By Victor Garcia and Anthony Gutierrez
Starting this 2016-17 year, Mr. Drew Berns joins the Warrior family as a reading interventionist, helping struggling readers improve their vocabulary skills along with reading fluency.
“We learn a lot of different strategies to help students improve their reading,” Berns said. “One of the best ones is to read a lot of different genres which helps out the students a lot.”
Although this is Berns’ first year at Pueblo, this is his 13th year of teaching. He has taught in several cities, including Nogales and Phoenix.
After graduating from Canyon del Oro High School, Berns then pursued several degrees from the University of Arizona, including a bachelor’s degree in family consumer services and a master’s degree in Mexican-American studies in 2014.
Berns said that the transition to Pueblo was an easy one.
“I really like our students here [at Pueblo],” Berns said. “I think it’s hard for our students to sit in a classroom for 90 minutes on block days [Wednesdays and Thursdays]—especially freshmen.”
Although he works primarily with freshmen, Berns said that he also helps juniors in RTI (Response to Intervention) classes.
“I really enjoy working with our students one-on-one, and I find it rewarding—for both the student and for me,” Berns said.
It’s no surprise that as reading specialist, Bern loves to read. He said that his
favorite novel is The Devils Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, a story about a group of immigrants crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S.