If my memory serves me
correctly, it was September 1951. It was my first day of school, of
kindergarten. I don't remember much about that day. In fact, I don't
remember anything. It was a long time ago. I am not even sure I
remember the name of the school, although I'll take a guess at
Roseland Elementary School in Roseland, New Jersey.
With that day it was
the beginning of 13 years of classes in grades K-12, then college,
graduate school and even more graduate school. But over the years the
nature and delivery and education has changed tremendously. OK. I'll
say it. Today's classroom is not your grandfather's classroom any more.
What I do remember of
the early days was the playground, school lunches, and neatly
arranges chairs and desks in five rows with seven chairs in each
row, each classroom exactly the same. We all went to the boys room
and girls room and the same time, even if we didn't have to go and if
someone in class misbehaved, we all stayed inside at recess time.
And then there was the
little red-hair girl who I always sat behind in class. But that's a
story for another day.
In the early years if
we had a question we raised our hand and, when called upon, we stood
up to ask the teacher or were called up to the teacher's desk.
Back in the day, there
were black boards, white chalk and erasers that needed to be cleaned
(clapped) at the end of each day. We always clapped them against the
brick wall of the school building, right near the front door.. The
black boards were washed each day and washing the black board for the
teacher was either a reward for good behavior or a punishment for
bad. (For the record, I did my share of washing! Your guess as to
which.
Above the black board,
tacked to the bulletin board, were green cards with the letters of
the alphabet. In K-3, they were block letters and after grade three,
the cursive letters of the alphabet.
It was the No 2 yellow
pencils for writing, plain 'off white' paper for math and blue lined
paper for writing. On occasion we used pens instead of a pencils and
I am still trying to remember if this was a time when the ball point
pen was taking the place of a 'fountain pen'. But we were never
allowed to use a pen for math. What would happen if you made a
mistake? Ink didn't erase!
Let's see now...there
were the robins, the blue jays, and the turtles, the poor turtles and
poor Joey P, who was a turtle most of his years in school. These
were often the names given to the reading groups.
Remember reading
groups? While one group gathered in a circle for reading
instruction, the rest of the class was busy at their desks,
supposedly doing either map work or doing extra math problems.
Nothing to do? How about practicing the alphabet, both the capital
and lower case letters. The teacher called it guided practice time.
We called it 'busy' work.
The worst time of the
week... music class. Once a week, the music teacher would come into
the classroom and attempt to 'teach' us to sing. She would take out
her pitch pipe, pick a note and start to sing”The itsy-bitsy
spider. Every day, year after year. In grade 1 or 2 it was probably
OK. But in the 6th grade.....
We called her the old
maid. She wore the same gray sweater with big leather button and a
hint of mothballs and the same plaid skirt, each and every day. In
addition she always wore thick stockings and black shoes that laced
up the front. When she walked around the room she often sounded like
a small horse, the heels of her shoes hitting the wooden classroom
floor. It was always the longest 25 minutes of the week.
The truth is that I
must have found some comfort and pleasure in the classroom. After
high school, I went on to college and, after spending a year or so in
a business administration degree program along with tutoring high
school kids at several local high school in some very rural sections
of West Virginia in my free time, I decided to become a teacher and
school counselor. Those of you who know me know that I spent the
next 35+ years at various levels public education before retiring.
Those early years, both
as a student (and I was not always the best student for sure) and as
a beginning teacher, taught me the importance and value of a good
education and the opportunities available.
Schools have changed a
great deal since 1951. From the robins, blue jays and turtle reading
groups,to trading in the yellow No 2 pencil for today's latest
computers or tablets, today's schools offer opportunities we never
dreamed about 65 years ago. But what has remained the same? The
importance of studying hard and getting the best education
available.
And about that music
teacher that drove many of us crazy in class for 25 minutes each
week, perhaps she was attempting to teach us more about life than
music back then. At least we all started the song on the same pitch
each time.
