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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Exceptional women
11
By ISABEL GAUTSCHI
Pamplin Media Group
H
ardly anyone living in Estacada
has not been touched by my
daughter, Joan Lawrence,” wrote
Marlena Coffman when she nomi-
nated Lawrence as an Exceptional Woman.
Lawrence has been teaching in Estacada
for 25 years. She often teaches the chil-
dren of former students.
Over the years, Lawrence has been of-
fered several higher paying teaching posi-
tions in other school districts and cities,
but she’s always turned them down.
Lawrence began her teaching career in
Monmouth and Salem. She moved to Cali-
fornia with her husband, Brent Lawrence,
after he graduated from college. She got a
job in a private school, but was homesick
for Oregon.
She applied to many Oregon schools and
was offered a job at Estacada Grade
School.
As she drove out for her interview, she
noticed how beautiful Estacada was. She
immediately liked her job interviewers
and the school.
The Lawrences moved to Estacada with
the idea to stay for only a few years. How-
ever, they were so enchanted by the people
and the school district that they decided to
stay.
“It was a great place to raise our kids,”
she said.
Lawrence has taught at several Estaca-
da schools at various grade-levels.
She moved to Clackamas River Elemen-
tary with the closure of River Mill Elemen-
tary last year. Her current third-grade
class is a mix of students who had attend-
ed both schools.
For the last few years she’s been moving
up grade-levels with her students — she’s
had some of the students in her current
class for the last three years.
Lawrence is passionate when describing
her teaching style.
“The main thing I think about is trying
to find each child’s interests. As much as I
can, I try to teach to their strengths,” she
said.
Teaching independence and self-reli-
ance is important to her.
“It’s very important to me that they take
responsibility for their own problems,” she
said of her students.
Lawrence encourages her students to
arrive at their own solutions. When the
kids bring her a problem, she often asks
them, “How would you solve that?”
“Where they’re mostly learning to be
self-reliant is in their relationships. My
philosophy is ‘work it out.’ If you can’t
work it out, bring it to me. There’s a lot of
teaching around that. Schoolwide,” she
said.
Lawrence explained that Clackamas Riv-
er Elementary as a whole has been striv-
ing to endow its students with the skills to
verbally resolve their conflicts.
Lawrence has creative ways to keep her
students learning.
The class has been reciting poetry and
song-lyrics such as the Oregon state song,
“Oregon, My Oregon,” and Walt Whit-
man’s “O Captain! My Captain!”
Kids may recite poems for extra credit.
Students earn 30 minutes of free time for
every five poems they recite. They usually
spend the time doing art.
Lawrence explained that the recitations
get the kids interested in and excited
about language and history.
Lawrence’s class recently finished de-
tailed animal reports. They will be moving
on to a unit on science and simple ma-
chines to coincide with Clackamas River
Elementary’s Science Fair on May 17.
Earlier in the year, the students needed
small pictures of themselves for a class
project. One student didn’t have a picture
of himself so Lawrence emailed his former
teacher in Troutdale to see if he might
have one.
As the two teachers corresponded, they
decided to have their classes write friend-
ly letters to each other as a writing exer-
cise.
Although the students have not met
their pen pals, they put a great deal of ef-
fort into their letters to each other. Even
students who struggle with reading and
writing have taken great pains in crafting
their letters.
“I absolutely love just being in the class-
room with kids,” Lawrence said. And they
love her.
“Sitting beside Mrs. Lawrence at the
Fourth of July parade is quite an event.
Nearly every float that passes by rings out
with, ‘Hi, Mrs. Lawrence,’” Coffman wrote.
“I love going to parades and yelling and
screaming at every float that has my kids,”
Lawrence said. She volunteers at kid ta-
bles for the Summer Celebration every
year.
The Lawrences also are members of the
Estacada arts community. Brent Lawrence
is an artist and Joan Lawrence served as
the coordinator for the Reflections Art
Program for several years.
It’s a creative family.
The Lawrences’ two sons also are artis-
tically inclined.
Luke Lawrence has a degree in philoso-
phy and worked on a day cruise boat in the
Caribbean for several years. Now back in
Estacada, he creates metal sculptures.
Duncan Lawrence is pursuing a career
in music and is interested in organic farm-
ing. He lives in Estacada as well.
Joan Lawrence seems to have had a
magnetic pull on her family. Her father
spent the last five years of his life living in
Estacada, her mother lives in Eagle Creek
and one of her sisters lives in Estacada.
Just more examples of how Joan Law-
rence has enriched the community she has
lived in and loved for so long.
Short stay turns into lifetime job for teacher
■
Joan Lawrence has enriched the lives of generations of Estacada children
Joan
Lawrence,
who has
been a
teacher in
Estacada
for 25
years,
holds up
her
students’
animal
reports.
PHOTO BY
ISABEL
GAUTSCHI