Experience is Everything

Kelsey, Arizona Teaching Fellow

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I think report cards can be a tremendous motivational tool. I am basing this off my observation of several students who, this semester, are submitting work on a regular basis whereas last semester they rarely did.  They are doing so because they hold proof of the results of working hard.  I think these students out of their previous failed efforts, are ready to experience success. As a teacher, my role for my students is to support them to try again, work harder, finally succeed and experience something different.

I became a teacher with the conviction of taking on the achievement gap that exists in education.  Sometimes it’s not easy but I hold myself accountable as well as my students to rise up despite the challenge.

This entire experience has changed me. I feel a sense of purpose, drive, and ambition, not just with my own goals, but for my students' goals as well; for I know that sometimes life’s most valuable knowledge cannot come from what is taught, but from what is experienced.

AZTF Fellow - Kelsey Ahlmark