We recently connected with Ar’Jillian Gilmer and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ar’Jillian, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
So right off the bat, my optimism comes from God. I know it isn’t acceptable to a lot of people, but we’re talking about me! Personally, my optimism comes from knowing, living, experiencing that all things really do work together for my good and that He who called me to this work will complete it. Whenever I do not see how things are going to work out in business; when it seems as though a student is never going to grasp the content I teach; or when I feel as though there are too many challenges to overcome; I feel the natural feelings, talk to my husband, pray, and remember that the God who called me to this work will fulfill it. I have no choice but to be optimistic about life when I look at it from this perspective.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I help people grow – academically, personally, socioeconomically!
My business (Gilmer’s Learning Solutions, LLC) (GLS)) provides academic support and whole family empowerment services to youth in grades Pk-12 and their families in the Little Rock region. GLS has been successfully serving families independently and through partnerships with other organizations since 2020. I am a licensed Arkansas teacher and administrator who is trained in the Science of Reading and has positive experience with teaching reading intervention in the public school and private education sectors. I get the opportunity to lead a team of trained Learning Solutions Experts (tutors) who positively impact the growth of each client, some of whom also work in the education field with vulnerable populations. GLS is based out of Mayflower, AR but has a physical location in the city of Little Rock and will be expanding to a larger facility in the city to accommodate more students in whole group, small group, and private sessions.
Our most recent work is Christian Microschooling by GLS, a microschool perfectly positioned to assist homeschool families with providing professional core academic instruction to K-8th grade students. Our microschool allows families to enjoy the flexibility of homeschool and its other conveniences while not neglecting important socialization and community engagement opportunities that children need to be well-rounded and successful individuals.
What’s most exciting about the work that I get to do is seeing the enthusiasm for learning that grows in a child when s/he is engaged in the teaching and learning process in a way that is not fully possible on a regular basis in a traditional classroom setting.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three most important qualities that have been most impactful on my journey of educational entrepreneurship are: 1)be and stay teachable – lifelong learning is something that an entrepreneur must embody. There will always be new trends, technology, business rules/guidelines, research, best practices, etc. and we must never wane in our commitment to improve so that we can offer top-notch, quality products and service. 2)be consistent – our supporters want to see us succeed, our audience wants to know what we have to share, our customers are looking for us to show up on a consistent basis, our networks want to introduce us to someone who could be integral to our business. The only way all of these things can happen and people not lose interest is that we are consistent in showing up and doing whatever it is that we do best. Though it sometimes seems that no one is watching, someone is always watching. 3)pray about everything – everything? Yes, every thing! Although it may not seem that prayer will give a quick enough return on the investment of time and dependence on God, it always gives the best and biggest return naturally and spiritually. On this journey of risking it all, I don’t believe that I can afford to not always pray first. In fact, I have many experiences of how horribly circumstances have been and how things have gone awry when I failed to pray.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Because my business is firstly about teaching the children, Zoretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain has played a major role in my development. Her book (and subsequent professional developments I have engaged in based on it) teaches me how to understand the way my students learn, best practices/techniques/strategies to develop authentic relationships with them and set the expectation that learning will happen intentionally. One of the most valuable nuggets of wisdom I have learned thus far from this body of work is that the relationship I have with each individual student is what drives the learning that they will do with and for me. Relationship is key.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gilmerslearningsolutions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gilmerslearningsolutions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyTeachGLS
Image Credits
Ebony Blevins, Jenn Missouri
