Welcome to the . . .
My exhibit this month is very much in line with the back-to-school nature of September: My Own School Experience.
I was one of those kids who, generally, liked school. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t also like school breaks and vacation times, because I certainly did. I just liked going to school, and for the most part (but not always) (looking at you, junior high. . . ), I had positive school experiences.
My mom always told me she’d been rather distraught when she dropped me off for my first day of first grade (we didn’t have kindergarten in my school). I had not even a hint of trepidation or tears. She said I just sat in my little desk and waved her out the door. I was very READY for school!
Here I am, age 6. Ready for some learnin’. . .
Right from the start, I thought school was okay. I liked being with a roomful of other kids my age. I liked having a desk of my own. I liked the structure of the classroom. I liked playing with the other kids at recess. I liked bringing my 2 pennies in every day for a miniature carton of milk (3 pennies could get me chocolate!). I liked the high-quality jump ropes and red rubber balls we could play with at recess. I loved the big maps that pulled down from the ceiling. And filmstrips. And a seemingly endless supply of “vanilla paper” we could use to draw on (I later learned it was called “manilla paper,” but it was always “vanilla” to me). I really liked getting stars on my papers. My favorite subject was reading. I especially liked being allowed to “work quietly at my desk” (on whatever I wanted!) when I finished my work early. I was very enthused about special things like classroom parties and the Fun Fair, Scholastic book orders and the holiday concerts.
But there were also things I didn’t like so much about school. I didn’t like having to raise my hand to talk (I’ve always been a “blurter”. . . ). I didn’t like having to line up, single file all the time. I hated going to the bathroom as a group. I thought it was very weird that all my teachers called our coats . . . “wraps.” (And they all did.) I didn’t like “round robin” reading aloud (actually, what I didn’t like was hearing other kids read aloud). I didn’t like it when art teachers told us to draw certain things in certain ways. I didn’t like dodge ball. I didn’t like feeling like I needed to behave in certain ways to be liked by my teachers and my classmates (school “taught” me to tone myself down, and to use “filters”).
In my elementary days, I was lucky to have had kind, patient, inspiring teachers. They provided a firm foundation for a lifetime of learning — and helped me deal with the not-so-kind, not-so-patient, and uninspiring teachers that were to come along later on. (Because, of course, they did come along later on.)
Ultimately, after much learning . . . through rather painful junior high years and much better high school years, I emerged on the other side . . . ready to press on to college and “life,” understanding more about who I was and how I wanted to BE in the world. (But, ultimately, surprised by how much more there was to learn.)
My high school senior picture, 1977.
So my own school experience was generally postive. I was a good student. I tended to play by the rules (which I mostly hated). I had some fun and good times, with a few struggles (mostly of the junior high variety) mixed in. But when it was time to graduate, I was more than ready for the independence of college (no more lining up! no more asking permission to go to the bathroom! no more dodgeball!), and get on with the rest of my life.
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How about YOU? What was your school experience like?
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Thanks for visiting the Museum of Me. Watch for new exhibits . . . on the 2nd Friday of each month. (For now, that link will still send you back over to Stepping Away From the Edge. Eventually, I’ll be relocating the entire Museum of Me here to the new blog, but I haven’t managed that yet.)
If you’re a blogger and you’d like to create a Museum of Me along with me on your own blog, let me know. I’ll send you my “exhibit schedule” (a list of monthly prompts) and we can tell our stories together.
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Also . . . Just a reminder to RSVP for the next Read With Us book discussion on Zoom. See all the details here.
My experiences were so similar to yours Kym. I really, really enjoyed school. I loved learning and new experiences. As I commented on Kat’s post, I didn’t necessarily like all of my teachers or all of my classes, but overall it was a wonderful experience. I think each of us experienced those not so great times in school (especially when all the hormones started flowing), but overall my time in school was great. I’m thankful I went to the school I did (rated very high in the state) which offered a wealth of classes.
Big gold stars on my 1st grade spelling tests were EVERYTHING!!!
School was mostly fun for many of us except for the silly (and sometimes stupid) rules. Dodge ball was just a mean game, at least the way it got played in our gym classes. I think jr. high is painful for everyone. I’m fascinated by senior pictures. I was shocked to learn that I wasn’t going to actually put on a chic black evening gown for my photo, but it was just a black wrap held by a clothespin. I’m guessing you were not out in the woods, gazing thoughtfully into the distance while leaning on the fence. But we got through the school experience and went on to become thinking adults!
School was mostly fun! (except for that entire middle school awkwardness…) And good teachers were such a boon to the eventual less than good ones… And for me, life began in 10th grade – it was the year I moved into my grandparents house, which made everything so much better!
Like you, I liked most parts of school. My parents will still tell others about how, as a very young student, I would come home expressing frustration that the teachers didn’t call on me all the time (yes, I was that kid). I had mostly good teachers, some really outstanding. And I’ll admit that sometimes I really miss the general simplicity of what it was like to be a student: show up, pay attention, do the work, get good grades.
Aside from Junior High, I loved school and was a good student.
We never played dodgeball, but had fun playing hopscotch, jump rope, and kickball.
I loved my kindergarten and first grade teachers. I had a horrid teacher in 2nd grade, but all my other teachers after that were wonderful. It’s fun to reminisce about those days!
Pretty much the same – I think our early years may have been the same and I also needed to learn some patience. 🙂 Unfortunately mean girls and boys are everywhere aren’t they? I like to think they make us better!
I had mostly wonderful, kind teachers who handled my constant, eager hand-raising with amazing tolerance, er, restraint. I was “that kid” also. Of course I loved school. I don’t remember 2-and 3-penny cartons of milk, though. I would have opted for chocolate. Vanilla paper…it takes me back….(and why MA-nila??? I don’t think it arrived from the Philippines). How long ago (despite remembering so much acutely) – and how fast it went (looking back – not actually living it!). Thanks for the nostalgia trip, Kym!
We moved a lot so I went to several different schools. Some were better than others. I liked when I had a teacher that made things relatable, not just read this and answer the questions at the end of the chapter.
I liked that it was not home.
My school experiences were all painful. Being the tallest girl, extremely shy, not cool and feel like I needed to be SOMEWHERE ELSE! Anyway, I survived.
I loved school although I did struggle in jr high with having friends – almost everyone from my 6th grade elementary school went to a different jr high than I did, it was awful. But otherwise, I enjoyed it like you did!
I mostly loved the academics and struggled socially through much of it (moving 3 times over the 11 years I spent going from K-12 surely didn’t help) … college was my hands-down favorite. I loved every aspect of it!
Your photos are great. How fun to see you as a child and a young woman. It’s interesting how we grow into ourselves. I was and am a rule follower – typical oldest child. I enjoyed school and did well. I really got serious as a junior in high school. I had one bad experience of a high school guidance counselor telling me I wasn’t “smart enough to take college science” and so should become a secretary. I decided to show him, although he probably never knew. I set out to graduate from college and graduate school with honors and I did.