Graduation Year:
'80
Occupation:
Retired Science Teacher
Major/Minor:
MSE Elementary Education
"I've come full circle," says Fisher as she remarks on the many subjects that she has taught throughout the years, eventually going back to teaching science where she started. Fisher notes that she has had many ISU students in her classroom and on the eve of her retirement, says that "Teaching at Metcalf was not a job, it was a life experience."
As a class assignment, Rita Fisher wrote a curriculum for an outdoor education program. In 1978, she began working at Metcalf Elementary School, where she began teaching that curriculum to first through sixth graders. The base of that same curriculum is still taught today, including a three-day residential component for 5th and 6th graders. "Outdoor ed was a wonderful experience for the teachers and the students; it was a bonding time," reflects Fisher.
As a science educator, Fisher has had a lot of animals in her class throughout the years. She recalls the janitors calling on the phone at home and saying, "Come get the snake, Mrs. Fisher, its crawling down the hallways again."