Name: Nathaniel Wardwell
Breakthrough Program: Breakthrough Austin
Subject Teaching: 8th Grade Physics
School Attending/Year: Brown University 2014

Who are your Mentor Teachers? What do they bring to your program? To your department? To your skills as a teacher?

Well, the first day of classes is officially in the books! We’re all exhausted but enthused—this is going to be an amazing summer.

I think it’s only appropriate to give a bit of background on my mentor teacher, Laura Dolan, who is absolutely one of my greatest supports and a key reason that I feel comfortable in the classroom. Laura has taught science for several years in an Austin middle school. She worked as a mentor teacher at Breakthrough last year, and is such a calming, reassuring presence for all of us. She’s had some struggles with her classes before, but she’s brought them to us with total openness and a degree of humor that has really put our work into a healthier perspective. She’s always working to support our classes, and gladly has deviated from her plans to help us work out issues and troubleshoot potential problems.

I would write more, but lesson planning calls me—basically, mentor teachers rock. Laura has been an amazing resource of practical knowledge, emotional support, and a friend. Let them know how awesome they are!