Ms Collins is a beloved science teacher who will be moving on from our school after this semester.
She originally began her teaching journey in her home province, Newfoundland. She has been a teacher for over 25 years, having taught in seven different schools in those years. She will be going back to Newfoundland after this semester. She says she’ll miss this school since her colleagues here were great and the students were nice. She mentioned how she loved how this was a smaller school compared to others in the area because it made people feel more connected.
When asked why she wanted to move back to her home province, she said she went on a trip there recently and had fallen back in love with the coziness of Newfoundland. Her parents had also moved back and her entire family were very enthusiastic about wanting to move back to Newfoundland.
Ms. Collins’ love of teaching originated with her high school biology teacher who sparked her interest in wanting to teach. She went to university for biology and had it as her main teachable course. When asked why she teaches chemistry more than biology, she said it was because of scheduling with other teachers but also because while she likes biological concepts more, she loves teaching chemistry as it is the fundamentals needed to understand biology. She also loves chemistry because it has more math in it, and she says she’s a mathematically-inclined person.
Ms. Collins also said she loved teaching Grade 11s the most because Grade 9s and 10s are forced to take science class and aren’t there of their own volition and Grade 12s focus too much on their grades and wanting the best marks. She loves how Grade 11s are willing to learn and enthusiastic while not worrying about their marks as much as Grade 12s.
When asked about what she has not liked about teaching and the education system, she says that the people in charge of education are disconnected from the schools that they create regulations for. She doesn’t like how higher-ups create orders such as banning cellphones without giving teachers proper ways to enforce them. She also said she wishes students take more accountability for errors they make. When a student does badly on a test, most of the time it was controllable and in those scenarios where it was in their control, they should accept they did bad and grow from it.
Overall, Ms Collins has been one of the friendliest and best teachers to work at our school. She is very passionate about teaching and has made science courses fun to take and learn from. Her departure will leave many students sorely missing her. We hope Ms Collins the best in her future away from our school.
THE NORTH STAR 