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The Nigerian native says, “There is no such thing as too much education”
Born in Nigeria, MasterypPrep instructor Ayomide “Ayo” Awosika was raised in a culture that heightened the value of education.
“Getting an education has always been a priority in the culture I was raised in and one of the most important things to my family. There is no such thing as too much education,” said Ayo, who joined MasteryPrep as an instructor in August 2021. Ayo teaches ACT®, SAT® and TSIA2 boot camps. “I tell my students in our boot camps that even if you don’t feel now that you want to go to college, take advantage of every opportunity in your life to earn an education because in three, four, five years, you may feel differently and need that education to achieve something.”
Out of college, Ayo dedicated his career to education by joining the City Year AmeriCorps program. City Year AmeriCorps members serve in schools that often have students who lack access to learning environments and resources due to systemic inequities that disproportionately affect students of color and students growing up in low-income households. AmeriCorps teachers prepare students with the social, emotional and academic skills and mindsets needed to succeed after school.
The City Year AmeriCorps program placed Ayo in FirstLine Schools, a charter school operator in New Orleans. The educator facilitated a structured learning environment for 180 middle school students by implementing behavioral management systems. He also hosted and co-coordinated multiple community events for children, staff and families. “It brought me a lot of joy to work with middle schoolers, at age where you can start to make a difference in kids’ lives.”
Ayo’s success with FirstLine landed him a full-time job with the charter school operator as a middle school special education teacher for 7th and 8th grade. In addition to teaching, Ayo implemented 504 and IEP (Individualized Education Plan) documents to ensure students’ academic, social and behavioral needs were met. “That experience helped me because now every school I teach at, if a student has an exceptionality, it helps me process which resources they may need.”
Ayo stayed within the FirstLine system and transitioned to an elementary school lead teacher at Arthur Ashe Charter School. “That was a fun age with kindergarten and third graders in ELA, but I realized I missed working with kids near high school age,” Ayo said. “I knew I could take that same joy I had of making classes engaging with elementary and middle schoolers to the high school level with kids who had good heads on their shoulders and needed someone to help guide them at a critical age.”
“Students see skills and strategies that they critically need work in real time. MasteryPrep makes sure we are all consistent and on the same page with how the curriculum is taught, and we are always supported before we go into a school,” the teacher said. “A big weight is lifted off my shoulders because I know the material I will be teaching. It then becomes a fun game with how I gear it to my students, and there’s great joy when they’re working on something and they’re not really getting it, but suddenly it clicks, and everything makes sense.”
With a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and emphasis on creative writing from the University of Wisconsin, Ayo enjoys teaching standardized test prep material centered around English, Writing & Language, and Reading.
"One of my favorite strategies is related to skimming and scanning in reading because I play a game with the students of who can be the first person to find the word on the page. It gets them engaged. I also enjoy teaching Dual Passages when students figure out if authors are agreeing or disagreeing. I get insight into how students are processing the information and helping them understand the authors’ points. It’s a good way to grab the students’ attention of 'What did I just read? Did I just glaze over a bunch of words for the last two minutes, or did I pay attention to what I read?' Those are valuable engaging moments."
About MasteryPrep:
Founded in 2012, Baton Rouge-based MasteryPrep provides mastery-based college readiness services and resources for the SAT®, ACT®, TSIA2, EOC, and WorkKeys®. MasteryPrep is the nationally preferred SAT and ACT prep provider of the Council for Opportunity in Education and partners with schools and districts to level the playing field on standardized assessments and accountability measures. MasteryPrep is ranked among the Inc. 5000 “Fastest Growing Companies,” featured by “Entrepreneur 360,” and selected among the “Growth Leaders” by Louisiana Economic Development for two years in a row.
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