Teacher of the week: Ashley Freeman

BOLIVIA, NC (WWAY) — Our latest Teacher of the Week is not like our usual award.

Ashley Freeman’s husband was a police officer killed in a car crash last month.

She’s back in the classroom already, and she says her students are helping her every day.

After suffering the loss of her husband, Freeman returned to work at Bolivia Elementary supported by her school family.

“I was really excited to come back and see the kids.” Freeman says, ” That was a positive think I had to look forward to and they were so happy to see me.”

She says the first day back was “hard, but it was also happy, because I had more hugs that day than I can count.”

She soon got back into the routine of teaching her first grade class where she counts the book “The Relatives Came” as a favorite she returns to every year.  It ‘s a story of hugs, love and a spirit of doing your best that Mrs. Freeman finds helpful.  Her motto is: “Just try hard. Just give your best effort.  I mean that’s all we can ask for anybody.”

As an avid reader herself, Mrs. Freeman says teaching her students to read is her favorite subject, but finds joy in them all.  “First grade,” she says, “is a big curriculum with every subject.”

In the end she says, however, that she mostly wants them to “be understanding of one another and learn how to be a good friend.”