Revgals Friday Five Time Again! Songbird Says:
"My late mother-in-law thought of September as the “real” New Year because of the number of programs and classes starting. By Labor Day, school is back in session for most of us in the U.S., although there is great variation by region (my children don't return until Sept. 7th!). To mark this, we bring you the Back to School Friday Five.
1. What is your earliest memory of school? I went to nursery school at the age of 3. My mom taught at the school so she knew all the teachers. Mrs. Booker was my teacher and I remember being so surprised that she knew my name and had a nametag ready for me before I got there! We used to call her Mrs. Booger, but not because we didn't like her ... just because we were dumb kids.
2. Who was a favorite teacher in your early education? Mrs. Martindale was my kindergarten teacher at the same school. I already knew how to read when I got there, so she did a lot of separate work and enrichment with me. She was great.
3. What do you remember about school “back then” that is different from what you know about schools now? My elementary school was experimental in several ways. The first and second grades were in an "open area" and we had no desks, but sat on the floor indian-style. To write, we had "lap boards." I still have bad posture and would like to blame it on this, but not sure I can. Also, we had a self-paced learning system so we would go to individual boxes each day to get our assignments.
In first grade I went to second grade reading (because the first grade was doing Dick and Jane, and I could read anything by that time), they tried to make me do phonics worksheets. I didn't like them, didn't understand 'em, and routinely threw them away. Thereby setting up a lifelong pattern of avoidance!
In 4th and 5th grades, they had us learning math by this system: you finished one unit and went to the box for the next unit. In the box were worksheets and reel-to-reel tapes. You were supposed to listen to the explanation on the tape and magically understand how to carry numbers. Um...I'm a totally visual learner, so this was pretty disastrous for me. Finally I got my teacher to (reluctantly!) watch what I was doing, and she said, "Oh my gosh! No wonder you aren't getting this right!!" and showed me how. THANK YOU! My relationship with math, pretty rocky overall. To this day.
4. Did you have to memorize in school? If so, share a poem or song you learned. I am rather ashamed to admit that I used this sappy poem for memorizing assignments in BOTH sixth and seventh grade! But I can still recite the whole thing...does that count for really LEARNING it?
5. Did you ever get in trouble at school? Were there any embarrassing moments you can share? One time in first grade, we were sitting on the floor watching movies. A bad bad boy (who went to juvie the next year, or so rumor had it!) was holding my hand, and not in a nice way! Really hard and wouldn't let go! We were in trouble for being too noisy and not supposed to make ANY noise or talk. So, of course, the teacher saw me fiercely whispering at the boy, "No! Let go! You're hurting me!" and we both got busted for talking. We both had to go sit in the hall (on the floor, of course) cross-legged with our hands on our heads. I was devastated, because nothing like that had EVER happened to me. I was sure my life was over.
Fortunately, it wasn't.
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