Monday, August 13, 2012

Time for school....

This is the tenth school year I will not be returning to the classroom.  I retired, after 25 years of teaching, at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.  During that time, I taught all grades from first through fifth; however, the years from 1986 until I retired were spent teaching third grade.  I spent a number of years returning to volunteer at my former school.  My pace of activities has really picked up, though, and I haven't been able to return for about a year.

I was part of the faculty when a new elementary school was opened at the beginning of the 1993 school year.  Designed to accommodate 1,000 students, the enrollment is now greater than that, and the "temporary classroom annexes"  have been in use for a number of years.

The one-room school house would have been completely unable to serve the population of the area where my school was located.  In fact, plans are already underway to build another elementary school in a location that will relieve some of the crowding of my former school, as well as a couple of others.

Actually, the one-room school house that is on the grounds of the Glencoe Museum was not used by the Wharton children.  Their financial status would have enabled them to educate their children with private tutors.  The school house was moved to this location and rebuilt as an addition to the grounds to illustrate life in that time period.

School as reconstructed.

Quite different from today's chores.

Have things changed?  

Teachers needed to watch themselves as well.

Well, it is certainly safe to say that schools are different in our time.  Of course, there were students at all levels in these one-room school houses.  What a challenge! 

When you have a little extra time, what do you choose to do with it?  Do you take time to go to some favorite places that are nearby?  The next post will feature some "favorite places."

Thank you for reading.  I really enjoy your comments.

5 comments:

  1. Oh, dear!!! Single women who taught were dismissed for marrying or for "unseemly conduct!" I wonder when those rules became a bit looser! The rules for the students were quite clear, but today would probably be considered abusive. Yes, times have changed a great deal!

    As for my "spare time," I enjoy spending much of it on Facebook, as you know. If gas ever gets reasonable again, one of my favorite things to do is to just get on a road that leads to an unknown place and follow it for several miles. I have made many interesting discoveries that way over the years, and would love to be able to do it some more, as there are still places I have not explored nearby. Yes, I'm just a bit silly! :-)

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  2. Times have really changed, even from the time when my children were in school.

    I can remember being smacked across the knuckle with a ruler when I was in grade school, for no good reason that I can recall. lol

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  3. That's why women teachers WAY back then were called OLD MAIDS... That's what they were. I had several Great Aunts who were teachers and they never married.... Very interesting...

    YES---things have really changed... I have a friend in Texas who is still teaching ---and she talks constantly about how much harder it is to be a teacher these days. Kids are not taught respect in the home ---so the teachers have alot of discipline problems that I didn't have when I taught...

    I never seem to have extra time --but I love to sit on my swing on my deck and watch my birds...Pure relaxation.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  4. I didn't attend a one-room-school-house. But I did have 2 classes to a room. One room had 2 classes in it. Another room had 2 classes in it. And a third, the same.

    Guess it was a way of life back then, in a small community, and the teachers were just fine with it. :-)

    I especially remember my dear 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Murry. She took it upon herself to help me learn-to-spell. (It didn't work, but she certainly tried)

    And she used to have times for reading books out loud, to both classes. I LOVED that!!! :-)

    Thank you for the prompt to take a trip down memory lane, myself. :-)

    Gentle hugs,
    "Auntie"

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  5. Wow you taught a long time. I knew you taught but I didn't know how long. I like the pictures of the school house. I am behind so I will be catching up. :)

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