Ariella Fleischer is a new student teacher that started working at WA in the social studies department. She is working alongside Christopher Connole, who teaches U.S. History I, and has even started teaching some of her own U.S. History classes. After graduating from WA in 2019, she is excited to return to her alma mater.
Q: How has your experience working at WA been so far?
A: It has been wonderful so far. The faculty has been so warm and welcoming and the students have been so respectful.
Q: Do you feel any nostalgia regarding your time here?
A: There is definitely some nostalgia being back five years after graduating from here, but the building has also changed a lot since I was a student here. There are a lot of new teachers who weren’t here when I was a student, plus when I was in high school we had six classes every day. So, this five block schedule is totally different and has taken a lot of getting used to. But even with all of the things that are different, I spent four years going to school here, so it’s hard to not feel nostalgia simply being back in the building.
Q: What was your high school experience like?
A: I was very involved in high school. I played field hockey and [recreational] basketball, was president of Herren Project, an officer for DECA, SADD and Ghost & Goblins, a peer leader, and a member of French Club [and] Future Educators of America, and volunteered at Blanchard within their theater program and with the WA Camp Sunshine program. Additionally, I sat on the Handbook Committee and was the student representative for the Challenge Success Committee, plus I established and led the [Challenge Success] Student Advisory Committee. Being so involved led me to make some really great connections at WA with some members of the faculty, and my involvement in clubs and the people here helped me get through the stress and pressure of high school.
Q: What got you interested in the position?
A: I graduated with my bachelor’s degree a semester early in December 2022 and ended up being hired as a long term substitute teacher at Blanchard for four months. [I was] teaching seventh grade social studies, and I absolutely loved it. The following fall in September 2023, I began my masters program, and the final part of my masters degree is completing a six credit clinical practice within my license area. I have already passed my licensure tests, and am licensed to teach social studies in grades 5-12. I knew I wanted to complete my student teaching at the high school level since I already have experience at the middle school level, and after completing observations at nearly a dozen local high schools last spring, WA was one of my top choices for my student teaching placement.
Q: How’s your experience been working with Connole?
A: It has been awesome. He’s teaching all U.S. History I this year, so [he] has five classes of sophomores. The first two weeks of the school year I observed his classes, then started to gradually co-teach in some of his classes. During the fourth week of the school year, I took over one class, and have been teaching it by myself, while I continue to observe and work alongside [Connole] in his other classes. By mid October I will be the teacher of record in 4 of his classes and will teach solo until Thanksgiving break when my practicum finishes. When I was in high school I didn’t have any classes with [Connole], but I feel so lucky to have him as my supervisor for my practicum experience now, as he’s a phenomenal educator and I am learning so much from him.
Q: What is the impression you hope to leave on this school?
A: I hope that I can be an example for my students [and show them] that they are so much more than a number. Since I spent four years at WA as a student myself, I feel like I have a really good understanding of what many students here are going through, and I just hope my students can learn from me that they are smart, important, and valued no matter what level classes they take and that they understand it’s okay to be wherever you’re at.
Q: Do you have any siblings? And if so, who are they and have they attended WA?
A: I have an older brother who is three and a half years older than me. He was a senior when I was a freshman at WA, which was really nice because it was the first time we were in the same building for school everyday. He was able to show me how to get around the first couple weeks when I was still getting lost going from class to class, plus he was my ride to and from school everyday, so I was lucky enough to avoid having to take the bus. He played sports and did some clubs in high school too, which definitely played a role in me getting involved at WA as a freshman.
Q: We heard you’re studying criminal justice along with education. What got you interested in criminal justice?
A: I completed minors in both criminal justice and political science while majoring in history during my undergrad. I took the Criminal Minds college course my senior year at WA and that got me interested in criminal justice, so my freshman year of college I decided to take a criminal justice course. I found it super interesting, and decided to take another, then another, and soon enough declared a minor in criminal justice. Similarly, I signed up for an intro level political science class as a junior in college to satisfy a social science requirement, and enjoyed it so much I declared that as a minor too. Both minors had a lot of overlap with my major, and the content was interconnected in a lot of ways, which was really cool.
Q: What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
A: I’m a huge sports fan and also love musical theater. My favorite sport to watch is hockey, closely followed by football. And my favorite musicals are ‘Mamma Mia’, ‘Hamilton’, ‘Wicked’, ‘Legally Blonde The Musical’, and ‘In the Heights’. During the summer I’m the administrative director at [the Summer School for the Performing Arts], and during the school year I help out in the athletics department at WA with sporting events.
