School Daze

What shall I do?
In what  profession should I excel?
These were questions with answers I need to pursue.  My sister and I, attended  both the village Public and High School  When required,  bus service to London and eastbound to Toronto.  And when necessary, my Dad drove a vehicle.

While attending College in Toronto, a friend, Eleanor, and I  needing and intrigued by summer jobs, accepted four 2-week-sessions in rural areas of British Columbia.  The opportunity entailed teaching Daily Vacation Bible School to rural children weekly Monday to Friday.   Then, on Sundays, we arranged a  church gathering for adults and their families.  It was a given we had the ability to sing hymns...have ability to play piano or organ...then present a brief sermon applicable to all ages.
These experiences for 2 summers were invaluable.
Because  our jobs were Christian related, our train fare to and from, was subsidized.
These summer jobs led Eleanor and  me into the teaching profession  ~ enticing us, upon our return home, to attend Hamilton Teachers College.  So it was, on a  Labour  Day weekend, we were assigned schools in which to teach.  I secured a Grade 4 teaching  job on Hamilton Mountain.  Linden Park Public School and adjacent Hill Park Secondary School, were both under  construction; Consequently,
within two years, the school principal recommended my name to the Board of Education as a teaching opportunity for newly trained teachers-to-be.   As any teacher can relate, we all could write a book
about our challenges and experiences.

Class Avoidance
Billy, a Grade 5’er, had a  few bothersome friends, whom he tried to avoid before school  and  after hours. And at recess time one afternoon he did not return  to his  classroom,. Where?  Where, oh,where is Billy?  No one had seen him on the playground!  Being Grade 5, did he  return home?  Did  he sneak off  to a local  store  for candy, pop  or gum?  Concerned, tasking  my class with an  assignment,  from v\the school office, I called his  home!  Not there!  Returning to my Grade 5’ers,  I heard Bangs, Bangs, Bangs on a locker door adjacent to my classroom.   Vertically tall and  and  narrow,  easily, one could hide within a locker!  Opening the locker door, there was  Billy!!!  As a joke,  he was hiding (at recess time) from a playground bully!

MBK ~ Sept. 30/20