Friday, August 25, 2006

Friday 5: School daze

This is a very sad sign that summer is almost over. Lucky for me, summer is my busy season!

1. What is your earliest memory of school?
What came to mind was walking with my friend Ted to first grade, by the trolley tracks and carefully through the bully's neighborhood (which, incidentally, is where my sister now lives). The bully has his own plumbing business now. The school was torn down two years later and we took the bus to another school.

2. Who was a favorite teacher in your early education?
I loved almost all of my teachers. I loved Miss Lee though. Young and pretty and her sister was my middle school volleyball coach later. Also Mrs. Zachow whose pretend-example-person was always named Heliotrope. "If Heliotrope has five apples..."
I can't remember her name but my math teacher in 3rd grade had a sign up that said
"Good better Best
Never Let them Rest
Until Their Good is Better
and their Better is the Best!" Sound ominous but she was great! And by that time, my best friend's math skills had outstripped me, so I needed some encouragement. He's a math professor now.

3. What do you remember about school “back then” that is different from what you know about schools now?
I was aware that I wasn't popular but I had friends and we had fun. Is school really as "mean" as books, TV or movies suggest? Was I clueless in school? Probably.
No peanut butter rules. The no backpack thing doesn't ring with me, we carried our books
Block scheduling sounds "wack". We had 10 class periods a day (5/6 was lunch) so you could take all sorts of classes.
No recess? Come on! (ditto art, music and libraries)
But also it sounds like they teach a lot more stuff than when I was a kid. I'm not talking 3 R's specifically but computers, character, languages, and more science and history earlier than we learned it. Flash is learning a little Spanish and Hindi (his teacher is Indian-American) and he's 2. Wow.

4. Did you have to memorize in school? If so, share a poem or song you learned.
Yes we did memorize some, especially multipliation tables, the preamble, and a poem a year (most of which I do not remember). My hubby can recite the beginning of The Scarlet Letter. I have an Aesop fable in French that rattles through my brain sometimes.

5. Did you ever get in trouble at school? Were there any embarrassing moments you can share?
My bus-stop got in trouble for playing football over the road. Well, actually, the ball was caught by a guy's convertible and he reported us. And took our ball. Interesting that just saying that flared up a little "stinker" though in my brain. Got caught kissing in the stairwell but never for passing notes (go figure). But, mostly I was a good kid and friendly with everyone.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

kissing in the stairwell! ooooooooo! :)
my dad's family always said the "good, better, best" rhyme (usually when I wasn't doing my best, naturally). I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it!

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

We all walked to school back then didn't we? No matter how big the town was you walked.

~singing~ Hip and her friend sittin in a tree k i s s i n g!

Anonymous said...

Ms. Kate kissing in the hall! Scandalous!

I can't believe you know that your best friend in 3rd grade is a math professor. I don't even know where on the planet my best friends from elementary school are. In fact, if I hadn't circled them on my class photos and labelled them, I wouldn't even know their names!

I guess having 5 elementary schools does that to you, though. :-)

Unknown said...

Heliotrope! I love it.

Unknown said...

I am like Marian Don't know a thing about my elementary school friends or middle school friends.

what a memory you have. What teachers you had.

kissing in the hall. mmm

hip2b said...

The math prof is the same boy who walked with me to school in first. We met when we were two, our mothers are great friends still too. I ought to call him.