{"id":3405,"date":"2025-01-26T22:51:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T22:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3405"},"modified":"2025-01-26T23:01:26","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T23:01:26","slug":"ftv-it-was-fifty-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3405","title":{"rendered":"FTV: It Was Fifty Years Ago Today . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Listening to the opening lines of The Beatles <\/span>Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band, <\/span><\/i>it struck me that it has been fifty years since I began my semester long stint student teaching.\u00a0 Okay, so it was \u2018fifty years ago this month\u2019 and not \u2018today\u2019, but it still got me thinking about what I took away from that four month experience.\u00a0 Learning about teaching is one thing, but teaching in a classroom setting is not necessarily the same thing.\u00a0 While I probably had a pretty good idea of what it would be like to teach Jr. High age students, my experiences at Bothwell Middle School threw me a few curves.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For starters, Bothwell was operated as an \u2018open\u2019 concept school.\u00a0 Teacher\u2019s were not assigned to their own classroom.\u00a0 Each grouping of 100 to 130 students were assigned to a team of four teachers who handled the core areas while sharing a large open space (called a cluster).\u00a0 My original assignment was in seventh grade Science, but the principal, Mr. Brady, moved me over to eighth grade Social Studies.\u00a0 He was apparently mad at the excellent teacher I had been assigned to work with and did not want him to have a student teacher that spring.\u00a0 Mr. B must have decided that \u2018Geography\/Earth Science\u2019 (my major) was the same as \u2018Social Studies\u2019.\u00a0 When I asked my college advisor if this was something that the principal could do, he replied, \u201cLooks like he already did.\u00a0 Look at it this way.\u00a0 Some day the school where you get a job will be looking for someone to fill a Social Studies position.\u00a0 You can say, \u2018Why, I student taught in Social Studies\u2019, and it may save your job.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My new supervisor, Wayne, was a first year teacher when I was in eighth grade so he already had a decade of teaching under his belt.\u00a0 I knew who he was and he knew me because he worked with my brother at the Red Owl grocery store in high school and\u00a0 college.\u00a0 The rest of the team consisted of Sue (English), Roger (Math) and Terry (Science).\u00a0 New student teachers for the second semester were told to come in a week before we were supposed to start to meet with Mr. Brady (who also happened to be my old Jr High principal).\u00a0 Upon the advice of my advisor, I did not broach the subject of my changed assignment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After we were given a \u2018welcome to Bothwell\u2019 speech by Mr. Brady, he sent us off to meet with our mentors.\u00a0 Wayne said, \u201cWell, I guess we both got a surprise this morning.\u00a0 Hope you don\u2019t mind that your assignment got switched.\u00a0 We will see if we can find a way for you to work with Bill (Laurich, the science guy I was supposed to be assigned to) during one of your prep periods.\u201d\u00a0 It turns out my teaching team would spend half the day with their \u2018cluster\u2019 of students doing the core classes and one hour teaching an enrichment class.\u00a0 This left two hours of the 7 period day for planning – one hour for team planning and one for my own work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wayne explained the \u2018team planning\u2019 period usually went like this:\u00a0 \u201cWe sit down and compare notes.\u00a0 If one of us has a movie or a special presentation planned, we will do it for all four sections at once.\u00a0 Whatever time is left will be divided equally into the four class periods.\u00a0 Just make sure that if you are planning something special, run it by Terry (the cluster science teacher) first.\u00a0 Our daily plan is usually done with him getting first dibs – it works out better that way.\u201d\u00a0 My second lesson here was all about group dynamics.\u00a0 Terry wasn\u2019t a bad guy but he was the most forceful personality on the team.\u00a0 They kept things harmonious by letting him have his way and adjusting from there.\u00a0 I learned quickly to speak up about \u2018group time\u2019 before the day\u2019s plan was set in stone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Teaching in an open cluster was different from anything I had experienced in my school days.\u00a0 Picture a room about the size of a typical cafeteria.\u00a0 A partial wall separated the cluster from the open hallway that encircled this second floor of this octagonal shaped building.\u00a0 There were two large openings on either side to enter the cluster and no way to keep out the noise from traffic in the hall going past.\u00a0 The opposing walls each had a blackboard and there were movable partitions separating each of the four quadrants of the cluster.\u00a0 The side walls only extended two cement blocks above the tiled ceiling so noise from the entire second floor seeped from cluster to cluster.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If a movie was shown, all the partitions were moved and a big screen was rolled down on the science end of the room.\u00a0 When done, things had to be moved back in place.\u00a0 Each half day was about 200 minutes long so a thirty minute movie meant the remaining 170 minutes would be divided into the four class periods for that day.\u00a0 If a shortened class period impacted what I had planned, it was up to me to figure out how to adjust.\u00a0 The first time I had to introduce a movie to the whole group, the rest of the team stepped out of sight no doubt to see how I handled the whole group on my own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I spent a couple of weeks observing how Wayne conducted his classes and acted more or less like a teacher\u2019s aide.\u00a0 Wayne was doing a unit about World War II at the time and I was learning along with the kids.\u00a0 The day he was reviewing historical figures from WWII, I knew a bit about maybe 70 percent of the photos he put up on the overhead projector.\u00a0 It was a good thing I had been listening because when he finished three of the four class rotations, Wayne said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you do the last section?\u201d\u00a0 I did okay but it was obvious (to me anyway) that I would have floundered without having heard Wayne\u2019s comments about each person.\u00a0 \u201cThe next unit will be about other cultures,\u201d I was told.\u00a0 \u201cStart working on that and you can use the chapters covering that in the book as an outline and go from there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When I got into the routine of getting to school before the morning cluster of classes started, I got into the habit of putting on the coffee pot.\u00a0 It was an older model percolating type so I made it the same way my folks did.\u00a0 Three or four days later, I noticed I was the only one drinking it so I asked, \u201cIs there something wrong with the coffee?\u201d\u00a0 Sue spoke up:\u00a0 \u201cYeah, it is kind of strong but we didn\u2019t want to tell you.\u201d\u00a0 This seemed kind of odd, but I had her show me how they made it\u00a0 and that took care of that.\u00a0 Sue was not shy about sharing her opinions about many subjects so why me making the coffee wrong wasn\u2019t brought up sooner was a mystery.\u00a0 Making bad coffee would never have flown without comment in the Geography Department coffee room.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At mid-day, we gathered in the teacher\u2019s lunchroom and I found lunch was secondary to their daily game of Hearts.\u00a0 \u201cHave you ever played Hearts?\u201d Sue asked.\u00a0 Along the way I noticed we were the only table playing cards.\u00a0 Some teachers read books, others graded work, and a few simply sat, ate, and visited.\u00a0 I never asked about the lunch room dynamics but one day, Roger mentioned it would probably not be a good idea for a new teacher to play cards until they get a feel for how the administration feels about it.\u00a0 \u201cWe didn\u2019t play every day until it was suggested that we \u2018spend or break time more productively\u2019.\u00a0 That was all it took to get us into playing every day.\u201d Sue usually had yogurt for lunch.\u00a0 I asked her about it so she brought me one, thus beginning my life-long love affair with Dannon Yogurt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On paydays (which took place on Friday every two weeks), we would go to either the Beef-a-Roo restaurant or Big Al\u2019s Speakeasy for lunch.\u00a0 The B-a-R was only about six blocks away while Big Al\u2019s was a couple of miles away near the US 41 bypass intersection with Washington St.\u00a0 There was a rotation set up as to who picked where we ate based on who was paying that week.\u00a0 When it became obvious it was my turn, they hinted that I was the only one not getting paid so I wouldn\u2019t have to pick up the tab.\u00a0 \u201cBaloney,\u201d I told them, \u201cI am living at home and playing band jobs just about every weekend.\u00a0 Besides, I really was looking forward to a footlong Coney at Big Al\u2019s and if it were up to Sue, we would be at the Beef-a-Roo again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was just about ready to start my lesson plan when my college advisor stopped by for a visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

He dropped a bit of a bombshell on me as we sat in the library discussing how things were going:\u00a0 \u201cSome of the folks here think that you are too forward.\u00a0 That is off putting to them.\u201d\u00a0 I immediately looked over Mr. Machowski\u2019s shoulder at the librarian whose office was across the room from where we were sitting.\u00a0 I put two and two together why we were meeting there and not in the cluster planning area where my work space was.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d I told him, \u201cI figured that starting here in the second semester put me behind the curve right away.\u00a0 Rather than blend in with the wallpaper, I thought it was best to reach out and get to know people.\u00a0 I pass through this library every day on the way to our cluster (the hall ran right through the middle of the library) so I make it a point to say \u2018Good Morning\u2019 to the librarian every time I pass through.\u00a0 If she has a problem with that, there is nothing I can do about it.\u201d\u00a0 The smile on Mr. M\u2019s face told he I had passed his little shock test and the rest of our meeting went fine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wayne didn\u2019t exactly tell me how to organize my own lessons, but I noted he liked to give the kids a choice of projects they could work on for his units.\u00a0 Hands-on options like posters, bulletin boards, presentations, and even skits were offered as opposed to having them just do a reasearch paper of some kind.\u00a0 \u201cJust make sure you approve what they want to do and their topic, otherwise you never know what they will turn in after six weeks of work, \u201c he advised.\u00a0 Harkening back to my JH days, the things I remembered were the projects like the eight foot long color and paste map of North and South America we did back in seventh grade.\u00a0 We still had them do a fair amount of worksheet – quiz – exam type work, but hands-on projects fit my comfort level for keeping them busy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of Wayne\u2019s favorite pre-exam review activities was a game he called \u2018Jeopardy\u2019.\u00a0 With a score grid laid out on the bulletin board, he would divide the class in half and appoint a scorekeeper for each team.\u00a0 A student would select a point value under a category like \u2018Battles\u2019.\u00a0 Wayne would read a question and first hand in the air would get a shot at answering it (but without the traditional \u2018What is D-Day, Alex?\u2019 TV Jeopardy format).\u00a0 As long as his class liked this review game, I used it with one minor change.\u00a0 Many of the students were content to sit back and \u2018win\u2019 by having their one brainiac answer every question.\u00a0 My rule was simple:\u00a0 no one could answer two questions in a row.\u00a0 It worked pretty well and when I used the game in my own classes later on, I also made it a point to split the \u2018brainiacs\u2019 evenly between sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first enrichment class I taught was chess.\u00a0 Wayne was a better player than I was but it soon became apparent that it didn\u2019t take a deep chess knowledge to win more than I lost.\u00a0 The first time I performed a \u2018castling\u2019 maneuver, I had to dig out the rules to prove it wasn\u2019t something I just made up.\u00a0 We went to an empty cluster on the other side of the second floor to meet for chess.\u00a0 The radio was always playing on the PA speakers and after a while, it got rather annoying.\u00a0 The \u2018Stereo 100\u2019 format was big back then.\u00a0 Groups of stations owned by one company would use the same playlist piped in from a far away center.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much local chatter and the song list changed very little during the six week chess course.\u00a0 We always knew when class was over because <\/span>You\u2019re Having My Baby<\/span><\/i> would come on just before we had to head to the next class period.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A couple of the seventh grade teachers invited me to play basketball with them in the school gym on Saturdays.\u00a0 It did not matter how many showed up, we still played full court.\u00a0 At six foot, I was the shortest player and trying to keep stride for stride with a couple of six foot five players took its toll, especially two on two.\u00a0 It was at one of these sessions that I was recruited to be one of the teacher \/ counselors at the annual Seventh Grade Camp held for Bothwell students at the Bay Cliff Health Camp in Big Bay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My other social connection with my teaching team came via Wayne\u2019s weekly sauna session.\u00a0 He had built a nice recreation room in his basement with a fireplace that doubled as one wall of his wood fired sauna.\u00a0 They would throw some meat on a grate over the fireplace and make a snack out of chips, seared meat, cheese, and beer.\u00a0 The one time I was invited, I remember thinking, \u201cMan, I haven\u2019t taken enough saunas.\u00a0 It is getting pretty hot.\u201d\u00a0 When squeezing out a washcloth of water over my head no longer kept me cool, I said, \u201cWell, I think I better take a break.\u201d\u00a0 When I hit the rec room, they all piled out behind me.\u00a0 Roger said, \u201cMan, we thought you would never leave.\u201d\u00a0 Apparently they always tried to drive the new guy out with a blazing hot sauna and I must have been in better sauna shape than I thought.\u00a0 Maybe that is why they didn\u2019t invite me a second time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My extra hour coincided with Bill Laurich\u2019s weekly science lab period.\u00a0 I never got to see him teaching his class but I picked up a lot of pointers watching how he conducted lab classes.\u00a0 Even though I taught for twenty years without actually being in a \u2018lab\u2019 type classroom setting, I was still able to use a lot of his tricks of the trade.\u00a0 I reconnected with Bill in the 1990s when we started doing an annual magazine sale fundraiser in Ontonagon.\u00a0 Bill had coordinated the same sale to raise funds for the Bothwell Seventh Grade Camp and continued to rep for the same company when he retired.\u00a0 Each fall, he would visit Ontonagon to get our sale started and we would have a little mini-Bothwell reunion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of my favorite introductions while at Bothwell was to science teacher, Fred Rydholm.\u00a0 He was also involved in the Bay Cliff Camping experience and at one of the planning meetings, he looked at me and said, \u201cI need an assistant track coach.\u00a0 Would you like to help out?\u201d\u00a0 I had never had Fred as a teacher when I was in JH so this was my first meeting with him.\u00a0 When he found out I had worked at the Huron Mountain Club, we became good friends.\u00a0 His father used to deliver groceries to the club and Fred himself spent many years there working as a camping guide for the youth program.\u00a0 We continued this friendship when we began bringing him to Ontonagon as a guest speaker at the Ontonagon County Historical Society meetings.\u00a0 As a lover of Upper Peninsula history and copper mining, he came to enough of our meetings that we granted him an honorary membership in the OCHS.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ironically, before my third year in Ontonagon, principal Jim Ollila announced we would need someone to teach seventh grade History the next year.\u00a0 I played my, \u201cI student taught in Social Studies,\u201d card and ended up teaching three sections of History that year.\u00a0 When I first interviewed here, they were very interested in the fact I had worked at a seventh grade camp as they were looking to do something similar in Ontonagon.\u00a0 Oddly enough, that little piece of my resume, unlike so many other things I picked up at Bothwell, went unused for the next 43 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 The song that inspired this article . . . and a whole new way of making albums!\u00a0 Okay, this is the BOOTLEG BEATLES with a symphony . . . and the lyric is ’20 years ago’ – but this was done in celebration of the 50th annivesary – so it all fits!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Listening to the opening lines of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it struck me that it has been fifty years since I began my semester long stint student teaching.\u00a0 Okay, so it was \u2018fifty years ago this month\u2019 and not \u2018today\u2019, but it still got me thinking about what I took away […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3405\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}