number 2

This goes with my first grade account. Not quite sure what happens when I push "post to blog."

First Grade

After the foreshadowing in my kindergarten account, you're probably expecting grade one to be a disaster. Well, it wasn't, actually. The year was 1968 and Rochester had begun a voluntary integration program at some city schools. It was a bit like METCO in reverse, except all of us lived in the city. They rounded up some white kids with liberal parents from the "outer city" and bussed us to an inner city school that was mostly black. They created integrated classrooms, not an integrated school. My mother, a teacher, was hired to teach sixth grade at this school, so I think the reasons we participated were two-fold. First, my parents were very liberal and believed in the value of integration. But I'm sure my mom also wanted us closer to her, as she was re-entering the workforce after eight years. Unlike the forced integration, which I experienced in fourth grade, first grade was actually quite lovely. Miss Mingo was black--I think she was from the Islands. She dressed in mini-skirts and wore huge hoop earrings. I loved having my mother at my school. My best friend Louise also entered the program and a group from my neighborhood participated. I don't recall experiencing any racial tension--and I probably would have noticed something because I've always been overly sensitive.

This weekend I poked around the web a bit looking for information about the Rochester schools and their attempts at integration. I did find a few leads through Eric. I've become very interested in this. I experienced this as a child, but I'd really like to know what it was like for the adults involved, and how they made the decisions to integrate the way they did. The fourth grade attempt, called reorganization, seemed like a total disaster from where I stood--and was ditched after just one year. I wish I had the time to really research this.

I've created an Xtra normal video to tell my story in a bit more detail. I'm going to try to post it here.

Let's hear it for tradition!

My introduction to American Education was in a traditional kindergarten right out of Ramona the Pest, a book I used to love to read out loud to my first graders. From the walk to school with sixth grade crossing guards, (think Henry Huggins), to the wake up fairy, it was at least my conception of a typical kindergarten experience. No one tried to teach us to read, but there was time for games, and learning our letters, and singing, and playing outside. I vividly remember a set of 26 white tubs filled with objects beginning with the 26 letters of the alphabet. I think I considered stealing a furry stuffed mouse from the "m " bin. I must not have, because I always get caught when I do something wrong. My school was set on a grassy lot with a large playground complete with a slide that looked like a castle. It was a city school, technically, but the demographic reflected my upper middle class neighborhood. The year was 1967 and the city had no idea what was ahead in the next few years. The only "crisis" I can remember was personal. My teacher, Mrs. North, had prepared a bulletin board with a telephone on it, and as we learned our phone number, she put our name on the board. Sadly, I was the last student in the class to learn my phone number. My mother finally taught me a little song to help me remember it, and I can still sing the song today. While I think this highly traditional start was good for me, I think the years to come gave me something that 12 years in this environment could not have given me. Things became very different just the next year when I went off to first grade. This will be the topic of my next blog--if something else doesn't grab my attention first.

My Education

I've actually been wanting to write about my educational experiences as a kid for a long time. I began public schools in 1967 and graduated from High School in 1980. My experiences ranged from traditional neighborhood school, to voluntary integration, forced integration, two year public school gifted program, large city high school, an alternative public middle school, and a half year at a Summerhill variety alternative private school. My experiences ran the gamut from very good, to pretty horrible. Education itself was undergoing many changes, as was the society at large. All of this had it's effect on the public schools and the students attending. So perhaps I'll use this blog for some posts on this topic.

The Flat Classroom

I remember Dennis mentioning the Flat Classroom project in class last week. I'm hoping to do something with my class which connects them to students in other parts of the world. The flat classroom looked a bit too ambitious for me and my sixth graders, but it looks really cool! I'm not quite done exploring the site, but want to share a cool video that they have on their website. Here is the URL--of the website-- I tried to figure out how tumblr could help me share, but failed.
http://www.flatclassroomproject.org/.