For Kinsman, retirement holds memories and melodies

SALISBURY — Sixth-grade English and social studies teacher Bonnie Kinsman showed a visitor a card from a current student on a Friday afternoon, after school.

“It was out of the blue,� she said.

The card read, in part: “You made it so clear exactly what you needed to do on every single thing we did.�

Kinsman, who is retiring after teaching at Salisbury Central School (SCS) since 1979, said, “I got to touch a lot of lives.�

And to be influenced in return. “Kids are, well, funny,� she said. “They startle you with their insights.�

She found middle-school students particularly rewarding to teach.

“In that pre-adolescent stage, they are so responsive.�

Kinsman is a 35-year veteran — 32 of them in Region One. And she’s been in the lower building at SCS the entire time (except during a renovation).

A native of North Canaan, Kinsman graduated from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in 1962, and subsequently earned a BA in English from the University of Connecticut, an MS in education from Eastern Connecticut State University, and a six-year degree in administration and supervision from Southern Connecticut State University.

Thinking back on her students, she was struck by the wide variety of reasons she has for remembering individual students.

One child “was very quiet, a hard worker but not very active in the classroom. He’s now a trial lawyer, so obviously he got over his shyness.�

Another student, in her social studies class in the late 1980s, was touring Mayan ruins in Mexico.

“She wrote me from Yucatan. ‘Remember when we studied this in fifth grade?’�

Middle-school students are “highly focused,� she said. They set goals, and “it’s very satisfying to see them meet those goals.�

And they have long memories. Kinsman recalled a trip to Disney World when a woman spotted her in the crowd and asked, “Aren’t you Mrs. Kinsman?�

“It was wonderful. I feel a little abashed, maybe.�

Kinsman is enthusiastic about teaching in Region One. “It’s a great place to work, in professional development and opportunities for teachers — and kids.�

Using her training, Kinsman worked as a consultant and trainer for the district and for the state. She said a lot of the work she and other Region One teachers and administrators did in cooperative learning and mentoring programs ultimately became part of state policy.

Region One “allows teachers to use what they’ve learned, and the school allows a lot of collaboration� — interdisciplinary units with the social studies and art departments, for instance.

Kinsman was also involved in expanding the scope of field trips. She recalled how, after a visit to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass., she and others made a successful pitch for trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

What’s next in her life? she was asked.

“I’m not rushing out to do anything right now,� said Kinsman, still slightly flushed after a mini-hike with students on a warm afternoon. She and her husband, Kem, plan to travel — to Gettysburg, Pa., and to Egypt.

The study of ancient Egypt is one of Kinsman’s trademarks, and one of the most popular units among students. “All these years I’ve been asked if I’ve ever been there, and I had to answer ‘no.’�

And she’s going to take dulcimer lessons. Her husband bought her the instrument, and she’s learned a couple of melodies on her own.

It fits with what she’s told students for 35 years: “You have to be a life-long learner.�

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