Schools

First Grade Teacher Retires After 40 Years at Eldersburg Elementary

"In my heart that's where I want to be, but it's time to move on." -- Barbara Cohen said of Eldersburg Elementary.

In June, Barbara Cohen said goodbye to her first grade classroom at Eldersburg Elementary after forty years of teaching in it. 

"In my heart, I feel that's where I should be," Cohen said. "But it's time to move on." 

Cohen said that she loves working with children and loved teaching at Eldersburg Elementary. But she said that working with first graders requires getting down on the floor and moving around a lot and being physically active. 

"If you can't do the job 110 percent, that's not fair to the children," Cohen told Patch. "I was a very active teacher and I couldn't physically give it 110 percent anymore, it was time to give another teacher a chance." 

Cohen, an Owings Mills resident, said that the biggest change in education over 40 years has been the curricular rigor. She said technology and the world has demanded a more rigorous education for students. 

"Children come to school far more informed," Cohen said. "We still have to teach the basics of reading and writing and math but the rigor has changed, the world has changed. We are creating children who are able to assess and solve problems."

What hasn't changed in education over the past 40 years? According to Cohen, the work involved with managing a classroom and teaching young children. 

"The down and dirty, nitty gritty day-to-day work has not changed," Cohen said. "Teachers have to collaborate and work together, we have to work with the parents and the students. We work as hard as we ever have."  

Cohen said the end of the school year was bittersweet -- she knows she made the right decision but she said she will really miss working with her first graders. 

"I will miss the children, first graders are a special group," Cohen said.  "We still get to be the moms and nurses and caregivers. It's bittersweet because I know I made the right decision, but it was a very hard decision." 

Cohen said she is looking forward to visiting some of the places she read to her students about in books. She said she will be traveling and visiting friends and family around the country. But she also said she intends to stay involved in working with children in some way. 

"I'm still going to be involved with children in some way," Cohen said. "And I know it'll be hard for me when school starts again in the fall -- my heart will be at Eldersburg Elementary, it feels like my home." 

Did you have Ms. Cohen as a teacher at Eldersburg Elementary? Send her a message in the comments below. 

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