Editor’s note: To read profiles of all 2015-2016 Blackboard Awards honorees, click HERE!
Ashley Mendolia
Kindergarten Gifted And Talented
P.S. 15 M
Tell us about some of the special joys and challenges you’ve experienced as a teacher.
Working in NYC as an educator is an extremely rewarding job. Each day, I have the opportunity to inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Teaching can be a 24-hour-a-day job where you’re always thinking about the next day’s, week’s, or month’s goals and accomplishments. It’s extremely exciting to see your students’ eyes light up over new discoveries, or when they make connections to prior learning. It’s when I see the joy in their eyes over learning new things that I truly feel blessed and proud to be a teacher.
Please share a special project or achievement (or two) that you are particularly proud of from this year.
This year, I’m really proud of my kindergarten students as they took on the role of zoologists during our non-fiction ELA unit Zoology 101. My students became immersed into the world of zoology and studied a variety of animals in different habitats. They researched, created large-scale habitat illustrations, and even published their very own zoology chapter book. It was a wonderful, hands-on, and enriching experience.
Over the course of your career, what do you consider one or two of your greatest accomplishments?
I feel that with music and art as my passion in life, I am able to bring my passion into the classroom and make the subjects come alive. Bridging literacy and the arts is definitely an accomplishment I feel that I’ve met personally. Sometimes schools don’t even have arts programs in place, so I feel very fortunate that I am able to enrich the learning in my classroom by incorporating elements of the arts.
What drives you? What keeps you motivated and committed to being a dedicated and hard-working educator?
A passion for learning and teaching drives me. There is an ancient proverb that I came across a couple of years ago: “In teaching others, we teach ourselves.” I am motivated by this because as an educator, each day I am learning and growing.
Any special advice for parents on how they can best support their children academically at the grade level you teach? And more generally? And how they can have the most productive relationship with their children’s teacher and school?
Always encourage your kids to ask questions about everything, especially during the foundational years when it is important to encourage wonder. Additionally, recognize important behaviors such as persistence, motivation, and dedication. This will assist children in being lifelong learners.
