Teacher still enjoys job after 28 years

By Carol Rolf

LITTLE ROCK — Janice Heard has come full circle.

A 1974 graduate of Harmony Grove High School in Saline County, Heard now teaches in that school district.

“I came home,” she said w ith a smile.

After graduating from Harmony Grove, Heard obtained a Bachelor of Science in education degree from Henderson State University and a master’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“I taught one year at Magnet Cove and two years at Fields Elementary in Malvern,” she said. “Then I came home. All my teaching has been at the elementary level, but when I was in Malvern, I also taught special education.

“Superintendent Hollis Spencer called me one day and asked me if I was interested in applying for a sixthgrade opening,” she said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ I had gotten married by then and was driving back and forth from Malvern to Benton. So, I put in my application, they interviewed me and I got the job.”

“Things have changed in the last 28 years,” Heard said. “It’s not even the same school. My classroom now is the old fourth-grade room. Everything was in that one little building. That’s all that’s left; everything else is different.

“When I graduated, we had 16 or 17 students. We were the last small class to graduate. It’s grown ever since. We now have four sections of each grade. We have 89 students in the sixth grade alone.”

When Heard was in high school, she was editor of the yearbook, The Cardinal; a member of the Benton StateBank Student Board, which included two students from each school in Saline County who met and planned community activities; a member of Beta Club; an FBLA officer; played basketball; and was a cheerleader.

She “CLEPped out” of several hours in high school and went to Henderson State University, so she was able to obtain her teaching certification in three years.

“I’m certified to teach first through sixth grades and special education, kindergarten through 12th grade,” she said.

Heard said there is “no teacher still here that was here when I was. I’m now the ‘old foggy’ one.”

As a middle school teacher, Heard sponsors a fifth- and sixth-grade science fair. In fact, she started the science fair at the school.

“When I first came here as a fourthgrade teacher, I had a little mini-science fair just for my class,” she said, adding she received encouragement from other staff members and “it took off from there.” She said the state of Arkansas educational framework now requires a science fair on the middle school level.

Heard also is involved in Special Olympics. “I was a coach for a while, but now that I’m not in special education, I just help out,” she said.

This year, Heard has also planned an “academic reception” recognizing fifth- through eighth-grade students “who have excelled in academics or extra-curricular activities.”

The middle school spelling bee also falls under her direction.

Heard and her husband, Dave, have two daughters, Christie, 21, and Cheryl, 19.

“I used to have hobbies before I had children,” Heard said. “I was very involved with them and their activities. This is the first year of not having to go everywhere, so I’m still in shock. I’ve just started realizing I have a life now.”

She intends to resume sewing.

“I made everything I wore and made their clothes until they started walking,” she said.

She also hopes to get back into macramé and crochet.

“I also love to read,” she said.

As an employee of the state of Arkansas for 31 years as a teacher, Heard said, “I am eligible to retire, but I have no plans to do that in the near future. I love what I do. I enjoy getting up every day and coming here.

“I live in Benton but I get here by 7, 7:15 every morning and often stay until 4:30 in the afternoon. Every child has the ability to learn something. I put my all into my lessons.

“Some can hear it, and know it. Some have to see it, then they can do it. Some have to feel it to know it. I try to reach them on all three sensory levels - visual, tactical and auditory.

“I believe every kid can learn. You’ve just got to find a way that works for them. Granted, it’s not always easy, and sometimes, I never do. I try to give them a way to function, to help themselves, to motivate themselves.

“I’m not mean, but I’m strict in a way that the kids know I mean business. I cut up and goof off, but they know when I give my ‘look,’ they know to stop. They also know they can come to me with anything. I try to be fair and honest with everyone.” - crolf@arkansasonline.com

Tri-Lakes, Pages 65 on 05/08/2008