Her Story
About Ashlie
Ashlie Cotton has been working in the field of education since 2012. She earned her undergraduate degree from NYU where she designed her own major in interdisciplinary creative arts, supported by the Daniels Fund Scholarship and participation in the New York City Teaching Fellowship. Her career includes a decade teaching in the South Bronx at the Bronx Academy of Letters, where she joined the Instructional Leads Planning Team in 2019 to plan meetings, orchestrate formative assessments, and facilitate inquiry and intervisitations among teachers. After relocating to Colorado, she taught remotely during the pandemic, substituted, served as a lead teacher for summer camp, worked at a private school, and now teaches at a charter school while focusing on special education caseloads, family engagement, and advocating for neurodivergent learners and student access to opportunities through community-based literacy.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ashlie
01What do you attribute your success to?
My curiosity about how kids learn keeps me very interested, and I'm always trying to learn in the way that they learn, finding strategies and supports for neurodivergent learners, understanding different tools that help them access the same curriculum, and helping people become advocates for themselves with knowledge about opportunities and community-based literacy.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The ability to be listening and observant is a key factor, instead of trying to showcase your skills or prove something to people. The more that you're listening and observing and taking in and learning from other people, you're then able to implement things in a way that just kind of shows people what you know how to do. Take it slow, chill vibes.
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