Arch marvels at learning
By Holly Heller
Managing Editor
BREMEN � After 40 years of teaching elementary students, Linda Arch still marvels at the wonder of learning.
�Seeing the children learn. The progress they make through the year, watching them grow and develop. Watching the gains they make,� she said. �That�s what I like best.�
Arch graduated from Bremen High School in 1955 and Ball State University in 1958. Her teaching career began in January 1959 at Indianapolis Public School #32, where she filled in for the second half of the year as a first grade teacher.
The next fall, she taught another half-year of first grade at Kaley Elementary in South Bend before relocating to Cincinnati with her husband, Charles.
In 1962, the family returned to Bremen and Mrs. Arch began what would become a long career of teaching at Bremen Elementary.
�I taught first grade for awhile, then went to second grade for six years. I felt the need for a change and went back to first grade, then had the opportunity to go to kindergarten,� she said of her teaching experience.
Working with the youngest of the elementary students has been fun. Arch shared a humorous story about a second grade class.
�A fire truck went by and a girl gave a loud sneeze. A little boy said, �Well, that should have put the fire out!�
�Little things like that stick in your mind.�
Arch said the best change in teaching over the last 40 years is the advanced level of learning.
�We�re teaching now in kindergarten what we used to teach in first grade. Letters and sounds. They start reading in kindergarten now, too. It�s exciting to see how much more they seem able to learn at an earlier age,� she said. �Most of them have been to preschool before kindergarten.�
The worst change?
�The lack of a strong family structure,� she said. �It�s our fast-paced society, I think. It seems like everybody has so much to do, so many places to go. There�s not enough time to sit down and enjoy your children. Everybody�s so busy � even the kids. Sometimes they get too busy and there�s not enough time to enjoy the world around them, to run and play and jump and climb fences.�
Mrs. Arch hopes to have time to enjoy the world around her when she retires at the end of this school year.
�I plan to just enjoy life, maybe travel some,� she said.
She also plans to do more reading, walking, traveling and golfing, but spending time with family is her priority. She has three children, Chas Arch of Seattle; Angie Swain of Nappanee; and Susan Roberts of Nappanee; along with five grandchildren.
Her decision to retire was based on a feeling.
�This year I could tell I was ready. I feel like it is the right time, but I�ll miss it.�
What will she miss the most?
�Being with the kids,� she said. �And I will miss my colleagues, too.�
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