My teaching experience at Collège Notre-Dame-de-Bellevue in Quebec City

From 1970 to 1996, I taught human anatomy and physiology to six groups per year at Collège Notre-Dame-de-Bellevue. I really enjoyed itI!

It was with great enthusiasm that I made my way to the laboratory, where Oscar (a real skeleton) and Richard (an imposing torso) welcomed me and helped me to introduce the curious students to the wonders of the human body.

Studying a drop of blood taken from a fingertip under a microscope, seeing the various blood cells and even identifying the blood type… what a surprise! Occasionally, dissecting the eye or even the heart of a steer would confirm the teaching given. Of course, the laboratory report had to be completed accurately. The chalkboard and coloured chalks, the acetates showing the various systems from head to toe, these were all ways of impressing on the students’ memories all the wonders of the body…

So many evenings spent correcting papers and planning interesting classes! It was not a burden for me because I loved teaching, and I was lucky to have the trust of the school management and of parents.

Time off because of “snow days” or pedagogical days was not necessarily good news for me! Courses were then cancelled for certain groups, and the same questionnaire had to be given to all groups during exam sessions. As someone who had fire in my belly, I had to adapt – it was complicated!

But isn’t the greatest quality of a living being its ability to adapt?