Joe Chamberlin said that when he decided to go into education, it was rare to have a male elementary teacher, but he decided to just go for it. He graduated from college in May of 1978 at the same university as his older sister, who was also an Elementary Education major.
Chamberlain didn’t have much time to spare after graduation, moving right away to the community of Eagle Grove so he could serve as the assistant girls softball coach for the summer. He remembers the little house he moved into across the street from the Eagle Grove Memorial Library. He rented it, fully furnished with everything from a couch to a fork, for only $125 a month.
When fall came, Chamberlain was excited to start his first teaching job, working with third grade students at Lincoln Elementary School. He stayed in that position for 18 years before moving into a fourth grade classroom where he taught another 23 years. During this time, Chamberlain also served in a variety of coaching positions including a continuation of assistant girls softball coach, assistant football, head girls basketball coach, and middle school boys track. For the past several years, you could even find him on the sidelines at home sporting events running the clocks/scoreboards at games.
Two years ago, Chamberlin made one more change – he traded in his classroom for a gym, taking over as the elementary Physical Education teacher. He gives credit to Dan O’Hern (the retiring PE teacher) and Karla Tweeten for encouraging him to do it. The kids loved him in his new role, and Chamberlin enjoyed it too because he got to work with all the students in the building. He had them doing your typical activities like running, etc., but he also got them to think outside the box about staying active – devizing games with a giant, oversized beach ball.
Chamberlin said one of the most rewarding things about being a teacher in Eagle Grove for 43 years was working with the kids and hearing them say “I like doing this.”
He is also grateful he could make so many connections through his role as a coach.
“I know so many people because of coaching,” he said.
He also enjoys seeing some of his former students come back to Eagle Grove to start their own careers and families.
“I think of Dr. Aaron Parrot, Trent Cooper…there are so many others that have such a great work ethic,” said Chamberlin.
During his more than four decades in Eagle Grove, Chamberlain wasn’t always the teacher – he sometimes had to be the student too, learning and advancing with new waves of technology. When he first came to the school, there were no computers. Then came the Commodore 64 computer (an 8-bit home computer). That evolved to the Apple II, the Box Macs…then came the SmartBoards in the classroom and Google Chrome computers for every student.
He has enjoyed making his life’s work about teaching children, whether it was in the classroom or on the court/field/track. As hard as it was to say “Goodbye” to them a couple of weeks ago when the last school bell rang, he knew now was the time to retire.
“You just know when the time is right,” he said.
For him, COVID played a role in it. He admitted that this was a different kind of year with masks, mandates, and ever-changing policies to ensure the safety of everyone during the pandemic made things more difficult. While he was glad the last few days could go back to somewhat “normal” it is still a concern the school will continue to address as things continue to change with the virus.
This, along with the fact that his wife is also retired, was all the encouragement Chamberlin needed to say “Yes” to retirement. He said he is not really sure yet exactly what he will be doing with his new-found free time, but that’s the great thing about retirement.
“You don’t have to have a plan,” he said with his familiar grin and little chuckle.
At some point, he did say he might come back to see the kids…as kitchen help. He thinks it would be fun to do something like that, something totally different than what he did before.
Chamberlin said the one concept he always tried to convey to his students is “To believe that you can…at least try…do your best…you’re only successful if you try.”
With that, he leaves these words of advice for older students – Be involved in everything that you can, whether it’s sports, music, speech, etc.
“I hate to have kids make decisions about what they’re going to be good at in the future based on younger performances. I tell them to use the words ‘I’m not good YET,’” said Chamberlin.
If nothing else, he reminds students that no matter if you play a little or a lot, all students make great memories on the bus rides. Also, he would like to tell students to take those free college classes while you are in high school.
