How passionate teaching can inspire student success

A Look into Mr. Boudreau’s Classroom at Blyth Academy The Glebe 

It is no wonder that Blyth Academy The Glebe science teacher, Mr. Boudreau’s, earliest influence was Bill Nye the Science Guy. Much like the beloved tv scientist, Mr. Boudreau is passionate about, well, science. With a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience he is qualified in biology, chemistry, physics, and math and he brings the same amount of enthusiasm to each high school subject. 

“For me, the best part of teaching is learning new stuff alongside my students. On projects or in discussions, my students pull up all kinds of cool things or connections that I did not teach them, and I get to geek out a bit myself. Then I turn around and use those things to improve the class next time I teach it,” he said. 

Mr. Boudreau enjoys teaching and is always on a quest to make students feel comfortable with science. A subject that can be both daunting and exciting is best explored with a teacher that can encourage students to take risks, ask questions and get hands on with material. 

“If you were to walk into my classroom, you would see a teacher comfortable with the material. You would hear students comfortably asking questions and changing their views of the world,” said Mr. Boudreau. “Science should not be a scary place full of arbitrary rules and memorization – it is a framework for changing how we look at the world, for examining the unknown. The unknown is uncomfortable, so my goal is to promote comfort.” 

The most rewarding part of teaching in private education for Mr. Boudreau is seeing the impact he has on his students.  

“I had a former Blyth Academy high school graduate come back to the school for a visit and I asked how her science courses were going in university. She said “It has been two months, and they have not taught me anything you did not already cover in some way. I feel great.” It was nice to know that I had helped make her transition to post-secondary easier.” 

To Mr. Boudreau, the most successful students are the ones that never stop asking questions. He believes it is one of the most important skills a student can learn. 

“Everyone needs to learn how to ask good questions and handle doubt,” he said. “We live in a world where we can find an expert on any topic at any time, and it makes us feel like we should already know everything or that our questions are silly. Doubt and questioning are necessary for learning and learning to handle doubt by asking good questions is the most fundamental skill I can think of."