Rochelle Balkam has been a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University for 23 years and has decided it’s time say goodbye to teaching.
Balkam will be retiring this year, giving her last lecture this spring to her Michigan history class. Before coming to EMU, Balkham taught at Ypsilanti High School for 40 years.
“There’s not much I haven’t seen,” Balkam said, recalling a time when a student went into labor in her classroom.
Balkam is 74 years old and said she believes that no one should have to work until they’re 75.
Even though Balkam has earned a rest, it is clear that EMU will be
losing a loved teacher. Students and fellow faculty members will miss her.
Amber Napp, a current student of Balkam’s, described her teacher as accommodating and very accessible and helpful. She also said she likes that Balkam brings history to life by bringing in personal photographs and personalizing her lectures.
“I’m just sorry for the students that have never taken one of her classes,” Napp said. “I’m sorry they missed her.”
Balkam said she enjoys connecting with her students, and that this is one of the reasons she came to EMU.
Balkam believes in a very hands-on approach to her lessons. She takes her students out of the classroom whenever she gets the chance and encourages them to discover their own family history.
“I want my students to bring as much history into the classroom as they will get out of it,” she said.
Balkam said the most important part of teaching is to love one’s subject area and to be sufficiently knowledgeable. Her advice to students going into the field of education is to “teach, but always to learn.”
