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.