MEMBER PROFILE ASHLEY RIESKE
CHALLENGING STUDENTS DURING A CHALLENGING TIME
On a recent Tuesday, one of Ashley Rieske’s fifth grade classes is learning about whale flukes. Through online research, the kids find out each whale tale is unique, but the lesson doesn’t end on the web. The information is applied into hand painted killer whale tale sculptures. “We give them a different experience than what they get in their regular classrooms,” Rieske said. “We’re encouraging them to think in different ways.” As the Rogers School District’s REACH Coordinator, she splits her time between schools. In the lower grades, Rieske gets 30 minutes a week with all students to work on creative thinking or problem solving. Those schoolwide classes help to identify future participants for her pullout program serving gifted 3rd 4th and 5th grade students. “We get to come in and work on enrichment type activities and a lot of it too that most people don’t realize is social emotional,” she said. “They come and connect with other people that think like they do; to see that, ‘Oh I am different than everyone else, but there are people like me, just not maybe a ton of them in my class.’”
aeaonline.org
FALL 2020
5
