LITTLE ROCK — Three longtime teachers are retiring this year from Heber Springs Middle School. They have more than 90 years of teaching experience among them.
Ruth Hyslip is retiring after 24 years; Linda Storm, 33 years; and Barbara Reding, 36 years.
"The only thing I haven't taught is first grade," said Hyslip, who now teaches language tools and gifted and talented classes at the middle school as well as sponsors the chess and Quiz Bowl teams.
"I can hardly keep a smile off my face," she said when asked how she felt about retiring.
Hyslip began her career in education in Fayetteville, moving to the Guy-Perkins School District and then to Heber Springs Middle School in 1990. She holds a degree in elementary education from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a master's degree in gifted and talented education from the University of Central Arkansas.
"We came to Heber Springs because of the fly fishing," she said with a laugh. "My husband (Donnie) knew he wanted to retire here so he could fly fish."
Hyslip also enjoys fly fishing.
"We're going to Colorado to a fly fishing conclave," she said. "It's strictly catch and release."
Hyslip said she thinks the biggest change in education she has seen since she began her career in 1985 is "the students' attitudes and technology."
"Texting is the downfall of the American youth," she said sternly. "Students want to use text language in all of their writing and conversation."
However, Hyslip said her sixthgrade students use technology a lot.
"They just completed a Power-Point presentation," she said, noting technology has afforded students newand better ways to do some things in the classroom.
In addition to fly fishing, Hyslip said she looks forward to visiting more with her children after she retires. Her daughter, Jen Schweitzer, lives in Knoxville, Tenn., where she is an assistant professor. Her other daughter, Karin Schweitzer, lives in Austin, Texas, where she is a project manager for the Lower Colorado River Authority. Her stepson, Allen Hyslip, lives in Maumelle, where he is a commercial photographer.
"He's the one who has our grandchildren," Hyslip said, noting Austin is 14 and Zach, 9.
"I also enjoy gardening and scrapbooking," she said.
She said she also hopes to volunteer at the library and hospital.
"It's been a joy to be a teacher," Hyslip said. "I'll miss the students. When students want to learn, it's so rewarding."
Storm entered the field of education in 1969. She is now counselor at Heber Springs Middle School. She began her teaching career in Waco, Texas, moving to Abilene, Texas, after five years. She came to Heber Springs in the early 1980s.
She holds a bachelor's degree in math from Hendrix College and a master's degree in guidance counseling from UCA. She taught physics, math, geometry and science before becoming a counselor 24 years ago.
When asked why she changed to counseling, Storm said, "Because of the students' personal lives. I wanted to have answers for students when they asked questions.
"It's very rewarding to help kids," she said.
Storm said the biggest change she has seen in education over the past 33 years is parents.
"For the first 10 years I was a teacher, parents were very involved in their children's education," she said. "Then the next 10-year span, they were not involved at all. Now, in the third decade of my career, the parents have gotten involved in their children's education again. But it seems they are either very involved or not involved at all. There is no middle of the road."
Storm said she intends to spend more time with her family after she retires.
"I plan to do nothing for a year," she said. "Then I may go into private counseling or consulting."
Storm said her husband, Steve, who was also an educator, died last August. They had three children. Daughter Dr. Elizabeth Storm is an attending physician in the emergency room at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock and works as an instructor for UAMS. Daughter Susie Lynch and her husband, Nick, are majors in the Air Force stationed in Colorado Springs; they have two children - Alison, 2, and Will, 6 months. Son Guy Storm and his wife, Lisa, live in Gray, Ga.; he is engineer and mining supervisor at a quarry in Macon, Ga. "I will miss the students," she said. "I love the children. Middle school children are so full of energy and constant change. They delight me. I willmiss the children very much."
When asked for a word of advice to new teachers, Smith said warmly, "If you help one child, you've known success."
Reding said she has taught all grades except ninth grade. She now teaches sixth-grade science at Heber Springs Middle School.
"I've been here 24 years," she said, noting she began her career in Flippin and continued at Mountain View, Mountain Home, Monticello and Warren. She holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's degree in reading from UCA.
"As I teach science, I also teach reading every day," she said.
"I plan to spend time with my grandkids and with my parents, who are in failing health," Reding said as she explained what she plans to doafter retirement. "I also want to fish and travel."
Her family includes her husband, Charles, who won't retire "for a few more years"; daughter Angie Russell, who is a physical therapist in Benton, where she lives with her husband, Ryan, and their two children, Aidan, 5, and Ellie, 2; son Walt Reding, who lives with his wife, Ginny, in western Arkansas and is assistant superintendent at Queen Wilhelmina State Park; and her parents, Newton and Margie Ramsey, who live in Mountain View.
"I guess the biggest change I've seen in education is what's expected of teachers," Reding said. "When I first started, they sent you to the classroom and told you to do a good job.You put your own personal interest into your classroom. You taught what you felt needed to be taught.
"Today, we have more and more mandates of what we can teach and when we can teach," she said.
"I feel like teachers have always done a wonderful job of teaching," she said. "Today different things are taught - maybe some are better, maybe some are not. Overall, I don't think things have improved with all the testing and frameworks that are required of us, and of the students.
"Changes come and go, not always for the better. Teachers have always done a good job. We need more local control in our schools. When you take local control away from schools, it's not always good.
"Teaching is a noble profession. The hours, days, years ... have just flown by.
"I would tell young teachers that teaching is a process, not an end result. View the kids' efforts as little steps. We often give up on kids because they don't learn at the same time. Keep trying to reach them. We need to keep educating ourselves and our children. Education does not end at the end of the 12th grade, or even at the end of college, anymore. Learning is a lifetime experience."
Three Rivers, Pages 54 on 04/16/2009