Written by Shannon Carlson, 2018-19 PAGE president. Interview conducted by Alexis Carlson, 3rd grade daughter at WINGS.
Mrs. Carolyn Hurd, a prized second grade teacher at WINGS, is casting her eyes on the finish line of her career. Recently, she took a few moments to sit with us in the quiet of the library to glance back on her career and contemplate what retirement has in store. As someone who is relatively new to the community, I was intrigued to hear her story and left wishing my own two children had gotten to learn from her as a teacher. She is quite wonderfully suited to be an excellent gifted educator.
Not everyone is meant to teach, nor are all teachers talented enough to instruct gifted children. According to Mrs. Carolyn Hurd, teaching gifted students requires “creativity.” There are no text books or lesson plans to follow. Each day’s events must be developed from the instructor’s own imagination and passion for learning. It is not enough to simply love gifted children. You must also think like one, comprehend that IQ is only one part of a student’s true potential and provide challenges that encourage them to further their thinking each and every day.
It seems that Mrs. Hurd was meant to be a gifted teacher, but she took an unexpected journey into this career. She originally went to college to study horticulture. In fact, she earned a master’s degree in it. After managing greenhouses, florists, being the greenhouse superintendent at Missouri Botanical Garden and even owning a business for fifteen years in which she grew disease-resistant orchard plants, she decided to pursue a career in teaching.
She began as a teacher in Portland, Oregon. Later, she moved here and continued her education with gifted courses at Drury that allowed her to become the gifted resource teacher she is now at Phelps. She has been teaching in the WINGS program for eleven years. No doubt she will be sorely missed when she retires.
Mrs. Hurd shared that she loves teaching second grade, because the kids are very enthusiastic about learning. One of her favorite teaching memories was when her students each researched different insects. Then, they invited the middle school students down to play “guess my insect” with them as they gave out clues. After that there was an insect fashion show where they dressed up in costumes. A mole cricket was making screeches while another student had props that made his mandibles open and close. Can you imagine the scene? They also decorated the hallway with scented flowers with pollen in them to create an indoor garden, although, it turns out that caused a few allergy problems. Achoo! Regardless, this is the kind of fun and creativity students get to experience with an amazing teacher like Mrs. Hurd. I would do just about anything to be a fly on the wall of her classroom.
Mrs. Hurd stated the most important function of gifted programs is to challenge kids. “If our kids succeed in school with very little effort, they think being smart means everything should be easy. Then, when they come in contact with more difficult content, they lose faith in their ‘smartness’ and give up. Gifted programs offer challenging opportunities and support to better develop valuable life skills such as resilience and self-regulation. We help them view challenges as opportunities to grow rather than threats to self-concepts. We see lots of students struggle when they first come to our program. All of a sudden, they are not the smartest and they do not have all the answers. We know we are succeeding when, after an initial adjustment period, they love coming to WINGS.”
Mrs. Hurd leaves a lot of wisdom behind her. She loves gifted education because she believes every child deserves to learn, develop and grow. She believes gifted resources are essential, so we do not lose out on the talents of these amazing children. Clearly, she understands that gifted students have special needs of their own and they deserve to be met wholeheartedly. Mrs. Hurd also said she hopes all her students will grow up to do something they enjoy that allows them to contribute well to society.
As for Mrs. Carolyn Hurd, she has done just that throughout her career. Looking ahead, she plans to pursue her love of traveling with her husband. They have already been many places near and far but hope to go on more adventures hiking through Europe and exploring new places she has never been. With as interesting as her career path has been, I am sure many exciting journeys are just around the corner.
Enjoy the adventures that await you, Mrs. Hurd, and let your heart be warmed by the good you left with the students you taught.
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams