{"id":628,"date":"2016-09-15T13:53:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T18:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=628"},"modified":"2016-09-15T13:53:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T18:53:13","slug":"english-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=628","title":{"rendered":"ENGLISH TEACHER"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 1956, was a busy month for Ken and me.\u00a0 \u00a0He was stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, fulfilling his 2 year military obligation. He had a week of leave .during the last week of that month.\u00a0 During that time, we bought our first new car, a 1956 Chevrolet.\u00a0 I graduated from North Texas State College* on Thursday, August 23. \u00a0Family visits were made and goodbyes were said. \u00a0The car was packed with everything we might need for the next year.\u00a0 We departed Texas for Augusta and a new adventure. \u00a0We had the 1000 mile check up for the car in Jackson, Mississippi.\u00a0 We arrived in Augusta late on Sunday, August 27.<\/p>\n

\"Charlcy<\/a>
Charlcy at NTSC graduation\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I had my Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics and a Texas teaching certificate.\u00a0 I had put in applications to teach in Augusta and North Augusta, South Carolina.\u00a0 I had an interview scheduled in Augusta for Monday afternoon.\u00a0 I had been told that there were no openings in homemaking, but there were other openings. \u00a0Ken had learned from his fellow soldiers that the employers in Augusta did not like to hire military wives because they were not permanent.\u00a0 We had decided that I would take any job I could get.<\/p>\n

Ken left for the base early on Monday morning.\u00a0 He rode with a buddy and left the car for me.\u00a0 I slept in.\u00a0 I was awakened shortly after 8 AM by the landlady knocking on the door.\u00a0 She said that I had a message from the North Augusta school superintendent to call him as soon as possible.\u00a0 I scrambled into clothes and made the call.\u00a0 An interview was scheduled for 11 AM.\u00a0\u00a0 I was there shortly before 11.\u00a0 While I was waiting, another young woman came out of the office and sat down.\u00a0 My interview went well, and I was offered a job teaching 8th<\/sup> grade English.**\u00a0 I asked if I could give my answer the next day, thinking I would see what Augusta had to offer.\u00a0 The superintendent answered, \u201cNo.\u00a0 Did you see the lady who just left my office?\u00a0 She is waiting for your answer.\u00a0 She has only three years of college with a major in English. Because you have a degree, it will be easier for me to get you certified.\u201d\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hesitate before saying yes.\u00a0 The man was desperate.\u00a0 Teacher in-service started on Wednesday and school started the following week.\u00a0 He was in a bind to fill the position.\u00a0 I was not sure what I was going to do or how I was going to do it, but I knew I was going to give it my best effort.<\/p>\n

I learned that South Carolina had a teacher shortage.\u00a0 The average age of teachers in the state was forty.\u00a0 Their salary schedule was near the bottom of the 48 states. (Alaska was not yet a state.) \u00a0My annual salary was $1800.\u00a0 My take home pay was $180 a month. Things were better in Texas.\u00a0 My beginning salary doubled to $3600 the next year in Fort Worth. \u00a0 Our rent was $60 a month, our car payment was approximately $40, and we ate well on $40.\u00a0 A gallon of gas was less than 25 cents.\u00a0 Ken was paid a small sum. \u00a0We do not remember the amount, but he would always say that after he paid the rent on payday, he was broke. I also had a spousal allotment.\u00a0 We actually saved some money.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, my fellow teachers were friendly and more than willing to mentor me.\u00a0 I organized my classroom, put up a welcome bulletin board, made lesson plans, and somehow managed to be semi-prepared for the first day of school.<\/p>\n

My students were typical Southern boys and girls.\u00a0 I thought I had discipline problems, and I stressed over them from time to time.\u00a0 As I looked back after a few more years of experience, I realized that I did not have problems.\u00a0 I had only dealt with \u201cage and stage\u201d situations. The students were not rude, smart mouthed or trouble makers.\u00a0 They held doors open for me, were polite and well mannered.\u00a0 They almost \u201cyes ma-am-ed\u201d me to death.\u00a0 They were generally pleasant to be around. \u00a0I appreciated them more and more as years went by and I experienced serious student problems.<\/p>\n

I spoke Texan and my students spoke Southern. \u00a0Texan and Southern were not the same.\u00a0 I first realized this when a student told me, \u201cMah da-di works at the bum plant.\u201d\u00a0 All I knew was that Daddy had a job, but I had no idea where.\u00a0 This went on for several days. \u00a0I also heard about the bum plant in the teacher\u2019s lounge.\u00a0 I did not want to ask a teacher, so one day I asked a student what Da-di did at the bum plant.\u00a0 \u201cOh, you know ma\u2019am, something to do with that hydra-gin bum.\u201d\u00a0 Mystery solved!\u00a0 Daddy worked at the bomb plant.** \u00a0I felt rather dense that I had not figured it out.\u00a0 Thereafter, I asked when I didn\u2019t understand Southern.<\/p>\n

I unconsciously adopted the children\u2019s speech.\u00a0 By Friday of every week I was ready to go home and \u201cwahsh mah ha-ah\u201d or \u201cpaynt mah nayals.\u201d**** By Monday morning, I was back to my Texas drawl, and the speech pattern began over again.\u00a0 Ken had great fun observing this.\u00a0 I was never aware of it until he started laughing.<\/p>\n

Having grown up in the very dry mesquite flats of west, central Texas, I was fascinated with the tall trees and green vegetation.\u00a0 I thought Georgia was an oasis.\u00a0\u00a0 Our garage apartment was surrounded by a beautiful, manicured yard. There was a fish pond with flower beds surrounding it.\u00a0 I had never seen so many flowers in my life.<\/p>\n

We made good friends, traveled on weekends, and enjoyed our time in the Deep South.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Now North Texas State University<\/p>\n

**I was required to have a first minor in chemistry.\u00a0 My chosen second minor was English.<\/p>\n

***Savannah River Project in Aiken, S.C.<\/p>\n

**** wash my hair or paint my nails<\/p>\n

The pictures below are poor quality. \u00a0After all, they are 60 years old.<\/p>\n

\"1956<\/a>
1956 Chevrolet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"20160913_114244\"\"flower<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 1956, was a busy month for Ken and me.   He was stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, fulfilling his 2 year military obligation. He had a week of leave .during the last week of that month.  During that time, we bought our first new car, a 1956 Chevrolet.  I graduated from North Texas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[191,189,188,190],"class_list":["post-628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1955-to-1972","tag-cost-of-living-in-1956","tag-couple-from-dry-west-texas-moves-to-green","tag-homemaking-teacher-teaches-english","tag-lush-georgia"],"yoast_head":"\nENGLISH TEACHER - Loose Strings From The Past<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First year teacher teaches 8th grade English\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/loosestringsfromthepast.com\/?p=628\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ENGLISH TEACHER - 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