Each
and every single day, I miss going to my classroom to write the date on the
board. At the early part of my career, that was on a chalkboard. By the end, it
was either that way or on a whiteboard with the dry-erase markers. Either way,
I wrote a note to my class that we read together each day. I labeled this our “A.M.
Routine.” It usually gave them an idea about what we’d be doing that particular
day. Then – we’d read the schedule chart for that day of the week.
I also miss D.E.A.R.
(Drop Everything and Read) Time. I tried to instill a love of reading in all my
students. My favorite book to do this with was Love You Forever, written by Robert Munsch and illustrated by
Sheila McGraw.
The
first time I learned about this excellent book, I was attending a teachers’
conference in upstate New York. When the facilitator read it, I don’t think
there was a dry eye in the auditorium of over 300 educators.
Ever since that day, I
did read that wonderful story to my students on the first and last day of each
school year. I gave them copies of it for their birthdays or graduations or
even when they were in the hospital. It represents life as it comes and goes
and trying to find the good as each day passes. I have hard and soft covers of Love You Forever at my home, and I read
it to myself when I need to feel better about losing the profession I adored. I
will love that book forever….
Another thing I sorely
miss about being a teacher is all the field trips I planned and took with each
class every year. Because of my memory problems, I can’t remember all of them,
but I do recall a few.
My friend Maggie
mentioned in her writing about me (later in this book) the camping trips I took
my Pine Plains students on. What a blast! Once, when our camping trip was
canceled due to rain, we got permission to sleep in our classroom overnight, so
we moved the desks to the hallway, brought in mats from the gym and held our
sleepover there. I’m quite sure nowadays that would probably not be allowed to
happen, but I’m glad we had so much fun doing that way back in the early 1980s!
Another trip I tried to
plan annually was a trip to a nursing home to sing songs to the elderly at the
holidays. We were always well-received and my students loved our rehearsals. We
even practiced on the bus as our driver got us safely to our destination.
Our field trips were
planned to wonderful places like restaurants, malls, movie theaters, farms,
pools, museums, horseback riding stables, and oh, so much more, to teach our
special needs students life skills. To this day when I drive by a place I know
I once took a class to on such a trip, I try to remember all the fun things we
learned there. I have so many pictures of these adventures, and when I look at
them, it reminds me of what memories I gave my students and they gave to me.
Holiday
parties were also tons of fun. We dressed in costumes for Halloween. I miss dancing with my students to the “Monster Mash” by
Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers, when we were all dressed up for
Halloween. Some of my students could not afford costumes, so I always had a
pile of things they could pick from to wear for a party. One costume that the
girls loved to wear was an old dress from the Radio City Rockettes.
You see, my
grandparents were friends with a janitor from the famous Radio City Music Hall
MANY years ago. When some of the costumes were thrown away, this friend grabbed
some and gave them to Grandma and Grandpa McColl, who had three granddaughters
(my sisters and me).
After we
enjoyed them as children, I “inherited” them for my first teaching job. Those
glittery, long dresses were worn many times by various female students of mine
over the years for Halloween, and other times too. Oh, the fun times I had way
back when!
We also dressed up as
Pilgrims and Native Americans for Thanksgiving and as elves and reindeer for
Christmastime, and so much more, to take a break from routines on these various
special days. We prepared lots of snacks and meals and invited other school
staff and students to join us in the celebrations.
I also
miss how we took care of needy children in other countries with Operation
Christmas Child. Though this is led by a church organization, we were able to
get approval to conduct it in our public schools (see letter in appendix).
I also miss the “little
things” – like teaching a handicapped child how to tie his or her own
shoelaces. From a craft fair, I would buy pretend wooden sneakers with colored
laces, “sneakers” that they would keep in their desks. If someone had completed
a task ahead of the others, he or she would take a sneaker out to practice. The
look of excitement on their faces when they could finally tie it for themselves
was priceless! Thank you, Karen O’Han, for making those adorable sneakers.
I also miss special
things I did over the years. One unforgettable lesson was when we tapped a
maple tree to make syrup. I inadvertently peeled paint off the wall of our
classroom when we mistakenly boiled the sap down indoors. The pancakes we
prepared with our own syrup were delicious though.
One field
trip I remember like it was yesterday involved maple syrup. Since I never
wanted to ruin the classroom's wall again, I took my students to the Bruderhof
Woodcrest Community in Rifton, NY.
There, my
students were taught how to correctly gather sap and make maple syrup. They
were also treated to a delicious, free lunch when their tour was over.
For St. Patrick’s Day, I
excused myself from eating lunch with my students and went back to our
classroom to “trash” the place. I threw the garbage on the floor, overturned
desks and chairs, scattered papers all around, and sprinkled green glitter by
an opened classroom window. When the kids came back from lunch, they were
excited to see what a little leprechaun had done to our nice, neat classroom.
Years later, a former assistant of mine named Patty called to tell me she had
copied my leprechaun idea with her classroom now that she was a teacher. That
memory brought tears to my eyes when I played her message over and over again
on my answering machine. I felt wonderful that some other classroom was having
the fun I once had with mine.
I miss teaching Summer
School, which I did for quite a few years. It was a six-week program for the
life-skills students whom I had taught during the school year. We continued the
work we were accomplishing during the previous year, so when school resumed in
the fall, those skills would not be lost.
I assigned less
classwork, and thus less homework, during the summer, but we still put in quite
a few hours of repetition of lessons needing their attention. I tried to make
the learning as fun as possible because some of their siblings were not having
to attend school in the summer and our students had to come, probably wishing
they were somewhere else.
We had special days
planned just with the word “fun” in mind. My personal favorite was Waterplay
Day.
I don’t really remember
how I came up with this idea, but it sure was a good one! We played outside in
our swimsuits for the entire day. The students had to earn their “invitation” to
the wet festivities by completing their work for days and weeks before, as well
as by being well-behaved. Some of my former students, whom I still keep in
touch with, tell me how this extraordinary day is still remembered by them
decades later.
We had squirt guns and
sprinklers. We painted their feet, and they walked across rolls of mural paper
before having their toesies sprayed down. We put beach balls and water balloons
into a parachute and bounced them around. We got soaking wet for all of these
games.
We also had kiddie pools
and pool toys galore. We would take “breathers” by sitting them down on our
beach blankets and/or their towels spread on grass instead of sand.
We had egg races with
teams lined up with eggs and spoons. Then, we’d throw dozens of eggs at each
other and need another “hose-down.” Picking up all the eggshells left over from
this event was a race also.
We enjoyed buckets of
Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. Dessert would be a pie-eating contest. The
first year we did this, I bought Freihofer’s individual apple pies, which, of
course, tasted yummy, but the fillings were hard to see on their faces as they
hurriedly downed them with their hands behind their backs. All the remaining
Waterplay Days, I bought cherry and blueberry pies so their faces were covered
in colorful fruit fillings after they scrambled to win first place. Some of my
best pictures of these days were taken of various students laughing
uncontrollably with pie all over their faces!
I also miss an idea I
used for many years called our “Compliment Pizza Party.” Because many of my
students had behavior issues, they didn’t always act appropriately when around
others in our school. So, when they “got it right,” and someone complimented
them for anything they were “caught” doing, we’d mark it up on a pizza slice
made of paper. When all eight “slices” were filled with compliments, we ordered
pizzas, and everyone enjoyed celebrating our accomplishments.
Sometimes our parties
happened often and other times we had to wait for a long while. It all depended
on their good behavior being observed and then mentioned by others. The kids
were so excited when they saw the last slice fill up because pizza was coming
soon! I’ve included in an appendix the invitation we sent out when our “pizza
wheel” was full.
Another fun time
including pizza was Pizza Hut’s Book It! program. We set up a goal for how much
reading a child had to accomplish in a month. If the child reached the goal, he
or she won a certificate and a free personal pan pizza from the local
restaurant. Since most of my students weren’t taken to the restaurant, I
collected their certificates and then picked up boxes and boxes of little
pizzas. Then, we ate them all together. They loved this special activity, and I
believed that helped them enjoy reading.
For Earth Day, we made “dirt”!
We crushed Oreos, added chocolate pudding, peanuts, chocolate chips, coconut
sprinkles colored with green food coloring and more to resemble dirt, rocks,
and grass. It was all put in a clear cup and topped with a Gummi worm. This was
after we learned about taking care of our planet. As on other special days, I
wore my “teacher earrings” that were shaped like the globe and said, “Earth
Day.” I have a huge collection of these fun earrings, most of which were made
by Art in Heaven of Altamont, NY, and I still wear them out and about years
later. For example – I wear my birthday cake earrings when I attend someone’s
birthday celebration, my pizza earrings when I go out for pizza, and my
groundhog earrings on Groundhog Day. I have over 60 pairs of these cute
earrings, and I love looking at them to remind me of my school days gone by.
I used to make a big deal
out of a student’s birthday. I grew up in a family that did just that, so I
think that’s where I got that idea. My mother would make sure I got my favorite
breakfast. During that mealtime, I got to open a gift before going to school.
Then, when I came home, our family got to eat my favorite dinner either at home
or at a restaurant of my choice. Then – there were more gifts with dessert. I
still love sending cards (and receiving them) on special days. But – let’s get
back to teaching. So – my staff and I would plan a party at the end of the
school day for our “birthday student.” Their favorite goodie was served (or a
cake we either purchased or prepared). There were cards and gifts. Not all, but
many of my students throughout my career, didn’t have a lot of money, so we
spoiled them on this day.
One year, I began a
birthday tradition where we squirted whipped cream from a can into the mouth of
the celebrator while their head was tilted back (as well as anyone else at the
party who wanted to partake). When it was my birthday, I got to be the one who
sat under the nozzle. One year a student really had fun squirting it all over
the place, so from then on, we wore aprons when it was our birthday. What a lot
of messy fun that was!
Another thing I miss
about teaching was a day I dubbed “Reading Day.” We moved the desks out of the
way and lay on our carpeted floor with beanbags, comfy chairs, and lots of
pillows. I read to my students all day in my Mickey Mouse slippers. I wanted
them to just have a day to enjoy books all day long. We ate our lunch like a picnic
right there in the classroom. I miss them telling me which books they wanted to
read.
Speaking of those special
MM slippers, another great day we had was Mickey Mouse’s birthday (November
18). I did a math lesson to teach them subtraction with the year it was and the
year he debuted (1928) so we could figure out how old he was. We also played
math games with dice decorated with his picture.
We dressed up in the many
T-shirts and sweatshirts I collected over the years. We prepared MM pancakes
for breakfast. We read many Disney books and watched a Disney movie at the end
of our day. I’m sure that there was much more to it than that, but my memory
right now (spring, 2016) only has that left in it.
I miss dispersing all the
Disney World souvenirs I used to buy for my students. They loved the Rice
Krispies treats (in the shape of Mickey’s head) the most. Pencils and pens were
my favorite (of course, “Teach”). I loved gathering fun things there to fly
back to New York with. I’d jam my suitcases with these items, and my mother
would get stuck with the job of boxing up and then mailing my clothes after I
left, since there was no room for my stuff!
And back to Summer
School, another special day we had was Moon Day. On July 20, we learned about
the first men who walked on the moon in 1969. We read books about the moon,
space, and astronauts. We also made a “clean” mess by making moon pictures. We
used Ivory soap flakes mixed with water and then plopped some onto black paper.
The students, using their hands, turned them into the shape of the moon and
used their fingers to poke craters into the soap mixture. After the pictures
dried, we wrote on the black paper with white chalk… “Moon Day, 1997” (for
example).
As usual, we had a snack
related to this theme – Moon Pies come to mind.
Because most of my career
was spent teaching Life Skills special education classes, we prepared food a
lot. Most of the time, this lesson was planned for Friday mornings.
Many of the food
selections we prepared were consumed by our students and staff that same day.
But, many times we had leftovers. Some of my favorite memories were bringing
those leftovers to homeless people I knew of.
One man who hid in the
woods near where I lived for a while got all excited when he saw my car pull up
on Fridays. He’d run to grab the container out of my hand, and then run just as
quickly back into the woods with it. To this day, I wonder what ever happened
to him after I moved away. He always screamed, “Thanks,” as he scurried to eat
our offerings. Did I ever tell my students about their leftovers going to the
homeless???
I miss how I tried to
make Mother’s Day a special day for my students’ mommies. I went to a flower
shop and bought enough beautiful flowers so each student could go home with the
one he or she picked out and had wrapped in wet paper towels with foil.
Even though I’ve never
been a mother, and for many years lost touch with my foster son, Brian, I tried
to do my best when I helped my students make cards to take home with those
flowers. Nowadays, I just “hibernate” on that day, because it’s too much of a
reminder for me of what I’ve lost and what I’ve never had.
I miss those
Scholastic Book Sales. I bought lots of books for my classroom at those sales.
And, if my students had no money for a book they wanted, I bought those also. I
never wanted any of “my kids” to go home empty-handed.
One summer in
the 1990s, when I worked for Ulster County BOCES, I got permission from my
supervisors to take one-on-one, after-school field trips with the students in
my class, who happened to be all boys.
After the
school day was complete, the student and I would head to my car, drive to the
local Hudson Valley Mall, eat in the food court, go shopping at a store of his
choice, and then go to the movie theater.
I saw two
movies repeatedly (Jurassic Park and Free Willy) because each boy got to
select which of these two movies to see.
These few
hours I still remember. I only had about six young boys in my class then. We
had so much fun.
I know
special requests like that would not be allowed nowadays. But, once, when I
bumped into one of my students from that time who was now grown up, he told me
his favorite time in school was when I took just him to the mall. That made my
day, hearing that!
Another vague
memory is that we used to finger-paint with chocolate pudding. I can’t remember
how this idea got started, or for what theme it was linked to, but I sure do
remember the fun of it all.
The kids
would “paint” a picture with a blob of chocolate pudding. Then, of course, they
would lick their hands. This project made quite a mess of the room as well as
of their faces, but it was worth it!
I also miss
when my own parents would send our classroom a box of Honeybell oranges from
Florida each January. They are so juicy that special straws were needed to poke
into them to sip them. The kids, staff, and I loved that slippery mess of
orange juice running down our faces and necks as we “drank” from the oranges.
I still
remember the happy faces I saw on the students who were in my class for a few
years, when they walked in on some cold, January day and saw the box from
Florida. They knew it was going to be a fun snack time that day!
Recently, I found the
1881 “Code of Conduct for Teachers” of the Bentley Memorial School, which put
some of my experience into a new context. For example, one of the nine
requirements stated, “After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the
remaining time reading the Bible or
other good books.” Wow! Things sure have changed since the 1800s! [No chocolate
pudding, then.]
These fond memories I
think about now. I miss all the work that went into planning things like that.
The activities made my job so enjoyable. Sometimes, I wish I could just go back
in time and relive all of that, knowing that one day, it would be gone forever,
so enjoy every second of it!
In many instances my
effort received warm recognition. For example, the former head of Ulster County
BOCES, Laura R. Fliegner, wrote me a commendation concerning my teaching:
….
Your job is not easy. The hours and the emotions which you invest in your
teaching roles cannot be measured in the normal way we calculate such things.
That “extra something special” which you bring to the job is immeasurable, and
may make the difference between the total success or failure of your children
to improve their lives.
Thank
you, Janet, for all that you do for our (your) children.
I thank God every day for
the opportunity I had to teach and that I can remember some of these happy
times, gone, but not forgotten….
For the coming year, I will be excerpting, weekly, material from this fine book by Janet Johnson Schliff, M.S.Ed.. She wrote it over a three-year period, with some coaching and editing help from me, through my business, WriteYourBookWithMe.com. The excerpts are from the almost-final version.
Her memoir is now available in paperback and ebook formats from amazon.com and from its publisher, outskirtspress.com:
Janet Johnson Schliff was on WKNY Radio 1490 at 9:10 a.m. on Thursday, March 1, Kingston, NY.
I [DWC] attended, along with almost 40 other people. The talk was especially well received, with several questions at the end, as well.
Congratulations, Janet!
Janet Johnson Schliff spoke at the Starr Library in Rhinebeck, NY, at 7 p.m. on March 6.
She spoke at the Golden Notebook Bookstore in Woodstock, NY, at 2 p.m. on March 17.
She spoke at the Morton Library in Rhinecliff, NY, at 6:30 p.m. on March 28.
She spoke at RCAL in Kingston, NY, at 4 p.m. on April 3. I was able to attend. They gave her an impromptu book-launch party.
On 4/4/18 Janet spoke at the Parkinson's Support Group at the Starr Library at Rhinebeck at 2:30 p.m.
On 4/27/18 Janet spoke at the Stone Ridge Library at 5:30 p.m.
On 5/4/18 Janet will be at the Hurley Library at 6 p.m.
On 5/9/18 Janet will be at the Kingston Library at 6 p.m.
On 5/14/18 Janet will be at the Staatsburg Library at 7 p.m.
On 5/31/18 Janet will be at the Clinton Community Library at 6:30 p.m.
On 6/9/18 Janet will be at the Tannersville Library at noon.
On 6/20/18 Janet will be at the Marbletown Community Center at 6 p.m.
On 7/13/18 Janet will be at the Esopus Library at 7 p.m.
More signings will be coming up, and a fine feature about her by John DeSantos [845 LIFE] appeared in the Middletown Times Herald-Record on Monday, March 12, as part of Brain Injury Awareness Month. An article about her book was just published in the May 2018 Living Rhinebeck Magazine. She was recently interviewed by the Kingston Daily Freeman, and that interview should be published soon.
