November 7, 2025 – Renewed & Reignited

We are all on a journey. I call mine “My Pedagogical Journey.” I spoke about it at an IGNITE session in Langley, BC. At the time, I had just left teaching in K-12 schools as a high school mathematics teacher, I think I may have become an elected school trustee while working on my dissertation, and I was one of the co-moderators on #BCEdChat on edu-Twitter (when Twitter was Twitter). Even just talking about where I was at that time, I was certainly in a state of transition. I was figuring out my next steps in my career, and knowing or not knowing, in my life as a whole.

Not to sound too traumatic, life has changed a lot since 2010. Even when I made this TEDxWestVancouverED video in 2017, I just finished my doctorate degree and still wondered what I was meant to do in life. Since this video, my mom passed away, I left the political side of education as as school trustee and moved to Prince George for work, and I am divorced from a 30 year relationship. Luckily, my kid moved up with me after the pandemic and I am still at my job, and now I am a new homeowner living independently and happily. Right now, I feel very aligned.

“Finding your place in the education system. Where is your best fit? How are we all aligned?” – Christine Younghusband – September 23, 2017

In Prince George, I am working as an Assistant Professor as a full-time term faculty member at the University of Northern British Columbia. My work is focused on teacher education, educational leadership, and intro to education. My work is currently 70% teaching, 20% service, and 10% research. Some of my teaching time is dedicated to the program in the School of Education, and I am engaged in work as part of my service such as being a member of senate, being a member of two senate committees, social media moderator for the School of Education, various committee work for the School of Education, and more recently, executive member of the Canadian Association for Action Research in Education (CAARE) as vice-president and program manager. I love this work.

I am involved in several research projects as a co-investigator and principal investigator, that are related to professional learning, out-of-field teaching, and transformative leadership. These projects may not resemble my dissertation exactly, that is, focused on mathematics education in the secondary years, but they are related to passion for professional learning, out-of-field teaching, and transformative leadership. I love the idea of ideating change, creating change, and being the change agent in education. Finally, I am also back to teaching, the primary aspect of my work at the university. I love teaching. It is something that I was meant to do, but what I love more about is the relationships, learning, and making connections to ideas, people, and the land and place. I am very happy.

I have been blogging since 2010 (I believe), or since 2011. I left teaching and I just became a school trustee. There has been many transformational moments in my life since such as the Pulling Together Canoe Journey, seeking help from others, and recent passing of a good friend and colleague of mine. Change is turbulent, unsettling, and uncomfortable. But sometimes, you have to endure the tough times to see the light. As much as I have been very resistant to change because I was too afraid of what’s on the other side, now I feel brave. I am not saying that I will shake the world, but what I am saying, I can only control what I can do, say, and feel. That’s it. Super empowering and it has created a lot of peace, happiness, and joy in my life. Today, I am aligned. I am in the right place in education (and my life).