TEACHERS
OF THE
YEAR ASHLEY WELLNER
SIXTH GRADE
ADVANCED ACADEMICS, SCIENCE,
SOCIAL STUDIES,
AND LANGUAGE ARTS
TEACHER AT MOSBY
WOODS ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL FAIRFAX, VA
conferences with students,
and would periodically use
my lip balm. They were so
worried I was putting glue
on my lips! I tricked every
single one of my students
and we laughed about it
for weeks. Their reactions
were priceless. It was a
great way to get everyone
to relax and smile.

NOMINATED BY:
MEENA B.

“Ashley Wellner
makes class fun
and energetic with
her positive upbeat
attitude. She enjoys
teaching, is popular
among her students,
and works well
in a diverse class
environment. My
son enjoys her class
and talks about her
teaching philosophy
at home about having
a growth mindset and
believing in oneself.

Ashley Wellner helps
students practice
mindfulness in class.

This quality of being
conscious helps the
students get focused
and perform well
in school. She often
plays music during
class assignments and
uses examples from
her life to encourage
students to be daring
and open their eyes
to have fun while
learning in non-
traditional ways; from
the world and people
around them.”
SPONSORED BY:
16 August 2017
What makes you excited
to go into your school
each day?
Knowing that I will
have exciting, relevant
conversations with
young people who have
so much to offer the
world. Each day brings
so many unsuspected
surprises. You never know
what will spark a great
idea, conversation, class
discussion, or teaching
moment. Why do you think
teachers are important?
In the sport called
school, teachers play
every role on and off the
fi eld. They are coaches,
teammates, cheerleaders,
fans, scorekeepers,
referees, concessions and
sometimes, even perform
the half-time show! Who
else do you know that can
do all that?
What is the single best
piece of advice you can
give parents of sixth-
graders? Trust us, support us,
and work with us. As
we prepare your child
for middle school and
the future, one of our
main goals is to teach
students to become more
independent, advocate for
themselves and challenge
themselves. Allow them
to learn from their own
washingtonFAMILY.com mistakes to prepare them
for the future. Encourage
them and celebrate their
accomplishments. Trust
the process. They are the
leaders of tomorrow.

What’s your funniest
teaching moment?
My funniest teaching
moment came in a time
when I really needed a
mental break from the
chaotic world we live in.

I wanted to lighten the
mood and remembered
that school can be fun,
for everyone! As I was
sitting at my desk using
Palmers Cocoa Butter Lip
Balm trying to think of
something fun to make
my students laugh, I
thought, “Man this really
looks like a glue stick.”
So, I decided to take the
wrapper off a glue stick
and wrap it around my
lip balm. The next day I
was having one-on-one
Do you have any tried
and trusted ideas or
activities for motivating
students? My students and I have
loved project-based
learning. It is a real way to
solve every day problems.

Students are presented
with a realistic challenge
and have the task of
coming up with unique
solutions to that challenge.

One of my favorite PBL
activities in social studies,
consisted of students
becoming songwriters
to create lyrics informing
people from the east what
to expect when moving
out west. To showcase
the fi nal products, groups
of students performed
their songs at a classroom
concert while the
audience sang along with
their lyrics. One student
even set up his tripod and
recorded all the songs!