Riley has been educating for over 40 years in many school districts and now she is finally deciding to leave East High School after 11 years to retire. “I am getting old. I do not know. If you want to put that. I have taught for over 40 years; you do not live forever. I am retiring to do something else,” Riley said.
Riley has worked for Des Moines Public Schools for 28 years at two schools in the district East High School and Central Campus. Riley has had a great relationship with her job, staff, and students. “I have been at East for 11 years. I was at Central Campus for 17, before that a total of 28 years in Des Moines Public Schools. I love the students; I love the staff. Met a lot of great people,” Riley said.
Riley has experienced a wonderful time at East with many great staff, students she loves deeply, but mostly loves the department she works in. She has had many cherishing memories while working in her field of teaching with her students. “It is the greatest, I love my students I cannot imagine working in any other area. I love ELL students; I love celebrating the baby steps of the beginners. One of the first years I was here we had a family day/ culture day we had like all the ELL students and students who were not even in the ELL program where we brought food and dance from our cultures,” Riley said.
Before Riley came to Des Moines, Iowa she used to live in Portland, Maine while working at a lobster house and taking teaching as a side job. Riley then decided to move to Des Moines after her mother got sick and while in Des Moines, she applied as a sub which later got her a job as an English Language Learner teacher. “I have worked for Portland Public Schools in Maine and South Portland Public Schools also in Maine. I worked at the country’s oldest lobster house, and I was making over $350 a night, so I started teaching part time for the health benefits while waiting tables at the oldest lobster house in the country. My parents, my mom got sick, so I came to Des Moines, Iowa to be with her to be in the hospital. So, I got bored, and I applied for a sub position, and they saw I did ELL in Maine, so they asked me to interview for the job, and I got the job,” Riley said.
Before Riley became an ELL teacher she also worked as an English teacher in many different countries like the U.S., Spain, and Germany. Many kids did want to learn how to speak English. “I took a year off from teaching English. And traveled with a friend and went to Europe and many other countries and detoured from my three-month plan and decided to earn money and decided to teach English and went I went back to Maine that started ELL. Just under two years in Spanish, Germany, English, Romania, I worked for seven different language companies and that is what got me into ELL. I did not go to France, and I did spend a lot of time in Greece and that is where I bought my ticket to go to Cairo Egypt,” Riley said.
After retiring, Riley is looking forward to going to Northern Iowa to relax and take a break from work. Riley has spent many years teaching and is deciding it is time for her to do things she has always wanted to do. “Yeah, I do not know. I am going to have a big garden up at my lake house in Northern Iowa. I am going to just stay up there until Thanksgiving and take advantage of the nature of the lake. I just love it up there and spend more time there and less in Des Moines and learn how to do things I always wanted to do,” Riley said.
Riley’s co-workers will also have an amazing time remembering her time at East. Her way of working and teaching, helping and supporting both students and teachers, has impacted them positively in their education and work environment. “So having Ms. Riley next door is super helpful because she has the answer to a lot of my questions. She has every single resource and material you could ever want in her room, and she knows so much about how to do this job that her judgement is always spot on,” ELL teacher Gabriele Albrecht said.
Riley is not a boring teacher. She goes all out for her students. On special occasions, Riley gets together with other ELL teachers and spends time bonding with both classes so they can get to know each other. She also goes festive for any holiday or season bringing the holiday spirit to the school. “She keeps pictures of all her students in a big photo album so every student she has ever taught, and she has her kids gift their parents for Christmas and Mother’s Day and she decorates her classroom for different holidays like no one else I know. Sometimes we get our classes to play games together that’s always good and Shes helped me a lot when I need help with my family. And the one time I wiped out in the hallway and hit my head on the marble floor she drove me to the doctor,” Albrecht said.
Riley has shared a tremendous amount of support to other teachers and staff at East. She has made people feel like they belong in their work and school environment. “The first time I heard about her was from her sister because I worked in the same school as her sister in Waukee. Her sister told me that Ms. Riley taught as an ELL teacher. I wanted to apply for jobs, so I thought I would apply at East High School. When I interviewed for this job Ms. Riley was the teacher who interviewed me with other administrators so that was October of 2017. She really helped me feel like I belonged to her when I was new because I came in October and that was awkward for a new teacher and she just helped me a lot in general,” ELL teacher Leila Lane said.
Students and staff at East are going to miss Riley for all she has done for the school and her students, not just becoming a teacher but an important role model to look upon. “She has a big heart for her students and is a great friend and college. I am also retiring. I will miss her very much and we plan to stay connected,” Lane said.