Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers

Front Cover
University Press of Kentucky, Feb 18, 2011 - History - 300 pages

In an educational era defined by large school campuses and overcrowded classrooms, it is easy to overlook the era of one-room schools, when teachers filled every role, including janitor, and provided a familylike atmosphere in which children also learned from one another. In Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers, William Lynwood Montell reclaims an important part of Kentucky's social, cultural, and educational heritage, assembling a fun and fascinating collection of schoolroom stories that chronicle a golden era in Kentucky.

The firsthand narratives and anecdotes in this collection cover topics such as teacher-student relationships, day-to-day activities, lunchtime foods, students' personal relationships, and, of course, the challenges of teaching in a one-room school. Montell includes tales about fund-raising pie suppers, pranks, outrageous student behavior (such as the quiet little boy whose first "sharing" involved profanity), and variety of other topics. Montell even includes some of his own memories from his days as a pupil in a one-room school. Tales from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers is a delightful glimpse of the history of education.

 

Contents

Introduction
1
Chapter 1
7
Chapter 2
49
Chapter 3
65
Chapter 4
73
Chapter 5
121
Chapter 6
144
Chapter 7
174
Chapter 9
192
Chapter 10
211
Chapter 11
218
Chapter 12
240
Conclusion
250
Biographies of Storytellers
253
Index of Stories by County
287
Copyright

Chapter 8
178

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About the author (2011)

William Lynwood Montell, professor emeritus of folk studies at Western Kentucky University, is the author or editor of twenty-five books, including Tales of Kentucky Ghosts and Tales of Kentucky Doctors. He lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

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