Third grade teacher Ashley Letendre has been named the 2025 Teacher of the Year representing Long Branch Elementary School. Letendre brings to the table a combined 17 years of elementary and middle school teaching expertise, including in other states with significantly larger school systems. But despite her breadth of experience, Letendre conveyed an aura of understated humility during a recent interview with The Nugget, repeatedly crediting her teaching success to years of observing her peers and co-workers in action.
She said she was both “very surprised” and “very honored” after learning of her first career Teacher of the Year win.
“We are so blessed to have Mrs. Letendre as part of our LBES family,” LBES Principal Sara Fain told The Nugget when asked about her school’s latest star.
FORMAL TRAINING
Letendre is originally from Chicago, but attended college at Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, right outside of Milwaukee. She earned a degree in Elementary Education with a language arts emphasis and began her career in 2007, teaching at the middle school level in Wisconsin.
Letendre moved to Dahlonega in the summer of 2018 and went to work for Long Branch Elementary School, and in the six years since has bounced back and forth between teaching second and third grades.
When asked to compare teaching elementary versus middle school children, Letendre said the two experiences are mostly similar.
“The biggest difference between middle [and elementary] is the intensity of some of the behaviors are obviously increased when you get older. But otherwise, the more you get to know them, no matter what grade level you’ll have, you’ll have a variety of abilities in your class. No matter what grade level you’ll have, you’ve got a variety of personalities in your class,” she explained. “It’s not necessarily, better or worse … it’s just different.”
Letendre said her favorite part of the job is getting an opportunity to know both the students and their parents.
“No matter what grade it is, I’ve enjoyed that part the best. Getting to know the kids, getting to know the families. That’s been something different about it here, being such a small community, you get to know the families a little bit more. Especially in elementary school, just because I have a smaller amount of kids,” she said.
She added that she especially enjoys observing each individual student’s unique strengths and weaknesses, as well as their progress over time. To that end, she believes maintaining an open dialogue with parents is critical.
“I mean, especially if there’s something going on at home, too, sometimes it helps just to know a little background information. Because, especially at the younger age, it seems to carry over a little bit more into the classroom, if it’s affecting them elsewhere,” Letendre explained, adding that communication should work in both directions.
“As a parent, you don’t want to be left in the dark, because the kids are here a lot of the day. So I think [parents] should know what’s going on, and obviously how their kid is doing,” Letendre said.
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES
As for her winning formula in the classroom, Letendre believes a healthy balance of technology and hands-on learning is important. She said the challenge is making her students “aware of how to use the technology, but not making it a complete primary focus.”
“If we’re able to do anything hands-on, obviously I would like to do that. Project learning is great for them,” Letendre said, because it helps students develop independence and confidence from an early age.
As an example, she mentioned that her third graders had just finished studying government, and that the bulletin board in the hallway was covered in postcards that they had written to their local congressmen.
In another project learning assignment, students “did research on a president, but they also had to work on public speaking, and they presented their presentations to an older grade.”
Letendre said her students were “so proud of themselves” by the end of the project.
“They were very nervous to begin with, but they did great and they felt like they could conquer anything when they were done,” she said happily.
Fain said she is also very pleased with Letendre’s approach.
“The engaging tasks she plans for her students provides them with hands-on learning opportunities. I recently walked into her room and saw students making model Indian longhouses, teepees and wigwams from real materials they collected from nature. She has served on our School Governing Council and is also an advisor to our Lego League at LBES,” Fain said.
Letendre said this is the second year she has advised the Lego League.
“The unique part about it is that there is obviously a computer and robotics and STEM part of the Lego League. However, there’s also a big research and writing part of it, and a public speaking part of it. And so, once again, that’s where my strength is … there are some other teachers that help, and their strength is the computer part and the coding part,” she said.
CO-WORKER COLLABORATION
In fact, Letendre said that collaboration with her fellow teachers has been critical to her overall development as an educator.
“Everywhere I’ve gone, I have learned the most from my coworkers and my teammates. I credit them a lot for where I am today, and how far I’ve come since I started. Because if I look at myself back then, I was a completely different teacher that was struggling a lot more. So if I hadn’t worked with the amazing people that I’ve worked with, it would have been a longer, tougher road,” she said.
“My team makes me who I am … A lot of my previous teammates have been Teacher of the Year, so I know I’ve learned from great people,” she added.
PERSONAL TIME
Letendre said her favorite things to do in her free time are to travel and spend time at home with her family.
She and her husband, Mike, have two children: daughter Alexis attends sixth grade at the middle school, while her son Josh is in fifth grade at LBES.
“Not that I go necessarily exotic places, but I like to travel with my family. Even if it’s just some place for a weekend trip, we like to go do that.”
She said the family’s most recent outing was a trip to Dollywood over Labor Day weekend for her daughter’s birthday.
Letendre also really enjoys crafting, when she has time.
“I love doing that. And then honestly, just hanging out with my family, as cliché as that sounds. That is relaxing on the weekends for me,” she said.
This is the third in a series of five articles spotlighting the 2025 Teachers of the Year winners in Lumpkin County.