A Teacher Who Cares

Quick Facts - Tim, who was originally from Michel Villlage, is teaching in Dillion. He enjoys music, reading, traveling, and being the father for two girls he is raising. If you don't find him in school, you might locate him at his favorite fishing hole trying to catch the huge one that got away.

I started NORTEP in 1994, I interned in Beauval with a grade three teacher named Leda Corrigal. After that my first job was in Fond du Lac. I went up with Lance Byhette in 1999. I taught grade 9 there for a year. I returned to Dillion the following year because they funded my teaching education. This is my third year here. My first year I worked with behavior disorder children in a 4 - 5 split class. Last year I taught a modified grade 4, and now I am teaching a regular grade 5 class.

Leaving Michel Village was interesting. It only has a small population, at that time around 50 people. My experience was one of moving from school to school. I went to grade 9 here in Dillion, and then went to Buffalo Narrows Twin Lake School. I was also in school at Valley View in Beauval. As a young person trouble was my middle name. I got thrown out of two schools because of my behavior. Then one day I woke up. I said to myself, hey, I have to finish school somewhere. After being two years behind my peers, I decided to get my feet on the ground and move ahead with my life. Eventually I got my grade 12, but my marks weren't good, so I went BIEC to raise up my marks.

My first job was in Michel Village. I was hired to do filing work in the village office. I worked with Resources for awhile, and then I went into a Forestry Program for 2 and half years. I also worked as a bartender in Fort McMurry.After that I was hired as a teacher assistant. I loved working with children, and I could understand where the kids where coming from since I was from the community. I know their home life, their families, and I knew the kids since they were little. I know many teachers come from outside our community and have a hard time understanding where these kids were coming from. Since I really enjoyed the work, I thought - "Hey if I become a teacher, I would have better insights into where these kids are at."

I was accepted into NORTEP, and had really good experiences there, especially when I went to Saskatoon, for my 3rd year. I have to say though that with each change in my life (going from community to community), I was dealing with "Culture Shock." as you can imagine coming from a small village of Michel. My grandmother had 18 grandchildren, and I was the oldest one to try to get a higher education. Since I competing my grade 12, two other relatives have since graduated, and decided to get a higher education. The NORTEP program was excellent. It was field based, which lead to a lot of hands on learning. What I mean by that is that the theory class were presented in LaRonge for 1 to 2 weeks, and then we would go out into our communities to try out what we learned.

What's rewarding about the job is watching and helping kids learn. Its a great feeling when the kids smile and say "Hey, Mr. Laplante, I can do this." That is worth more than if someone were to give me a million dollars. Five years from now I want to be in administration, particularly the director. Right now I work with admistration a lot, and I enjoy the experience.