Published: July 01, 2008 08:41 am         

Cooperstown instructor was destined

By MICHELLE MILLER
Staff Writer

Cooperstown Central School second-grade teacher Margaret Welsh was destined to be a teacher — her family tree is full of educators. Three of Welsh’s grandparents served as principals, one grandfather and two uncles became superintendents, her grandparents had seven kids and all of them became teachers, and both of her sisters decided to teach.

Welsh’s husband Michael is also a teacher and currently teaches fifth grade at Sidney Central School.

Welsh said as a middle child, she was determined to break the trend and was bound to be different from the rest of her family.

She said she wanted to be more like her father, who was a dentist, and wanted to have a career in medicine. However, it was her father who changed her mind. With transportation being a difficult situation at the time, Welsh’s dad told her if she would go to college with her sisters, he would buy her a car. Welsh took the deal and found herself majoring in English and education at SUNY Brockport.

``I guess it was preordained for me to become a teacher,’’ said Welsh. ``It was in my genes. I am probably happier than if I had taken the other path.’’

Welsh has been teaching since 1972. She began her teaching career at Mount Upton Central School, before the district merged with Gilbertsville. She was hired to fill a retirement vacancy and continued to teach kindergarten there for five years.

Welsh decided to take a break from teaching, and took a few years off to raise her two children. After time away from the classroom, Welsh was hired at Cooperstown Central School, where she has spent 27 years — 18 years as a first grade teacher and nine years as a second grade teacher.

Although Welsh said she still loves her job, she feels it is time to retire. She said she has passed the age of 55, the age Welsh became eligible for retirement.

``I stayed in it because I loved it,’’ said Welsh. ``I still do love it, but there are a lot of things I would just love to do and I want to make sure I have time to do them.’’

Activities Welsh hopes to have more time for include sewing, quilting, and gardening. She said she likes a lot of outside activities and would love to have more time to visit her daughter Sarah Good who lives in Seattle. It is hard to fit traveling into a teaching schedule, said Welsh.

The long-time teacher said she will miss everything about her job. She said she will miss the daily routine — dressing up to go to work, watching the kids walk into the classroom with their bubbly faces in the morning, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and shopping for school supplies. ``Who knows, one of these days people might see me at the Manor (local nursing home) with a box of crayons and a coloring book coloring with someone,’’ joked Welsh. According to Welsh, as a teacher every day is a new day. She said her days always start out great because she gets to see the smiling faces of students. ``In what other profession do you get that kind of greeting,’’ said Welsh.

Welsh said Cooperstown has been such a supportive district to work for, and she will miss her colleagues and the parents of her students. ``I was just starting to have second generations in my classroom,’’ said Welsh. ``It is so neat to get to teach a past student’s child and see the familiarities.’’

Not only has Welsh taught some of her current students’ parents, but she has educated some of the current staff at CCS.

Elementary Principal Theresa Gorman said Welsh has affected the lives, directly and indirectly, of thousands of children, parents and grandparents.

``She truly has made a difference in instruction at the Cooperstown Elementary School, and she most definitely has made a difference in all the lives of the children,’’ said Gorman. ``We all wish her the best after her retirement and hope to see her on campus in various capacities.’’ Welsh said she has enjoyed teaching the primary grades because kids at that age have great imaginations. ``It’s amazing to see the light bulb go off in a child’s head,’’ said Welsh.

Welsh said first and second graders are most interesting to teach because they are so determined to learn to read.

``It (reading) opens up a whole new world for them,’’ said Welsh. ``If I can just instill the love of reading into kids then I can feel I have done my job and that is pretty rewarding.’’

While reminiscing, Welsh said she could still remember her second grade classroom. She took a whiff and said, ``I can even remember the smell of it.’’

Welsh said times have changed since she first began teaching — with technology being on top of the list. The computer is a whole new tool for teachers, and it is amazing what the kids can do on them at such a young age, said Welsh.

The materials and methods used to help kids learn how to read have also changed over time, according to Welsh.

However, she said she has found that it does not really matter what methods are used — whether it be instructional texts, literature, author studies or reading series; Welsh said it’s all about how a teacher utilizes the material used to get students interested in reading. Some of Welsh’s teaching techniques include using high interest motivators and giving a lot of praise and positive reinforcement. The key is knowing every child is different and special, said Welsh.

According to Welsh, some of the top skills teachers need to have include organization, enthusiasm, a since of humor, being able to laugh at one’s self, and not taking life too seriously.