First grade teacher Burton joins RWE

One of the new faces you'll see at Ralph Witters Elementary belongs to Ashlee Burton, one of the trio of new first grade teachers for the district.

Burton comes to Thermopolis from Basin along with her husband Gerry, who is the new band director.

After completing college, Burton began raising her family. With seven children, she was kept busy, but added a home pre school to the mix, which she ran for 10 years.

"It was the perfect solution," she said. "I was able to be home with my kids."

Once they were all in school, Burton wanted to get back into education since she now had more time to dedicate to teaching.

Her children now range in age from 22 years old all the way down to fourth grade. She also has two grandchildren aged two and eight months old.

Burton feels things have definitely changed for the better in the education realm.

"They are now writing full opinion papers," she said. "Parents are always commenting, 'We weren't doing that kind of thing at this age'. These students are definitely on the ball with things.

"We're more open now to the way they learn, I think. We use different approaches with teaching so we can reach all the kids."

Burton said teaching was something she always wanted to do.

"We used to play teacher all the time when I was growing up," she said. "My grandmother was a teacher and she influenced me to go in this direction."