Klein retires from Potomac

POTOMAC - Teacher Terri Klein retired from Potomac School after 30 years of teaching first grade Pioneers.

"Teaching was the only thing I ever wanted to do!" Klein said. "I used to play school all the time and started teaching Sunday school and vacation Bible schools when I was in high school."

Klein graduated from Eastern Montana College (now known as MSU-Billings) in 1982. 

"I did not get a job my first year out because I wanted a first-grade position and every interview I had told me they would hire me if I had some experience," she said. "I ended up working at Wendy's and Taco Treat until I got a job as a bilingual tutor in March of 1983."

Her first teaching job was the fall of 1983 when she was hired as the first-grade teacher in Stanford, Montana.  She taught there eight years before coming to Potomac in the fall of 1991.

Klein's husband had been transferred to Missoula for his job and Terri didn't want to teach in the Missoula schools so she applied in smaller school districts. 

"When I interviewed in Potomac, I found out that they wanted someone with experience in the Spalding Writing Road to Reading program, which," Klein said. "[This] was the phonics program I used at my previous school, so it was a perfect fit!"

Klein's hope for teaching was to get students the basics they would need for the rest of their educational career.  She said if she could teach them to read and write, the world would be theirs and they could learn and do anything they wanted. 

"First graders are like sponges, they soak up everything," she said.

Throughout the years the biggest challenge for Klein was technology. 

"I have tried to change with the times but know there is much more that can be done with technology that I did not incorporate into my teaching," she said.

When she did incorporate technology, she felt it opened up the world for her class. They did things like following the Iditarod and watching the bald eagles hatch in Decorah, Iowa. 

"But teaching online is not for me," Klein said. "I need to be face-to-face with my students to do my job."

Klein said the best part of her job is the children. 

"They are so sweet and want to learn and can make you smile with their honesty," Klein said. "I also loved the staff I was fortunate enough to work with here," she added.

Klein had support and encouragement from the Potomac staff and said each and every one of them is amazing. 

"We really do become a family and look out and care for one another," she said.

Klein appreciated the efforts of Principal John Rouse. She said the grants Rouse has gotten for Potomac School provided her with opportunities that she would never have had including an English Language Arts program that provided continuity that she had never had before.  It also allowed Potomac teachers to travel to national conferences to hear nationally recognized professionals speak on education issues and best practices. 

"We could then bring that back to Potomac School and improve our teaching," she said. "I could not have asked for a better administrator to finish my career under."

Klein feels she has maybe made a positive impact on former students' lives when they stay in touch with her. She has received high school or college graduation announcements, wedding invitations and baby announcements.

"I love it when someone comes up to me and says, 'You were my first grader teacher!'" Klein said. 

Klein received the Gold Star Teacher Award in December of 2018. She said it was very humbling and she was very surprised and honored to be recognized.

"It could be any other teacher at Potomac too, as we all work to do the best for our students," she said.

Klein's decision to retire was not on her radar at the beginning of the year. After being forced into remote learning a couple of times this fall and feeling that this might become more normal than the exception, it's not the way she wanted to teach.  Then she started to think perhaps it was time to "call it quits." 

Klein is looking forward to spending more time with family including Elliot, their granddaughter. She will also be scrapbooking and celebrating her and her husband's retirements plus their upcoming 35-year wedding anniversary in Hawaii.

Klein was honored during Potomac School's graduation June 8. During a standing ovation she was presented with flowers and gratitude from the staff. A slideshow was shown of past first grade class photos, personal letters from former students and community members, an eighth-grade tribute and the installation of bricks placed in the Potomac Centennial Circle in her honor.

Klein loved being a teacher and said the classroom was her happy place.

She said, "I firmly believe that if you love your job, you never work a day in your life!"

 

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