Meet Madame Oz

Hello everyone! Welcome to my very first blog post!

I thought it would be nice to get personal for a moment so that those of you who follow me can get to know who I am as a person. Being an educator is a HUGE part of who I am, but that's certainly not all.

GROWING UP

I was born in Manitoba, and relocated to Ontario as a kid. I still frequently visit Manitoba, at least once a year and enjoy staying in touch with my family there. The name "Oz" comes from my last name, Oswald. The Oswalds have been in southern Manitoba for several generations now. I'd like to think that being an educator runs in my blood, because my great-great-grandparents, Amelia and Johan Oswald opened up their own schoolhouse in the early 1900's and The Oswald School District was around for a while, before becoming a part of the Hanover School District. Here is a picture from the summer before I started Teacher's Education, when I paid the Oswald Schoolhouse monument a visit with my dad.

I spent the majority of my childhood in Ottawa. I was a gymnast and then a competitive cheerleader, and started working with kids at the age of 12, babysitting children in the neighbourhood and from church. I started coaching gymnastics at 13, and did this for almost 10 years, until I started Teacher's Ed!

Knowing I wanted to teach and work with kids, I focused all of my work experience in this area. I worked as a coach supervisor, an after-school program leader, a summer camp counselor, and an Activity Staff at an International Summer Language program (pictured here). I also worked as a Tutor in the Schools with the OCDSB. This was the first time, at the age of 19, that I started working with students struggling to read. Looking back now, it's crazy to think that I have been helping struggling FI readers for over 12 years!

UNIVERSITY

I attended the University of Ottawa and studied Psychology & French as a Second Language. I focused most of my psychology courses around child development, families, and education whenever possible. This was also when I learned French! I was NOT a French Immersion student, which tends to surprise people. I had always wanted to learn French properly, and jumped at the chance at uOttawa, Canada's largest bilingual university. I minored in French as a Second Language, and was taking immersion classes by my 4th year. During University I continued working with children, and also got involved in my community through joining a sorority. This provided me with amazing personal development, lifelong friends, and great leadership opportunities that I continued to enjoy after university ended.

Following uOttawa, I moved to Vancouver and studied French Education at the University of British Columbia. I completed my practicum in Richmond, BC and taught my first year there as well.

CAREER

I have taught in 4 school boards in 3 provinces! I started off my career in 2015 in the Richmond School District. I taught Grade 5/6 my first year of teaching, which was so much fun. The photo to the right is from my first year of teaching! What an amazing learning experience. I didn't know it then, but at the time I probably had the easiest class yet of my career!

The following year I moved to Abbotsford, and took my first position as a Grade 1 teacher. This was the experience that ultimately inspired my passion for Early Reading Instruction in FI. After moving from 5/6 to Grade 1, I was completely baffled about how I was supposed to teach these kids to read! I remember being given Aline abeille to teach the letter A, and thinking.... there's got to be something I can give these kids that they can actually READ. Pictured to the left is my old classroom in Abbotsford. I've always tried to make my classrooms a beautiful, cozy space... but this room was the best!

Thankfully, my principal and coworkers were also very passionate about early literacy instruction. During my time in Abbotsford I attended a number of workshops and trainings. I attended sessions and was inspired by educators like Dr. Janet Mort (Joyful Literacy), Dr. Shelley Moore (Inclusive Instruction & Meeting Diverse Needs, whose book is linked here), and Dr. Nancy Wise (Reading Interventions for French Immersion Students). I attended many workshops organized by the school board, and collaborated with so many very passionate teachers at my school. We did a book study on Catching Readers Before They Fall,.

I began developing Sound Science during my 4.5 years teaching Grade 1 EFI in BC. It started off as a way to make reading instruction more targeted to the needs of my students, but has become so much more since then. Back then, I used to joke about opening a Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

In 2020, I moved back to Ottawa and taught Grade 1 for a year and a half with the OCDSB, before deciding to settle on teaching in the York Region in 2021. I have been teaching Grades 2-3 in the York Region ever since. 4000+ km away from Abbotsford, and I'm still trying to make my classrooms as cozy as possible!

PERSONAL LIFE

2020 was a big year! I moved back to Ontario, adopted one of my current fur children, Lucy, and reconnected with an old friend from high school, who is now my husband, Yiqi Zhang, who is a realtor and photographer. During the lockdowns, I trained my puppy, developed an enduring love of exercising and nature walks, and really locked in on my product development. This was when starting a Teachers Store became more of a reality.

Lucy and I became big-city girls in 2021 with a move to Toronto!

My now-husband encouraged me to take the leap and start publishing my resources that summer. I had been sitting on a pile of amazing resources for so long, but was nervous about putting them out there for the world to see. In August 2021, Madame OZ TPT was born in the downtown condo that we shared with a 95-pound dog!

Fast-forward to now, we have relocated to the York Region, and added another dog to our little family, Bear! We got him in 2023, and he and Lucy are little besties.

Yiqi and I have enjoyed doing some traveling together in the last few years, with a highlight being our cross-continent road-trip. We drove over 10 000km with our dogs and saw Yellowstone, The Grand Canyon, the Corona Arch, Monument Valley, and Zion National Park.

We got married in the summer of 2025 (making me Madame O.Z) and I can't wait to see where life will take us, personally and professionally!

Thanks for getting to know me! I look forward to connecting over Growing Read Readers and French Phonics!