{"id":2273,"date":"2014-05-30T08:42:07","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T14:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=2273"},"modified":"2014-05-31T21:36:51","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T03:36:51","slug":"a-little-piece-of-heaven-25-years-at-independent-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/05\/a-little-piece-of-heaven-25-years-at-independent-school\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A little piece of heaven’ \u2014 25 years at Pioneer School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sally<\/a>

Ed Kemmick\/Last Best News<\/p>

After teaching for 25 years at Pioneer School on Dover Road, Sally Peterson is retiring this spring.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sally Peterson first wanted to be a teacher when she was only 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a teacher at North Park School named Edith Freeman who went on to become a very famous woodprint artist,\u201d she said. \u201cI just absolutely loved that woman and she liked me. One day, I said, \u2018I want to grow up and be a teacher just like you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days before the end of her 25th and final year as a teacher at Pioneer School, Peterson took time to reflect on her long career.<\/p>\n

The road to teaching was a bit longer than she first imagined, as she got married and had a family first. However, she still had the desire to teach and decided to major in elementary education at Eastern Montana College shortly after her children entered middle school.<\/p>\n

Darlene Kraft, a former first- and second-grade teacher at Pioneer, let Peterson know about the job opening at the elementary school located at 1937 Dover Road. Peterson was already somewhat familiar with the school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had friends that had gone to this school. I went to Lincoln Junior High and Senior High with them. So they had come here and I had come with them for a few Halloween parties and things like that. So I knew a little bit about it already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pioneer, an independent school is located northeast of the Billings Heights, is 109 years old. The original school building was built in 1905 and is still in use. A second, larger building was constructed in 1959.<\/p>\n

\u2018I’ll be sticking around’<\/h5>\n

\u201cThat first day I was here, one of the little boys was standing up in a swing,\u201d Peterson recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018Honey, you\u2019re going to have to put your seat in the seat because I don\u2019t want you to fall.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Mrs. Peterson, I\u2019m sorry. I forgot and I won\u2019t ever do that again.\u2019 I just thought, \u2018This is a little piece of heaven here. I think I\u2019ll be sticking around for a while.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With a smile, she added: \u201cOnce you\u2019re at Pioneer, you don\u2019t want to go anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson tried out a variety of teaching positions in her early years, including title teacher, certified aide and kindergarten teacher, but she found her niche in teaching third- and fourth- graders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved that third- and fourth-grade combo,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a wonderful combination. The third-graders were coming in for the first time, but the fourth-graders knew me. They knew my grandmother look, they knew what I expected of them, and they helped. They were peer tutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last two years I\u2019ve taught a single class. Last year, I had fourth grade. This year, I have third grade\u2026 . But I noticed we weren\u2019t getting as much done this year with just the single group because the fourth-graders weren\u2019t here to help them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson, who had eight third-graders this year, admitted that there are challenges with teaching the combined classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a lot of different personalities and a lot of different strengths and weaknesses,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have kids with abilities ranging from kindergarten all the way up to seventh or eighth grade. You\u2019ve got to prepare for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes it all worthwhile<\/h5>\n

As she prepares to leave Pioneer School, Peterson thinks she will miss the students and their families the most, partly because Pioneer is such a tight community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great place,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small, close-knit community and it\u2019s a good place to be. People take care of each other here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peterson also appreciates Pioneer\u2019s small class sizes, which allow for greater interaction with the students. There were just six children in her smallest class, while her largest had 19.<\/p>\n

Peterson has also loved keeping in contact with many of her past students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best things is seeing how many of my students have become so successful,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes it all worthwhile. It\u2019s fun to get all of the baby announcements and wedding announcements and graduation announcements. Some of my students went on to become valedictorians of their classes. I think a couple of my past students are raising kids that might come to Pioneer School.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m leaving before that happens,\u201d she added with a chuckle. \u201cThat would be a little too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Changes and challenges<\/h5>\n

In her career, Peterson has seen many changes, of which two stand out.<\/p>\n

The first is technology. Desktop computers are on their way out of the school, and a grant has made iPads available as educational tools for all 50 students. While Peterson acknowledged that the devices are \u201ca wonderful tool,\u201d she also noted that she still tries to get \u201can actual book in their hands once in a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second big change involves what her students have to deal with at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cKids have different challenges now,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re still kids, but they have so many challenges that I can\u2019t do much about. The meth and alcohol and things like that\u2026 . Every single one of the kids at this school has been touched in some way by drugs and alcohol\u2026 . It\u2019s pretty devastating as a teacher when you realize there\u2019s not an awful lot you can do about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Peterson is proud that her students don\u2019t let these problems affect their school work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids come in, they drop the garbage at the door, do what you want them to do and pick the garbage up again when they go home,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

One thing has hardly changed at all in the last 25 years: Pioneer School itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty much the same,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt\u2019s so peaceful and serene out here. There\u2019s a lot going on in this world and this is just a little piece of heaven where things don\u2019t change.\u201d<\/p>\n

After retiring, Peterson is going to be experiencing changes of her own. She is looking forward to having more free time and engaging in a variety of pursuits including fishing, traveling to the Black Hills of South Dakota, spending time with her family and friends, and going to garage sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m ready,\u201d she said. \u201cIt will be great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Your greatest weapon\u2019<\/h5>\n

As she prepared to leave Pioneer, Peterson had a few life lessons for the students she\u2019s leaving behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cNever tell somebody you can\u2019t do something,\u201d she said. \u201cIf somebody says you can\u2019t do something, don\u2019t listen to them. Don\u2019t ever give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a short pause, she got up from her seat and pulled down a small piece of paper pinned next to the white board. On it was written a quote from Plenty Coups, one of the most famous chiefs of the Crow Tribe: \u201cEducation is your greatest weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told that to a lot of my kids who have rough home lives,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cYou can do something about that if you stay in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what is the most important lesson she hopes to pass on to her students?<\/p>\n

\u201cNever stop learning,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m certainly not going to stop learning just because I\u2019m done teaching!\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Dow is a student at Rocky Mountain College. He is working as an intern this summer for Last Best News and the Billings Outpost.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sally Peterson first wanted to be a teacher when she was only 11. \u201cI had a teacher at North Park School named Edith Freeman who went on to become a very famous woodprint artist,\u201d she said. \u201cI just absolutely loved that woman and she liked me. One day, I said, \u2018I want to grow up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[739,741,738,737,735,740,736],"class_list":["post-2273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-billings","tag-billings-heights","tag-billings-senior-high","tag-eastern-montana-college","tag-edith-freeman","tag-independent-school","tag-lincoln-junior-high","tag-sally-peterson","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}