Page 10 - The Clare Connection_Winter 2019 Flipbook

RESIDENT PROFILE
Harlean Barth

Harlean Barth: Clare Resident Blends Rural

Upbringing, City Life in Teaching Career

C lare resident Harlean Barth has lived and worked in two contrasting
environments: rural Illinois and urban Chicago.
Harlean attended a one-room schoolhouse in Iroquois County until
third grade, and retired from teaching at a private school in Chicago at
the age of 77. Her family once owned a farm, and she now resides at
The Clare in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood.
“It’s a completely different world between the city and the farm,”
Harlean says.
Throughout her life and career, those two worlds both challenged and
inspired her. No matter where she was, though, her creativity in the
classroom and passion for teaching pushed her forward and brought
her students success.
Life on the Farm
Harlean launched her teaching career at a small school in Iroquois
County – the one she attended after the one-room schoolhouse, in
fact. Meanwhile, her first husband worked as a farmer and was part of
a grain elevator business.
Originally, Harlean was able to teach with just two years of college
under her belt. As she had her three children, she began taking classes
at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois, where she earned
both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
In the classroom, Harlean demonstrated unique ways to engage her
students. She taught ballet and tap dance and played the piano. She
brought in performers to put on shows. Even as her own children
went through school, she and her husband couldn’t help but propose
innovative ideas for programming, such as a trip to the planetarium,
for instance.

Her teaching method resulted in receiving the Governor Thompson
Master Teacher Award in 1984.
“In smaller communities, it was quite an honor,” she says. “It’s not
because I was any better than anybody else – it was just that I got
attention for my techniques.”
Life in the City
At 45 years old, Harlean’s first husband passed away. At this point, she
felt it was time for a change of scenery.
“I knew I couldn’t farm and make a living,” Harlean says. “I had to make
a new way for myself, so I moved to Chicago.”
She was first offered a job at an experimental school on the South Side
of Chicago. The concept was to revolutionize the learning experience
and have everything offered be top-of-the-line, from French lessons to
computers in every classroom.