Down to a science: Teczon uses transformative touch to connect MHS students
Manteca High science teacher Ashlee Teczon gives a lecture to her class about the Cell Dividing Graphing Activity. (Moises Ramos)
By DANIEL GARCIA
The Tower
Stepping into the empty classroom of Manteca High School just four months ago, Ashlee Teczon, the dynamic new science teacher, has not only brought her expertise to the classroom but has woven a tapestry of connections with her freshmen.
In a short span, Teczon’s impact extends beyond textbooks, fostering a learning environment where the bonds forged are as profound as the scientific principles she imparts.
Teczon loves to connect with students and why she cares to bond with them and not just stick to teaching.
“I like making connections with kids and helping them and then just kind of watching their faces light up when they get something,” she said.
Teczon may be a new teacher at Manteca High but she’s not new to the classroom. She has been teaching for eight years now. Her teaching career started in college during her senior year at Sacramento State, when an opportunity to become a teacher assistant opened up. She learned how important it is to bond with students.
Teczon later joined the staff at East Union High School, where she would become a science teacher. She was then allowed an opportunity to join Manteca High and become an AP Environmental Science and Living Earth teacher. Even though she has only been at Manteca High for four months, she has already made an important impact.
“She understands us as students, personally, and she knows what we’re going through because she’s been through it before,” said Ixtali Sarabia, a student in one of Teczon’s courses.
Added Axavier Martinez, another student: “I feel relaxed and warm, and I feel like it’s a very comfortable class because I can get along with the teacher and the students it’s a nice environment.”
The Tower was able to catch up and have a talk with Teczon.
Manteca High science teacher Ashlee Teczon explains to her students what they need to do for the day, using Microsoft Teams to connect her students with the content. (Moises Ramos)
The Tower: What made you want to become a teacher? Was it a past teacher of yours?
Ashlee Teczon: I’ve had good experiences with teachers in the past, but what I think propelled me into becoming a teacher was my senior year of college. In my senior year of college, as college students you always try to figure out ways to make money and so someone told me, “Hey, there’s this learning assistant program. You go in there you help the professors out with whatever they need.” And I thought okay, that sounds easy enough to make money. One of the things that he would ask us, as a professor that I was helping. He would say can you come up with warmup questions, study guide questions, can you help students? And I was essentially helping freshman in college. So, they were 18, 19 years old. And so, I would go around each table and kind of do that and the connections I made there with those students, that made me want to become a teacher. I like making connections with kids and helping them and then just kind of watching their faces light up when they get something, especially in science. Science can be difficult for a lot of students and so it was really good to know that I was guiding students to whatever answer they were looking for.
TT: How important do you feel your role as a teacher is?
AT: Oh, very. I mean when you think about what we’re dealing with. We’re dealing with kids, you know students, that are 14, 15, 16, 17 years old. And it’s like prime years. I’m one of their guiding figures in their life as an adult. And I take that role very seriously. And so, I think it’s an important role to play. You know oftentimes I find myself not just as a teacher but sometimes I get a little motherly, because I do have a son. And so, when I see some of the students not making the best choices, I might be mother goose and like, “Hey, maybe that wasn’t the best choice. How can we make things better?” And then sometimes they like to come to me with you know problems they’re having in their life with friends, at school, and we kind of problem solve together. So, I think the role that I play here as a teacher and hearing kids and making connections, is super important.
TT: Do you find it important to create bonds with your students?
AT: Oh yeah, I mean one of the very first things they taught me in my credentials program. So, I went to Sac State, and in the credential program the very first thing that they told us was you’re not going to get anywhere with any of the students in terms of teaching content and in terms of learning content from you if you don’t build relationships first. That was the first thing they told me — relationship building first. Get to know your students. See them as human beings. See them as kids who come from these different backgrounds and these homes before you teach them anything, (because) if you can get that first and you can build that connection first, the other part comes easy.
TT: How do you create bonds? Do you have a special technique?
AT: I don’t have a specific technique. It's mostly little things. … On Monday, when we came back from break, I started to ask them how their break went. Like what was one good memory that they had from that? And they got to share it out loud and you know, I went through to every person and said, “So what did you do over break? How did that go? Oh yeah you got to spend time with family. Oh, you traveled to Mexico,” or “Oh, you went here and did that.” And so, I think for me it's just getting to know my students as not just students but as people. What are their likes? What are their dislikes? How’s family? What sports are they involved in? Just getting to know who they are individually is what I focus on. And I think that helps me make connections with a lot of students. And I just really like talking to people. That’s it, that’s who I am.
TT: As a newer teacher, how did you make your environment feel safe and welcomed?
AT: I think the very first thing, Day 1, I told my kids the students here like, “Hey, I’ve been teaching for a while. I may be new here but I’m not a new teacher. I’ve been at this for like eight years now.” And I told them you know don’t be intimidated by me. I’m only 4’11 — how can I be intimidating?
My goal for you is to be successful but I can’t want it more than you do. So, I’ll do everything I can to push you to be better. If I see you not making the best choice — you have your cell phone, and you’ve had it out for the last two days. You know, I want to go over there and have a conversation and say, “Hey, maybe that’s not the best thing right now. Maybe we have to focus a little bit and shift things a little bit.” And so, I’ll do that. I’ll tell kids, I’m not getting after you or I’m not ragging on you because I’m mad at you. I’m doing it because I care. Because I know it’s a pain in the butt to have to take a class again. And so, I set this foundation in the beginning that I’m someone who cares. I’m someone they can talk to and don’t be intimidated by me. I’m not very big; I’m a tiny person. There is no way you can be intimidated by me.
TT: How long did it take you to create these bonds?
AT: I’d say it probably takes a couple of weeks. I would say a couple of weeks for the students that first come here and don’t have chips on their shoulders. But students that do come in with chips on their shoulders, you know because the system failed them, they don’t trust teachers, they don’t trust any adults in their life, it can take a couple more months. Usually about halfway through the school year, so October if we’re giving that kind of timeline. That’s what I mean, halfway through that school year or that first term. Usually takes a few months before those kids with chips on their shoulders really trust me. And it’s like, “Oh wait, she’s not lying, she is a caring person.”
TT: Do you have history with teaching? Did you use any different bonding techniques or the same as here?
AT: I feel like it’s the same. I feel like my first year of teaching, when I first student taught, one of the things that the mentor teacher and my cooperating teacher both noticed was how I connected with students. How I can say “Oh, hey you didn’t get that assignment right so how are things going with you?” And so, I get them to work but also connect with them in a way that says I care about you, and I want to know you as a person. And so, I don’t think the essence of what I do foundationally to connect with students, I don’t think that has changed. Cause I like talking, I like getting to know students, I like understanding what makes each individual tick.