Rector looks at retirement

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Don Rector has two words to sum up his three and a half decades of teaching success.
Stellar students.
“You don’t have to be a great teacher when you get really good kids,” Rector said.
OK, so there may be a bit more to it than that. But good luck getting Rector to talk about his own renowned teaching skills. With this teaching veteran, it’s all about the pupils.
Rector, a drafting instructor at the Wythe County Technology Center, and 17 other 2008 Wythe County retirees were honored by the School Board Monday morning for their combined 471 years of service to the county’s public schools.
While Rector’s 35 years of experience ranked only fifth out of the distinguished group, he has one claim not many other educators – in Wythe County or anywhere – can top.
After the School Board reception, Rector showed off his last classroom at WCTC, which also happens to be the one he started in back in 1973 as a 25-year-old neophyte educator.
“This has been my home for 35 years,” Rector said as his eyes swept across the only room he has ever taught in. “I’d say that’s a record.”
That’s about as close as you’ll get to hearing anything resembling a boast from Rector.
Immediately upon entering the drafting room Monday, Rector turned his attention to the few designs created by former students that remain posted on the walls and lamented the fact that he’s already had to take down countless more drawings and student awards.
“That is better than most people you’ll see in the industry,” he said as he pointed to a drawing he had awarded an A+.
Although Rector won’t talk about himself much, his former boss and good friend Danny McDaniel is plenty willing to fill the void.
And he says Rector’s students were stellar because they went through his class.
“I think it was his ability to relate to kids,” said McDaniel, the principal at WCTC from 1988-90 and 1995-2002, as he described the reasons for Rector’s successful career. “He got students of different ability levels and he was able to help them all find success.”
McDaniel’s own son, Paul, took one of Rector’s classes and the veteran educator said Paul ranked Rector as one of his “top three” favorite teachers.
At a reception in Rector’s honor at the end of the school year, McDaniel said he was amazed at the diverse group of Rector’s former students who took the time to show their appreciation for his teaching skills.
In Rector’s classes, students learned mechanical drafting, technical illustration and architecture skills.
He said he tried to foster an environment where students could work at their own pace and take pride in their creations.
About the only teaching technique he was willing to highlight was his strategy of having students post their work for their peers to see.
Knowing their work would be displayed brought out the best in his students, Rector said.
“It’s not because of me teaching them,” he continued to insist.
While many drafting programs moved to teaching only computer-aided design during Rector’s career, he steadfastly held on to his belief that nothing can replace the lessons learned through drawing by hand.
“That’s where they learn the basic skills of drafting,” he said as he indicated the tables in the classroom.
Rector didn’t completely eschew technology, however. He added a single computer to his classroom in the 1980s and finished with around 20 top-notch machines.
He said in recent years he asked students to do about 30 percent of their work with ink and 70 percent on the computer.
“A whole lot of it is done both places,” he added.
Rector got his own industry experience prior to teaching through his job as a machine designer at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in the early 1970s.
Although he said the real-life skills he learned working at the shipyard were invaluable to his teaching career, he said teaching gave him far greater satisfaction.
He also said he enjoyed that the hours of a schoolteacher allowed him time to pursue other hobbies in life.
Many in the area also know Rector through his long career as football and basketball referee for the Virginia High School League.
“Refereeing was like another life,” he said.
McDaniel said he always was impressed with the way Rector could juggle the demands of both refereeing – which often involved lots of travel – and teaching.
“He came back to school and was always prepared,” McDaniel said.
Last year, though, Rector found balancing teaching with a challenge tougher than refereeing to be more than he could take on.
Rector is retiring from his teaching career to help his wife, Donna, through her battle with cancer.
“My wife and I are going to spend as much time together as we have,” he said.
Although he’ll not be in a classroom for the first time in 35 years come this fall, Rector’s enthusiasm for his profession hasn’t waned a bit.
“I can’t imagine having a better career,” he said.
And why?
“I’ve got the best students in Wythe County.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .