These excerpts from the "Writing" chapter detail my experiences teaching public school.
1. Waybright School, Saugus, MA
A popular advice book for teachers was titled, “Don’t Smile Until Christmas,” but Linus smiled on the first day. His class laughed uproariously when a pupil asked if he could “go to the basement,” and Linus replied, “What’s in the basement.” He didn’t know that “basement” was a local euphemism for “bathroom.”
2. Saugus High School
His class was mostly seniors who wanted only to get their high school diplomas and get a job (not many SHS grads went to college). They had no desire to give their new teacher any trouble, just sat listening quietly. In fact, in his late afternoon class, a lot of students put their head on their desk, resting up for their after-school jobs.
3. Harvard (MA) Elementary School
He arrived at the Elementary School that fall better prepared to teach. By now he had accumulated a binder of posters for all major occasions, so he decorated his classroom to celebrate Labor Day, the first holiday of the school year. His room at the over-crowded school had been the multi-purpose room, a huge chamber now divided by portable bookcases into two classrooms. Being back-to-back with another class with no wall between them, he knew he would have to keep his room quiet.
4. The Bromfield School, Harvard, MA
The Town was alleviating its overcrowding that year by constructing a new building, called the Greenfield School (the historic name for its public high school, which had once been private). Linus was assigned to the new building the next fall. A new building meant a new principal, Ray Smythe. Students thought Mr. Smythe was a “hippie” like Linus, because of his long hair. In fact, Mr. Smythe was of the progressive school, not a disciplinarian. He enjoined the teachers to “show respect for everyone around here, students and janitors alike.”
1. Waybright School, Saugus, MA
A popular advice book for teachers was titled, “Don’t Smile Until Christmas,” but Linus smiled on the first day. His class laughed uproariously when a pupil asked if he could “go to the basement,” and Linus replied, “What’s in the basement.” He didn’t know that “basement” was a local euphemism for “bathroom.”
2. Saugus High School
His class was mostly seniors who wanted only to get their high school diplomas and get a job (not many SHS grads went to college). They had no desire to give their new teacher any trouble, just sat listening quietly. In fact, in his late afternoon class, a lot of students put their head on their desk, resting up for their after-school jobs.
3. Harvard (MA) Elementary School
He arrived at the Elementary School that fall better prepared to teach. By now he had accumulated a binder of posters for all major occasions, so he decorated his classroom to celebrate Labor Day, the first holiday of the school year. His room at the over-crowded school had been the multi-purpose room, a huge chamber now divided by portable bookcases into two classrooms. Being back-to-back with another class with no wall between them, he knew he would have to keep his room quiet.
4. The Bromfield School, Harvard, MA
The Town was alleviating its overcrowding that year by constructing a new building, called the Greenfield School (the historic name for its public high school, which had once been private). Linus was assigned to the new building the next fall. A new building meant a new principal, Ray Smythe. Students thought Mr. Smythe was a “hippie” like Linus, because of his long hair. In fact, Mr. Smythe was of the progressive school, not a disciplinarian. He enjoined the teachers to “show respect for everyone around here, students and janitors alike.”