Now that Sam is a student in the public school system, Dave and I feel nostalgia for our early school years. Our conversation began by recollecting the cigarette smoke wafting into the corridor from the teacher's lounge. I remember my fifth grade teacher smoking in the classroom when we were outside for recess. One of Dave's teachers would light up after the bell rang as her students exited the classroom. When I was in High School, we actually had a designated smoking area for students.
Dave and I agree the following story takes the cake. When I was in elementary school, the classroom for kids with special needs was across the street. Every day the class would come to the elementary school cafeteria for lunch. The general student population sat at tables placed against the walls. There was one table in the center of the room where Special Education students sat. Whenever someone got in trouble, the punishment was to sit at the center table with the special ed students. I wonder when they stopped doing that. Jeez, I hope they stopped doing that. I don't know for sure because this was back in New Hampshire. Hmm. I'll have to post a follow up on this one.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Wow! I don't ever remember my teachers smoking in the building. I do, however, remember the students having a "smoking area".
Oh, how times have changed!! :)
I never had anything like that. Those poor "special ed" kids!
The only crazy thing I remember was my 5th grade math teacher constantly drinking his "tea" from a metal container. He only lasted about 3 months of that school year before we were told "he left for health reasons"!!
First of all, When I started to read I only saw two paragraphs,and I was unable to locate anything further so I hope that I've read your entire text. More importantly, I agree with you. I pray that there are no longer any schools in existence that practices this method. As an educator, it saddens me to think of the isolation that many students must have suffered in their academic careers. It is this kind of attitude , and dare I say...Abuse, that only promotes failure within students with learning disabilities. We all must showing more tolerance, understanding, and love. This is exactly the point that I was trying to make in my book. By the way, I have those same memories of the smokefilled teachers' lounges. Those WERE the days.
Nikki R. Callahan
What Do They See in Me, that I Don't See in Myself
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/WhatDoTheySee.html
The smoking teacher was Carol Delage. I remember her well. Mean, nasty. I remember a paper that my Dad "helped" me write, OK, he wrote the whole thing. He's a writer by trade. Delage destroyed it. Red lines and marks all over it. Evil.
But one of the best teachers I ever had.
Post a Comment