This is the first week back to school for tens of thousands of students. For others its just “back” after a long week-end. Schools in Michigan have been having “first days back” for the past couple of weeks. It’s another one of those location – location deals.
I started my career in education fifty falls ago. Here are a couple of memories from that first year.
I was dating a girl from college that made many of her own clothes. I teased her about making me a sports coat – a blue blazer. I never expected her to do it, but she did. She gave it to me about a week before I started my new job. I wore it on my first day.
We had several new teachers in the Plainwell Junior High that fall. Dorothy, Ruth, Rick, Dave, Grandville and me. Wayne, the school superintendent, introduced all of the new teachers on that first day. There were several more in each of the district’s schools.
Dorothy, Ruth and I decided to car pool together. I drove one week and Ruth the next. Dorothy never drove but paid the driver for gas. Ruth had a VW and I drove a Mustang convertible. Dorothy and her husband, Al, only had one car so the car pool was a necessity.
Ruth and I learned more about each other during our travels back and forth to school. We had our first official date on Valentine’s Day.
Rick was the first, last and only guy that I knew who drove a Jaguar. He taught science and became a good friend. He was one of the guys that shared our out of school adventures. (They’ll be more about them and Rick as the blog continues.)
Dave was a bit older than Rick, Ruth and me. He had been in the newspaper business and was hired to teach math . I shared my lunch period with him. He’d buy a loaf of bread and a package of baloney every two weeks. He made his sandwiches up at home, and stuck the entire treasure trove in the school freezer. He’d pull one out each morning and it was defrosted in time for lunch.
Grandville was brought on board as the band instructor. The prior year he had been the high school principal. I never heard him speak of his reassignment. He was a character. He wore the same ties for his entire career. They were his trademark and a point of pride. I heard him say more than once, “If you wait long enough, they circle back around and are in style again.”
My first teacher evaluation took place in November. Mr. H and I had a great conversation. Most of what I heard that day was very positive. He liked having a male English teacher on his staff and thought that I was doing a fine job. (except for one thing)
He pointed out, “Bob you tend to arrive with the students and leave with the students.”
“Yes, sir. Most of the time I go down the fire escape so I stay out of the student’s way.”
“Well the contract requires you to be at school ten minutes before and after classes begin.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s in your teacher’s contract.”
“Mr. H, no one has ever given me a contract.”
“You should have received a copy your very first day.” He rose, opened a file drawer, and handed me a copy.
“Thank you.”
That’s the day I learned all about teaching contracts. I thought we just got paid. Who knew we had rules to follow. That conversation came in very handy when I became an administrator myself.
I taught two sections of geography and the rest of my day was filled with English classes. We used an English text called Roberts Linguistics which I thought was HORRIBLE. I learned most of my linguistics from my first hour class who were all very bright. They were section 7-B and everyone in the class was in the school band. Without them to guide me, none of my students would have learned a thing. I learned from my first hour class and passed on my new knowledge to all of the others.
Another section of students were all low functioning and received special education services. With the approval of the principal, I abandoned the text after the first marking period and developed my own curriculum. We wrote a school newspaper, wrote and shot a couple of Super 8 movies, and were instrumental in helping organize the school’s first Earth Day.
One memory from geography class occurred on the very first day of school. I asked each class if anyone had ever traveled to a foreign country. I had one student who volunteered an answer. Her response to my, “Where did you go?” was “Kentucky.”
During another geography class students were doing research in the library. I corrected papers while they did their work. Several students asked questions which I was able to answer without looking up. Things were moving along quite well until one student asked a question that slowed me down.
“Mr. Tebo.”
“Yes, Ed.” (I recognized his voice.)
“I have a question.”
“Ok, what do you need?”
“What does intercourse mean?”
I looked up, quickly went through a mental list of possible responses, and decided to stall before answering.
“Why do you ask?”
“It’s here in this book, and I don’t understand.”
I wondered what book he was reading and asked, “May I see the book?”
“Here.”
I read the passage and was relieved when I was able to say, “Oh, intercourse. Well Ed, in this instance the word means communication between two countries. They are talking about exchanging ideas, looking for an answer that will benefit them both.”
And that’s the day I learned to always ask clarifying questions before providing an answer.