Being a Lifelong Learner

Walking My Career Path

My name is Natasha (Burry) Oxford and I have been an ELA teacher in Central Newfoundland since 2003; Botwood Collegiate has been my school home for most of my career. I was trained as both an ELA teacher and a science teacher - specifically, biology, The path of my teaching career, however, led me to mostly ELA classrooms and teaching literacy has become my full-time focus. I have served as the Department Head in ELA at Botwood Collegiate since 20018.

I studied both Science and English Literature as a University student; my first undergraduate degree was a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture), majoring in Animal Science. For this, I studied at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College (now the Agricultural Faculty of Dalhousie University) in Truro, N.S. After completion in 2000, I returned home to Newfoundland to study at Memorial University, completing the required studies in English Literature to enter the Bachelor of Education (Intermediate / Secondary) program for Biology and English methods in teaching. I returned to Graduate studies a decade later to earn my Masters of Education focused in Curriculum Studies from Acadia University.

I continue to have interests in agricultural science, creating a passion for gardening in our challenging climate. I am an avid reader of just about anything and I enjoy being creative in my spare time. My newest skill is playing the acoustic guitar for which I have been enjoying weekly lessons; simple proof that you are never too old to learn something new! It is my goal every day to help students love learning too. I hope they can find something here that inspires them to take up the torch of always being curious about the world and the new things we can learn.

I invite you to see more of the ways I 'lean into learning' through the navigation menu above.