Teaching & Learning

By Kate Hargreaves 

Sherri-Lynn Soumis’s mentor used to tell her to “pay it forward” whenever she could. 

As a high school English teacher, Soumis is doing just that as an associate teacher, mentoring University of Windsor teacher candidates through their practice teaching placements. 

Soumis explains that she takes inspiration from her own associate teachers who left a lasting impression on her. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

Randy Beardy never imagined himself becoming a teacher.  

“I’m kind of a rebel at heart,” he laughs. “If you tell me to do something, I have a hard time doing it.”   

Rather than following in his mother's footsteps — also a University of Windsor BEd alum, Beardy (BA Psychology ’17, BEd ’24) says he wanted to become a football coach. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

While having your dad teach at your high school may sound like a nightmare to some, for Brett Bjorgan, it was an inspiration. 

“My dad is a secondary physical education teacher, and my high school experience was great having him there as a mentor and making sure I was doing the right thing and staying in line,” he says. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

No matter where secondary visual arts teacher Sanja Srdanov (BFA ’01, BEd ’02) is teaching, her focus is both student-centred and grounded in craft. 

A Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the University of Windsor, Srdanov emphasizes the importance of being a practicing artist as a visual arts educator. 

By Kate Hargreaves 

When Samita Sarkar was a new teacher, a lot was happening in the world. ChatGPT was going viral online — and so was a global pandemic. 

As a secondary school English teacher, she found herself confronted with issues around artificial intelligence (AI) and student writing assessment with little to no policy guidance. 

“We had to make high-stakes decisions around academic integrity, assessment and what counts as ‘student writing’ with no institutional guidance or administrative support,” she says. 

Guest submission by Dr. Scott Martyn

Having studied the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games (Milano Cortina 2026) held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy this past semester, five University of Windsor graduate students from the Faculty of Human Kinetics received an Olympic-calibre experience of their own last month.

The group, led by UWindsor professor Dr. Scott Martyn, travelled to Toronto, Montreal and Lake Placid, New York, to experience the modern Olympic movement first-hand.

By Kate Hargreaves 

How can teachers ensure inclusion in gendered languages like French? What can they do to address technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence? What would an intersectional feminist approach to teaching the history of prohibition look like? 

These are among the questions that a new pressbook out of the Faculty of Education begins to answer with resources entirely created by teacher candidates. 

By Lindsay Charlton 

From social media posts to public memos, how municipalities communicate with residents is a delicate art — one where every word and visual can shape how people engage with their government. 

It’s something third-year communication, media and film student Adrian Yonan learned firsthand during his internship with the Town of Tecumseh. 

By Sara Meikle

For Dr. Rebecca Balasa, the path to nursing didn't start in a classroom.

Her own experiences as a pediatric patient introduced her to the role nurses play, not only in delivering treatment, but in providing comfort and connection.

“I was really inspired by my own healthcare team,” she said. “It was through my relationships with nurses and seeing everything they do that I decided to go into the profession.”

That sense of purpose continues to guide her as she joins the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Nursing.

By Sara Meikle

For students at the University of Windsor Faculty of Law, mooting and negotiation competitions are more than academic exercises — they are integral to how students grow into confident, capable legal professionals.

Mooting, a simulated court hearing usually focused on appeals, challenges students to think critically, advocate persuasively and navigate complex legal and ethical issues under pressure.