If there’s one thing Martha Strever has learned in her 63 years of teaching, it’s how to adapt.
Strever has taught math at the same middle school in Red Hook, N.Y., since 1961, solidifying herself as one of the longest-tenured teachers in America. She’s seen transformation after transformation—from the introduction of the calculator to the emergence of artificial intelligence—and, at times, helped her district adopt and adapt to these new methods of learning.
Strever has also evolved herself, both personally and professionally.
Earlier in her career, she taught Linden Avenue Middle School’s highest-achieving math students, typically in honors-level courses. Now, Strever co-teaches the school’s students who tend to need more guidance and encouragement to master skills in math. It’s a change that Strever said has challenged her to learn and implement new ways of teaching.
Working with students is “the delight of my day, every day,” Strever said.
Along with her expertise, Strever brings a lot of character to the school, where the principal and a handful of colleagues are former students.
She’s known for her expansive wardrobe, and she very rarely repeats outfits. Strever only wears dresses or skirts to school (and to do yard work). She wears pants just one day per year, on field day.
She’s independent, and maybe a little stubborn, according to her colleagues at the school an hour south of Albany. Strever does her own yard work at home and shovels snow from the sidewalk, and she sets up her classroom prior to the first day of school, even when it involves standing on her desk to hang signs and posters.
Strever, who started her 64th year of teaching on Sept. 4, has no plans to retire. And school administrators want her to stay as long as she wants.
“She sometimes worries if she should keep staying or if she might get pushed out eventually,” said Stacie Fenn Smith, the school’s principal (who had Strever as a teacher when she was growing up). “But I’ve told her: I will not take your name off your board until you choose to take it off yourself.”
