After eight years at El Dorado High School and 37 total years teaching, EHS English teacher Dorothy Beer decided it was time to focus her energy on something else important to her.

Beer decided to retire at the end of this year to spend more time with her grandchildren and attending their events.

But it wasn’t an easy decision for her as evident by the tears in her eyes as she talks about her students.

“I think just being involved in the lives of young people,” she said of what she enjoys most about teaching. “There’s an energy there.

“If you just see one positive you’ve been able to bring about for one student. There’s a sense of doing something worthwhile.”

Beer began her teaching career in Independent School District in Tyrone, Okla., where she taught from 1971 to 1984. Next she taught at Liberal from 1984 to 2000, before coming to El Dorado. She has taught seventh through 12th grade, been a secondary assistant principal and curriculum director.

“I was very fortunate because when I went through school I was privileged to have very good teachers,” she said, describing them as “ahead of their time.”

She said her history teacher worked in current events, making history come alive.

“My teachers made learning so enjoyable that I wanted to be part of the whole thing,”
Beer said.

Before she got into teaching though, she was married and had two children. Once her children were in school, she went back to school herself, earning her undergraduate degree in three years, then getting her master’s in English and administration degree.
She came to El Dorado when the English job opened up because she was looking for a change.

She now teaches freshman, junior and senior English classes.

“I have enjoyed the staff, the community and of course, the administration,” Beer said. “I feel they have been supportive. Even in the old building, the people we worked with made that a doable experience.”

Of course she also has enjoyed the students.

“It is always a joy for a teacher when a student is doing something and I call it seeing a light bulb come on and they get it,” she said.

She also works to find things to motivate kids to do better in areas in which they may be struggling.

She likes seeing kids excited about learning.

One experience in particular that comes to mind for Beer is when she took a group of kids to the park with digital cameras to take pictures of nature to be made into a nature book.

“One of the kids said ‘this was one of the most meaningful activities I have done,’” she said.

Over the years, she has seen a number of changes in teaching, with the main one being technology.

“Using technology in the classroom has been a learning experience,” Beer said. “I thought I would be gone much before we got into all the technology.”

But she is glad that she was here for it because it has been fun.

One of the aspects of the new technology she enjoyed was the Blackboard they used for discussions of novels.

“I think it (technology) has given teachers a better communication with students if it is used as it’s intended to be,” she said.

She said it also gives students added motivation for doing their work and makes research easier, although she still likes doing research in books.

The new technology goes along with what it takes to be a good teacher.

“If you are going to be a good teacher, you have to be a good learner and have the desire to learn,” she said.

She said teachers also learn a lot from students.

Teaching runs in the family for Beer. Both of her sons are teachers, as well as their wives, and one of her granddaughters is studying to be a teacher.

Beer has six grandchildren, who are all involved in a variety of activities.

“I just want to be more a part of their lives,” she said.

She also wants to spend more time with her husband.

“I want to be active in the community in volunteer things,” she said. “I want to give back some of what has been given to us.”