Collins Looks Back on Westfield Teaching Career

For retired fourth grade teacher Diana Collins, this year is one for the books …the memory books that it!  

She has two sons getting married, took a summer time river cruise in Europe and retired from her 21-year teaching career at Jefferson Elementary School.

Collins, 63, is also this year's recipient of the Phillhower Fellowship for her outstanding accomplishments as a teacher. She is the 18^th person to receive the award from the Rotary Club.

Her cup runneth over … and so has her gratitude. "I really feel it's not an individual award, it's a team award. It would have been nice if the fourth grade team got it."

Collins said her career choice was obvious to her since elementary school.  

"I always knew I wanted to be a teacher," she recalled. "I had the most wonderful third grade teacher, Miss Nolan. She came in. She was very motivating. She was typical 1950's and wasn't married. She made us have a love of reading and love to go to the library. She gave us just the real joy of coming to school."

Collins said her students are much the same way. "They come in and say 'what are we doing today?' I say 'can I hang up my coat first?'"

And while her career path was a no-brainer for her when she started at Jefferson in 1989, it didn't start off that way.

After she graduated from college in Jersey City with a degree in elementary education, she went to work for a Social Services agency. "My father told me if I wanted to 'change the world' to work for them."

But after just two months, she ran the other direction. "One day a girl brought her baby into the office and left. She said 'we could take care of the baby over fourth of July weekend.'" Collins and a friend brought the baby to the hospital until the state stepped in. That weekend was enough to change her career path entirely.

"We came back from the shore and said we're going to go to the Board of Education and get a teaching job." So they went right upstairs to the BOE office and applied for teaching jobs. And they each got one.  

"We really felt like we could change the world by working at this welfare board," she said. "It was a quick lesson that you need a good education to improve your situation."

"We got lucky. We got in at the right time. I was very fortunate that year."

Collins' first job was in Jersey City where she taught fifth grade, then seventh, for eight years.

She had her two boys, Matthew and Patrick, and stayed home for ten years.

And she went back to work when the boys were in seventh and fourth grade respectively.

She started out as a substitute within the district, she and her friend taking turns watching each other's kids.

Eventually Kelly Kissiah, then principal of Jefferson, asked her if she wanted to teach fourth grade. "I wasn't planning to work full time."

Despite her busy life with two young boys, she said "sure."

"It worked out," she said, but it did have its challenges. The most difficult thing was time management."

Keeping up with the technology times was also a bit of a challenge. Westfield has "wonderful professional development courses," she said. She took some computer classes to not only help fulfill the district's professional development requirement, but to boost her computer confidence.

But ten years away from teaching was a long time, so she went back to school in 1993 for her masters with a concentration in technology. "I needed more confidence …and I needed more skills." 

Collins, who lives in Mountainside, said being active in her district's Parent Teacher Organization helped her stay current on curriculum during her hiatus from teaching. "I knew that they were doing hand on science. I was current with the math. I read all the time."

She said her old-school training helped her stay ahead of her hectic schedule. "I'm a very disciplined person. I was brought up the old fashioned way. My plans were done on Friday and your lesson book was on your desk. Planning is half the job. I always knew on Friday what I was doing on Monday."

She said she also had her principals to thank for her proper planning. "The principals that we have are very conscientious …of your planning." They made sure she was "up to date."

She said there were some trends that had changed since her early days in the classroom. "When I came back, cooperative learning was the new trend. In my class we always called it 'share and compare.' Learning how to 'share and compare' is something that children have to learn to do."

She said her last ever class of 20, is a "really good class."

"Westfield is getting more diverse and it makes it a little more interesting," she noted. "Once you get them into asking questions about their families and different traditions, it makes it a little more interesting than it was a few years ago."

She said while the schedule can change from day to day, the goal remains the same. "Just motivating them and getting them inspired first thing in the morning gets them going for the day."

Collins said she takes students outside, when she has the opportunity, to teach some science topics. And she references current events, like the oil spill in the Gulf, to tie in with experiments.

"We have two words in our class which I think has helped me be the teacher I am. 'Don't tell me what you've learned, tell me what you discovered.'"

 "The other word is rethink," she said. "It's like critical thinking skills."

She said students feed off her energy. "I go to school really with a positive attitude. We're going to learn something new today and discover something."

She added, "You have to like your job. You never see a race car driver not liking his job. I say to my kids, 'just think of me as your baseball coach and you'll practice.'"

And she said the "big picture" in learning is the most important. "Nobody cares when Edison was born. You want to know that he made inventions that made life changes for people."

Collins said this award, which includes a $500 grant, is not her first. Years ago she received a Westfield Educational Foundation grant. It had to be one of their first educational foundation grants for the accelerated reading program. That's when we were first introducing computers."

Collins said the money that accompanies this award is meant to go towards the recipient's education. But since she has her masters from College of St. Elizabeth in Convent Station, she donated it to the school library.

"I felt that since Westfield teachers nominated me …I should give it back to education."

She reiterated the award should have been for her team of five fourth grade teachers, all younger than she. "Westfield's greatest asset is that they have so many great young teachers."

She described her colleagues as "dedicated," "talented" and "high tech."

"They want the job and they work hard at it," she said, adding they all support one another, creatively and professionally.

When Collins received the award in May at a BOE meeting, she was recognized by Superintendent of Schools, Margaret Dolan, and her co-workers.

She said when she got the award, she then asked all the teachers from her past to stand up, along with past recipients. She felt they all deserved equal recognition.

While this Thursday was the first one at Jefferson in years not to include Collins and longtime music teacher Karen Yula, she will not forget her last year in the Westfield public schools or her last class ever.

She has one more message for her students as Westfield embarks on school devoid of Collins.

"I just like them to be positive and feel good about themselves at the end of the day."

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