Here is the traditional first day of school photo. I took my first son with me to his first day of school in 1988. Now this morning, 21 years and 6 sons later, I have taken my 8th grade son with me to the first day of school for the last time. Next year he goes to high school and I stay at the middle school.
In 1902 J. L. Nichols & Co. published a book by Professor J. L. Nichols called The Busy Man's Friend or Guide to Success by Facts and Figures. Originally written in 1896, this book begins with a quote from Gibbon, the author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire:Every person has two educations, one which he receives from others, and one more important which he gives to himself.
Other useful information provided for a man in 1902 included:
How to find the size of a barrel.
How to find the number of common bricks in a wall.
How to calculate the weight of coal in a box.
How to figure the capacity of a wagon box.
How to measure ear corn in a crib.
How to measure hay in the mow or stack.
How to figure the advantage of an evener on a neck yoke for horses or oxen.This book also explains how to secure a signature from a person who cannot write:
In 1890 there were 4,777,698 mortgages in force in the United States,
amounting to $6,019,679,985. The annual interest charged on these is
$397,442,792.
When I was in fourth grade, still back in the 1960's, my mom let me sign up for an afternoon paper route to deliver the Mason City Globe Gazette. This is when my paper route education began. (You can see my dad's 1963 Chevy in the background of this photo. I remember the day we got it. I helped wash the old 1955 Chevy one last time before dad traded it in. Dad was a vocational agriculture teacher and taught shop in the 1950's, but in 1963 he became a school administrator.)
I was talking with my wife about things that have changed over the years. Often times a conversation like that focuses on the things that have changed for the worse. (I will spare you the examples.) In this conversation we focused on what now seem like ridiculous rules or standards that have been replaced with what now seem like obvious common sense practices and guidelines.
In the next few years how will we view our current standards for the management of technology? Our next challenge is how do teachers of my generation teach technology to the students of this generation. I began teaching and coaching using carbon copies and a mimeograph machine. I remember the ease and amazement of using a Xerox copy machine for the first time and thinking of the incredible potential these machines had.
Correspondent in the United States Marines, a certified snow board coach in Colorado, training to be an engineer in the United States Air Force, a senior in high school heading into economics and jazz music, a sophomore in high school and a student in my middle school. The youngest one does not have a cell phone but he does have his own facebook and a large online fan following for movies he and his brother and some friends have made. I have not taught them anything about technology. They laugh at my lack of it and tell me constantly to get a facebook so people know I exist!
In kindergarten I attended a small school with a total of 20 students in the entire kindergartner class. (See photo of me entering the school on the first day of school.) Thirteen years later I graduated from a small school with a class size of 21 students. (Below is a photo of me speaking at graduation.) Both of these schools are consolidated now and one of the buildings has been converted into apartments. Times and opportunities change. Small schools must see the big picture, be proactive and take charge of their own destinies before someone else tells them what the big picture is, takes away their options and they lose not only their destiny but their identity.So don't wait for McCoy to call the shots. Small districts should look to partner with the other like-minded districts around them right now. Create regional schools that combine economics of scale, the noblest intentions of the
homeschooler and the romance of settings akin to the one-room school house of old. Break the mold with a form of country collectivism that is defined by traditional values and common sense instead of political correctness and junk educational theories. And then maybe, just maybe, execute things so well that rural Iowa starts filling up once again because its schools provide an experience to children and families that simply has no equal. To paraphrase a famous movie that succeeded for many of the above reasons: If you build it, they will come.
would be attending third grade in the new school half way across the state of Iowa. Several things happened that first year in this new school system to test both my dad as a superintendent and me as a third grader. I remember my dad having to face students protesting the Vietnam War. They came to school wearing black armbands and got everyone all stirred up. My dad had a simple solution for these student/protesters: take off the black armbands. They did, and that ended that issue.
at my old school. But, in my new school cursive was introduced and practiced at the end of second grade. I realized that the kids at this new school were all geniuses and that I was really not ready for third grade. I remember the teacher being frustrated and treating me like I was dumb. She wasn't sympathetic that I had no idea how to read or write cursive. In fact, she appeared to think I had not been paying attention. I came to hate cursive and had terrible penmanship. At first I did my assignments twice. First, I would turn in the neat, printed version that would be rejected, then I would turn in a barely legible cursive version. I consistently got D's in writing up through sixth grade.
counted thirteen state championships that were won by my wife Toni and me. Actually, Toni had won thirteen and I had won zero. So, here is a happy Valentine's day blog for my high school hero, Toni Mohr. I first heard about her state performance in 1975, saw her play on TV in the 1976 girls' state tournament and I still have a sports magazine with her on the cover from track season in the spring of 1976. From 1975-1978 Toni won 13 state championships. In 1979 I took my high school hero on our first date. By 1981 my hero had become my sweat heart and we were married. Toni went on to set records in college and was the District Track coach of the year in 1985. In 1993 Toni was inducted into the Iowa Girls' Track Hall of Fame. Now, on Valentine's Day in 2009, after 27 years of marriage, we are going to spend the day shopping and the evening at home grilling steaks on our deck in the snow and watching the movie "Hitch." Happy Valentine's Day, Champ!
pursuing. One thing led to another and eventually I realized there were three of Andy's children in our elementary schools and they were headed for our middle school. First came Skylar who I had in 6th, 7th and 8th grade shop. Skylar was also one of my track managers. Skylar is a senior in high school this year. Next came Hunter who, like his dad, was also a great runner for my track team. One night after practice Hunter commented on the difficulty 
of the workout, but, of course, his comment just set his dad up to recall stories of track practices 20 years early before Wiemers had mellowed out. Hunter was basically told that middle school practice with Wiemers in 2006 was nothing like high school practice with Wiemers back in 1985.
period shop class.)
I say this because it was during this paper airplane frenzy that one night at home he showed me how to turn a simple sheet of paper into a paper airplane. Now, I am not talking about one of those paper airplanes that float like a leaf falling from a tree on a windless day in October. No, I am talking about a paper airplane design that is even yet to this day called "The Arrow" on the internet (see here for the name and the proper folding technique). I was amazed by so many aspects of the paper airplane concept. Not only did I now possess the knowledge and power to create a paper airplane, but I could throw this thing and it would fly far and straight. For the next several weeks everything that could be folded was turned into a paper, or cardboard, or plastic airplane. I still can feel the rush of excitement thinking about creating and throwing these planes as a second grader.
I recall several things from second grade. My dad was the building principal and we had a pretty good basketball team. I remember looking down from the open hallway above the gym one day and watching my dad and one of the coaches tape the new hash mark lines onto the basketball court before a game. (I am the tall kid in the back row, the fifth boy from the right, standing directly under the G quarter note with an A in front of it and another G after it.)
"See, see. Oh, see. See Dick."But, this is what the picture says:
"Dick was supposed to take Spot for a walk but thought it would be easier if he wore his roller skates. Everything was going fine when all of a sudden Sally's evil cat got away. Sally went to get Jane to help her find the evil cat called Puff. Sally and Jane looked and looked and looked but they could not find Puff. Then suddenly they heard Dick's roller skates coming down the side walk and Spot barking loudly. Sally and Jane jumped back off the sidewalk just in time to see the evil cat being chased by Spot who was pulling Dick around and around the block on his roller skates. Sally and Jane thought Dick was really cool. Dick thought this was the best day of his life."
Here is a photo of my kindergarten class. I am the first one on the left, the smart looking kid, with the red shirt and black collar. "Hey" is the tall person in the brown sweater. Take note of how high the windows are in this building since they become an important part of my second grade experience two years later (more on that in a few more days.)
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