Betty retired from teaching in 2008, after 38 years as a public school third-grade classroom teacher. Her first year of teaching was along the California coast in Santa Ynez.

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All of her teaching, except the first year, was done in Merced, which is located in the middle of California’s Central Valley. Each school year was special to her, and she did her best to make each year the best learning experience possible for her students.

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During those years, she taught many second-language learners how to read and write. One of her most memorable experiences was attending the graduation ceremony of a former student who was graduating from the University of California, Berkley with a double major. The student’s family was Southeast Asian refugees from the Vietnam War with very limited English language skills, and here she was graduating from a top university.

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Their annual classroom trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and to a nearby state park with hiking trails along the Pacific Ocean were a school-year highlight for both the students and Betty. Often, many of the students had never seen the ocean before, let alone a sea otter, or had the opportunity to take a hike in such a spectacular location.

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Each year, another highlight for her third-grade class was their visit to the Merced County Courthouse Museum. This was in connection with the school district’s third-grade social studies emphasis on Merced County history.

 

At first, museum visits were led by Maureen Bultena, who shared her extensive knowledge of Merced County history. After attending Maureen’s docent training, Betty became a museum guide to better integrate the museum visits with the classroom curriculum.

 

In later years, Betty coordinated with the school librarian, Rhonda Sancibrian, to teach research skills, including taking notes on historical facts and using those notes to write reports on one exhibit or feature of the museum. At the annual visit, the students read their reports to their fellow students and parents. In this way, the students became more engaged and shared a memorable experience with their parents. Also, Rhonda made a booklet of their research reports to keep as a museum memory.

 

Although Betty now lives far from Merced, Maureen Bultena, Rhonda Sancibrian, her third-grade students, and the Merced Courthouse Museum will always hold a special place in her heart.