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“Thank you for being a part of my story.” Those were the words printed on a bookmark that retired school teacher Shelly Rice will treasure for the rest of her life.
Lifelong elementary school teacher Shelly Rice has officially retired — though in spirit and action, she hasn’t stepped far from the classroom.
“I hate the thought of retiring,” she said, “so I am going to sub.”
Rice, who has taught multiple generations of local children might be retiring from the paperwork and behind-the-scenes duties of an educator, but her love of teaching young children is a passion that may never end. After a 45-year-long career in classrooms from Magdalena to Socorro, Rice said goodbye to her students at Parkview Elementary Schools in May, before seeing them off to summer break.
“The kids get attached to teachers,” Rice said. “They’d say, ‘Miss Rice, am I going to have you next year?’ And I’d say, ‘No, honey, you’re not because I’m not going to be here.’
Over her many years in the classroom, Rice said she’s been given a lot of stuffed animals, which she distributed to her students to “take care of” when she’s gone.
“I said, ‘I’m going to retire. Will you take care of him for me?’” Rice said.
Once a teacher, always a teacher. Even upon retirement, Rice already has a substitute position lined up at Cottonwood Valley Charter School. However, the mark of a great teacher is to also never stop learning.
“After I got married and had kids, every summer I would pick something that I wanted to learn or develop for my classroom for the next year,” Rice said.
She said her life revolved around teaching, which often meant bringing her family along with her to create supplies for her bulletin board, and other class-related activities during summer break.
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“My kids hated it,” Rice said. “They spent 38 years helping me put numbers on my calendar and making bulletin boards.”
But, the perk for the Rice family was the ability to travel in the summer, where they saved all year to visit places like Japan, instilling in her two sons and two granddaughters a love of travel and lessons one can only learn by visiting the world.
Rice’s teaching journey began when a high school English teacher saw her potential and supported her through books on tape and oral testing due to her challenges with dyslexia and ADHD. At that time, alternative methods of teaching kids with learning challenges wasn’t practiced like it is today, so it was that insightful teacher that Rice said truly changed her trajectory. They not only helped Rice as a student, but inspired her to become that teacher for other children.
Her classroom philosophy was simple but powerful: foster a love of reading, teach through meaningful literature, and never stop learning herself. She taught kindergarteners to read before it was widely expected, introduced environmental print into the classroom, and believed firmly that reading opens the door to lifelong learning.
