Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — The highly influential American librarian John Cotton Dana once said, “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn” — a credo Pomona Elementary teacher Kelly Thompson exemplifies.
|
Advertisement |
“I wanted change in my life,” Thompson said as he explained his move into education. “I thought I would really enjoy teaching. When I was in my late 20s I thought about it and then one day the idea resurfaced. I told myself I was irrational, that I was just too old to go back to school. That is when a friend gave me some good smack upside the head advice — he said ‘how old do you think you will be four years from now even if you don’t go back to school.’”
Four days later Thompson was enrolled in his first teaching classes at the Montrose campus of Mesa State College.
Thompson attended Colorado State University and studied horticulture and floricultural industries, along with music. He worked for several years in the horticulture industry and at one point owned a floral shop in Lakewood. He moved to Montrose to be closer to family.
Thompson’s career switch is indicative of a teaching trend across the country. According to a 2001 study by the National Center for Education, “People coming into teaching through alternative routes (or as a second career) tend to be older, people of color, more men, have academic degrees other than education, and have experiences in other occupations.” In 2006, The Colorado Commission on Higher Education reported that teacher education preparation is being sought by a higher number of non-traditional students.
“Among all licensure areas, 57 percent of teacher candidates are 26 years of age or older,” the CCHE reported.
Thompson is the music teacher at Pomona Elementary School.
This is his first year in the music position; previously he taught the fifth grade. He has played the piano since the age of 7, and now leads a contemporary praise team at United Methodist Church.
“Sometimes I fill in on the pipe organ too,” Thompson said. “It’s a lot of fun. I get to meet a lot of great people.” This weekend he traveled to Grand Junction to take a music workshop to help inspire his students. Currently he is teaching his older pupils a rhythm unit focusing on patterns and honing the students’ abilities to translate written scores into music.
“The best part of my job is when we have a program,” he said. “The kids get up to perform and they are grinning from ear to ear. The hard part is dealing with the kids who don’t want to be there. You have to really work to find a way to spark them.”
He said he can sympathize with them, as when he was about 10, he no longer wanted to play the piano but his mom found the right teacher to engage his interest.
When he hasn’t been working, Thompson has busied himself swinging hammers and taught himself the art of woodworking.
“I have always been really intrigued by the lines of homes and buildings and even furniture,” he said. “I have always joked that in my third career I will be an architect.” His first project was a cabinet for his sister.
“I would regard it as a success,” Thompson said. “I look back now and think, okay I would do that differently or this differently but it actually came out pretty nice.”
The large wooden clothing cabinet took about six weeks in total to complete but was worth the effort since they could not find anything remotely like it anywhere.
“I pretty much designed it in my head. It’s your basic mission-style cabinet,” he said. “But everything we found before had all these drawers or held a television.”
He said at times the building process got a little interesting but his acquisition of new power tools and a slew of saws made the task easier.
“At first it was like the blind leading the blind,” he said. “But I put my mind to it and did it. It was a little nerve wracking. Being a keyboardist, I was really careful with the saws.”
When asked if learning to read music has helped in other life endeavors, he said he does thinks it has made a difference.
“There is a lot of academic research that supports the theory of engaging the right brain helps cross over connections into the left brain. It is supposed to make you a more creative problem solver,” Thompson said.
This spring he plans to start a sideline business involving landscape and garden design. During recent summers his home improvement projects included a giant patio trellis and a pathway constructed of hundreds or rocks he gathered himself. This summer he plans to finish planting the side yard and painting his house and maybe hike.
“I really love to hike,” he said. “I have yet to do Courthouse, every summer I say I am going to do it but it is one of my goals which has yet to happen.”
Kaitlyn Heichel wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:01 PM:
Sarah Bond wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:31 PM: