Teacher of the Month October: Ashley Scherben

LENOX, Mass. — Morris Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Ashley Scherben has been selected for the October Teacher of the Month. 

 

The Teacher of the Month series runs for the next seven months in partnership with Berkshire Community College.

 

Scherben has been teaching for 15 years starting out as a substitute in the Pittsfield Public Schools. 

 

She got a job teaching at Morris 12 years ago and since then she has not only had an impact her students but on the community that she serves. 

 

Scherben said she is fortunate to be teaching at Morris because although it has to adhere to curriculum, the school supports creativity and experimentation when teaching. 

 

"I think something that's really special about Morris is that the teachers are able to be creative on how they deliver [the curriculum] and so if something's not working, we meet and we figure out how to make it work and we put our brains together," she said. 

 

"That's something that I'm really proud of here. That we have a lot of open-minded staff here that's really always working to help a child."

 

She studied English literature during her undergraduate time at Eastern Connecticut State University and obtained her teaching certification and master of education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 

 

Scherben wears many hats in her community including acting as the district's business liaison, being a mentor teacher, and sits on the Lenox Education Enrichment Foundation Grant Board. 

 

Her students and colleges described Scherben as kind, dedicated, fun, and a true leader. She has created a learning environment in which her students feel comfortable to express themselves and are able to look at problems from a different perspective. 

 

"She is really hard but in a good way. You can really tell that she wants you to learn. ... You can just tell that she really cares about you," one of her students said. 

 

"Whenever a student doesn't understand something like a math lesson she would go through it again step by step to help them understand it," another student said.  

 

She has spearheaded multiple successful initiatives at the elementary school including a donation drive for the Elizabeth Freeman Center and bringing the national Girls on the Run program to Morris. 

 

Scherben created the donation drive for the Elizabeth Freeman Center with her fourth-grade students five years ago after hearing on social media that the center's shelves were empty and it was in dire need of donations. 

 

Morris families were asked to donate items including food, bathroom items, baby necessities and more.

 

Last year, the school was able to donate two carloads of material to the nonprofit that is dedicated to providing tools and support to survivors of domestic violence. 

 

This program not only helps the students get involved in their community but it also encourages empathy and curates discussions about how not everybody has access to necessities, Scherben said. 

 

Even now the drive is going strong with handmade posters created by the fourth-graders lining the wall to encourage those who can donate to do so. 

 

"Each year our donation seemed to grow and so this year, we also reached out to the high school to see if they wanted to somehow get involved and they're looking into how they can kind of do this there as well," Scherben said. 

 

The October drive coincides with Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the donations will be transported to the center within the next two weeks. 

 

"We're never really done. So, if anybody wants to donate, I'm able to get those donations to the Freeman Center," Scherben said. 

 

"We're doing this for the month of October, but the Freeman center is always kind of in need of some different things. So, they're always looking."

 

The Girls on the Run is in its fifth season at the elementary school and currently has 25 girls participating, making it one of the largest programs in Western Mass.  

 

The nonprofit has more than 12,000 locations across North America and seeks to inspire and help girls build confidence and other skills through interactive lessons and physical activities. 

 

"There are a lot of students who are not into competitive sports, who are not into different types of clubs, and things like that. So, I feel like Girls on the Run gives them a space to come together to continue those social emotional lessons that we're learning in school each morning," Scherben said.

 

"It gives girls an outlet to express how they're feeling. It teaches them skills to build on those social emotional skills and it does it in a physical way that allows them to exercise and make healthy choices."

 

Scherben brought the program to Morris in September 2020, navigating not only the unknowns that came along with the constantly changing climate of pandemic but the unknowns involved in establishing a national program at her school.  

 

"I've always been a runner. I ran cross country and track through high school and college and continued running into my adult life. So, anything with running I was all for," she said. 

 

Scherben and her co-coach Michelle Allen had completed the program's training and kicked it off in a hybrid format three years ago. Now that the pandemic is over, they meet in-person twice a week.