Memory Monday - Education

     Our family has experienced this building in three different time frames.  This is Grawn Hall on the campus of Central Michigan University.  In the 1930's it was the main campus building for classes when it was known as Central State Teachers College.  My Great Aunt Mabel was a student here and went on to teach Mathematics at her high school alma mater for about 40 years, often teaching small classes of Calculus and other upper level math in a small farming community.
     In the late 1960's, Mom was a student here.  It was now known as Central Michigan University.  She majored in Home Economics and minored in Physical Education.  A major/minor combination that her advisor would not sign off on.  Her reasoning was that housewives did not do sports.  The Dean had to sign off.  The funny thing is, that her and two of her classmates had this major/minor and all three got teaching jobs in smaller school districts because of this combination.  Remember, at one time boys and girls PE classes were not mixed and PE teachers did not teach the opposite sex.
     After a degree in business and a brief career in business and hospitality, I returned to school at CMU to obtain my teaching certification in business ed with a concentration in something new called data processing.
     Grawn Hall is still there.  A good solid building that borders one side of the Mall.  Updates of course have been made but the outside still looks the same.  There is an additional wing on one end which has been endowed as a business center.  A current remodel is currently underway that is adding an atrium and gathering/reception area on the back side.  Education classes have now moved on to a new building of their own across campus, but this will always be the education and business building to me.
     Our family has 96 years of work history rooted in this building. 

Flower Friday

     Growing up, Mrs. Wolschied next door had a big planter area around some trees with hundreds of bright orange poppies.  They just grew on their own, quite shaded actually, without much help from her as she had 13 children. 
     I thought that they were the most beautiful flowers.  At the time I didn't know that there were many colors and varieties.  Now of course I know different and in our yard we have these beautiful pink ones, a few orange, a whole variety of Alaskan Poppies in red, orange and yellow, and even a small variety of small double pink.  We even have three varieties of Himalayan Blue Poppies that grow about three feet tall on very thick, hard stalks. 
     My world has expanded through age and a husband that loves flowers and yard work.

 

     Thanksgiving has always been the holiday that has meant the most to me.  There seems to be less hub bub about everything unlike Christmas and Birthdays.  Our family still had a basic routine and some minor traditions, but it was still rather low key and basically ended up being four days when we were at Grandma and Grandpa Sowle's.
      We usually arrived on Wednesday evening after dad got out of work at the barbershop.  By the time we had crested the small rise just before their house, we were always looking for the spruce tree that Grandpa had decorated with lights.  Back in the 60's, having outside lights was something special and Grandpa always made sure they were up by Thanksgiving.  In the picture above you can see the tree right in the middle towards the back of the picture.  It was about halfway down the driveway on the side by Aunt Mabel's cottage.  It just always meant that the year had begun, to me at least, to see those lights.  After that was Christmas and then winter weekends skating and then summer. 
     Wednesday supper was always homemade noodles for the beef noodle soup that Grandma made.  I don't remember much else that went with it, just that the house always smelled so good from the pies made that day and the soup simmering when we arrived. 
     Later that evening Julie and I would help Grandma as she made the cinnamon twist rolls.  A sweet dough rolled out big and slathered with butter and brown sugar and cinnamon.  Folded over in thirds, cut, we'd grab each end and twist it a couple of times before laying it in a pan of a mixture of walnuts and corn syrup and more brown sugar and cinnamon.  They'd raise for a while until baking just before we'd open up the click-clack couch for bed while Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa played cards.
     In such a small house everyone was up early and Julie would help Grandma "pinch" the turkey of any remaining quills and then we'd have the rolls made the night before and wait for the turkey to cook.  Dad always liked a pumpkin pie with walnuts and cranberry sauce with ground orange rind and nuts.  Towards the end of dinner Grandpa would always stir together whatever was on his plate to appall us kids. 
     I'm all grown now and I've been through a memorable Thanksgiving while a Cadet on the ship Sparrows Point while slowly sailing through the Straits of Mackinaw, shared a potluck meal in a remote Eskimo village where I had my first teaching job, started new memories with a new husband and family while we packed up leftovers for our children to take home, and this year we have our first grandchild, a beautiful baby boy, joining us for new and wonderful memories. 
  Lots to be thankful for, from memories to future gatherings.

Retired

So it's official.  Today was my last day teaching.  I finished packing up my room for the summer, as usual, but also cleaning out a lot of my stuff that whoever is hired to take my place will have no use for.  Left a binder on my desk with names and numbers and instruction sheets for the copy machine, the coffee stand, the school website and things in my room.  Copied data files to a DVD and left that in the binder as well.  Said my goodbyes, shed a few tears and walked out the door.  I'm sure that it will really hit in the fall when everyone is heading back and I'm still able to avoid the 5:10 alarm every weekday morning.  Ten years of hospitality and banking and 26 of teaching.  Time to relax, ready, sew/quilt, hike and spend time with Bert.

Old and New

     I can't believe how time gets away from you sometimes.  I had planned on commenting on a more regular basis about things as school goes on through this year as I progress towards the end of my career and retirement. 
     Right now May 21 seems a long, long ways away as I deal with too many deadlines and adults.  Right now I'm having a great time teaching but it's the adults that are getting in the way so I'm holing up in my classroom and making progress and getting the year off to a great start. 
     First hour is Accounting and the kids are really doing well and catching on, much to the chagrin of others.  They are not assumed to be academically good.  I'm working to prove otherwise.  Sewing is good and we're learning basic skills and fabric and patterns and are planning for our future projects.  Microsoft Office is a big class and it's been a bumpy start but I think they're settling in this week.  Keyboarding is so boring for me as a teacher, and add to that the majority of the class is ninth grade boys.  I'm sure you get the picture but I'm pleased and impressed and they are really digging in.  Customer service is small, only four students but we are having great conversations and good work.  So busy with all this that I haven't used my Web hour to get much accomplished on the school website but the list is surely growing.  I think next will I'll have to really settle in to that.
     I was looking through pictures that I had uploaded to my phone a while back and ran across a throw-back to the past and decided that I needed to have an update.  That is what you see here.  The top picture is my classroom as is looked 18 years ago.  Old IBM PS2s with either dual floppies or a small hard drive and a floppy connected by a token-ring network.  The bottom picture was taken just last week.  One computer probably has more memory than all of the old lab times two or three and no floppy drives and with flat screens.  Gone is the overhead projector replaced by a program to demo over the network.  Times have surely changed.  This lab is the fourth set of computers I've worked with in this room and the fourth upgrade of software so it's never been a dull moment.
     And only 128 days to go.
    

First Day with Kids

     First day with kids back in class for the second semester.  Should be a challenging schedule from the stand point that my two computer classes are full, mostly freshmen, mostly boys, but I'm optimistic that 3rd and 4th block will go well.  But 9th grade freshmen boys in keyboarding is not a recipe for the greatest buy-in that is for sure. 
     So the schedule for this, my final semester ever teaching is Accounting I, Sewing, Microsoft Office, Keyboarding, Customer Service, Prep Period.  Last period this semester is sort of another prep period but I'll be working on maintaining the schools website, teaching applications to teachers, putting together how-to lists and instructions for various people in school and creating a binder of all my local knowledge of what I do in addition to my actual teaching job. 
     And I have to continue cleaning out crud from file cabinets and cupboards that is my stuff to take home, stuff that I should have gotten rid of a long time ago, and generally leaving things really nice for who will be getting my position when I'm done.  That's just me.
     I'm going to try to remember to take a picture of my current computer lab so that I can post a picture of my lab in 1997 and one in 2015.  It is fun to compare and amazing at the same time how far things have come.
     So, only 135 days to go.

Fireweed

     This was taken on Pioneer Peak this summer when we took a hike up to the 2000 foot level.  There is a picnic table there where you can rest and eat your lunch.  The view is out over the Knik River and up the river to the Knik River Glacier.  We had a beautiful day and enjoyed our time before school started for me about a week later. 
     Looking forward to being able to do more of this on OUR schedule starting this summer after my retirement when our schedule will really be our schedule. 
     Fireweed has quite a root system and can be an invasive weed when it shows up in your garden so we usually pull it, but in the wild it's natural and can cover rolling hills.  It is especially prevalent after a wildfire and is one of the first bits of green to reappear.  It can be absolutely stunning.
     Only 139 more days.