ETE graduate puts her skills to work
Rhonda Weissman, Class of ’09, is featured in the UD Messenger alumni magazine, talking about her teaching experience at Achievement First Endeavor Middle School in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“I’ve wanted to be a teacher since I was 8 years old,” she says. “When my high school guidance counselor suggested that I apply to UD’s education program, I immediately agreed. With UD’s excellent reputation and beautiful campus, I didn’t consider anyplace else.”
As a freshman at UD, Weissman enrolled in the dual teaching certification program for elementary school and for middle school English. She is now a fifth-grade literature teacher at Achievement First. She co-teaches a class with a special education teacher in which about half the students receive special education services. She also teaches a small reading group, an independent reading class and a reading skills class, where students read a text at grade level and write about what they have read.
“I am very grateful for the education I received at the University of Delaware, which helped me prepare for the realities of my field. Teaching students with diverse backgrounds has been an inexpressibly valuable learning experience and as rewarding for me as I’d always hoped.”