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Why I Teach: Linda Van Horn, Fourth Grade Teacher

Kathy Smith
 
Linda Van Horn, fourth grade teacher and one of Shipley’s most beloved educators, is a study in contrasts. Her imposing manner in the hallways and piercing whistle on the bombardment court belies a tender love for her students and an overarching compassion for all of humanity. Don't let her catch you bullying another child—she won’t tolerate unkindness. But if you are in need of extra help, or if you are sad, she will draw on her considerable strength to support you. She will dry your tears, stay late to help, or work with you until you understand.

Let Me Tell You a Story

A long time ago at a different school, a boy in young Linda’s class was troubled. It seemed his family was going through tough times. One day, the boy brought his dog to school. “That dog sat outside the window of my classroom until I finally asked the boy, ‘What are you doing?’” recalls Linda. The boy told her he was feeling sad and he needed his dog that day. Without sentiment or explanation, she told him, “He’s not going to learn anything out there—bring him in.’” And thus the boy and his dog spent a day together in her classroom.

The funny thing is, Linda didn’t think much of it at the time. Thirty-seven years later, while her husband was being introduced to another man at his law firm, the man said, “Van Horn? You wouldn’t happen to know a Linda Van Horn?” That man, of course, had been the boy.

And he had never forgotten the kindness.

Saving the World

Linda graduated from Kent State University in 1969 with a passion for teaching and a hunger to reach under-resourced students in the inner cities. “I wanted to save the world,” she says of the time. She began by linking the Akron Summit, a local tutorial program, to Kent State. “At first I tutored kids through Akron Summit on Saturdays,” she explains. After a while, it occurred to her that Kent State might offer credit to students, so she established a reciprocal program. “Every Saturday, I rounded up college students and I’d drive a van into the inner city where we’d tutor the kids.”

Teaching and Learning through Experience

Upon graduation, Linda landed her first job in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “I had the kids going on field trips. We’d go out and catch frogs. We’d bring them back and dissect them. Everything in my classroom had to have an experience. That was the way I learned,” she recalls.

Thus the foundation of Linda’s extraordinary teaching philosophy was established.

The Kids Can’t Hear

Linda believes firmly that children don’t hear her when she teaches. It’s not that they don’t listen; they’re good kids. It’s just that things don’t stick unless the children themselves are in on the act.

“I had been teaching about government,” she recalls. “I kept telling the kids how you have three branches of government and 100 senators, etc.… After I taught them the information, I started to ask them questions.” She laughs at the memory, “They didn’t know the answers! I thought, ‘I just taught you all this!’”

This year, Linda had the fourth grade students make board games about the government. Through the students’ research for their own games and by playing each other’s games, they learned more than Linda ever could have taught them in a lecture or out of a book.

“Their understanding doesn’t come from me. I know that,” she says. “My job is to guide them. I have to work so I can get them involved—get them excited so then they will learn on their own. Once I get them involved, I can sit back and facilitate the situation. You can talk to kids all day long, but unless the students are actively involved, they will not learn.”

Making It Fun

Ask any graduating senior who completed fourth grade at Shipley, and they will speak fondly, almost wistfully of that year. They will also be able to speak in depth about the state of Pennsylvania, recite all of the U.S. state capitals, and share a shocking number of facts about colonial times. Then they will tell you with more passion than perhaps seems appropriate whether they were a Tory, or a Whig. And explain why they won, or why they should have won the Great Debate.

And before they let you go, they will tell you about the epic dodgeball game in Valley Forge that decided the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

“Every unit has an experience,” explains Linda. “Every unit comes with opportunities for leadership, challenge, and responsibility. Every unit comes with competition and fun.”

Fifty Pounds of Potatoes

Linda Van Horn has always been involved in giving. During a hiatus in teaching while raising her young children, Linda taught Sunday school. “We had kids from all over the area. They would come after school on a Wednesday and, once a month, we would make a meal, drive it downtown, and feed the people on the street. We did this every month.”

When Linda came to Shipley, she brought her passion for giving to others with her. The origins of the fourth grade holiday service program can be traced to feeding those without.

Back when the Rosemont CVS was the Rosemont ACME, Linda would walk to the ACME with the kids. “We’d bring wagons and we’d buy hams and a bunch of canned goods,” she says. “The children would carry and pull the food back, and talk about what it was like not to have a car—to have to carry your groceries every single day. Lynne Stephenson (Linda’s co-teacher at the time), would then load the kids up in a van and take them to K-Mart to buy presents for the families.” The groceries and gifts were packaged up for families for the holidays. It was all about teaching Shipley children the beauty of giving and providing them with a fundamental understanding of the meaning of service.

And she walks the talk.

Just this past Sunday, Linda made 250 meals with her church. “It takes 50 pounds of potatoes to make mashed potatoes for 250 people,” she explains with the knowhow of someone who’s done it for 30 years. “And I always have fresh strawberries and whipped cream I make myself.”

What’s it All About?

All this talk of self makes Linda visibly uncomfortable. It’s clear that she would rather be in the classroom or out on the playground with the kids instead of sharing stories about herself. When asked about this, she thinks for a moment. “It’s just….” she starts. Her face flushes a deep red, and her pointed demeanor melts as her eyes begin to well.

She takes a minute.

“It’s the kids,” she continues, struggling to find the right words. “Coming in here to my classroom makes me forget everything. We have so much fun. They are everything. Do you know what I am trying to say?” she asks.

And I do. We all do.

This 37 years of teaching, of creative learning, and of keeping things fun, it isn’t about her at all.

“Everything,” she says. “Everything is about the kids.”

This content was originally published in the Fall 2015 Shipley Magazine. Read more from this issue at http://blogs.shipleyschool.org/category/shipleymagazine/fall-2015/.
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The Shipley School is a private, coeducational day school for pre-kindergarten through 12th grade students, located in Bryn Mawr, PA. Through our commitment to educational excellence, we develop within each student a love of learning and a desire for compassionate participation in the world.