Winton can’t shake urge to teach

By WILL STEWART / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Longtime school teacher and librarian Maxine Winton, now retired, spends her mornings volunteering in the Hickory Creek classroom of her daughter, Sherry Hale. She is seen here helping second-grader Tyler Moore with an assignment. (Will Stewart photo)

“Once a teacher, always a teacher.” Such is the motto of Maxine Winton, longtime West Elementary School teacher and librarian, who wasn’t about to let retirement end her teaching career.

“School has always been such a happy place for me, so it’s only natural I wouldn’t want to leave,” she said.

Instead of putting her education career behind her, in 2001 the 30-year teaching veteran picked up and moved to Hickory Creek Elementary, where she volunteers nearly every day in the second-grade classroom of her daughter, Sherry Hale.

“It’s wonderful having mom here,” said Hale. “She’s of great benefit to the kids in that she can give one-on-one attention to those who need special help – something I don’t always have the time to do. She really helps the kids by giving them positive reinforcement.”

With experience teaching first grade and also being a librarian, Winton is particularly adept helping the students with their reading skills.

“Reading is my passion and I believe it’s most important in the first and second grades,” Winton said. “If you don’t have that good reading foundation then you’re really handicapped for life.”

While she also assists the young students with math and other subjects, she said one of the most important things she does is simply to be a cheerleader for them. Children need someone who believes in them, which unfortunately, she said, not all children have.

“I glorify and praise their successes,” she said. “I try to give that kind of constant encouragement which a classroom teacher can’t always give. It can really make all the difference. All kids have such potential, it just needs to be brought to the forefront.”

Winton said she greatly enjoys her time with the young students and tries be in the classroom during the morning hours every school day, except when her grandchildren are in town. “When I get up in the morning I think ‘They need me,'” she said.

She also volunteers her time and teaching talents working with the adult education program at the nursing home, teaching Sunday school, and serving as her church’s librarian

“I feel I’ve been blessed with the skills to teach and I want to pass on that knowledge,” she said. “I want to help others as long as I’m able. There will always be a need. There will always be those kids who need that extra encouragement, that extra push.

“I really think more retired people should volunteer in schools. You can just sit there and let a child know you care and believe in them. It’s an easy job, and so rewarding.”