Teaching Past and Present

While I was on vacation this summer in North Bonneville Wash. down along the Columbia River. We went to the Interpretive Center and one of the exhibits was on the history of some of the local schools. I took a picture of the nine rules a teacher must follow in 1872. It was amazing to me how this profession has not changed much in the many years that it has been around. Some rules when taken in a present day perspective are still applicable. I still see many teachers giving personal time to gather supplies for students and I believe we are all looked to by children and adults with the expectation that we will set a moral standard for those around us. Thankfully we have come a long way in other ways and though we may joke about it we do get more than a twenty-five cent raise!

The poster is a bit hard to see so I will type the rules below:

Rules for Teachers 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, clean chimneys. (make copies, correct papers)

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day's sessions. (extra supplies at the store bought with personal money, snacks for children so everyone has one)

3. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils. (differentiated instruction to accommodate all learners)

4. Men teachers may take one evening a week for courting purposes or two evenings a week, if they go to church regularly.

5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books. (Woodring students may do their homework)

6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.

7. Each teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on Society. (don't rely on Social Security, set up your own 401K)

8. Any teacher that smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty. (you must now leave school property to use tobacco products, but I suggest you quit today because that stuff will kill you!)

9. The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Growing as a Teacher

At the beginning of the year as I looked out on those eager young faces I was ready to teach them all about reading and writing and the wonders of science and social studies. I thought that was my most important job. I had gone over the EALR's and curriculum and knew what was expected of me, or so I thought. My biggest learning curve when working with first graders is that I also need to be a monitor of their basic behaviors in life. They need guidance on how to talk to each other in a respectful way, how to tie shoes, put on coats and zip up, use scissors and clean up after snack. We have created a little world that has its own government, economy and industry. I can now see that it is my job to teach these students how to live within a community so that they are more prepared for the world that they are going to be participating in. I previously thought that these ideas were going to come from the home. Many will come from parents and other mentors in their lives but I can see this is also largely my responsibility. This has changed my outlook because rather than only focusing on not pushing my personal ideals onto this class I must also be aware of the school wide ideals that I must be sure to promote.