I must have been born a teacher, since I remember teaching my younger neighbours letters of the alphabet and words when I myself was in grade 1... I have always believed that knowledge dies if it is kept to oneself and lives only if shared. My first formal educational responsibilities came in 1989-1991, during my years in Cégep (Québec junior college). I was a peer tutor in a French language help centre. In addition to my tutoring role, I helped create computerised exercises. During my last semester there, as a “senior” member of the team, I helped provide administrative continuity when the teacher in charge went on maternity leave. My greatest achievement was tutoring a student who had immigrated from France in childhood and whose parents had sent her to English elementary and secondary schools, and who, as a result, had years of catching-up to do in French grammar. I designed for her a personalised programme which led to her earning a school award for her improvement in French writing.

During my undergraduate years at the University of Ottawa, I participated in the Parliamentary page and guide programmes, which allowed me to develop communication skills in both official languages — as well as in Spanish. The challenge was to make the Canadian parliamentary system understandable to a variety of people, from Canadian schoolchildren to tourists of all ages from everywhere around the world. While the message was somewhat predetermined, it had to be adapted to the size of the group (up to 65 people) and its composition. This prepared me for teaching undergraduate students with variable historical prior knowledge or whose major is not history. Moreover, working in Parliament required a level of impartiality which is appreciated by students.

As a graduate student, I combined research with responsibilities as a teaching assistant. I started out leading discussion groups in first-year classes at the University of Ottawa, fresh from my own B.A., in 1994. I was responsible for assessing most of the students’ work and facilitated weekly seminars based on assigned articles. This was baptism by fire as it challenged me to learn how to evaluate and grade other people’s work and give them constructive feedback. I quickly realised I needed training and participated in the workshops the Centre for University Teaching organised specifically for teaching assistants. This opened my eyes on many aspects of teaching I had not fathomed, such as how to deal with angry students and how to handle larger groups. This knowledge came in handy later on in my career. I also returned to the Centre for University Teaching when I started my career as a sessional lecturer ten years later.

As a doctoral student at McGill University, I was given the opportunity to give guest lectures on several occasions. This allowed me to merge research interests and teaching. I quickly realised the importance of well-structured lectures, of giving students signposts so that they can follow the flow, and of illustrating abstract concepts with images. I had already appreciated the value of humour in teaching, but these experiences taught me how to use that tool productively. Moreover, I was given the opportunity to work with Suzanne Morton, an incredibly talented lecturer who has been using creative ways of handling classes of over 250 students by having them do exercises in small groups in class. This is a technique I later tried with adaptations once I taught large classes of my own at the University of Ottawa.

Finally, graduate school implies participation in academic conferences. I have always been uncomfortable with presenters who sit down and read a text. In my presentations, I strive to make the results of my research lively while remaining rigorous and thought-provoking. I take academic papers as an opportunity to teach my colleagues something about my research and to get feedback from them. I never read a text to an audience. My academic presentation style is very similar to my teaching style: I use presentation media such as PowerPoint as support for the spoken word, to provide illustrations and structure. I not so secretly hope that I may set an example for other speakers to follow in order to reduce my own boredom at conferences.