What sets The Donoho School apart is our faculty. These individuals provide the living curriculum for Donoho students in and out of the classroom. Each week we will feature a member of the faculty and his or her story. We hope you will enjoy getting to know our faculty members throughout the school year and will stop by each week to read the latest Donoho Story!
Donoho Stories: Mrs. Ashley Burrage
What do you teach at The Donoho School?
I teach music to all PK-Sixth grade students, and I teach Speech and Drama in the upper school. I am The Donoho School Theatre Director, and the Donoho School Fine Arts Department coordinator.
What do you love about The Donoho School?
The Donoho School has been my home for the past nine years as a teacher. I have been a parent of a Donoho student for eight years. The faculty and student body are like family to me, and I love the sense of community that we have here at our school.
Why do you like teaching at The Donoho School? What motivated you to become a teacher at The Donoho School?
I was introduced to the world of theatre and music when I was a little girl, and my entire career has revolved around bringing the arts into the lives of young people. The Donoho School has a phenomenal arts program, and I am really proud to be a part of a school that considers music, theatre, and the visual arts to be integral parts of our curriculum.
What is a unique experience, talent or interest that you bring to your classroom to help shape the learning experience of your students?
As a high school student I attended the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham for theatre and earned my Bachelor of Arts degree from Jacksonville State University. As an actress I performed roles such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Titania in Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Jenny in Neil Simon’s Chapter Two. After graduating from college, I worked around the country performing and directing plays for young people with the Missoula Children’s Theatre. I traveled to almost every state (only missing seven) and toured abroad in Canada, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, directing and acting in plays with students aged five to eighteen. Teaching young people all over the world gave me a real understanding of how the arts can unify us no matter how diverse we may seem. I have a bulletin board on my wall that says, “Music is a language the whole world speaks.” Hopefully I have brought what I learned from my travels into the classroom, have broadened my students’ learning experience, and have instilled in them a passion for the arts.
What sets Donoho students apart from students in other schools?
The Donoho School Fine Arts program offers high caliber, professional instruction, and I love that many of our students are not only athletes and scholars, but also very involved in the arts. We have football players that will leave the practice field and walk on to the stage for play rehearsal or into the choral room to get ready for All-State choir. Our Academic team members play instruments in concert and jazz bands and paint sets while also running track. At Donoho, the “Renaissance Man” – a person who is gifted artistically, physically, socially and academically – is the norm among the members of our student body.
The Donoho School tagline is “Discover the Difference.” How do you accomplish this in your role at Donoho?
My prayer is that I am the teacher who sees artistic potential in every child and helps them realize their creative abilities through drama, music and speech. I want students to “discover the difference” by instilling a life-long love of the arts in each child. I believe that an education with an emphasis in the arts changes your perspective and how you approach the world.
What do you want your students to gain from having known you?
When students leave my classroom or my stage, I want them to feel accomplished. When they successfully perform a choral concert, give their final speech, or take their bows after an encore curtain call, I want the sound of the audience’s applause to resonate within them forever. These students carry such light and creativity inside them, and I hope that knowing me allows them to shine for a long time after they leave The Donoho School.
Mrs. Burrage received her B.A. in Theatre Arts with a minor in Communication from Jacksonville State University. She is married to Randy Burrage and they have two children, Zach and Griffyn, ’22. They reside in Anniston, Alabama.
