Hello, my name is Ruthann Hertel and I am so excited for another year at Ascent Academy West Valley! This will be my 5th year with Ascent and I am excited to transition from my 4th grade classroom to schoolwide instructional coach. I love our students and our teachers and I look forward to partnering with them to create a schoolwide love of learning and exceptional educational experiences! My love of teaching will guide me to be a support for all teachers to build lifelong learning in our students. 

As a coach I want to build relationships where respect, trust, communication, kindness, compassion, and professional growth are fostered. I believe that every student is an individual with their own strengths and struggles, and that goes for teachers as well. Classrooms are where learning happens and I want to help teachers reflect on their learning, on their strengths, on their struggles, and their growth. I want to foster a love of professional learning. I want to help teachers hone their craft, to learn new techniques of teaching in creative and innovative ways, to make mistakes, to learn and to grow. I want to provide teachers with resources and support on building relationships, social and emotional learning, problem solving, implementation of SEM, strategies of engagement, learning new instructional strategies, classroom management, and to think critically and reflectively. I want to be the teachers' cheerleader, data analyzer, resource finder, advocate, and professional learning partner.

About Me:

I graduated from the University of Utah in the College of Education for Elementary Education in 2015. I have my ELL endorsement, and coaching endorsement, and am finishing my reading endorsement and my masters degree. I love to learn! and I love to read! I also love to garden, watch my chickens, play with my sassy cats and silly dogs, and spend time with my family.

I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah but have moved several times, once all the way to California. I have been married for 21 years and we have one son, who I love more than I could have ever imagined. He has made me a better person and a better teacher. I am a teacher mom and I understand completely how it is to have a student at home. He has helped me understand what it is really like to be a student right now, and to know that we need to do all we can to help them grow and to adjust to the world around them. This year he will be in junior high at the West Jordan Ascent Campus.

My love of Learning:

My love of learning started when I was very young. I was always learning and striving to discover more, I was always asking why?. When I was in 8th grade, I had an Earth Science teacher who spiked my curiosity for science and the love of learning, and from that moment on I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to introduce the power of knowledge to a child, to nurture a child’s willingness to learn, to watch the ideas bloom into full blown accomplishments. I want to see a child’s face when they discover a new idea or way of thinking. I want to know that I made a difference in their life and now I can extend that into many classrooms by being a partner with teachers who strive to spike curiosity in so many more students. 

I became a teacher to be what I wanted for my own son, a great teacher, and now I will be what I needed for myself as a teacher, a great coach. Someone to be in their corner, to help them feel validated and supported, who they can count on when they need help finding a resource, discussing a strategy, asking questions, providing quality professional learning, looking at data, brainstorming, celebrating a small win, or providing a safe place to chat. We all need our "village" and I love that I am part of the Ascent family!