cover storyBeloved King’sReign Remembered14 T h i s t l e t a l k A u t u m n / W i n t e r 2 0 0 8
Rebecca King recently reflected on her 22-year career at <strong>Winchester</strong> <strong>Thurston</strong> <strong>School</strong>.An integral and influential member of the WT community, King spent 11 years asKindergarten teacher and another 11 as Director of Admission. This year she retired,but her influence continues to be felt at WT.A new adventureOn a summer evening in 1986, Rebecca King sat on the stoop ofher new apartment in Bloomfield and contemplated her nextbig adventure: teaching Kindergarten atWT. “I feel like it was only yesterday,”she remembers. “The sun was goingdown, and I was...looking at the list ofmy students’ names, thinking, ‘who arethese little people? What am I going todo for them?’”After 15 years at the Amherst Day<strong>School</strong>, first as teacher, then as director,King had decided to pull up stakes. Afriend—whom she would eventuallymarry—talked her into sending resumesto schools in Pittsburgh, and severalmonths later, here she was. “I was impressed that WT putits trust in me and in my educational expertise and instincts.That engaged me in such a way that I knew I could serve anew population, a new school, a new community.”“At <strong>Winchester</strong> I was permitted to create what I thoughtwas best,” she says. “I was able to try out what I thought wasmost appropriate practice in education. That seed is sownthrough WT’s culture, and teachers are really given thechance to put themselves into this culture. There’s a pieceof your soul in each classroom.”The Petri Dish of KindergartenKing quickly became known in the WT community as agifted educator, and her students today still point to heras an important influence. “She taught us about peace andjustice and conflict resolution,” says Rasika Teredesai ’00. “Iknow that this was part of the root of my own passionateinterest in peace and justice, which is why I’ve chosen togo into law. When I was in the eighth grade she spoke tous about the civil rights movement and similar work thatshe had been involved with. Later, she gave me a book withquotes about the importance of freedom, which I still useas inspiration.”Elspeth Powell ’08 comments, “The encouraging andloving spirit in a teacher like Miss King makes kids want tocome to school. Even when she was not my teacher she wasstill interested in my well-being.”King reflects, “I took the role of being a teacher asa responsibility for the development of the whole child:emotional, social, physical, academic, intellectual and, tosome extent, spiritual. It isn’t just teaching a child to read;it’s teaching him or her how to be a human being.“We had a peace table in our room with a huge posterof Gandhi looming over it, and children would go there towrite, draw, or talk about a tussle they were having, andit was amazing how they would use that often and withindependence. You give them thetools and the space to take action.They can figure it out, and they wantto figure it out. Little children havebig thoughts, and they like to talkabout them!”Through it all, King—the 1994recipient of the Jane L. ScarboroughAward for Excellence in Teaching,<strong>Winchester</strong> <strong>Thurston</strong>’s highestteaching honor—tried to make everyday extraordinary.“We had a lot of fun. We weregoofy. We sang ‘Mellow Yellow’ and Beatles songs, and I’dplay guitar and piano.” King smiles at the memories, thenchuckles, “Kindergarten is like a petri dish of the entire humanexperience. That’s what we step into every day!”“All Kids Deserve This”In 1997 King decided to leave the classroom and step intothe role of Director of Admission at WT.“I believed in the school so much because of my experienceas a teacher,” King says. She points to specific initiatives, suchas the Responsive Classroom, the Academic Enrichmentand Challenge program, and the Transitional Classroom asimportant ways of individualizing each student’s learning,building on strengths, and addressing challenges. “[This] is,I believe, the way a school should operate. “I wish it couldbe the public model,” she says earnestly. “I think all kidsdeserve this.”Another ChapterTwo years ago, King announced that she would phase outof her position at WT and eventually retire. King had cometo realize that “life was hurtling by,” and she wanted to slowdown. “I’d like to see where else I might be needed…perhapsworking with a vulnerable population—inner city kids,the frail elderly. There’s an equivalent way of being withyoung folks and old folks; I’m enthralled with sitting in aKindergarten class, and I love playing bingo with the oldfolks, too.”“It’s been a great 22 years,” she says, thoughtfully. “I’mmost proud that through WT’s faith and trust in me, I grewin confidence personally and professionally. I tried to bringto children what I know to be important and true in life, andhopefully it made a difference to them.”w w w . w i n c h e s t e r t h u r s t o n . o r g15
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