Mrs. Andrews

Tonight I heard a talk by former one-room school teacher Mrs. Andrews, who began her teaching career in September 1936 in a one-room school at a time when all eight grades were taught in that one room.  Mrs. Andrews spoke at Kibler School as part of a summer educational series.

Mrs. Andrews noted the paucity of materials when she started to teach--crayons for art, no musical instruments, no playground equipment, no reference books or encyclopedias.  While some classes might have only one or two students, up to 40 kids might be in that one room, and they had to be quiet when other students were reciting their lessons.

The students learned reading, arithmetic, spelling, grammar, history, and a bit of science and health.

Mrs. Andrews was resourceful.  She described how she had the students make up a geography book with each student writing a different chapter based on a country of his or her choice.  She had the students make paper mache masks.  She led them in games, one of which she admitted was rather “rough.”  She also read letters from former students whose lives she affected in positive ways.

I spoke to her after the program to ask if she ever had a medical emergency.  She said she was lucky she had not--her medical supplies were some antiseptic and bandaids.  She had no aides and no janitorial help.  She was amazing.