Have you signed up yet?

Look for my tribute to Eric Andrew Lehrman on September 11, 2006 at my personal blog, Much Madness is Divinest Sense.

I know this isn’t my genealogy blog, but I was lucky to be the recipient today of a CD full of amazing pictures of my family taken from the 1880’s to 1960’s. The picture below is of students at Miss Gilbert’s Music and Elocution classes at the Parker Institute in 1891-92 in Whitt, Texas. My great-great-grandmother, Stella Bowling, is on the far left in the middle row (with the buttons that form a V across her chest). There are so many people in the photo that details are hard to see. If you click on it, you can look at a larger version.

My great-great-grandmother Stella taught school for eight years in one-room schoolhouses in the Denton, Texas area. When he was in school, my great-uncle Alvin wrote to her, his grandmother, to interview her about what school was like when she was a girl. This is what she said:

Rosebud, New Mexico
Nov. 11th 1935

Dear Alvin:—

It is with pleasure I answer your most welcome letter. I am glad you are interested in school and hope you enjoy your school days as much as I did mine. Really I think our school days are our happiest days with all their troubles and trials — yes I had my share of “trouble & trial” in school even tho I never got a whipping.

When I went to school the schools were not “Graded” as they are now. We had classes — sometimes 2 or 3 of a kind, I mean of the second reader we’ll say as some pupils would have McGuffey’s Readers while others would have another kind. I used the McGuffey’s Readers. The “Old Blue-Backed Spelling Book” (Webster Spelling Book) and Alvin I don’t believe I’d be afraid to “spell” with my Grandchildren to-day.

I was eight years old April 13, 1875 and started to school some time that year, at Lewisville, Denton Co., Texas. However my Mother had taught me at home, so I was in the second reader and could spell “way over in the book” and knew how to make the figures and count.

That first school house was up on a “rise” N.W. from town about 1/2 Mi. It was a large “two story” house; the upper room was used by the Mason Lodge the lower for school church and Sunday School.

Sometimes there were 75 or so pupils so had to have two teachers, but both taught in that one big room.

We sat on long benches and a class would go up to the teacher to recite and sit on a long bench, only the spelling classes would stand in a row and “turn down”, when one missed a word. The pupil who was head of class to day would “go foot” tomorrow.

The house was heated by a stove and they burned wood. When it was real cold the teacher would let us go sit awhile by the stove to warm our feet. They wouldn’t let us draw pictures in time of books.

When I started to school my Grandma gave me a large square framed slate and that’s what I wrote on, and “figured” & (played when the teacher wasn’t looking.)

In 1879 we moved way out to Wise Co. I was 12 by then, you see so had other books to study such as Geography — Monteith’s Third Part. Rag’s Third Part Arithmetic and Grammar — Smith’s, I believe, was the first one I used; then later Reed & Kellogg’s. So we had to parse and diagram. Yes that was hard.

That school house was a real country school about 3 or 4 Mi. S.W. of Bridgeport (the old town) Texas, in Pleasant Valley. It was built of logs (I believe) and had long home-made benches. No black-boards, so we used slates.

There was a plank “desk” on each side to write on, the boys used one, the girls used the other. Yes, we had a time to write, some had bought copy books, others used “fools cap” paper and the teacher would set a “copy”. It too had a stove and burned wood. The house was in the woods so we had lots of shade to play in.

The boys played on one side of the house, the girls on the other. The boys at both these schools played ball and other similar things. The girls would play games such as base “Learner Lou” etc — we had nothing to play with but always had fun.

Girls all wore sun bonnets — never went bare headed but in warm weather would go bare-footed, same as the boys — oh! the big girls didn’t, of course.

Sometimes school would be only for three months, and a five month school was a long time — I mean in the country. Then sometimes there would be a subscription school in Summer.

Sometimes the teacher would “stay a round” with the people — not have to pay board.

My first school I had to walk alone and go about three Mi. but at this last one we lived just little over 1/2 Mi. from the school house.

While we lived there tho there were two years I did not go to that school, because the teacher did not keep good order. I went to a lady who taught in her house 2 Mi. away. There we sat by a fireplace and used her chairs. She was such a fine teacher too — could explain things so we could understand even arithmetic. Also she had some different readers I used but I forget the names. Of course, they were the higher books 5th & 6th.

My letter is getting too long to tell about when I “went off” to school. So will close for this time and if you want the other part I’ll write again.

Lovingly your Grandmother,

Stella Cunningham

If you get a chance, write down your school memories for those who come after you.

I leisurely perused the Sunday paper today, and I was confronted by ads for back to school supplies from every major retailer you can imagine. There are some great deals out there. Here’s my pet peeve, though. How do I know what to get? No, really. Most schools don’t publish their lists. I cannot comprehend why a school would bother to have a web site and not use it for something as basic as communicating with parents about school supplies.

Most supply lists are very specific. I can buy my kindergartner a pack of 24 Rose Art crayons for 5¢, but what if her teacher wants her to have those fat crayons? There are all kinds of deals out there, but I would be angry if I took advantage of them and wasted money on supplies that teachers don’t want or had to go back and buy a bunch of stuff I wasn’t counting on.

Many schools publish lists to local department and grocery stores, which is very helpful, but for some reason, this seems to stop at middle school level. I have a seventh grader, and I don’t know what she’ll need. Her school’s website is more attractive and contains more information than the local elementary school site, but again, no school supply lists.

Georgia has an annual sales tax holiday for school supplies. This year, it will take place from August 3-6. My daughters don’t start back to school until August 14. School supply lists are not available for me to take advantage of this sales tax holiday.

I am almost certain that her teachers must know what supplies they plan to require. I already know. I know every year. The problem is, students of mine don’t know what they need for my class. They don’t know that they are going to be in my class. I don’t know who my daughters’ teachers will be. I don’t know that it would be possible in their case to ask schools to provide me with that information. They are likely still registering and creating schedules up until the week before school. It’s a bit simpler at my school, because we are still small enough at this point that we only have one teacher teaching every section. There is, for instance, only one college prep American literature course, only one Honors British literature course, and so on. As long as students know what section they will be in, they have a fairly good idea of which teacher (among the three of us) they will have.

I suppose what I will do this year in order to take advantage of sales and the sales tax holiday is buy supplies before I get the lists, but it bothers me. I can get what I think teachers will want and basic supplies that my kids will need, but I run the risk of getting the wrong thing or not getting something they need.

Some of you may recall our school’s construction made the news last September due to a threat by Fulton County’s BOE to seize our property through eminent domain. The school system backed down, and construction has continued. Along with a small contingent of our faculty, I toured our new building in June. I was surprised to open the paper this morning to see a story about the contruction, along with picture of our group. Unfortunately, the picture wasn’t reprinted in the online edition of the article, but you can read it here (use Bug Me Not to bypass registration). I couldn’t find the picture at our school’s web site either, but if you have access to the print edition that includes the NorthSide supplement for residents of North Fulton and Cherokee Counties, you can see pictures of our group and building on p. ZH9. I am the one in the cuffed jeans and black sweater with my hands in my back pockets.

Some of you might know I’m a big Harry Potter fan. I have a Professor Snape action figure in my classroom. He’s one of my favorite characters. I was thinking over the last week or so that it might be fun to evaluate the effectiveness of some of the Hogwarts professors in light of the fact that I’m an educator myself.

Severus Snape, Potions/Defense Against the Dark Arts

Obviously the favoritism and sarcasm are not the hallmarks of a good teacher, but I don’t think we should count him out entirely. He does manage, albeit through fear tactics and bullying, to teach his students quite a great deal about Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts. It is also through Snape that Harry learns the Expelliarmus spell that helps him in his first duel with Voldemort in the graveyard in Goblet of Fire. J.K. Rowling has said that Snape was loosely based on a teacher she had. Yikes!

Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration

As much as we like to consider her tough but fair, she occasionally has her lapses, too. Disgusted by Neville Longbottom’s poor performance in class, she once remarked, “Longbottom, kindly do not reveal that you can’t even perform a simple Switching Spell in front of anyone from Durmstrang!” (Goblet of Fire, Ch. 15). All in all, however, she tends to have high expectations (but not unreasonable ones). She inspires respect in her charges, and in several instances, readers are shown she cares for her students. For example, when Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall arrive at Prof. Moody’s (really Barty Crouch, Jr.) office to rescue Harry from the man whom they now realize is an imposter, McGonagall’s first concern is Harry:

“Come along, Potter,” she whispered. The thin line of her mouth was twitching as though she was about to cry. “Come along… hospital wing…” (Goblet of Fire, Ch. 35)

After Dumbledore insists that Harry stay a moment longer, McGonagall even begins to argue with the headmaster. McGonagall is another teacher who manages to educate her students well.

Rubeus Hagrid, Care of Magical Creatures

Hagrid is just an awful teacher. He’s a great friend to Harry, but his lessons are dangerous or boring most of the time. The only time he manages to plan good lessons are when he implements units started by his replacement, Professor Grubbly-Plank (for example, the lessons on unicorns). Even Harry is forced to acknowledge that Grubbly-Plank is a better Care of Magical Creatures teacher in Order of the Phoenix:

“And don’t say that Grubbly-Plank woman’s a better teacher!” [Harry] added threateningly.

“I wasn’t going to,” said Hermione calmly.

“Because she’ll never be as good as Hagrid,” said Harry firmly, fully aware that he had just experienced an exemplary Care of Magical Creatures lesson and was thoroughly annoyed about it. (Ch. 13)

Filius Flitwick, Charms

Flitwick seems to be a competent teacher, but it would also seem he allows students a little bit too much free rein in his class. Students frequently use his class as an opportunity to talk off-task (as Harry, Ron, and Hermione do during one lesson on banishing spells in Goblet of Fire). Hermione was also able to earn a 112% on her exam in first year, which would seem to be an impossible feat, as 100% is a perfect score. It sort of makes you wonder about his assessments.

Sybill Trelawney, Divination

Professor Trelawney’s penchant for predicting the deaths of her students as a greeting seems odd in the extreme. She does not generally fraternize with the other staff, which also marks her as odd. Professor Trelawney also has a drinking problem, as Harry and/or his friends twice come across her in a state of inebriation after consuming cooking sherry. Probably not a good idea if one is attempting to learn something, but she is good for entertainment value.

Dolores Umbridge, Defense Against the Dark Arts

Harry Potter’s DADA teacher in Order of the Phoenix teaches her students nothing practical and has them read the textbook and do busywork. I had an English teacher like that in tenth grade. I can never recall her standing in front of the room. I don’t remember reading anything. I remember doing exercises out of Warriner’s grammar book every day. My shop teacher in 6th grade (at my middle school, students had to sample all the Connections classes for 6 weeks each) made us copy out of the woodworking book when he got mad at us. Which was a lot. He also drank a beer in class once. At any rate, we were talking about Professor Umbridge. Well, clearly, she’s not really there to teach, but to be the Ministry’s toadie. I wrote a post about this once, so I won’t repeat it all here. Some of you might enjoy a look at it, though.

Professor Binns, History of Magic

Binns lectures in a boring monotone, which prevents most of his students from learning anything about his subject matter, which should rightfully be a fascinating one. Not exactly sound pedagogical theory, but we’ve all had a teacher like this, too. “Bueller… Bueller…”

Gilderoy Lockhart, Defense Against the Dark Arts

Poorly prepared in his subject and focusing instruction on his own exploits, Gilderoy Lockhart might be the worst teacher Harry has at Hogwarts. A glance at the first quiz he gives should tell the reader all he/she needs to know about Lockhart’s instruction.

Pomona Sprout, Herbology

Herbology students work hard, as would seem logical in the Head of Hufflepuff House’s class. They get plenty of hands-on practical experience. Professor Sprout also seems to be a fair teacher. She also praised Neville to Professor Moody (Crouch); when Moody repeated the praise to Neville, it clearly gave him a self-esteem boost. After Goblet of Fire, the reader sees Neville excel in Herbology, which is nice to see.

Remus Lupin, Defense Against the Dark Arts

I think Professor Lupin might be the best teacher Harry has. He relates well with the students. Snape attempts to insult Neville Longbottom in front of the entire DADA class as they are about to tackle the boggart in the faculty lounge:

“Possibly no one’s warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear.”

Lupin replies in Neville’s defense:

“I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation,” he said, “and I am sure he will perform it admirably.” (Ch. 7)

Perhaps we can forgive him then, for allowing another teacher — Snape — to be mocked openly in his class (when the boggart-Snape appears dressed in clothes similar to those worn by Neville’s grandmother). In addition to caring for his students, he is also able to inspire their respect. When he rescues Harry from Snape after Snape attempts to confiscate the Marauder’s Map, he reprimands Harry for not turning it in: “Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them — gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks” (Ch. 14). As Harry walks away, he feels “worse by far than he had at any point in Snape’s office.” Lupin’s final exam is also an excellent assessment — it is application, higher order thinking skills, a true test of what they have learned.

Alastor Moody (Barty Crouch, Jr.), Defense Agains the Dark Arts

The imposter Moody tells the DADA class that they have covered dark creatures very well under Lupin, but are behind on hexes. Even though he turns out to be a Death Eater and murderer, he might have a point. Harry and his classmates did learn quite a bit from the imposter Moody, even if he did resort to illegal curses to teach them. Harry learns how to fight the Imperius Curse. He learns about the Cruciatus Curse and the Avada Kedavra, which he previously had no knowledge of, despite the fact that the Avada Kedavra killed his parents and the fact that he is the only survivor of the AK.

Horace Slughorn, Potions

I am not sure what to make of Slughorn. His penchant for favoritism doesn’t speak well of him, but he’s not exactly evil per se. Unlike most Slytherins Harry has met so far, he is not prejudiced against Muggle-born or Half-Blood wizards. Lily Evans, Harry’s Muggle-born mother, was one of Slughorn’s favorite students. However, he told Tom Riddle about Horcruxes, which was clearly a mistake, but he seems to feel obvious shame and regret over the incident. Harry does seem to learn a great deal in his class, but he attributes most of what he learns to the notes written by the Half-Blood Prince in his textbook. As that person turns out to be Snape, one could argue he really learns a lot more about Potions from Snape.

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster

While Dumbledore’s function in the series is mainly administrative, we do learn that he taught Transfiguration when Tom Riddle and Rubeus Hagrid went to Hogwarts. We are never given an assessment of Dumbledore’s teaching skills, but based on his relationship with the students, he was probably fairly good. I do wonder at his skill in selecting some of his staff, but he seems, in all, to be a fairly good administrator. He is not always as supportive of his faculty as he could be, but often that’s because the faculty member in question is being unreasonable (Snape, most of the time). He is careful to make sure Harry always demonstrates respect for Snape, often correcting him when he doesn’t refer to him as Professor. He is open-minded and intelligent. When the government attempts to interfere at Hogwarts, he does what he can, within bounds, to protect his faculty and students.

On a slightly unrelated note, do you ever wonder if students develop other more mundane skills necessary for survival both in the Muggle and wizarding worlds? For instance, no one seems to worry about how well students write (though they seem to be assigned quite a lot of essays) or read. They don’t take math, unless you count Arithmancy. I suppose one could consider Potions to be a chemistry class of sorts, and perhaps some biology would be covered in Transfiguration; students take Astronomy, too. However, in general, science looks nothing like it does in Muggle schools. Harry takes a history class, but it is narrow in focus, which I am not sure is wise. Harry and his friends could do with learning a bit more about history in general, and their knowledge of geography does seem weak. I suppose Muggle Studies might cover this material somewhat, but we never really learn much about that class. In terms of foreign language, I don’t see much of it, unless one counts Ancient Runes. Neil Ward at the Harry Potter Lexicon discussed the “roundness” of the Hogwarts education in this essay. Lexicon founder Steve Vander Ark asks whether we would, indeed, want a Hogwarts education for our own children.

Today is Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Rembrance Day. Never forget. The teenagers walking through this memorial in Boston are Jewish. Some of them lost family members in the Holocaust or are the descendants of survivors. I love the kids in these photos; it is a fact that had they lived during the Holocaust instead of today, they might have been the victims of atrocities beyond our comprehension. We will never know the scope of our loss, how empty our lives are because of the loss of 11 million people in the Holocaust, including 6 million Jews.

Never forget.

Happy New Year to all of my colleagues out there in the blogosphere.

Our English Department consists of three teachers — or four, if you count the college counselor who will teach a short course to seniors who are going to Israel this year — but it feels more like three. Of course, I’m one of them. The other two are Randal and Josh. I am in the odd position of being the only woman in the department for the first time in my career. Randal is probably the best writing teacher I’ve ever worked with. Josh is a first year teacher, but taught undergrad freshman comp classes last year as a grad student.

I gotta say… I think I’m part of the best English department I’ve ever worked with. We delivered the first part of a two-part presentation to the faculty on how we teach and assess writing. I didn’t get a chance to do my bit on the research paper, but that will come next week. I feel very privileged to work with these guys. Their presentation was amazing (I spoke little this time) and really interesting. They received a lot of compliments from the faculty. The faculty were invited to attend, but not required, which was one reason why I was so pleased by the high turn-out.

I asked Josh if he thought I should hook up the laptop and projector next week for the second half of our presentation and show the faculty my class wiki or would it suck up too much time? He thought it would be a great idea. I love being able to do that — just bounce ideas off the fellas. Our meetings are by turns really insightful and productive and completely hilarious — Randal and Josh happen to share a rather sharp wit. Actually, they’re a lot of fun.

I hope, if they run across this, they don’t mind me sharing a recent moment that really cracked me up. We were all in the classroom that Randal and Josh share. There were students in there, too, but I can’t remember why. One the students on yearbook came in to ask Randal if he could take his picture for the yearbook. Randal said no. They argued for a while.

I said, “Randal, quit being so cantankerous and let him take your picture.”

Randal: “No, the paparazzi killed the princess!”

Josh: “You’re no princess.”

Student: “And I’m not the paparazzi.”

Randal: “OK, fine.”

Hmm. On paper that isn’t even close to being as funny as it was in person.

I love being in the English Department.