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Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Tuesday 4 About School

I have been following Annie's  Tuesday's 4. This week's is all about school and some of the memories of that time. Hop over there and join in the fun!





1. Share a story of your school days that you think may have helped shape who you are today
I was in the 12th grade and lived in perpetual fear of not making really good grades.We had a pop quiz on the book Lord Jim. Not only had I not read the first few chapters that were required, I had not even gotten the book to begin reading. I specifically remember the question: "Describe, in detail, the incident at Bangkok" Having not read a single page I had no clue, but I was not about to turn in a blank sheet of  paper. So I filled it with a tale of a fight that started when an orderly wheeled his elderly charge off the end of the pair for not sharing his cotton candy then was attacked by two drunken sailors, leaving a hurdy gurdy man and his monkey to rescue the chap in the wheelchair.  It was a story filled with absurdities, but was fun to write. After she graded them, the teacher returned mine with a note telling me how much she loved the story and it had made her day to read it. Then she had a huge zero circled in red. I think that was the day that I learned that there were more important things than a single grade on a single paper, to let some of the small stuff go, and that there was always something to laugh about, even with an absolute failure. 

2. Did you have a favorite teacher and what made them special to you.
Mrs. Barnes (6th grade) who believed in me and told me I could do anything. After my 5th grade nightmare year, it was such a relief.  I was the exact height I am now when I began the 5th grade. I was almost a head taller than the other girls in my class and she sneered daily about how "different" I was, and pointed out to everyone in class regularly that I was probably going to be 7 feet tall. I dreaded every single day of that school year. 
Miss Holland (12th grade English) who challenged the class and presented us with scenarios that caused a tremendous amount of thought and creativity. (see above)

3. Did you enjoy the rituals of school. . . new clothes, pencils, notebooks, etc.
Mom made all of our clothes, so I never got to do the back to school shopping thing,  We got one  new pair of serviceable shoes to start school and didn't get any others until our feet grew too big to cram into the existing ones.
I loved new pencils and 3 ring binders. I also loved new crayons even though the most I ever got , and it only happened once, was a box of 48,. I craved the 64 crayon box with a built in sharpener and gold, silver and copper crayons. I loved to draw and liked really sharp crayons. (As a joke, my sister gave me the 64 box for Christmas when I was about 30. Now if she would just get me that pair of white go-go boots  I never got either, my life would be complete)

4. Did you walk to school or ride the bus
Until high school we walked to and from school. It was about 8 blocks and a very easy walk to school (downhill) but not so great going home. Through the 10th grade Mom drove us in the morning but we took the bus home.  Then for my junior year our town started its own school system and there were no buses so we carpooled with the neighbors. By my senior year I drove most of the time.

26 comments:

  1. How funny that your sister gave you the box of 64 crayons when you were 30. I enjoyed reading your post, especially the part about learning to let some of the small stuff go, which is so very true.

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    1. I am not sure where the original comment went, but yes she gave it to me as a joke. Why didn't she get me the white go go boots? I wanted them equally badly.

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  2. Fun post! I don't recall my school years very fondly, though there were a few moments that were better than others. While I enjoyed learning I was often bullied - I recall I was always last to be picked to play baseball and then I was told to go far, far, far in the outfield. Sometimes I went so far, the teacher had to send someone to find me after recess. It didn't get easier as I got into high school but I did find a small group of "weirdos" like myself to hang with. We were all bus kids who were not cool because we didn't live in town.

    I did enjoy covering my textbooks with brown paper which I would then doodle on through the school year. I really didn't have any favorite teachers, though the drama instructor in high school was a good guy.

    Take care, stay well!

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    1. I actually enjoyed school. I grew up in a neighborhood filled with kids and had many good school friends who walked with me, so we had a good bit of socializing outside of the classroom.

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  3. There is a funny post going around about kids wanting the latest I=Phones when all we wanted was the box of 64 crayons with built in sharpener. Bless that teacher for giving you encouragement on the response, even if it was a failure towards the actual test questions. Did you learn and if the answer was yes, it wasn't a fail. I had some great teachers-a few mediocre, but other than one, no really horrible ones.

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    1. I only had the one horrid teacher. Like you I had some great, and some mediocre.
      I learned a lot from that failure. It was only a ten point grade and had no real bearing on my grade, but it was an excellent lesson in failure and how one does not define you.

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  4. I loved school and even had perfect attendance in high school. I walked to grade school and Dad brought me to junior high in the mornings and I took the city bus home- had to transfer but enjoyed that. In HS, I was close enough to walk so did that- no car for me until college. I can't say I had a favorite teacher but I really liked my HS junior English teacher Mrs. Cahill. She had been a SAHM for many years and came back to teaching that year and was very good for an avid reader like I was. I hated taking showers in gym class but I wasn't the only one! Funny looking back on it because no one used soap and just stepped in and out so why were they required?

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    1. It is fun to reminisce, but I would not like to do it all over, unless I could do it knowing what I know now.

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  5. The teacher who gave you the deserved zero grade AND told you how much she liked your work was very, very special. I love that you got not one but two lessons that day.

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    1. I did deserve the zero and was a little embarrassed because she read it to the class, but it was a pretty decent story, and who knew the monkey was trained in sea rescues?

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  6. Loved the post, I must say I did get go go boots and I clomped into my second grade class as loudly as I could. My teacher made me take them off becasue I was showing too much pride. And I was:)

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  7. My mother only bought the recommended number of crayons and that was never 64. I always wanted that box and envied the kids who could sharpen their crayons. However when I told my mother all of this as an adult, I got a box of 64 crayons in a special tin the next Christmas. I still pull them out from time to time and color in an old fashioned coloring book.

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    1. I got the lone 48 box of crayons as a gift at a birthday party, and I loved it. Usually I only got the box of 8. I still have my box but it is just the regulation cardboard box, but by crackie, I have the sharpener!

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  8. Getting the 64 set was a big deal! I loved the colors and always felt a bit bad to start using them. I think it's great your teacher read your story even if you did get the zero.

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    1. My kids loved that I had the 64 set when they were small and I made sure to buy each of them 1 set of 64. I guess I need to send my granddaughter one this year as part of her Christmas from us.

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  9. I had white go-go boots (sorry). Teachers have such an effect on our lives. It can be positive or negative. Some people's lives have been agony because of a bad teacher. The good ones change our lives for the better--as my beloved professor, Dr. C., did for me. The education he provided to me and the encourage he gave me helped me regain some confidence after years of being beaten down by X.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. I'm sorry. I meant encouragement.

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    2. Yes they do have an effect, be it positive or negative! Glad you found someone to give you a needed boost!

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  10. I don't think we had a box of 64 crayons available where I went to school! LOL. You had a special teacher in 12th grade. :) I attended an all-girls, Buddhist, public school, wore an uniform and had a very strict dress code when it came to shoes (black, white, or brown shoes only, with white ankle socks), hair (in one or two braids if long, no pony tails or hair styles), nails (no long nails, no nail polish), jewelry (no flashy jewelry, no costume jewelry, no dangling earrings, etc.)

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  11. I went to coed schools, without uniforms but girls could only wear dresses or skirts, unless it was below 30 degrees and then you could wear dress pants (no jeans)

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  12. Oh my word! I love your answer to #1!! I would love to teach reading for that reason. Loved your answers. Have a nice week.

    https://lorisbusylife.blogspot.com/

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  13. I LOVED reading your responses! Have a great rest of the week.

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  14. Enjoyed reading your answers. I hope you are having a good day.

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