By: Eric Matthew Burch

English class can be a bore for students who find no interest in improving their language skills. For Mrs. Mary Gifford, she has been passionate about English for years. In her final year of lesson plans, she also has to plan her retirement.

Since 1974, Mrs. Gifford has been teaching students. She began teaching at Henderson High School in Atlanta, Georgia. She came to Plymouth in 1976, but she didn’t start teaching until two years later. After so many years of teaching, one would be led to believe that she would be ready to leave. While that is true, she also has another approach to her leave. “It’s bittersweet because I am sad to leave my students and my colleagues.” She also mentioned how she decided it was time to put in her resignation. “I’ve decided that I want to leave on a high note and I believe that I am because I will miss it. I think you come to a point in your life when you realize that there are some other things that you need to do and that you want to do.”

Since Mrs. Gifford has taught for thirty seven and one half years, she has seen plenty of cases where she has taught some of her former students’ children. In a whole generation, especially with technology, changes are bound to happen. “The [teaching] profession has changed a lot. I think that the profession has changed just how society has changed. Years ago, when I first started teaching we didn’t have high security; we didn’t have technology.” Along with how society has changed, she also believes that the teaching styles have also drastically changed. She said, “We didn’t have so much emphasis on standards, and I believe that years ago that we taught the whole child and that we were more directed and influenced by what that young child was going to be.” She believes that today schools are more focused on testing, which she thinks is important because “you’re going to be tested in life. But I think that sometimes we don’t realize that if we work with people and we get in their quality of world, we make them believe that they can be successful and will do great things in life. I think we sometimes just forget about the person.”

In 1995, Mrs. Gifford would have taught for 20 years.

Memories are something that Mrs. Gifford has been reflecting since she put in her announcement of retirement. She said that some of her most memorable moments are when she “had students who people viewed to not be successful in any way become successful.” This year, there are students turning eighteen years old. Eighteen years ago, Mrs. Gifford was nominated to become Teacher of the Year. She was selected to be a finalist, and she went down to Indianapolis for an interview. Along with her proud moments, she also remember funny moments. “[I remember] years ago when [my whole class] showed up at my house at ten o’clock on a Friday night because I said the research papers weren’t due until 10 and could be delivered to my house.” Along with the funny moments, she also remembers the sad moments. “Some difficult times  that have impacted me throughout the years have to do with losing  students who have died in car accidents. These incidents broke my heart .” She mentioned how it’s hard enough to deal with losing a student, but also helping  the other students dealing with the loss of a friend.

Along with teaching her students, Mrs. Gifford also learns new things from her students. “They have taught me to relax and not be so uptight,” she said with a laugh. She then smiled and said “They have probably taught me some math.” She said, “Most importantly I think they reinforce the life lesson that everything is going to be okay and that they’re going to be okay.”

Throughout her years as an educator, she has experienced a variety of emotions.  She says that she feels she is very involved with how her students feel. She said that her proud moments are when her students become who they want to be and value what is important to them.  “I think we sometime define and evaluate proud moments when students seem to master all skills.  Yes, that can be a proud moment, but simple things students accomplish can be a proud moment for me also.”

In 1989, Mrs. Gifford takes on a new hairdo.

At the same time that she has proud moments, she also has moments that disappoint her. She said that she could have a disappointing moment everyday if a student hasn’t done what he or she believes  could have been accomplished. “I think that disappointment is a part of life. I think it’s like the quote, ‘Don’t wait for the storm to pass, learn to dance in the rain.’ I think how an individual  handles disappointment and what he/she  does with it is important.”

While it was difficult for Mrs. Gifford to put in her resignation, she said that she received a lot of support from her colleagues. She said that she did cry, and it was hard. She continued, “It was one of things where it was a stimulus response, and said ‘I’m doing it tomorrow.’” As for support, she said “I think that everybody is happy for me because I made the decision, but there were people who wanted me to stay.” She does not have a set plan for retirement, but she does have things that she wants to do. She said she wants to go garage shopping, repurpose things, read a novel that “doesn’t have anything to do with what I am teaching,” sew, and do crafts. “I have seven grandchildren I want to spend time with along with traveling with my husband.”

Mrs. Gifford said she doesn’t feel like her retirement  was exactly unexpected. “Two years ago I said that I might be retiring in two years. That might have been a prediction. Retirement is going to be another positive journey in my life.  I decided that I do not want to sub, but I will bring lunch to my English department colleagues. It is bittersweet because teaching has been half of my life, but I decided I don’t want to be here and [teach] the kids of the kids of the kids of the kids.” While Mrs. Gifford will be getting accustomed of not coming to the school everyday, there are students who will have to get used to not seeing Mrs. Gifford everyday.

In her first years of teaching, Mrs. Gifford had a young child at home, and was unsure of going back to teaching.

All photos in this article are taken from the Plymouth High School yearbooks of their respected years.