Hello world! I'm Suzanne Simpson and I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba where the winters are cold and the sun is almost always shining. Our summer plan was to go on a road trip to visit the family cottage in Ontario. We had to postpone this trip due to COVID19 and then found out that it will be forever cancelled as our extended family decided to sell the cottage this summer! Alas! We salvaged some fun family memories by exploring the back country of Manitoba on a back-packing trip, a canoe trip and many day hikes. Working from home has also allowed me to grow, what I consider to be, my best garden ever this year. It's amazing how healthy your plants look when you're around to see to their watering and weeding needs! I'm also a big fan of making things from scratch be it cooking, quilting, knitting or gardening (I recently tried inoculating logs to grow mushrooms!). 

To give you a bit of context into my background I'd thought I'd share a bit about my professional journey. I've been teaching since 2006 and have taken a meandering career path. I chose to fulfill a life-long dream of being a stay-at-home mother in 2011 but couldn't resist the call of a Masters of Education program. Another child later, I completed my program by writing my thesis on school garden use in Manitoba.  During this time I regularly subbed in classrooms from K-8 and took small terms from time to time. 

But learning about the theoretical reasons why it's important to connect students with plants, wasn't enough - I wanted to apply what I had learned. I learn some more practical gardening skills and became a Master Gardener and Master Composter. In 2018, I partnered with a local greenhouse (Sage Garden Greenhouse) and we launched the Horticultural Supports for Schools. Through my role as program coordinator, I facilitated PD workshops, planted gardens with students and brought live-plants for whole classrooms to interact directly with. 

In 2020, I decided that I missed the school system and wanted to return part-time. This year, I've accepted 2 teaching assignments in neighbouring schools. and will be working full-time (and taking this course) for the first time in 10 years.  I will be spending half of my time teaching English at École Viscount Alexander and acting as Oakenwald School's Teacher Librarian. 

I'm thrilled to have been accepted into this course and am looking forward to learning about how best to support students' and teacher's researching needs.

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