By Derek Cornet

‘Life is an adventure’: Long-time English teacher retiring

Jun 11, 2018 | 5:00 PM

After a teaching career spanning more than 40 years, Lynda Renaud is ready for retirement.

Currently a Grade 10-12 English Language Arts teacher at Churchill Community High School, Renaud’s career began in 1977 at the Covent of the Child Jesus in North Battleford. She only worked there for two years, however, before Renaud and her husband, Denis, moved to Buffalo Narrows where she taught until in 1984. After eight years in Meadow Lake, she said they finally moved to La Ronge where she did some contract work, before landing a full-time job with the Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Sucker River. In 2002, Renaud was offered a position at Churchill and she’s taught at the school ever since.

“As a high school student, I had better marks in math and the sciences than I did in English,” she said. “Over the years, I developed a passion for English Language Arts (ELA), reading and teaching.”

Having dedicated much of her career to teaching ELA, Renaud said she did so because it’s important for students to learn reading and writing skills to be successful in life. She also added becoming a teacher is not just a job, as individuals need to be passionate about reaching out to others. Renaud added another aspect to life which ELA provides is critical thinking.

For instance, throughout the last 30 years, Renaud taught reading comprehension with the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A futuristic and dystopian novel, the focus is about a government which burns books because they don’t want people to think.

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“When I started teaching it, students could not understand a number of the concepts in it because it was just so much in the future,” she said, adding students are now understanding it more readily because what was written is coming true. “During my teaching career, I’ve been a proponent of having students think. I hope our society is not coming to be a group of non-thinkers.”

As for what the future holds for Renaud, she said she’s looking forward to spending more time with her husband, grandchildren and doing some travelling. She hopes she’s been able to make a positive impact on people’s lives and said it’s simply time for her to leave.

“I feel privileged I’ve been able to reach thousands of students and people during my career,” Renaud said. “Life is an adventure. It’s like when you read a book. You turn the pages and don’t really know what’s going to happen.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno