Louisa McGlinchey
When Louisa McGlinchey graduated from UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of Education program in December 2021, she imagined she’d be heading straight into a classroom of her own. Instead, an unexpected opportunity emerged—one that allowed her to experience nearly every corner of the school.
As an Indigenous Support Teacher, her role followed a steady rhythm of small-group work, classroom support, and constant movement throughout the school.
“Morning was always a great time,” she recalls. “I’d take small groups—probably start with about 20 minutes with two students reading, and then I might grab another group of two. That could be reading as well.”
Some mornings included additional speech-support time.
“A couple of my students were seeing the Speech Language Pathologist, and if they needed extra support, I would take them,” she explains.
From there, she would move into different classrooms to help with whatever students needed that day.
“I’d be supporting reading or writing, and then over snack time I would take a small girls’ group. We’d be working on building connections, building friendships, friendship skills—some social and emotional support.”
The afternoon brought even more variety, often taking her back into classrooms to support learning goals and activities. Most days ended with her working one-on-one with a student on occupational therapy goals, following the recommendations set out by the Occupational Therapist. Throughout it all, she built relationships that grounded and strengthened her work.
“Even though I didn’t have my own classroom, the relationships I developed made up for that,” she says. “I really felt part of the community.”
With students, those relationships were essential to any progress.
“I think the relationship piece was so important,” she explains. “Because I wasn’t their classroom teacher, I had to come in and build those connections first.
That was essential to any work I was actually going to get done with them.”
Seeing students grow became the highlight of her year.
“It felt good knowing that being an extra support in the building, especially for Indigenous students, was making a real difference. And I know the staff felt that too.”
The biggest challenge, she admits, was time.
“There was never enough time to support students in all the ways I wanted to,” she says. “With so many kids, you can’t see everyone every day. Part of the learning was accepting that I could only do so much.”
Though she’s moving on to new opportunities, the experience has stayed with her.
“It was one of the most flexible, rewarding positions I’ve had,” she says. “I got to see students in every grade, support lots of different learning styles in lots of different areas, and adapt to what was needed in the moment throughout the school. Supporting in the classroom as well, I got to see so many different teaching styles. I learned so much about what I like and who I want to be as a teacher.”