Allyson Banks

I am a late-in-life teacher who started my teaching career after having two children and working as a drafting technician for nearly ten years. I first went back to school to teach high schoolers industrial technology but soon found that most schools were cutting back their career-technical education programs. So, I went back to get a Masters in middle school math education. This is what I currently teach.
I have found a passion for leading those 'kids in the middle" to set goals and reach for things they have only dreamed. I live in a relatively poor school district in a rural community where more than 70% of our kids qualify for free or reduced lunch. Most of these kids have grown up in the same area and never really traveled outside of the general area. Because of this, most of these kids don't realize how big and diverse the world is outside of their community.
My goal every year is to empower these kids with not only an math education but the knowledge to know what careers that are available to them to use what they learn. I also try to instill soft skills (initiative, manners, problem solving) that they can use in any career in the future.
I am a mother of two boys: one with ADHD and one with Autism. These two have made me a not only a better person but a far better teacher than I would have even been without them. I spend a lot of my free time reading about differently-abled students and best practices to reach them. I believe in teaching the whole child. In today's world, a teacher plays many different roles in the lives of his/her students. It is emotionally draining, relentlessly tiresome, and incredibly rewarding. I am a late-in-life teacher who started my teaching career after having two children and working as a drafting technician for nearly ten years. I first went back to school... read more