Mom invited my Lincoln Elementary School teachers to lunch at our house. Miss Haskell (1st), Mrs. Davies (2nd), Mrs. Steward (3rd), Mrs. Henderson (4th), Mr. Reese (5th), and Mr. Cromar (6th) took their appropriate turn. We had an hour for lunch, and we lived just a couple of blocks from school, so accepting an invitation for a free meal was easy to do. Mom used her fanciest dishes and served elaborate salads. I don’t recall any of our luncheon conversations but eating with my teacher meant missing Soupy Sales on TV. That was a bummer.
Two of my most memorable elementary moments took place during second grade. I was a terrible speller and seldom studied for our weekly spelling test. Just prior to one such test I saw Marjorie preparing what I thought was a cheat sheet. She wrote all of our words on a small piece of paper and placed it on her lap. I followed her lead and prepared a sheet of my own and placed it under my leg.
About four words into the test, I got busted by Mrs. Davies. She exposed my sheet and wrote a big fat E on my spelling book. I protested and squealed on Marjorie. Marjorie reached into her desk and explained she was practicing her words prior to the test but didn’t use the sheet during the exam. Not my proudest moment. It was the first, last, and only time I used such a sheet. Public humiliation had a positive, long-lasting effect on me.
During another second-grade class, Mrs. Davies stopped everyone and directed our attention to the front of the room. She held up two penmanship papers for all to see. She showered two students, Ron Geering and me, with great praise. We were immediately promoted to small line penmanship paper, while the remainder of the class was required to continue with the large line paper.
She issued a challenge to the rest of the class, “If your penmanship gets as good as Ron and Robbie’s, you’ll be promoted to small line paper too!” She followed the proclamation by stapling our papers to the “Outstanding Work” bulletin board at the front of the class. She’d stapled papers there before, but never with such fanfare.
We had an open house that week, so all the kids’ parents could take note of our perfectly printed papers. I made sure I pointed out mine to Mom and Dad and did my best to hide my spelling book.
TBC