ASHLAND — BreAnn Fennell knew she wanted to teach at 7 years old.
A product of Ashland University, Fennell has been in the classroom for 15 years. The last two have been with Ashland City Schools as a third grade teacher at Reagan Elementary. Her passion lies in literacy.
“We have an author’s chair in my classroom, and we try every Friday to be able to share a piece of writing that (my students) are excited about,” Fennell said.
A children’s book author herself, Fennell said her favorite part of teaching is watching students grow in their writing capabilities and confidence over the course of a school year.
But Fennell also loves collaborating with her fellow teachers. This year, she’s taking that collaboration to a new level.
Fennell applied and was accepted for this year’s Scholastic Teacher Fellows cohort. The program selected only 12 educators nationwide.
What’s in the program?
The fellowship selects K-8 educators who “collaborate with Scholastic Education Solutions’ product development, research, and publishing teams,” according to Scholastic’s website.
It started last year. This year’s cohort, which Fennell is part of, is the second group of educators to complete the fellowship. This year’s fellows serve through July 2024, and finish the program with a capstone project.
The capstones are presented at a summit at Scholastic’s headquarters in New York City during the summer, a press release announcing the new fellows stated.
Fennell said she’s still in the early stages of the program and getting acquainted with her peers.
“I really feel like as a teacher, learning from other teachers is a great practice, whether it’s the teacher down the hallway or a teacher from across the country,” Fennell said.
She isn’t positive exactly what project she’ll work on yet. But, Fennell looks forward to creating and researching innovative teaching solutions with educators from across the country.
Applying lessons from home
Fennell said many of the attributes she hopes to bring to her cohort came from her work at Ashland City Schools.
The district, she said, works hard to make sure teachers have opportunities for growth and staff development. It also provides extra support for teachers to learn best practices, like literacy coaches.
“Really, I feel like I can take what I’ve learned from my time at Ashland City and help with our Scholastic project,” Fennell said.
She added that at the end of the day, though, her work in Ashland City Schools and her work with the Scholastic Teacher Fellows cohort this year go back to serving students.
“When students remember being in my class, I hope they remember literature and reading,” Fennell said.
