Meet a Teaching Resident

My name is Holly Munce and I am a proud member of the first TRRE cohort. My placement is in grade 5 at Hillside Elementary School in Berlin with my strand focus of Elementary Education, kindergarten through grade 6. Over the summer, my community internship was two-fold. I was a volunteer with the Family Resource Center in Gorham, NH where I shared time observing Family Reunification Visits as well as spending time with the summer youth program for children 6-11 years old.

Prior to my participation in the TRRE program, I was an economics teacher at New Hampton School in New Hampton, NH, then settled in Berlin fourteen years ago. Since becoming a permanent fixture in the Berlin community, I became a parent to two amazing children and joined the Berlin School District as a Title 1 paraprofessional where I worked for six years.

Joining the TRRE cohort was a natural progression in my deeper connection to the community and to education. The program was suggested to me by my building Principal, Julie King. I have been supported, learning curriculum, competency-based grading and the daily teaching role ever since. 

I love that every day is a new challenge with opportunities for me to learn more about my students. To be able to develop a relationship with my learners as I find what sparks their interests, what drives and motivates them, and how I can help meet their learning needs to become masters of their learning adventure, is inspirational.

The TRRE program is an opportunity to provide qualified individuals with a means to earn a state of the art education and teaching certification. With embedded support throughout the program and for years afterward, candidates are given practical training throughout a calendar year. The TRRE program exposes outsiders to districts they would not otherwise consider. Bringing in freshly educated individuals who offer a new perspective on modern educational theory, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and the value of placed-based education allows interns the opportunity to apply our theory of learning in a classroom environment. We have an opportunity to be a vehicle for “minds-on” learning where the transference of knowledge promotes the development of insight and observation to application. 

We can help change the lives of students through education. With a promise to teach in the North Country for three years, TRRE candidates are establishing community connections while living, working and volunteering within the local community.