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Ashley Gilmore, first year as a 3rd grade teacher, Howe School of Excellence, AUSL Gradate:
The AUSL residency program is vigorous. They don’t baby you. You have to be committed. But they truly prepped me for the environment. A lot of teachers say, “I didn’t realize this is your first year teaching.” I’m not struggling as I would if I only student taught for 16 weeks.
We get so much support to discuss strategies for teaching, discipline, etc., things you wouldn’t normally have if it was your first year teaching. I have a coach and we talk once a week about goals. We have a curriculum coach for math and reading.
I rarely have discipline issues at this point in the year, because you nip it in the bud early. But just the other day a student was acting up, so I just walked him down to the assistant principal and she saved me. The administration is there for you. They’re in the classrooms all of the time.
The kids don’t just sit in their seats. They get up and move around. They do centers, where some of them are working on computers, some are doing a spelling program, another group is reading. That way they get to be independent, and they’re challenged. During centers I am able to teach guided reading – which is reading at the level they are working at in order to advance them – in a small group which is both beneficial for enrichment and catching students up to their grade level.
Since I’ve been at Howe, the parents are constantly saying how much improved the school is. I had a student who had been promoted to fourth grade, but needed to be sent back to third. His mother was leery. I met her and explained why he needed to repeat. He has done extremely well and got As and Bs on his report card. His mother cried. She said, “He’s never had those before.” She said he gets home and does his homework, that he can actually do it, when he couldn’t before.
It’s why I teach. I see kids get it, and understand, and parents see I care. |
