Rachel Frigon working one-on-one with a student in her classroom.
First Experiences
Teachers describe the tumultuous journey of having 2020 as their first year in profession By Kelly Hagen, NDU Communications
First days are rough on everyone. Be it the first day at a new school for students, or the first day at a new job for adults. Every first day is a brand-new experience in a new setting, while meeting new people and learning new skills. That’s a lot of firsts for anyone. What if you combined the experiences, though? What are the first days like for a teacher at a new school, starting their career in education? “Most days are pretty fun,” said Rachel Frigon, a first-grade teacher at Washburn 4
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ND United Voices
Elementary School in her first year. “We have a fun time, learning, doing different things. But there are some days where sometimes I’m not exactly sure how to help one of my students, or if a few of them are having problems with each other, what to do with them? A couple of my students are lower academically, where do I start with them and how do I reach them to help them move towards where they need to be?” For Frigon, that first day in a new job came at a smaller school, in a rural community. That was ideal for her, as she is originally from an even smaller community, Finley. In 2018, her
