Cassandra Chan

Educator/Teacher, Foodie

I AM… CURIOUS I love to try and learn new things because I strongly believe that a well-honed sense of curiosity matched with conscientious and insightful thinking can help us bring about concrete change in the world. CREATIVE I am an advocate of the arts because both artists and scientists try to create and re-create meaning of the world around them, using the tools available to them. I hope I can instill in my students a desire to think outside the box-like classroom and apply their knowledge in fun and useful ways in their own lives and the lives of others. CONNECTED Being born in Canada, raised in a traditional Chinese household, linguistically caught between my native language and my mother’s language – I can attest that place and culture strongly influence the way I perceive and learn about the world around me. Transnationalism, a social phenomenon born out of the continuously blurring boundaries between nations and cultures, means that the schools we teach in will only continue to increase in complexity as our students draw their multiple identities into one place. It is important, then, for us to understand how we can connect with the diversity of learners in our own classroom, so that they can practice expression of their identities in the many different contexts of life.

social and environmental education, language learning, poetry, and scientific literacy.

intercultural communication, interdisciplinary science classes, outdoor education

biology, chemistry, education, ell, public speaking, science, secondary school education, spoken word

My first encounter with TED was in my first year at university at a TEDx event! I fell in love with the idea of spreading innovation and creativity around the world.

(moderately at) Taekwondo, drawing, writing poetry