Welcome to Tuesday 4 Questions to share
School days help to shape our future personality.
- Share a story of your school days that you think may have helped shape who you are today.
- Did you have a favorite teacher and what made them special to you?
- Did you enjoy the rituals of school.. new clothing, pencils, notebooks, etc.?
- Did you walk to school or ride the bus? Do you have a story to share on that?
1) and 2)
I liked school and loved learning, especially to read and write. I still love reading and writing all these years later. I told my mother I was not starting to first grade... she asked why and I said something like
"those big kids know how to read and I don't!"
Mostly I didn't think of teachers as anything but scary foreign adults but then my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Vedouris, turned that around. I loved her.
I also loved my 10th grade Biology teacher, Mr. Spearman, my first African American male teacher. So smart, so calm, so in control of the classroom allowing us to relax and learn... I believe he instilled a love of Biology in me that caused me to major in it for two years at university. He was a model of calm assurance for me in a turbulent home life, which he never knew anything about. I was a quiet studious girl but he impressed me.
My senior English teacher taught me that I could have a love of literature, write and be witty. She was such a complete personality. A whole woman, living a whole life out loud that I just wanted to be like her. Years later I was a social worker in a school, and one of my students told me she wanted to be like me... not afraid. Oh my gosh, I am always afraid! But she saw me in a way like I saw my high school teacher... what a nice circle.
In university I took a political science class, the teacher was a retired CIA man who taught me to read statistics and news articles with a critical eye... to look for bias and to look for facts, to think about what I read in context and put together different articles to seek what was really going on. He taught us that many reputable news accounts were fact checked and those were trustworthy.
That turned me around... caused me to join life in a way I hadn't done as a "good student" who just accepted anything she read. I learned you can trust the news, you can trust people who research, and you can consider different sides of an issue before making up your mind where you stood. He forced us to actually take a side on issues too, which my authoritarian parents had never allowed.
It was their opinions that counted, and I was to be 'good" and do as I was told. That CIA operative who turned to education told me differently. I was to consider facts and make up my own mind.
3) Oh yes! What a production... choosing a notebook, with it's pretty binder and organization inside. New unchewed pencils with new erasers and extra cone shaped erasers to put on their ends. A new set of crayons in grade school, a flip top bandaid box to hold lunch tickets in my desk, new school shoes...
Shoes were very important. We got one pair for school... and you had to fit in while being a little different. I would go to the shoe store, stand on the foot measuring devise, try on pairs and get to make a choice.
New school dresses too, and new socks. Oh it was a production alright. Don't forget the lunchbox... another vital decision. This would define me all year. It had a thermos that would sometimes hold soup sometimes hold a drink. I can to this day smell an open lunchbox with it's ham sandwich or baloney sandwich inside, with a personal size bag of chips or carrots. If I ate at the cafeteria I remember sloppy joes days.... the whole school smelled great those days!
I still love new notebooks, new pens, new folders. It's hard to resist the pretty ones made today. For my lectures I made flip index cards that reminded me of the next points to be made. I have a lot of index cards in the office at the moment, with colorful files and pads of paper.
4) I walked to school in elementary, it was about 8 blocks away. I had an exhilarating sense of independence. I walked to junior high about a mile in the other direction but on the same street too. It was an enormous building compared to elementary, housing 7,8, and 9th grades. The high school was lots bigger, there were nearly 400 students in my graduating class with nearly 3000 in the three grade levels. It was at this stage I began riding to school with friends.
We were hot stuff, in that old clunker, laughing before school, belonging to a group.
At some point as a senior I was given a car by my father, and had my own parking place behind the school. It was wonderful but I missed hanging out in that big old sweaty car having my hair blown around, talking about boys and teachers on the one mile drive each morning.
Thank you for asking these questions and reminding me who I am, who I was, how I felt, and the distance I've traveled over my lifetime. The major lessons seem to be,
think
make decisions
be kind but be yourself
persevere
follow your interests
keep learning all your life and follow the golden rule... remember that? common good? Teachings of Jesus? Do unto others as you want them to do unto you... if only we all still did that. It works in a marriage and will work as a country
LINKING TO
17 comments:
I nodded a lot while reading ... I'm still in buying mode when it comes to writing stuff... and my favourite teacher was the biology teacher too... maybe she was the one who encouraged me to learn more about the things around us... and I was a fab student and brought her a jellyfish from our summer holiday (my mother screamed as she sat the souvenir in my suitcase)
I hope I imparted the same lessons to my students that your teachers imparted to you. I would add - you will make many mistakes, and that's ok. Learn from them.
Ironically, I hated all rituals associated with back-to-school. I cried at the end of every summer. Hated the freedom and the lack of schedule to go away! Then I became a teacher. :)
It's interesting the things we remember and the things we forget about "the old days." Thanks for a journey into your formative years, LeeAnna!
My favorite (well, at least most memorable) was my 7th grade English teacher who made us copy her grammar notes off the board and memorize them. (She was known to throw erasers if you made a mistake!) I thank her that I can still quote chapter and verse when it comes to grammar and cringe when today's grammar has become so lax.
Hi LeeAnna,
a fun post to read ! The lunch box! School supply lists, good teaaachers that brought out the better in us, the teacher who taught penmanship.
yes, major lessons should be lived by all.
take care,
Joanne
I feel that I need a refresher from the ex-CIA teacher. I am afraid most of the country does as well.
In grade school, I walked about 4.5 blocks to school - but note that walk was made twice a day because I had to walk home for lunch and then back to school. Also, my family's house was at the top of a steep hill and during the winter it was often icy enough the cars couldn't make it up the hill.
I loved school and had many favorite teachers over the years. In elementary grades I think my favorites were the ones who were kind and nurturing. I was scared of my 3rd grade teacher and it was really because she was always so stern and not warm. In high school I liked those teachers who had a sense of humor but yet challenged us. I loved those rituals of new school supplies and new clothes - even as a teacher many years later. I walked to school as a kid. We lived 5 blocks from school but my mother didn't drive so walking was the only option. As a teacher I still walked most of the time because we lived a block and a half from the school. I miss the comradery of the school staff. I still teach, but only online courses and there are teachers on our staff that I've never met in person.
This was a fun topic and I enjoyed your answers! And I live by the golden rule! I'm glad we are friends!
Those were really good answers, we enjoyed them. That sure made the Dad think back to his school days, way, way back!
I enjoyed my time here reading. You talked about opening your lunchbox and the smell of the food. You made me think of that smell too. I like how these questions bring back memories. This was a fun topic!
I enjoyed reading your answers. I loved how you addressed the questions. I didn't have a favorite teacher because they were all good except my kindergarten teacher who told my grandmother (grands raised me from birth) that she should NOT have taught me to read and write since I was so far ahead of the rest of the class. She also called one boy in the class "Ronnie Darling." When the teacher sent out the names of the class in case we wanted to send Christmas cards to students, Grams found out the boy's last name was Darling and not a term of endearment. My memories came flooding back when I read your story.
This was a lovely post. Perhaps the student who saw you as you saw your teacher will continue the circle!
wonderful answers! I am so glad you joined in.
It sounds like you had some amazing teachers, LeeAnna.
All my schools were on the same street, too, but we were closest to the high school so my walk became shorter time I moved up.
Your teachers sounds so amazing! That is awesome. Loved your answers. Have a nice week.
https://lorisbusylife.blogspot.com/
I enjoyed reading your answers - so insightful and well thought out. I hope you have a GREAT rest of the week.
LA - many of your observations resonated with me, especially the section about buying school supplies and school clothes. Can you still buy those cone-shaped erasers? I loved school. I loved learning and achieving; I loved the social activities - I hung out with the drama club group - we weren't "popular", but we had a great time together. This was a fun walk down memory lane!
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