Helen Tuley is all about hands-on teaching. Students stop by her house to play in her backyard and see her garden. " />
Helen Tuley is all about hands-on teaching. Students stop by her house to play in her backyard and see her garden.
If you appreciate our coverage, please donate here. The Eudora Times depends on your donations to provide coverage of local news.
Helen Tuley can’t retire until she follows Ryker Moreno all the way through elementary, middle and high school. Because he asked her to, of course.
“We just kind of attached at the hip,” Tuley said. “He’s a delight.”
Tuley, originally from Troy, Kansas, started at Eudora seven years ago after working in schools across the nation.
She and Ryker, now 7, have been inseparable since they met in preschool. After his parents enrolled him in Eudora, he instantly took a liking to Tuley, his extended-day teacher. When Ryker moved to kindergarten, Tuley moved up to elementary school, too, and is now a paraprofessional there.
“It’s obviously just really special. He always has talked about or always wants her to come over here,” Ryker’s mom Ashley said.
The pair are so tight that Ryker had Tuley serve as his birthday party host. They invited other kids, played outside, gardened and baked cookies.
“We made T-shirts, we got on her swing, we made cookies and ate pizza,” Ryker said.
Ryker said Tuley is loved by a lot of his friends and classmates, and is a special part of his life. Tuley has taught Ryker all kinds of facts about nature, which often surprise his mom.
“She’s taught you so much,” Ashley said to Ryker. “We’ll be doing things and I’ll have no idea he even knew it and he’ll tell me something and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, how did you know that?’”
“It’s pretty awesome to see,” his father, Josh, said. “He’s really learned a lot.”
Tuley’s classroom has always been a hands-on environment, from cooking to science experiments, to mummifying hot dogs, to kids writing their own plays and designing their own sets.
She remains connected to many of the students she has had in the past, even hosting playdates at her house for them. Neighbors and former students regularly stop by to play in her backyard, which is a natural garden with chickens, bunnies and its very own Kansas prairie, Tuley said.
“I love that connection I have with kids,” she said. “I have a connection with nature, and children are nature.”
Principal Seth Heide has worked alongside Tuley and sees the way she connects with staff and students.
“She just has a personality that just radiates excitement about life and about learning,” Heide said. “Her ways of connecting with everyone are just unparalleled.”
Her hands-on approach has created a deeper sense of learning for children to connect with the concepts. Giving students firsthand experiences like showing them worms and her gardens can broaden their horizons to things they may not see at home, he said.
“She’s just so delightful. She brings smiles to everyone’s faces,” Heide said.
Tuley is a para in Valerie LaMont’s early childhood classroom. This is LaMont’s sixth year.
LaMont feels grateful that she gets to share a classroom with her for a second year.
“I think that kids can really feel when someone’s not genuine, and I think that the amount of energy that pours out of her is so genuine and I think the kids can feel that,” she said. “She just makes everyone feel welcome.”
Tuley is a seasoned teacher with experience in the highs and lows of teaching, and it helps LaMont to teach beside her.
When students come in the door and see Tuley, they have the biggest smiles on their faces, she said.
“I really just think that for so many kids that starts off the pace of the day on a really positive note, and I think that she really helps foster that,” LaMont said.
“I always say I want to be Miss Helen when I grow up,” she said.
Ryker will be going into second grade this year, but Tuley will still see him in the building at least once a day, she said.
This will be Tuley’s 55th year in education, and she doesn’t plan to stop until she’s cranky, she said.
“I will continue to teach as long as I love kids and enjoy it, but if I get cranky and fussy, I’ll quit, because they don’t deserve that,” Tuley said. “So far, I love going every day.”
When asked how long she will stay teaching, Tuley said, “Well, I’ve gotta stay until Ryker graduates.”
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected]