Dash ES#3 elementary teachers

How many of your elementary school teachers do you remember?  Did you have a favorite?  Least favorite?

        I had three different teachers in kindergarten alone.  The names in order were Mrs. Cannon (I don’t remember her at all but had recorded her name in this post) Miss Nelson (I have no idea what the correct spelling was) and Ms. Wambsley.  I may have liked the first two okay, but hated Ms. Wambsley (I can’t remember for certain if she was a Miss or a Mrs.  I would imagine a Miss as I can’t visualize anyone would purposely pursue a marital relationship with the witch)  I must have mentioned somewhere that she was so horrible that even the parents didn’t care for her or unique methods of teaching – or attempting to rather.

        My first-grade teacher was Mrs. Godown I believe.  There were four first grade instructors – each new to the district the year I was in first grade.  They had never worked together before.  And as the program in our school was unique compared to other schools (here) it created more of a challenge for each of them.     

     

        Second grade.  Mrs. Bryce, Miss Brian?  Something like that.  I remember having liked her last name and associating with her appearance for I thought she was pretty.  That is all I remember.  But wait a minute . . . I remember a teacher named Mrs. Shurtleff.  I remember making nametags.  We were supposed to draw pictures to represent parts of our name.  For example, she had drawn a “shirt” and a “leaf” to represent her name.  I don’t think I had her for homeroom however.  I don’t know what I had her for.

          My third-grade teacher was Mrs. Taran.  Interestingly enough she had transferred schools and taught my cousin in second grade just a few years later.

          I think I remember Mr. West the best of any of my instructors.  He was fourth grade and I really liked him.  His wife had a baby that year.  I’m thinking he was their first.

          I used to know my 5th-grade teacher by her maiden name before she got married, but am now uncertain if she was Miss Tolman or Mrs. Tolman as I have forgotten the other name.  She had asked all the girls in her homeroom class to serve at her wedding.  There were 16 of us and so we served in shifts 8 girls at a time.  Miss Morrison, I think and then Mrs. Tolman.

          I don’t know if Mr. Hadfield, my sixth-grade teacher, had been a drill sergeant. He seemed to wear an authority badge that spelled FEAR.  He wasn’t directly mean to those who minded but did have a reputation.  There was a rumor that he had tossed a student across the room by his ears.  Whether the rumor was accurate or not, I don’t know.  But I could totally see it happening.  Not only did Mr. Hadfield seem capable of it, but the student was a delinquent who probably ended (or is ending) his life in prison. 

          I wish I could find the school pictures that I scanned.  Perhaps I would see some other triggers – like what instructors I had for math, science and reading.  I also might be able to figure out if my answers are correct.  Ms. Bryce/Bryan for instance.  Perhaps she had really been a first-grade instructor the same year as Mrs. Godown.  And I remember a Mrs. Preece (sp) as the shortest instructor as she would often appear lost in a sea of students often taller than she.  I might have had her for reading.

        I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be part of a "pod" system rotating among various instructors in each grade.  I think all schools should teach that way.  I also thought it cool to have a picture of the entire grade rather than just a specific class.