Veteran teacher: Nurture student connections

Rick Thompson never dreamed that after he graduated from Heidelberg and landed his first teaching job that he’d retire from that same school 40 years later. So much for job-hopping.

Thompson returned to campus for the first time since his 1976 graduation this week to serve as the School of Education’s inaugural Practitioner-in-Residence. The new program is designed to give Heidelberg education majors a connection to practical career advice from veteran or retired teachers who can speak to classroom management, teaching strategies and leadership skills.

Thompson was hired by the private K-12 McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Maryland, as an elementary science teacher. After 14 years, he moved to eighth grade environmental science, human anatomy and physiology and later in his career, robotics. Along the way, he coached soccer, golf, baseball and basketball and served as department head for 15 years.

All of these assignments made him the ideal Practitioner-in-Residence.

While on campus, Thompson met with four biology and education classes and with School of Education faculty in various settings. He also participated in a Chemistry Club networking event.

He had very specific messages for the future teachers he encountered. “Be willing to let your hair down and be yourself,” he told them. “And really find those relationships with kids. You won’t find them with every kid, but find them and nurture them.”

Reflecting on his own career, Thompson said technology has changed some aspects of the classroom environment. Used effectively, technology can be a teacher’s great friend. “It has definitely shifted the ways in which we communicate. There’s so much more immediacy. It truly is a tool.”

And although it’s imperative that children are exposed to technology early in their lives, sometimes teachers still rely on their old standbys to teach a specific lesson. For example, when teaching about temperature, Thompson still brought out “the old-fashioned thermometer” to illustrate a point.

Part of his rationale for successful teaching was understanding the learning styles of his students. “When you get there as a teacher, then you hook ‘em. You have to avoid teaching to them middle of the group just because it’s easier.”

Over the past few years of his career, Thompson initiated an open-ended robotics program – a sort of team competition challenge among his students. Through the popular program, students learned skills such as communication, collaboration, discovery and problem solving. In the spirit of competition, he learned which students had true grit. “The takeaway skills from that program were far more valuable to the kids who are now seniors,” he said.

While he didn’t necessarily expect to spend his entire career in one place, Thompson said he’s content and fulfilled in his first year of retirement. “I have no regrets,” he said. “It was definitely time well spent.”