Arlene Richards

Arlene began her teaching career in 1960. Her experience in the Los Angeles Unified School District ranged from being a teacher-librarian, to Elementary School Title One Coordinator, and then to teaching kindergarten in a traditional classroom.

As a Title One Coordinator, often times students came to her office feeling upset, because they couldn’t keep classroom standards. Arlene discovered the root problem most frequently stemmed from a lack of self-confidence. Their self-esteem had hit rock bottom. She found a gradual, but positive change in students when she developed a steady plan to systematically encourage and reassure them that they could achieve. This was the beginning of her teaching motto, “I Can, I Can, I Can.”

When Arlene taught kindergarten, her goal was to focus on building self-esteem in children. She created rhymes, songs, skits and plays to reinforce the skills taught, while encouraging her students to keep trying and not to give up. Her creative materials won her awards such as Teacher of the Year, and a nomination for Outstanding Teacher of America.

Bing Note evolved from the knowledge and experience of teaching for several decades, and learning what’s most effective when teaching young children. And some say the creation of the character Bingzy, is an extension of Arlene. Hmmm….