Colorado needs teachers. Thousands of them. Colleges in the state are graduating 25 percent fewer licensed teachers than they did six years ago. The crisis is most acute in rural Colorado, where turnover is high.
Which brings us to Dusty Mars of Ignacio.
After spending years as an oil production foreman, where he oversaw a dozen operators and 1,000 wells, an even bigger challenge presented itself. He was tapped to teach middle school math on an emergency credential. Soon enough, he found himself with a teary student.
“She was breaking down, she was crying, so after class was over was my planning period, I said, ‘Why don’t you just stay here until you’re ready to go on,’” he says, recounting the story for Boettcher Teacher Residency field coach Karen Lunceford.
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