SHE’LL BE MISSED — After 36 years in teaching, 23 at NRHEG, Mrs. Ramaker will be retiring this June. (Panther Press photo)
By A.C. Cords
Panther Press
Sharon Ramaker, the junior high math teacher at NRHEG, is retiring.
Ramaker has been a staple of many students’ childhoods, and not just the students at NRHEG. She has spent an overall of 36 years teaching, 23 of them at NRHEG.
Skunk problems, tractor tipping, and marker throwing are just some of the unique lesson formats that make Ramaker an unforgettable teacher. Accidentally eating a fly works too.
Ramaker says she always wanted to be a teacher. Why teach, though?
“I just love showing kids things,” she said. “I mean from the get-go that’s what I wanted.”
Ramaker, who is originally from Ellendale, attended Mankato State and graduated in only three, rather than the typical four, years. Her teaching license attained, she took a job at Wykoff, where she was hired not only to teach second grade, but also to coach varsity volleyball, basketball, and softball. “I graduated college on Friday and began coaching volleyball on Monday,” Ramaker recalls. Such a busy schedule!
Speaking of “busy,” she met her husband-to-be while coaching. When she let Donnie into the “open gym” hours one Saturday afternoon, he mistook her for a student. The two married in 1989. Ramaker taught at Wykoff for five years before deciding to move closer to home, so her children—eventually including sons Greg and Geoff and daughter Gretchen—could be closer to their grandparents.
She found a position in Blooming Prairie, where she was first hired to serve as a long-term substitute music teacher. When that position ended, she began working on what she calls “two ends of the spectrum.” On the one hand she managed “Title 1,” a program intended to help disadvantaged students keep pace with their classmates; on the other, she coordinated the “gifted and talented” services. After eight years in Blooming, she fell victim to budget cuts, but was able to find a position as a tutor at NRHEG.
She took on the tutoring assignment in 1998. The next year she entered the role where, in one writer’s opinion, she shined brightest: Ramaker became the junior high math teacher. Now she could incorporate all of her wacky lessons such as the “skunk problems” mentioned earlier.
When asked what she liked most about teaching, Ramaker had this to say: “The kids are number one! They all have their funny little quirks and unique personalities. Some of the most fun would come from seeing where students would excel. Some kids struggled one year and would excel the next. There were usually about five a year who would come back and blow it out of the water!”
You don’t teach 23 years at NRHEG without picking up at least one of these funny quirks yourself.
“It was fall time,” said Ramaker. ”There was this fly just buzzing around the classroom distracting all the kids. Nobody was paying attention to the lesson. To get their attention I pretended to be a frog, snatch the fly, and eat it. I did this about four or five times. I go up and pretend to grab the fly, end up catching it without realizing it, and then actually putting it in my mouth. “I spit it out fast!”
Then after that the students would sing ‘There was an Old Math Teacher who Swallowed a Fly.’”
It seems that Ramaker has no shortage of good memories and has created many more for her students. Ramaker’s plans after retirement are to take care of her granddaughter, Olivia, which she says is the best job in the world—oh, and to spend some time with other family members as well.
For any young teachers out there, this is what Ramaker has to say to you: “Teaching has taught me to have compassion and to be more patient. NEVER give up on anyone. When it comes to teaching, don’t try and reinvent the wheel when you can learn from others with more experience. Then with that you can evolve and make it your own. You should ALWAYS listen to the kids. The kids are always different, so adjust to their needs. If kids get the lesson, move on. If kids don’t get it, back up.”
Then she gets a bit nostalgic, remembering, perhaps, some of the poignant moments from her long career.
“I’d like to thank my current and former students,” she finishes. “I am the one who has been truly blessed.”
There is no doubt that Mrs. Ramaker will be missed.