Fun fact For six years in the early ’80s, I owned and operated my own private elementary school, The Siegler School (“The Way School Should Be”). I was the administrator and first-grade teacher. We were very innovative. I had elementary kids working on early Apple 2Cs (48K!) and Macs. We took field trips to the Keys and went canoeing the Loxahatchee River. We were known for our personalized reading and math instruction, as well as Halloween parties and overnight campouts, my early roots in coordinating school activities. When we closed the school, Dr. Joan Lutton, the head of the Cushman School, aware of the caliber of the students we were turning out, recommended me for the Dean/Director of Student Activities position at Ransom Everglades. Some of the first graders I taught to read entered RE as seventh graders in that same year that I began working at RE. 

 

The scoop Well, when you’ve been around a long time, I think you can get the ability to be patient and to focus on what is important. You see a lot of short-lived trendy educational theories come and go. In the end, it mostly comes down to rapport with your students. Middle schoolers need to laugh and enjoy math class. They are going to do well and not do well. They are going to have all levels of ability. The material is just the material, and even the approach is just the approach, but the rapport is what gets us all through the demanding days. If I didn’t like hanging out with the kids, I wouldn’t be able to do this job. (And yes, some are trickier than others to appreciate.) 

 

Gratitude Having completed 35 years at Ransom Everglades, I have enjoyed so much of my time in and out of the classroom. I have loved working with the faculty that is here now, and those who have come and gone. I have been privileged to work with the other three included in this article, who currently are a bit ahead of me, Joe, Don and Karen.