My name is Ashley, and I am a sophomore from Dallas, Texas studying Elementary Education at Baylor University! I have a passion for working with children, and I hope to be a teacher at my old elementary school once I graduate.

As a child, I idolized the many fantastic teachers I was lucky enough to have in elementary school. My friends and I used to ask for the extra worksheets and then go home and play school. At an even younger age I would arrange my stuffed animals around the living room and “teach” to them while wearing my mom’s high heels. I always knew that I loved children and the idea of being a teacher; however, it was not until my senior year of high school that the idea of being a teacher solidified into a true career goal. I took an elementary teaching internship course and was able to spend my senior year as a 4th grade teaching intern at my former elementary school, Brentfield. I learned how to plan lessons that corresponded with TEKS and got to teach them, was able to observe my mentor teacher and interact with my students both in groups and one on one, saw first hand what being a teacher is really about, and realized that this is the path I am supposed to be on.  Both my course teacher at the high school, Mrs. Waller, and the teacher I interned for, Mrs. Howen, are Baylor Bears themselves!  I owe being an elementary education major at Baylor to my experience in this internship course. I realized just how much I love working with children, and how at home I feel not only in the classroom, but at Brentfield Elementary.

I am so passionate about working with children and making a difference in their lives. As a teacher I will be able to help guide my students as they grow throughout the year, and I hope to make the same kind of impact that is still with me today from my own former teachers.

So far at Baylor I have learned so much. I know what my path to graduation is going to look like and have built upon the skills I gained from my internship as well as learned so much more in addition to that like the one on one skills I learned from the tutoring experience in the Introduction to Teaching course. After graduation I will hopefully be an early elementary school teacher at Brentfield Elementary, or even another school in the Richardson Independent School District. No matter where I end up teaching I know that I will be happy to be pursuing my dream and hopefully making school a fun and enjoyable experience for my students.