Much has changed in the way of current events since Janet Buford started teaching social studies. Even the sound of the dismissal bell has changed since she started teaching in the Little Rock School District 35 years ago. The last bell of the day on May 31 will mark the beginning of the next phase for her -- retirement.
Buford, named a Pulaski Heights Teacher of the Year in 2012 and a Little Rock School District Teacher of the Year in 2019, has taught long enough that she has had several children of former students in her class.
For years, Buford, 78, assigned projects requiring students to analyze the many historical references in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."
"It gives so much history and kids love music," she says. "I've also done Kenny G's 'Millennium Mix,' which is another one with lots of history stuff in there. Lately, I have done more National History Day than back to, as I call them, the fun projects."
National History Day projects require research skills and are good preparation for high school.
"It's a lot of work on the teachers' end. It's a lot of teaching them the skills -- how to research, how to do a bibliography, how to do footnotes," she says.
Initially reluctant to take it on because of the additional work load, Buford was convinced by a colleague to give it a go.
"When I saw what the kids got out of it, I thought, 'OK, it's worth it,'" she says. "I've done it enough that I now have a pattern. I have a booklet that I hand out with information to start off that tells them what they have to do, step-by-step, and I meet with parents and tell them what it is and we try to do some of it in my classroom, but a lot of it is done out of class."
She lets them know a poster is not sufficient for an exhibit, and if they want to do a documentary presentation she suggests they look to Ken Burns.
"I'm not good at websites, but we have an EAST lab and we have teachers that can help with that," she says.
There was not a History Day equivalent, as far as she knows, when she was growing up in Meridian, Miss.
"But when I was in the seventh grade I had to write an essay and I wrote it on Ben Franklin and won whatever the prize was," she says. "My mother said I was hooked after that."
Buford had planned to go to Ole Miss., though not to become a teacher.
"That turned out not to be a good time to go," she says, referring to the riots on campus in response to integration efforts.
She went to Stephens College in Columbia, Mo., instead.
"That's a two-year all girls school, and then I went to Ole Miss," she says. "And when I got ready to go to Ole Miss, my mother told me, 'While you're there, just get your teacher certificate.' And my words have come back to haunt me."
Buford, in fact, told her mother there was no way "in you-know-where" she would ever teach.
"I was going to be a wife and mommy," Buford says. "I was a Southern belle. My plans changed because I got a divorce."
She and her husband had moved to Little Rock in 1970. She had a bachelor's degree in history and English, and her minor was classical civilization.
"My divorce attorney told me, 'You can raise and teach your children,'" she says. "I said, 'That's right. My degree will get me nowhere."
Her parents helped her pay for courses at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock so she could get a teaching certificate.
"I had a life before teaching that a lot of people don't know about," she says. "I used to be chairman of the [Metroplan] Transit Policy Board. I was active when I moved here with the League of Women Voters, and they were interested in public transportation and I ended up being appointed to that board and ended up serving as chairman for like eight years. There were several times that we almost shut the transit down."
Buford was referred to as a "transit expert" in several Arkansas Gazette stories in the 1980s.
There were several mornings, she remembers, that she got her three children up at 5 a.m. to ride the bus.
"We would start a new route or something and there would be a big press release and I would go out there to take my three kids out there," she says.
She considers whether she might get involved again with the League of Women Voters, or with some other organization or effort.
"I don't plan to sit on the sidelines too long," she says.
Buford intends to enjoy some time at the Fort Morgan, Ala., beach house that has been in her family since 1981. The house is rented out during the summer to cover the insurance and upkeep costs.
"That's fine, though," she says. "Since I won't be teaching I'll just spend September down there."
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