Teacher Day: 45 years in, Watertown High School's Dee Shear isn't slowing down

May 6—WATERTOWN — Even after teaching for 45 years, Dee L. Shear at Watertown High School isn't slowing down.

For Shear, who has spent 22 of her 45 years in the same class in the Watertown City School District, the classroom is her happy place. She said being an educator is something she always wanted. She used to play school with her siblings, then fell in love with the real thing.

"It was just one place where I flourished," she said.

Tuesday marks National Teacher Day during National Teacher Appreciation Week, when teachers across the country are being recognized for their hard work.

Shear previously worked for the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services and for 10 years in the alternative high school program.

At Watertown, she has taught both English and journalism.

Shear's impact on her students can be felt throughout the north country. She said she recently received an email from a former student whose mother died the year they were in Shear's class. They told her that they wouldn't have made it through those years if not for her.

Getting that email brought joy to Shear, she said.

"You can get so bogged down ... that you lose that glimmer, that joy you have, and something like that brings it all back," she said.

Shear said the biggest change she's seen in her nearly half century of teaching is the reversal of the literature students are studying.

"At the beginning, I was exposed to a lot of classical literature, and didn't really get that modern literature until I went to college," she said.

She said at times schools can be stuck teaching for a test, which she said didn't happen when she was in school.

"That makes me really sad because I think it blocks out some of the opportunity they have for creativity," she said. "I think if you do it right, you can be creative."

Now, students are learning English in what Shear called "mini courses," resulting in the year being broken up into different segments.

Shear also praised the teachers at Watertown High School.

"The teachers in this building are incredible, but those teachers really have to work hard to try to shove (the mini courses) stuff in there," she said.

Another big change in the last 45 years is technology.

"It's positive in that they can go online and do their assignments and do the research and things. I think it's negative in that I think there is an advantage to having (cellphones) turned off," Shear said.

Shear said she doesn't want to put students on the computer all day.

"Let's be off it, and let's have a book. Let me give you an article, let's watch a video. But let's not be on that all day," she said.

During her teaching tenure, Shear has battled cancer four times and is currently in remission. She worked while receiving treatment, including a stem cell transplant.

"I came every day and I tried to do my best, but you can't do your best because part of you is not there, part of you is physically sick," she said. "It's been eight years and I hope it's gone, but now I feel like I'm healthy and I have that energy that I didn't have."

She added that she still has "something to give."

"I can't even imagine not doing it ... This is my place," she said.

Shear also said she just loves seeing the moment kids "get it," citing students helping each other out.

"That is the kind of exciting thing when I see one student get it and so I can help this one, and then that one, oh, I can help that one. There's that excitement of learning they still have and I still have that love for them," she said.

Shear said there are about 10 teachers and staff employed in the district who were once her students.

One of the staff members she taught was Tina M. Lane, who now serves as the district's assistant superintendent for personnel and student services.

While out to eat in Syracuse, Shear said she noticed one of her students and went up and chatted with him.

"To me, that's just magic. To know that, even if it was just a tiny bit, you had something to do with that person," she said.

Just sitting down with students and chatting with them, not necessarily about school, but about life, is rewarding to Shear.

"It's those downtimes when I'm just talking with them, when I'm just hearing them and listening, and sometimes when I'm just saying, 'Let's talk about that,' and we are able to have those conversations that somebody needs to have with them," she said.

Her career has been everything she thought it would be and questions people when they ask her why she doesn't retire.

"I love what I'm doing," she said.

Shear described the district as "where (she's) happy."

"I love this place. I waited my whole life to come here," she said.

Shear said that she hopes when students leave her classroom that they are interested in something, want to read, and are curious and kind.