Her Story
Ruth Ann Gaines had always wanted to be an actress. After earning a bachelor’s degree in drama and speech from Clarke College in Dubuque (1969) and a Master of Dramatic Arts from the University of California, Santa Barbara (1970), she found the “Hollywood scene” disillusioning. Encouraged by her graduate professors and her parents, she came home to Des Moines to apply for a teaching job. In January 1971 she took a long-term substitute position at Washington Irving Junior High, where the students were, in her words, “loud, rude, disrespectful, lacking in academic motivation.” Unprepared, she did the one thing she knew, which was to teach drama. “We explored many of life’s lessons through plays,” she writes, and the students opened up. By June they were seen as “cooperative, intelligent, talented and well attending,” and she was offered the drama position at East High School, where she has taught ever since.
Her honors include 1998 Iowa Teacher of the Year, one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year (1998), the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year Award (1998), the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s Teacher of the Year Award (2000), the Phyllis M. Yeager Commitment to Diversity Award from the University of Iowa (2001), a place on USA Today’s All-USA Teacher Team (2002), and recognition as one of ten Women of Influence in Central Iowa by the Des Moines Business Record (2002). In 2002 she was also the first recipient of the “I’ll Make Me a World in Iowa” Heritage Legacy Award.
She has taught speech and drama at Des Moines Area Community College for 32 years and human relations courses to educators for 25, and she teaches a human relations course at Drake University. She also served on the Governor’s Education Task Force from 1998 to 2000 and on teacher advisory boards at Simpson College and the University of Northern Iowa. After her year as Iowa Teacher of the Year, she published a diversity workbook, Celebrating Diversity in Iowa, which went to every school district in the state.
Beyond the Classroom
After racial unrest at East High in 1995, Gaines created two groups that have since reached well beyond the school. The Voices of Change is a diverse touring troupe that improvises scenes about racism, peer pressure, violence, poverty and teen issues for audiences across the Midwest. They produced a professional video, won President Clinton’s 1997 Community Involvement Award and the 1997 Race Equity Award from the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and in 2000 contributed a videotape to the White House Millennium Time Capsule, which will stay in the Smithsonian until 2100. Her Leadership Council trains 25 to 30 students each year to lead diversity work at school and in the community. It sponsors a statewide diversity conference for 200 to 300 middle and high school students and an annual “Unity Night.”
Her newest group is Sisters for Success, a mentoring program that pairs African American high school girls with African American professional women. It began at East High, and with a grant from the Chrysalis Foundation it was adopted by every high school in the Des Moines district. Her students also tour area middle schools with original plays on teen pregnancy and drug addiction, and she has taught a mime class since 1972, whose students teach younger children at Edmunds Academy of Fine Arts. She serves as Minister of Education for the State of Black Iowa Initiative, performs at local community theaters, and ran for the Iowa Senate in 1994.
Philosophy Into Practice
Gaines describes her work in three phrases, that a teacher “takes hands, opens minds and touches hearts.” She writes an individual plan for every student in every class, arranges the desks in a circle and sits in it herself, and splits each 55-minute period between discussion and small-group performance work. Her classes run from 32 to 38 students, and she believes that “no child should fail and none of my students do.” The drama room is open to everyone. Students drop in during study halls, and, she says, “sometimes, non drama students who visit my room, find themselves cast in a play.”
“As a teacher I try to impact the total student, so that they perceive that real education is about life and how to live it.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“They learn that life is a collaborative art in which each person plays and has a role.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
In Her Own Words
“I celebrate diversity in everything that I do.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“For thirty-two years, I have empowered young people to stand up and speak up for diversity in their worlds. I have evidence that many of them are doing it!”— from her essay, “Professional Profile”
“The students recognize that regardless of who they are, they are welcome, encouraged and can find a niche in drama.”— from her essay, “In the Classroom”
“African American children need African American role models in the schools to give them a feeling of security and hope.”— from her essay, “Educational Issues”
“I view myself as a professional teacher who has taught so many with the underlying message that diversity is the norm.”— from her essay, “Getting to Know You”
What Others Said
“Occasionally in one’s career a person comes along who is truly outstanding in their ability to work with all students in a creative and stimulating environment and who demonstrates the ability to impact the culture of a community. Ruth Ann Gaines is such a person.”— Jerry D. Stilwell, former principal, East High School
“Her impact is far beyond her assignment at East High School.”— Linda Lane, Chief Operating Officer, Des Moines Public Schools
“Year after year, she is able to adjust her instruction to meet the needs and abilities of an extraordinary range of student ability, attitude, and motivation.”— Jerry M. Wadden, Chief Academic Officer, Des Moines Public Schools, her supervisor for 15 years
“Ms. Gaines is an outstanding educator who has the ability to truly reach all students, and to get them to achieve levels of success that are indeed commendable.”— Thomas R. Drake, Executive Director, Middle and High School Programs
“Ms. Gaines’ passion for fostering an inclusive and affirming community, combined with her considerable artistic and teaching abilities, have led her to take a leadership role in several important initiatives in our school district and community.”— Laura Sands, Des Moines School Board member
“She works untiringly with her students here at East High School, often way beyond the call of duty.”— James E. McNear, Jr., colleague, East High School
“She is very personable and students as well as parents love her.”— Tamara Reed, parent of a student
“All of her students would feel so proud to have our “Mama G” inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.”— Elizabeth Briley, student