PIONEERSCHOOL
School Marm/Master
This position is one of the most popular with the children. Your costume will be a little more “dressy” than the other volunteers.
When you arrive at the center (9:45a.m.) all your materials will be in the schoolhouse. When you see the bus approach, head for the schoolhouse. On cold days there will be a fire burning in your stove; and you may want to add additional wood as the fire burns down.
The guide will bring the children to the schoolhouse, wait until the guide leaves, as she has told the students not to go in until the teacher has invited them in. After the guide leaves, go outside for the talk. If the weather is bad, have the students come in and do the talk inside.
Part of the reason you are here today is to understand how hard the pioneers worked and what special teamwork spirit they had to have to deal with a totally new environment.
Our country will need young people who are willing to accept the challenge of pioneering, whether it’s in space, under the oceans of the world, in medicine, in education, in the environment or many other areas where new and exciting things are happening. We want you to leave here today with the knowledge that pioneering didn’t stop in the 1800s. The pioneers are all gone, but hopefully, their spirit is alive in some of you. Please remember that pioneering is not finished. We need all of you to be pioneers of the future. Now turn around and we’ll take a trip back into the past.
This schoolhouse is a replica. Who knows what that means? This is also a deluxe model. We have glass in the windows and a stove inside. You probably would not have had this in your school. However, once you get inside, everything will be like it would have been in 1934. We did not make up the schoolhouse lesson. This is actually the way teachers taught a long time ago, before they had modern materials. If you had been in school back east in the 1830s, you would have had much more in the way of books and supplies, they just did not have them out here on the frontier. They did not have nice comfortable desks. You will sit on hard wooden benches. What happens if you are the first to sit down and you sit on the very end of the bench? That’s right, the bench will tip and you’ll fall off. So, if you are the first on your bench, sit in the middle and work your way to the ends. Also, boys and girls did not sit together. Boys will sit on this side (indicate one side) and girls will sit on the other. We’re going to take a leap back in time into the year 1834. When the bell rings, we will find ourselves in front of the schoolhouse 150 years ago. When it rings again, it will bring us back to the present. Now stand back.
(Turn your back to the students and ring the bell. They will rush forward. You will also undergo a personality change … become stern, but not mean. Act surprised at “how rowdy they are acting.” Admonish them that they do not seem to know how to line up properly.) They line up again, but boys and girls all together ..”no .. no boys on one side and girls on the other. You act like you have never lined up before. Now girls in first, and remember to sit on your side of the classroom .. and no talking. (They will be laughing and giggling) Sternly .. no giggling or laughing .. you are in school now, not a social dance.”
The students will enter and sit down. You come in and if anyone is talking just stare at the students until they stop. Introduce yourself as Mr. or Miss and that you will be teaching this term. Keep in mind the female teachers were not allowed to be married, and they lived with their students during term. The teacher had to be stern to keep students in line and that school was called “blab school” because so much was done orally (no paper to write on) and that many of these schools had students starting at all different ages. To get this idea across you can pretend your students are starting at different times. Pretend some of them started last term and some who have recently arrived in the village are just starting. If the students are sitting with a lot on one bench, and few on the other, change a few of them . . pretending they are either “new” if you need more kids on the front bench or “returning” if you need students on the bench. You will play the rest of the lesson based on the idea that all the students on the front benches are at the school for the first time, while the “back bench” students have been coming for a while. If you can, pretend you are really a teacher, please do this first person. It’s much more effective. Now you are ready to start the lesson.
LESSON
“I am very pleased to see so many new faces here this morning. I know that new families are moving into the village, but often they will not allow the children to come to school until they are more settled.” (Approach one of the children on a front bench.) “I met your mother in the village yesterday. She told me you had a very difficult journey from Connecticut. How do you like your new home?” (The students will be confused, some will play along, and some will just look at you.)
“Well because we have so many new faces, I will take a moment to discuss schoolhouse manners and rules. Our school year begins in November and ends in March. If we have a very wet spring, we will extend the year as long as your parents do not need you on the farm. The fees will again be 50 cents for the term. Please remind your parents these are due as soon as possible.“ (Approach one of the students . . tell them you received the chickens their father sent yesterday . . approach another and tell them the firewood their brother delivered was more than enough, etc.)
“Our school day starts promptly at 7 a.m. and we are in session until 4 p.m. (Approach the boys’ side . . pick the two boys sitting on the back bench on the end . . that way you won’t forget which kids you have the “old-fashioned” names to. The kids love it. Call the one on the end Zeke and the one sitting next to him Jedidiah.) “Zeke, please stand. Did I not ask you to be here at 6:30 this morning to get the fire going in the stove?” (He will look blankly at you.) “Well, I was here, but you were not.” (Pause . . look at him sternly.) “May I ask where you were?” (He probably won’t know what to say to you.) “Well, I hear that you were down by the creek doing some fishing. Tomorrow, you will be here at 6:30 a.m. won’t you?” (Pause, he’ll look equally as blank.) “Remember when I saw you in the village yesterday? You said that you would be here. I will give you another chance tomorrow. You will be punctual. (They’ll mumble something and sit down.)
“Many of you students who have had some schooling back east may not be familiar with our way of doing things out here. (Go to one of the girls on the “back bench,” call her Patience, as her to stand.) Because my family is back east, while I’m teaching, I live with you students and your families. I’m staying with Patience now. (Look at her.) Your family has been here quite a while. How long has it taken you to build up your farm? (The girl will sometimes play along, sometimes not; just kind of kid them along talking about her farm. Have her sit down. “I quite enjoy staying with your families, I get to know you better, your family better, and just think of all the time we’ll have at night to work on your homework. (For the male teachers, you fit in somewhere that you live above the schoolhouse. There is a attic entrance built into the ceiling.)
“Now does anyone have any questions about schoolhouse rules? (they probably won’t.) Then, we will continue with schoolhouse manners. (Approach the boys’ side, looking very sternly at them.) “You are here to learn to read and write and do your numbers. However, you are also here to learn how to become a proper gentleman. While you are in this building, you will watch your manners very carefully. Please stand whenever you are called on to answer a question, or if you ask a question, you will stand, execute a proper bow and ask or answer in a complete sentence. You will speak in a complete sentence at all times. We do not answer in yep or huh or nope. You will answer in complete sentences. Also, when you address me, you will call me mam or sir. Is that understood? (Pause . . they will respond yes.)
We will now practice our bowing. Putting one hand at your waist, and the other behind you, bow crisply from the waist. (Wait and have them do it a few times.) Excellent, you may sit down.
Approach the girls’ side of the classroom. “ Now, young ladies, and I hesitate to use that word. I know you have been working on your farms and getting your families settled, however, to appear here in the schoolhouse dressed in your brother’s breeches, I am appalled.” (Pause . . the boys will all be laughing because most of the girls will be dressed in jeans.)
“Tomorrow, I expect you to be properly attired in your skirts, dresses and bonnets. Is that clear?” (They should respond yes, mam or sir; if not remind them of their manners.) “Please stand. You ladies are very fortunate to be here, many of our parents do not feel it is necessary to educate their daughters. You must learn well for someday you may stand where I am, educating the village children. Or, you may marry and move even further west with your children who will have no teacher except for yourself. If you have not learned, how will teach your children? I, also, expect you to behave like proper young ladies. You will please stand while you practice a curtsy.” (Female teachers may demonstrate/males simply ask them to curtsy.) “Remember, each time you stand to recite you are to curtsey, answer in a complete sentence, followed by “mam or sir. Please sit down. Are there any questions regarding school rules or manners?” (They usually won’t have any.)
“Then, we shall begin today’s lessons, please take out your Bibles. (We want to impart that these frontier schools had little in the way of learning materials, that many students used the Bible to learn reading because it was available ... look surprised that many of them do not have their Bibles and admonish them to bring them the next day.) “Then, we shall begin the rest of our lessons. Zeke and Jedidiah come and get the slates and pass them out to the class. Patience, please pass out the slate pencils. (You can pick another girl and call her Prudence and have her pass out the cloth erasers.) Wait for materials to be distributed.
“Back bench, while I am working with the new students, you are to begin your handwriting practice. Write your first name and surname in your very best script. Fill you slate, erase, and begin again. Continue until I tell you to stop. Front bench, have any of you had any formal schooling back east: How many of you have been taught at home? Can any of you make your letters A-B-C- and son on? Can any of you write your first names? Can you write your surnames? How about writing your numbers? Let’s see if any of you can do sums. Put the number 25 on your slate. Your father has a farm 25 acres in size. He then buys a farm that is 50 acres in size. What is the sum of 25 plus 50? Raise your hand when you have the answer. (Choose a student to give the answer. Make sure they stand, bow and answer in complete sentence.) “Let me try a more difficult problem. This is the year 1834, put that number on your slate. Thirty-one years ago, Ohio became a state. Subtract 31 from 1834. In what year did Ohio become a state? (Make sure the students mind their manners.) “Now, I want you to practice your handwriting while I work with the back bench. Write your first name, surname and fill the slate. When you have finished, erase and begin again.”
“Back bench, please stand. Your arithmetic lesson is on the board. Let’s read it together . . what sort of mathematics are we doing? (Get the students to say times or multiplication.) Let’s see how many of you have been practicing your multiplication tables at home. Sit down please. Your father has a farm 25 acres in size. Each of those acres will produce 5 bushels of corn. How much will the farm produce altogether: (If you have third-graders, make this problem much more simple.) Call on someone, reminding them of proper manners. Now, we will do a division problem. Your father is going to market. He has 20 chickens, but only 4 cages in
which to put them. How many chickens will go into each cage? (Call on someone. Compli-
ment them on their math skills.) Tell the front bench to stop. Have everyone erase their slates front and back and have all the slates, pencils, and erasers collected and put back on the shelf.
“Front bench, please stand. How many of you have learned how to read? You’re reading lesson is on the board. Please read out loud together. (Wait for them to read and then sit down.) Explain to them that when taught at home, your parents show you a word, tell you how to say it, and then you memorize it. However, in school, we show you a way to learn to pronounce new words. The alphabet is divided into vowels and consonants. Who can tell me the vowel letters? By memorizing all the sounds the vowels and consonants made together, we begin to learn a way to pronounce new words. To help make this easier, we learn a vowel chant. Back bench please stand. I know I told you that you would not have to say this anymore, but because there are so many new students, please say it for them one at a time. (You will have a lot of fun with this. The students will have no idea how to say it. You will have to practice it yourself!) Have some students come up and “toe the line,” putting their toes on the line in the plank floor and try the chant. Finally, in an exasperated manner, have them sit down and assign the chant practice as homework.
“We’ll do our geography lesson now. This term we will learn all our state capitals. How many capitals have we learned? (They usually won’t know.) Well how many state are there? (You’ll hear 50-48-13.) Admonish them for not knowing how many states there are. Point out the flag and ask them to count the stars. They’ll get to 24. We will also be discussing the policies of our president. Who is the president of the United States? (You’ll hear all kinds of answers. Point out Andrew Jackson’s picture and remind students of his name. Sometimes, you will have a class who has these answers.) Look at the board. These are capitals we will be studying this week. They are all located on rivers. Can you think of why a city would be located on a river? (Answers include available drinking water, food supply and such as fish, transportation, etc.) In order to learn our capitals we learn our geography song. I find that students tend to forget their state capitals, but seldom forget the words to a song. Everyone please stand. Let’s sing the song together. (Sing, or simply recite the lines. Have them sit down.)
You should be near the end of your time. But, you want to give them a taste of what a “blab” school was like with several things going on at the same time. At this point, have the front benches stand and recite the reading lesson again. Tell them not to stop until you tell them to do so. Have the “back bench” boys stand and at the same time, begin to recite the math lesson. Tell them not to stop until you have directed them to do so. Finally, have the “back bench” girls stand and sing the geography song with you. Keep telling the other groups that you can’t hear them. It will get quite loud. The kids love it. Finally, tap your pointer and tell them to stop. Tell them they have done an excellent job and that it is now time to stop for lunch and exercise. Remind them that you will continue with spelling after lunch and review the vowel chant. Have the students sit straight with feet on the floor, hands in their laps. When all is quiet, ring the bell lightly.