Last week’s visit to the Big Stone County Fair was nostalgic for me since Clinton was my hometown.  This week I attended the Grant County Fair and that carried with it some nostalgia too.  In 1980 my teaching job at the Wheaton High School was cut to .8 of its original position.  Fortunately that cut never came to pass for unknown to me Herman High School, 17 miles down the road, was functioning  without a biology teacher for that same year.  So that summer the two schools got together and agreed to have me teach in one school in the morning and the other after lunch.  That turned out to be so much fun for me  and economically positive for both schools that the arrangement lasted 11 years!  I am proud to say that in those eleven years not once did I forget to bring something from one school to the other that I needed for class that day.  Students were constantly hoping I would leave the test copies in the neighboring school but in all of those eleven years it never happened! 🙂

So this week’s visit to the Grant County Fair offered me the opportunity to renew old acquaintances and perhaps share a few memorable happenings from the past.  Remember from my last blog I discussed the importance of the booth next door as it may attract or distract business.  Well the booth on my left was a pet caring display with nobody manning it.  If you guessed the correct number of dog biscuits in a jar you had a chance to win a valuable prize.  So that booth never got over crowded with customers.  It was just those darn dogs that kept stopping by and eyeing those dog biscuits. 🙂   On my right the Neimackl Park booth was selling chances to win a rifle(Hopefully I purchased the winning ticket!)  That booth was popular but nowhere as popular as the Tupper Ware Lady booth or the  “Scenty” booth of the past.

The weather started out hot but the fan I brought along kept things comfortable until the fuses started blowing.  That problem was quickly repaired however.

I did make one important observation during the fair.  Putting candy in a dish and placing it among my books did not improve book sales.  As folks slowed to reach into the dish for a mint the plan was that the books would catch their eye and they would come to a screeching halt and spend a few minutes perusing through the books.  The perusing would lead to a purchase…….right?  Wrong!  Anyway it was sure fun watching cute little kids eye that candy dish and then see them spring into action when I invited them to help themselves to the candy.

Throughout the four days I met some old students……..one young fella camouflaged himself with a full beard and sunglasses and wanted me to tell him his name.  He had been in my biology class in 1980 the first year I began teaching in Herman.  Needless to say Mr. Itzen had to tell me his name. 🙂  I always enjoy visiting with past students.

Several teachers from the past stopped and visited and I appreciated that too.  Herman had a great staff of teachers back in those years and I was always proud to be a part of them.

I believe I did set a new record for “being late for a parent-teacher conference” this weekend.  This requires a brief history of the situation.  It was my final year in Herman (spring, 1991). There were only a few days of school left and I was hurrying through the parts of the frog review with my seventh grade life science students.  We would be dissecting the frog the following day.  A situation arose where I had to kick a student out of my classroom…..I normally didn’t kick students out of class so you know it had to be a serious offense.   When I explained the situation to Mr. Aanden my Principal he remarked that perhaps I didn’t want to see the student back in the classroom for the rest of the year(2 days).  The school year ended and I never saw the offender again.

I’m sure the parents were never informed with so few days of school remaining.  The little offender wasn’t crazy enough to go home and announce he was permanently out of life science class for the year.  So Mr. Aanden, myself and the offender have kept that secret for all these years.  Until this weekend at the fair.  Remember the Niemackl Park booth?  Well guess who was working at the booth during one of the shifts?  The offender’s step-dad!  When I found out who he was I told him to ask his step-son to tell him the story about his last few days in 7th grade life science.

Before the offender could do that, however, his mother arrived at the booth later in the day and I was able to share the long hidden story with her.  We had our parent-teacher conference 25 years late! 🙂  That probably wasn’t the ideal way of handling things but you know after those 25 years had passed I wasn’t nearly as upset as I would have been 25 years prior!  I think Mom felt the same way.  Anyway we both agreed that her son had made great strides toward improving his behavior since he is now a hard working adult and a great husband and dad himself.  I wonder if his kids would enjoy hearing me tell them the story of their Dad’s early departure from 7th grade life science? 🙂

It was a great fair week.  I sold some books, enjoyed great fair food, visited with parents, community members and past teachers.  But the most enjoyable aspect of the weekend  was renewing acquaintances with my favorite part of being a teacher………the students.  I’m proud to have been your teacher. 🙂

Until next time.