system in the mid 1990’s I had gained a new perspective on my work as a classroom teacher.

From 1994 to 2011 I taught in downtown Toronto schools, working with and advocating for special needs children in Grades 3 through 6. I worked as a teacher in classes that only had special needs students and I partnered with teachers in classes where my special needs students worked alongside other students.

In 2011, I retired out of Nelson Mandela Park Public School, but continue to work as an occasional teacher for the Toronto District School Board. I’ve got more time now, so I volunteer with my local community organization, spend time on the hiking trails around Toronto and pursue my interest in making artists books.