tcrow@taylorisd.org
During Diana Rucker’s twenty-seven
year career in Taylor ISD, she has served as a middle school teacher, a high
school coach, and the co-director of a program for families of children from
birth to pre-k. Of all the roles she has held in the district, most will
likely remember her from the years she taught science at Taylor Middle School.
“Eddy Spiller hired me to
coach basketball and volleyball at the high school,” she recalled. “I also
taught sixth and eighth grade science at the middle school. Then when Jane
Stover retired, I took over seventh grade science and did that full time.”
Rucker quit teaching for a
while to finish her Master’s degree in health. Then with a background in both teaching
and health, she began working for the local hospital in community health and
education. She returned to the school district in 1993 to help with a new
program called Even Start.
“I was co-director with
Scholley Bubenik,” Rucker said. “We worked with parents of children from birth
until school age. We taught parent education in the evenings, and we had
parents who would come in during the day for adult education.”
When she returned to the
classroom, Rucker taught eighth grade science where she remained until her
retirement. It’s a role she says she enjoyed, especially the days spent in the
science lab.
“I enjoyed the labs the
most,” she said. “Watching the kids go off on their own, following directions
and working together in teams. Watching them make discoveries on their own is
the best part.”
Rucker says her students
also enjoyed the labs. Favorites included chemical reactions, making slime and
one about the Law of Conservation that involved popcorn.
“They love the popcorn lab. I’m
surprised how many had never seen popcorn pop before. And of course, they got
to eat it and that’s the highlight of any middle school student’s day is
getting to eat.”
When she taught seventh
grade, dissecting frogs was often the favorite lab.
“They all talked a big game
of how they were going to dissect this frog and they couldn’t wait. Then when
we went to the lab, the girls were all into it and the boys were the ones
going, ‘I’m not touching that’.”
Rucker said one of the
reasons she has enjoyed teaching so much is because her students were so well
behaved.
“If you train them right and
you have high expectations and you vocalize those expectations, the days go
beautifully,” she said. “I very, very seldom have any trouble with students’
behavior in the lab. I think they are so excited about being there. I think
they know what I expect and they rise to the occasion.”
Rucker said leaving
colleagues who have become good friends will be the hardest part of retiring.
“These are the most
wonderful people,” she said. “I have great friends here. We have lived in
Taylor for 32 years. We came here thinking it was going to be one or two years
and we were moving on, and we stayed.”
With a total of twenty-eight
years in education, Rucker now plans to spend more time with family and pursue
other opportunities.
“I’m looking forward to
being more accessible to my children,” she said. “I have a granddaughter in
Fort Worth. I also want to explore new options, maybe working on a junior
college campus. I have a Master’s degree in health, so something in that area.”
