In light of dreaming big and breaking down barriers, it’s important to recognize the St. E’s champions who make it possible for our students. Our teachers, coaches, and support staff do so much to aid in the learning process, because as we know, not everyone learns the same way. Part of St. E’s mission for equity is ensuring each and every one of our students has the opportunity to succeed.
Teachers are some of the biggest dreamers out there — they want to educate, inspire, and help as many students as they can, because an educated future is a better future. But even though our teachers dream of being the very best at their craft, sometimes time can be a barrier; not having enough classroom time or days in a school year can put pressure on the learning process for teachers and students alike.
At St. E’s, we have specially trained coaches and interventionalists that provide in-classroom support to our teachers so they can achieve their dreams. (So our students can, too!) Maggie Clark coaches our teachers in cutting-edge math pedagogy and is also a leader on our math curriculum review committee; she helps determine what gets taught in our math classes and the best way of teaching it. Similarly, Dr. Jones coaches our teachers on how to be more culturally responsive and move toward decentralizing Eurocentric Education for a more globally inclusive curriculum.
Ellen Parman is St. E’s literacy interventionist, who is always there to support and accelerate students, helping to foster (or rekindle) their love of reading and writing. And Julie Gold does much of the same kind of work but for math, assisting students in need and fostering their love of numeracy.
Without our skilled support staff, the teaching and learning processes would be a lot more challenging. But with their constant and reliable guidance, our teachers can continue dreaming about the change they will elicit and work to make it happen. And our students can dream about achieving all of their goals without certain learning barriers. Onward to a bright future!