Sometimes the way we remember the past is in selective memory mode. We think of the really good things or the really bad things. What I am thinking about today is my first few years of teaching in southeastern Kentucky.
The first school where I taught just happened to be the same school where I began my education. My oldest sister was my teacher then and the year was 1931. It was a very short school year for me. I was too young and after one day my sister decided I was not ready. She based this on me bursting into tears when we were playing a game. It was "Have You Seen My Little Rabbit". I was told to go by each child's desk with my hands folded as in prayer. I had to ask each child if he/she had seen my little rabbit. After four or five negative answers of "No, I have not seen your little rabbit" is when I began crying. The game was intended to emphasize the proper use of "seen", as the mountain children had the habit of saying "seed" instead of seen.
The next year I did complete the year and also the next under the tutelage of my oldest sister. After that my parents moved us into the county seat and I attended school there.
The year that I began teaching was also my first year of marriage. My husband and I had both just graduated from Eastern Ky. State Teachers College in Richmond, Ky. Being a new bride, a new teacher and a new homemaker all fell at the same time. The classroom I occupied was a lower corner room which proved to be very convenient. In this
picture taken in Feb. of 1949 you can see my corner room and also a lot of the boys and girls in this school which was perched on the top of a mountain. It was not a huge mountain but it surely seemed that way as I had to climb it after I left the bus at the road below and follow a path carrying any and all teaching supplies. That was year round and being young and healthy I thought nothing of it. There was a road up to the school but I never was on it as the bus did not take that route.
The first year I was there 45 first graders came into my room. After one week I saw that five of those little mountain boys and girls were simply not ready for school. Most were the age I had been at 5 years when I was taken to school. I sent a note home to the mothers and asked them to come to the school to see me. I explained the reasons why their young children would be so much better off if they waited one year to enter school. They were all very cooperative as in those days, if the teacher said it, then it was true.
After my class was diminished by 5, I had 40 delightful little eager learners. They had never been to Kindergarten, had not had any beautiful books to read or have read to them so I set about to remedy that. Our school did not have a library. I went every other week to the public library in my town ten miles away, and checked out the maximum number of children's story books allowed. I then had a library table where the children could visit when their work was complered. This was a treat for them and a great incentive to finish their paper.
I had a duplicating machine which sounds impossible in this day and time. It consisted of a rectangular metal box filled with a glycerin coated sheet of gelatin. It was about 1/2 inch thick. I used a special pencil to print out the days work paper. It was purple. No other pencil would do for this purpose. The "hectograph" was the name of the box and the hectograph pencil was what I used. A special sponge was used to wet the surface, then the prepared lesson paper was placed on the surface with the purple pencil side down touching the gelatin surface. The paper was smoothed out and left for a very brief time so the print could soak into the surface, then it was removed. As many sheets as you wanted to print were put down and rubbed over then pulled up. The next day the pattern of your paper had filtered down to the bottom and another new prepared paper could be put down. At this pace you can see why I only used one work sheet in a day.
The building I was in did have two bathrooms, one for the entire school for boys and one for girls. Unfortunately most of the time they were out of order so we had an outhouse for all to use. That was probably the most regretful aspect of being there, but there were others.!!
Most of the children went home for lunch. There was no lunchroom in the building. We all brown bagged it, even me !! Since we had no running water in the room I improvised with a small metal pan, a jug of water and a bar of soap (no liquid soap then). Every child had to wash his hands before lunch. I stood there and held the jug of water to pour over the little hands until all were clean. After lunch was recess. The corner windows in my room provided a fine place for all of the teachers to congregate to watch their classes at play. I always had things to prepare for the afternoon reading lesson so as I worked they socialized and watched the playground.
Once my principal asked me if their presence disturbed me from my work. I told him no, that I just went ahead with what I needed to do. We did not have teacher/principal conferences. I did find a note of approval on my desk one day. It was written on an index card which he had found on my desk. It said "Your children are doing the best I have ever seen in a first year teacher". Since I was hired for the second year I suppose that was his approval !!
The first school where I taught just happened to be the same school where I began my education. My oldest sister was my teacher then and the year was 1931. It was a very short school year for me. I was too young and after one day my sister decided I was not ready. She based this on me bursting into tears when we were playing a game. It was "Have You Seen My Little Rabbit". I was told to go by each child's desk with my hands folded as in prayer. I had to ask each child if he/she had seen my little rabbit. After four or five negative answers of "No, I have not seen your little rabbit" is when I began crying. The game was intended to emphasize the proper use of "seen", as the mountain children had the habit of saying "seed" instead of seen.
The next year I did complete the year and also the next under the tutelage of my oldest sister. After that my parents moved us into the county seat and I attended school there.
The year that I began teaching was also my first year of marriage. My husband and I had both just graduated from Eastern Ky. State Teachers College in Richmond, Ky. Being a new bride, a new teacher and a new homemaker all fell at the same time. The classroom I occupied was a lower corner room which proved to be very convenient. In this
picture taken in Feb. of 1949 you can see my corner room and also a lot of the boys and girls in this school which was perched on the top of a mountain. It was not a huge mountain but it surely seemed that way as I had to climb it after I left the bus at the road below and follow a path carrying any and all teaching supplies. That was year round and being young and healthy I thought nothing of it. There was a road up to the school but I never was on it as the bus did not take that route.The first year I was there 45 first graders came into my room. After one week I saw that five of those little mountain boys and girls were simply not ready for school. Most were the age I had been at 5 years when I was taken to school. I sent a note home to the mothers and asked them to come to the school to see me. I explained the reasons why their young children would be so much better off if they waited one year to enter school. They were all very cooperative as in those days, if the teacher said it, then it was true.
After my class was diminished by 5, I had 40 delightful little eager learners. They had never been to Kindergarten, had not had any beautiful books to read or have read to them so I set about to remedy that. Our school did not have a library. I went every other week to the public library in my town ten miles away, and checked out the maximum number of children's story books allowed. I then had a library table where the children could visit when their work was complered. This was a treat for them and a great incentive to finish their paper.
I had a duplicating machine which sounds impossible in this day and time. It consisted of a rectangular metal box filled with a glycerin coated sheet of gelatin. It was about 1/2 inch thick. I used a special pencil to print out the days work paper. It was purple. No other pencil would do for this purpose. The "hectograph" was the name of the box and the hectograph pencil was what I used. A special sponge was used to wet the surface, then the prepared lesson paper was placed on the surface with the purple pencil side down touching the gelatin surface. The paper was smoothed out and left for a very brief time so the print could soak into the surface, then it was removed. As many sheets as you wanted to print were put down and rubbed over then pulled up. The next day the pattern of your paper had filtered down to the bottom and another new prepared paper could be put down. At this pace you can see why I only used one work sheet in a day.
The building I was in did have two bathrooms, one for the entire school for boys and one for girls. Unfortunately most of the time they were out of order so we had an outhouse for all to use. That was probably the most regretful aspect of being there, but there were others.!!
Most of the children went home for lunch. There was no lunchroom in the building. We all brown bagged it, even me !! Since we had no running water in the room I improvised with a small metal pan, a jug of water and a bar of soap (no liquid soap then). Every child had to wash his hands before lunch. I stood there and held the jug of water to pour over the little hands until all were clean. After lunch was recess. The corner windows in my room provided a fine place for all of the teachers to congregate to watch their classes at play. I always had things to prepare for the afternoon reading lesson so as I worked they socialized and watched the playground.
Once my principal asked me if their presence disturbed me from my work. I told him no, that I just went ahead with what I needed to do. We did not have teacher/principal conferences. I did find a note of approval on my desk one day. It was written on an index card which he had found on my desk. It said "Your children are doing the best I have ever seen in a first year teacher". Since I was hired for the second year I suppose that was his approval !!
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