Video: East Webster Teacher Retires, Looks Back on 30 years of Changes

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Mathiston, Miss. (WCBI) — After 33 years in the classroom a beloved East Webster Elementary teacher is retiring.

Mrs. Tammy Baker has nurtured 100’s of young minds throughout the years.

She says moving on is bittersweet because East Webster is her second home and she has loved seeing her kids grown up.

Principal Jim Ray says Mrs. Baker is very special.

“They need so much more than reading, writing and arithmetic when they’re at that age and she brings that. She enjoys doing and she still understands the importance of nurturing and loving a child,” says Ray.

Ray adds that Mrs. Bakers replacement will have big shows to fill but he’s happy that she can now pursue other goals.

When you teach for 33 years you see a lot of changes. When Mrs. Baker started teaching Kindergarten was not mandatory.

When Kindergarten was integrated into public school Mrs. Baker jumped at the chance to teach it, since then she’s not only seen 100’s of students pass through but new regulations as well.

“When I first started teaching, at the end of kindergarten if our children knew their letters and sounds we were excited. That was a great accomplishment,” says Mrs. Baker.

but over 30 years…things change

“The children are expected to read by the end of kindergarten, do math, add and subtract and have a greater concept of numbers,” says Mrs. Baker.

Which has made things slightly more stressful on teachers and students.

“We just have to come up with all kinds of different ways to make sure they learn things they need to learn,” she says.

The way they learn those things has changed as well.

“We have math books, we have reading workbooks, worksheets those kinds of things. When I first started teaching we were encouraged to do mostly hands-on activities,” says Baker.

Mrs. Baker says the one thing that hasn’t changed is how much she loves her job, her peers but mostly impacting her kids.

” I will miss the children, they’re my heart.”

Kindergartners also have to take entrance and exit exams to track their progress before they move on to first grade.