Ignacio, Cortez, Dolores benefit from training program
Boettcher teacher resident Dusty Mars says he’s amazed by what’s expected of teachers and how rigorously they’re evaluated compared with his former life in the oil field. “It’s a huge difference in the compensation level and what’s expected – between industry and being a teacher.”
Jenny Brundin/Colorado Public Radio
Lisa Wickman of Bayfield will be a resident at Ignacio High School working with a science teacher.
Jenny Brundin/Colorado Public Radio
Michelle La Paz trained as a wildlife biologist but has been a teacher’s aide in Cortez for the past five years. High teacher turnover doesn’t worry her as she’s not leaving the region. “Being from that general area, you’re kind of familiar with everything. You’re familiar with the kids and the community that just kind of keeps you there.”
Jenny Brundin/Colorado Public Radio
Snowberger
Colorado needs teachers. Thousands of them. Colleges in the state are graduating 25 percent fewer licensed teachers than they did six years ago. The crisis is most acute in rural Colorado, where turnover is high.
Which brings us to Dusty Mars of Ignacio.
After spending years as an oil production foreman, where he oversaw a dozen operators and 1,000 wells, an even bigger challenge presented itself. He was tapped to teach middle school math on an emergency credential. Soon enough, he found himself with a teary student.
“She was breaking down, she was crying, so after class was over was my planning period, I said, ‘Why don’t you just stay here until you’re ready to go on,’” he says, recounting the story for Boettcher Teacher Residency field coach Karen Lunceford.
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