Glen Ellyn substitute teacher retires at 89

Some teachers can walk into a classroom and immediately command attention from students.

It's even more remarkable when that teacher is a substitute - and 89 years old.

Meet Carol Woods.

"She never had a problem with discipline," Linnette Dorman says of Woods. "Kids always respected her."

Dorman, chairwoman of the world languages department at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, considers Woods an equal, an educator who brought a "presence" every time she filled in for the job.

"I'm just going to miss her being there to support the students and support the teachers and the love of the language," Dorman said.

Woods recently retired as a foreign languages substitute teacher in Glenbard High School District 87, where the fluent Spanish speaker was known for her witty stories of her trips abroad. She's stepping down for health reasons, but Woods said it's simply time to say goodbye to a nearly 30-year career subbing.

"I actually have enjoyed it a great deal, just being with young people, having something to do that I feel passionate about," Woods said.

The district is recognizing that passion with a distinguished service award during a ceremony March 21 at Glenbard East.

"Oh man, I hope I don't have to give a speech," said a humble Woods, one of 10 honorees. "If I could give one in Spanish, then I'd like it."

Woods would probably be more at ease talking in Spanish about her staying power in education. She immerses herself in the culture, decorating her Glen Ellyn home with pottery from Guatemala and art from Mexico. And she's likely the only octogenarian who can't sing a Beatles song, preferring Los Mustang, a Spanish rock band who covered the Fab Four's hits.

"To me, it's enjoyable fun to get involved in knowing another language," said Woods, who also taught French and German.

Her last teaching stints were at East, a campus with elevators that allowed Woods, who uses a walker, to get around. She didn't just assign the work teachers left her, but actually taught, a distinction Dorman makes having observed Woods in the classroom.

And the substitute took the "extremely unusual" step of grading exams before teachers returned, Dorman said.

"It was always nice coming back; it was so well organized," Dorman said.

With students, she kept April Fool's jokes up her sleeve and encouraged them to discover Spanish literature, film and music.

"I try to be good-humored with them because it doesn't pay to get angry or stuffy or strict," Woods said. "It doesn't help."

She began teaching full-time in her 40s, after raising a family and going back to school to get her degree from Roosevelt University. Woods traces the moment she decided to become a teacher to a night Spanish class the mom of three took at Glenbard West High School, where she learned of an open position.

"That made me realize I should pick up a career," she said. "Sometimes it's just a (like) light goes (on) in your head."

In the early 1970s, she taught full-time in Geneva Unit District 304. During summer breaks, she continued to study the language in Mexico and Spain.

"One of the best ways to enjoy a foreign trip is to take a study course because then you get involved with people that are there," Woods said.

She keeps mementos from those trips and her time in District 87, neatly packing away ID badges from all four high schools in a folder.

"I've had an enjoyable time these 29 years," she said.