Judy Moore leads an exercise in her third-grade classroom, June 10. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“Pardon the mess,” says Judy Moore about her third-grade classroom at Hildreth Elementary School. But it isn’t a mess; it’s just crowded with projects the kids have created in the process of active learning. Plants started from seeds, a clothesline hung with colorful paper butterflies, accumulations of books and papers—all give testimony to highly engaged students. And to a wholly dedicated, loyal, and passionate teacher who prides herself on “never, ever, taking a sick day.”
Moore is retiring after 35 years of teaching—31 of them in Harvard—though her colleagues still don’t believe she won’t be there next August 25 for the start of a new academic year. Even she admits she’s in a bit of denial about the whole retirement thing. She says she has no real desire to go, but thinks it’s probably a good time. “It’s like standing on the end of a diving board,” she says. “You stand, and you stand, and then you just go!”
‘A more dedicated teacher would be hard to find’
Asked what she has loved most about teaching, Moore replies, “The opportunity to energize and inspire kids.” It is evident that she works tirelessly at this. “A more dedicated teacher would be hard to find,” remarks a colleague. Moore notes that there are some students whom she sees more hours a day than their parents do. “I take that responsibility very seriously,” she says. One of her colleagues, talking about Judy’s passion, says, “She is even passionate about character education!” Many alums write to her, a few to say that she changed their lives. She is deeply moved by this. Her current third-graders have these things to say: “She’s very fun. She’s strict, but not too strict. She has good rules, but doesn’t yell. She’s really, really nice and creative. She’s funny. She’s kind.”
A passion for outer space
It is no secret that Moore’s greatest passion in terms of curriculum is outer space, and students look forward to her star parties. She proudly accepts the moniker “The Space Lady” and likes being known as a cheerleader for space. (I, myself, was witness to this passion. When I confessed to having never watched “Cosmos,” a TV show about which she raved, she wouldn’t continue our conversation until I had promised—three times!—to watch the show.)
Moore says that one of the nicest things that ever happened to her occurred in 2006. She had been chosen as a liaison to the Space Foundation and was invited to receive recognition at a convention in Colorado. She declined, she says, because of the cost of the trip. (My guess is that another reason was her dislike of being in the limelight; she seems very reluctant to take credit for what she does.) To her great surprise and lasting gratitude, her colleagues presented her with plane fare, and she went to Colorado. It was an unforgettable experience for her.
It’s easy to see why the staff was eager to help Moore go to Colorado. Along with her students, her colleagues have been the recipients of her dedication, loyalty, and passion. They say she has always volunteered to be on any committee that needed help and offered support to colleagues on a personal level. Her loyalty extends to the teaching profession as a whole, to staff—even in the face of disagreements—to teammates, and to students.
After just three years in Harvard, Moore became a Harvard Teachers Association representative. Later she served on negotiation teams, as treasurer, and as vice president. As frugal as she was in her role as HTA treasurer, said Bromfield teacher Kathleen Doherty, “she is just as generous with her own precious time.”
Throughout the years, she has been there for other teachers. When MCAS started, she volunteered to help write the third-grade test so that she could be there battling for what seemed best for teachers and kids. She took evaluation training so she could be on the Educator Evaluation Committee and help other teachers through the new process. Doherty remarks that at the start of this year, even knowing she was retiring, Moore had a purple binder all organized for the new evaluation program.
Changes that demand more paperwork won’t be missed
Through the year she filled the binder with “evidence” so she could show anyone having questions how to keep clear examples for use in their teacher evaluation. She made sure she kept current on the rules and regulations for recertification in order to mentor others through the process, and she could, as a colleague put it, “recite the HTA contract from memory.” Fellow teachers point out that at staff meetings Judy was “always the one to ask the uncomfortable questions” about new policies and procedures Moore quips that staff meetings will be a lot quieter.
What she won’t miss are the changes in education that demand more and more paperwork and accountability from teachers, changes which Moore says “take time away from getting ready for kids,” from creating the next exciting lesson and project. She believes some of the changes to curriculum and the increase in standardized testing push kids too hard and too fast; “Kids can’t be kids anymore,” she laments. She has tried to fight against that by being involved at the state level, trying to “keep things sane in the classroom.” She admits it’s harder, but she’s still committed to finding time to teach creatively. When she teaches the big bang theory, she still stands on top of a desk and drops a dictionary to the floor.
Thinking of what she might do when she retires, colleagues suggest that since Judy knows how to cook chicken in as many ways as possible, she might have a chicken food truck at Faneuil Hall. Her current students see her in a much more historic profession. “At night she might look at the planets,” suggested one student. Another said, “She’ll be an astronaut!” and then they all chimed in saying, “Yes, that’s it, Mrs. Moore will be an astronaut!”
‘You’ve already made the world
a better place’
On a different note, one student responded, “She’ll do something productive…like make the world a better place.” To which good friend and colleague Barbi Kelley added, “Judy, in our book you’ve already made the world a better place. Thanks for giving students the joy of learning and for being our friend.”
Note: Teachers Arlene Sullivan, Sharlene Tuttle, Rob Cullinane, Melissa Niland, Barbi Kelley, and Kathleen Doherty contributed to this article.
