Rebecca Baugh, Born to Teach

For thirty years, Rebecca Baugh has been carrying on a family tradition as a teacher.
“Teaching is in my family,” she said. “My father taught forty five years. My mother taught nineteen or twenty years. I have aunts, uncles, sisters, and nieces who are teachers. I think I was born to be a teacher,” said Baugh.
For the last five years, Baugh has served an a fifth grade Special Education Inclusion Teacher st Northside Elementary School. However due to her husband’s recent stroke and concern for her own health, Baugh has chosen to retire from teaching. “My husband had a stroke in October. I have had some health issues. I think I need to slow down and be more available for him and make sure my health stays good. Teaching days are long and stressful. I am hoping to de-stress a little bit,” she said.
Baugh’s teaching career began shortly after she graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1970. Altogether, she has taught for a total of thirty years, taking a few years off along the way. “There were some years when my children were small that I didn’t teach. I haven’t taught straight through,” she said.
Over the years, Baugh has taught in several different school systems and grade levels. “I started in Putnam County. Then my husband and I moved to Roane County. I taught in Roane County. Then we moved back to Putnam County. I’ve taught in White County, Overton County, Smith County, and DeKalb County. I have taught every grade except sixth grade. I’ve taught pre-school. I had a day care center for eight years. I’ve taught all the way up through college English,” she said.
Still a resident of Cookeville, Baugh has made the commute back and forth from Putnam County to Smithville each day of school for the last five years to go to work, but she didn’t mind because of her love for the school and the students. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Northside. It is one of the friendliest groups of teachers that I have ever taught with. They made me feel welcome, even though I am not from DeKalb County. They know I love the students and they know I love teaching. It has been a real good experience,” she said.
So what is a Special Education Inclusion Teacher?
“An Inclusion Teacher helps the classroom teacher in the academic classes, math and reading,” said Baugh. ” And if my schedule allows, sometimes I go to writing and English class. But mostly its reading and math. I am the extra teacher that’s in there if somebody (student) is struggling with a math problem or struggling with a paragraph in reading. I am available to go around and help students while the teacher goes on with the class. It allows the classroom teacher a little more freedom to not have to stop the class for specific students. We can just go on. I help them catch up. I work with special education students but I’m allowed to help any student that needs help in the class. It has worked real well,” she said.
Baugh said while she likes some changes that have come along in education, teachers today are under more pressure, making their job much more stressful ” When I was in Smith County we did pull out for Special Education students and then I came up here and its inclusion in the classroom. When I was in school myself in elementary school, special ed students were not even identified. So things have changed quite a bit. I like the fact that students are identified that need extra help or maybe sometimes, just extra time to finish an assignment. If they are given extra time, a lot of times they can do grade level work and stay caught.up. I like a lot of the things that are taking place now in education. But with the evaluations and all the new things they have thrown in all at once, that’s where the extra pressure comes. Everything is so fast, you have to learn new things they give you at the beginning of the year and they almost don’t give you any time to absorb the new things they are putting into effect. Its really hard to stay up with the new things,” she said.
As she leaves the school system and goes into retirement, Baugh said she is pleased with the opportunity to have been a teacher here and for the support she has received from the administration. “I would like to thank Mr. (Mark) Willoughby and Dr. (Gayle) Redmon for the support. If I hadn’t been welcomed the way I was, I might not have taught these last five years. But it was very enjoyable. If my husband hadn’t had a stroke, I might want to teach a couple more years. But it’s time in my life, with my family situation to let somebody else a little younger pick up and run with it,” said Baugh.