A positive memory
Back in those days the annual school Christmas Program was a great event. That first year in school I was honored, elated and delighted when the teacher decided I could sing a solo, and so I learned three verses by memory and sang the song, “There’s a Song in the Air.” I remember a grade eight boy asked me, “Aren’t you scared?” I said, “Scared of what?” I didn’t know what stage fright was. The teacher always tried to include every child in the concert and of course the older ones were chosen first. So I was a happy little girl and of course my parents were proud of me.

Classroom Discipline
Because of the rule of the rod, the students had great respect for their teacher. The atmosphere was very stringent and regimental so that you could nearly hear a pin drop. We would raise the hand, wait till the teacher asked our need, and get permission for every move - go to the bathroom - sharpen our pencil - get a drink etc. My sister and I sat together in a double desk. I remember I raised my hand and asked, “May I please speak to Oosie?” (that’s what we called her at home” There were some giggles and I couldn’t understand until my sister comforted me and whispered, “You must call me ‘Ruth’.” The class was reprimanded and we went back to work.

Fireside Learning
There were times when it was 30 degrees below zero that we would come to a frigid classroom. It was a time of fun when we would all sit around the pot-belly stove with our coats and mitts on and visit and play games. Just relax and be happy until the pot-belly turned red and the room warmed up. Then back to our desks to the routine of books, writing, memory work, and exercises from the blackboard. I don’t remember of groups working together. All learning was on the individual basis.

Health and Exercise
We (all grades) filled out health cards every day. I wish we had more of that today. We all looked forward to recesses and noon when all grades had to go out and play ball (or other exercise). I remember an old maid (whatever that was) always came out and played ball with us. We loved to see her hit that ball and we loved to “put her out.” She was such a good sport and this proved to be and excellent and positive student and teacher relationship. It was sad when a student was disobedient or tardy. The punishment was to stay in when the rest were out having fun. We always sat at our desks for 15 minutes for lunch.

Teacher Training
I have many fond memories of my “Normal School” training. We were given so many books to read. Two big ones “Child Psychology” and “Principles of Education.” I never did get through it all, but yearned for the time when I could be in the classroom. In May for the first time I was given a chance to teach a class a song, “The Robin in Spring.” I was rather anxious as there was no piano in the room. There was a piano where I boarded so I learned the song well. The children were so respectful and responsive. I forgot to be nervous and enjoyed my experience even with our normal school instructor sitting in the back of the room.
Then a few weeks before we graduated, supposedly having learned how to teach, we were all sent out to different schoolrooms to practice teach under the auspices of the teacher in charge. I was placed in a classroom with 31 children from grades 1 through 9. The subjects for each grade were: reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, language, history, geography, and science. Of course there was a book for each subject so that meant at least 63 books for me to work on. I think I swam in the rushing waters all week and didn’t enjoy the experience. I was always relieved when the priest came in at 3 pm to teach catechism. After reading this I’m sure you will conclude that teacher training has improved.

Education outside the classroom
The first year, I taught 15 students from grade 1 to 9. We experienced an occasion which I shall never forget. The Queen of England was passing through Wainwright (about 60 minutes away) and the School Board asked me to be responsible for getting the children there. I’m sure none of them had ever been more than ten miles away from home. I had a fear of losing someone, so we made, in art class, white pill box hats that would identify us from the rest of the crowd. We studied the map to see where we were going. We studied history and current events to learn why the Queen was coming. It was an emotional and loyal time when the children stood, waved their little Canadian flags, and cheered as the Queen, in all her grandeur, smiled and waved; then was gone.

Students Work Together
By my third year of teaching I was learning how to make the most of my time. Because the curriculum was quite rigid, I made a yearly (over all) lesson plan so that each subject would be covered by the end of the year. In arithmetic I actually figured how many pages a day I needed to cover in order to get through the book in time. Because the Christmas concert was so important to the children and the community, I found it more profitable to leave the program until the last two weeks and then drop the rest of the school work and devote our time to music, drama, elocution and art. This was a fun time for the children and a time of working together.
I had seven boys in grade 9 and they were so respectful, efficient, and cooperative. They helped to discipline and teach the younger ones memory work. They (with the girls also) made manger beds, angel wings and Christmas decorations. It was such a busy, yet enjoyable time for all.
The School Board members decorated the Christmas tree and put on real candles to light the night of the concert. You can imagine two or three hundred people packed in a little one room school. The very air got so hot and when they lit those candles I feared, “what if that tree catches fire...how would I get those children out of that building?” What a responsibility. I actually fainted, but was resuscitated and the program went through (two hours) without a hitch. My Dad said, “Excellent.”

School Reform
When I went back to teaching in the sixties, much change had been accomplished in the past twenty years. The county had closed the doors of the one room multi-grade classrooms and centralized education. I was the principal with four teachers to advise and assist. I also taught grade 7,8 and 9 in a room together. The curriculum was more flexible. I remember we made a salt and flour map of Alberta combining Language Arts, Social Studies, Science and Art. Each child made different reports. It was a fun time but also a learning time.
Around this time they started school festivals which included music, elocution, drama etc. I always entered in all the competitions. To me this was truly education.

Advancement In the late seventies and eighties I taught Math and Science to Junior High. You can imagine the difference. I remember I worried about teaching the carburetor, piston and car parts to boys. I expressed my concern to my husband and he brought an old carburetor and engine parts to school and taught the class. I don’t remember how the girls responded, but the boys were ecstatic. He came several days showing them the spark plug and how it all works to make a car go - no discipline problems when he came into the classroom. This was a different age from the time I taught all the subjects including P.E. to grades 1 to 9 in a little one-room school.

Ruth Ogilvie:
My Teaching Life
The beginning of my career in teaching must seem similar to that of many others of my time. I was born in the small town of Provost, grew up on a farm near Cadogan, and attended the two-room school there. A highlight of my early school years was having been taken out of school at the age of seven for a holiday in California of a month or two. I’m sure my sister and I learned more in that time than we might have in school. Such trips were not common in those times.
I credit my early and life-long love of reading to my aunt, who lived with us while I was five, and taught me to read. This meant I graduated early from high school, and changed my plans for nursing to that of teaching. I could just manage (by a month) to get into Camrose Normal School, which hospitals required one to be a year older. How young I was, to think I could mold young lives!
Since grade 12 was not offered at home, I took it in Camrose, so the new surroundings were not quite as daunting at Normal as they would have been had I gone directly from our two-room school. Still, the jump from being a “school kid” to being addressed as “Miss McConnell” and expected to act accordingly, was unexpected. Looking back, I feel sure I had little idea of what I was beginning. It seemed the thing to do, to train oneself for something, but I had no feeling of dedication to the profession. I credit those professors, and also, co-workers, through the years, for broadening my professional outlook.
Finding a job was a challenge and I found myself in a rural one-room school, twenty miles from town. The district was very progressive and the economy good, so it was not the “back-woodsy” experience some of my friends had. $840.00 per year certainly provided my needs, including $20.00 per month board, but I had to plan for summer school expenses and a little contribution to my younger sister’s education.
Impressions of my first school: High windows, through which I could barely see with a stretch, and of which my landlady, a former teacher, thoroughly approved. “The children don’t need the distraction of the out-of-doors,” she said. The Waterbury heater, a big wood and coal-burning stove, surrounded by a metal jacket to protect the unwary. Cold blasts every time the door opened in winter. There was no cloakroom to give some protection from the weather. Grades 1 to 10 (a lad was taking the latter by correspondence and sometimes asked for help). Nice children from good families.
Work at this and two succeeding one-room schools ceased when I married my airman husband and moved to be with him. Other than some substitute teaching, that was it, until the younger of our two children was entering school. My entering the profession again was quite unplanned. The superintendent came to me at our farm home on the first day of the fall term, asking if I could please come to teach grade 1 in a nearby town, “just for a month.” (His grade 1 teacher had resigned over some small disagreement) Having two young children and a farm home to run, this seemed more than I could manage, but I would try “for a month.” Twenty-four years later I retired, so my husband and I could have our holidays at the same time!
Those were good years in which my education (informal) progressed along with that of the children. In a larger school, working with from three to five teachers teaching the same grade, was a real blessing. We helped each other in so many ways, and we remain friends to this day. I felt the burdens of teaching much less than when I was alone, and felt I did a better job.
Occasionally, our quiet paths would be diverted by a change in curriculum. We sometimes began by resisting, but in the long run found that many changes were improvements. If nothing else, they required us to revise our methods and our thinking. I held fast to some (by today’s standards) old-fashioned ideas and feel justified when I read some of the mangled spelling and grammar in our newspapers. “Whole language,” or not, let’s have it correct language, as much as possible.
I was glad when the curriculum allowed expanding into enriching programs in which the children themselves expressed interest. This could be little or much, depending on the abilities of the particular class, but it was fun when it worked. I remember a project (still in grade 1) on dinosaurs, where the children were excited over reading and writing stories about such creatures as the pterodactyl. Not exactly in the course of studies, but, still...
Field trips usually worked well, and I sometimes think we should have done more of that. My greatest frustrations came from either having too little time or too little knowledge to help children with learning problems. My half-time job with special education, after I had formally retired, was very rewarding. If I were starting over, I would seriously consider that field.
What is ahead for my great-grandchildren? Marvelous, miraculous technology will continue to open wonders to their young minds. But will they be tempted, as some already are, to just sit glued to that screen? Attentive parents will see to it that nature and exercise are not forgotten, but the current trend of one-parent families makes time very limited. I’m concerned, too, that children will not realize that machines are no better than the information entered, and that they need to use common sense to judge whether the answers given are correct. Modern children are being encouraged to make their own decisions. It’s to be hoped that they will have training in making old-fashioned common sense conclusions.
I am also concerned regarding morals and violence. Dealing with these and all their complications is more than schools should able asked to handle, but which appears to have fallen to their lot. It is my prayer that family life will be strengthened so that home and school can do the job together.
All in all, I think we taught in the best of times, much as I yearn to be more computer literate! What fun it must be, to use these wonderful tools.

Edna Haner:
I was born in August of 1918 in Alberta. My father homesteaded and the nearest town was 25 miles away, so we had few advantages. However, my mother had been a school teacher and, I remember trying to read her old Encyclopedia. How I wanted to read!
When I was about 5, my cousin and I decided, one morning, to walk to the local school a mile away. We were just to the corner of the school yard when I heard my Dad’s “Model T” coming up behind us. We were so disappointed that our little plan had failed.
I didn’t start school until May, 1925. I’d been ill before Christmas and the school was closed for 4 months due to the severe winter. It opened for 4 summer months and I completed my grade 1 in those 4 months.
I graduated from high school in 1937. I was so elated when I received my grade 12 marks from Edmonton, to say I had passed. It had been a real struggle all the way. Our local school only taught to grade 9. So, I took grade 10 on my own, with the teacher kindly helping me after school. My Dad was able to pay my board so I could attend the Hanna High School for grade 11. The next year I stayed at home and took 3 courses by correspondence. This lightened my load for grade 12, which I took in Big Valley, where I stayed in a dorm; did my own cleaning and laundry and helped with the cooking and cleaning for the whole dorm. I think I paid $10 per month as well. These were the “Dirty Thirties” and I credit my parents for encouraging and helping me all they could.
1937-1938: This was my year at Camrose Normal School - a year of so many new experiences and a hectic pace - so much to do and learn in one year. There were only 75 attending C.M.S. that year and, because of the lower number of students, I happened to be the only Normalite at my boarding house. I felt I missed a lot because I had no-one with whom I could discuss and share assignments, etc. We did get to know each other quite well at the school and the professors were an inspiration to me. They were wonderful role-models. Mr. Doucette even invited us, in groups, to his home for dinner. They had a maid and everything was done properly. I think this was a lesson in social graces! I participated in the Glee Club and the Drama Society and enjoyed both, but, the Practice-Teaching in the local schools was the terror of my life.
I got my first school in the fall of 1938. There were so many teachers looking for schools I felt fortunate to be hired. It was in a rural area, of course. I still have a fondness for those first pupils. They were quite disadvantaged because times were so hard. There were no up-to-date books and no equipment. I had a blackboard, a globe and a pointer. I had to provide anything else. With grades 1 to 8 time was also in short supply, I bought the reading work-books for the Elementary grades with my own money. One soft-ball was our only play-ground equipment. The children were respectful and well behaved and we had a happy time together, though I felt abit inadequate for the task of trying to educated this diverse group of children. I spent two years in this school.
In the summer of 1940 I attended summer school at the U of A. With this and satisfactory superintendents reports, I was granted my permanent Elementary and Intermediate Alberta Teachers Certificate.
In the fall of 1940 I moved to another country school, but times were changing and, after my first year of teaching, the Alberta government re-organized its school system. The Province was divided into School Divisions. The schools in each Division were run from a central office. When this happened we were provided with the necessary supplies from the Divisional Office.
This second school was in a relatively progressive ranching community and the pupils were a delight. I had been placed in this school because of discipline problems there. This did not materialize for me. Knowing there had been a problem, I involved myself in almost all of their recess and noon-hour activities, especially at first (I played a lot of soft-ball!) As with my first school, we put on a Christmas Program each year and these were always so well received. One thing I didn’t particularly like was the use of the school for dances. This meant a big clean-up the next day and a disruption of classroom displays and blackboard work. This was war-time so most of our Current events each morning consisted mostly how the war was progressing. At noon we got hands washed, sat in an informal group and ate and visited. Then off to play ball or winter games outside (weather permitting).
In 1942 I was offered a position in a town school but I declined and got married instead. I was marrying a farmer so we were married at Easter, before spring’s work. Since I’d had bridal showers in my fiancé’s district and in my hometown, the parents at my present school decided, instead, to give us a pair of white wool blankets. Also, one morning, after the Easter break, I arrived at school to find a large parcel, with my name on it. Assuming this was a wedding gift I gathered the pupils around me and said we’d open the parcel together. Well, when I opened the parcel, here was a beautiful white chamber pail! That was really embarrassing in those times. I’m sure my pupils and their parents had a good laugh that evening. I knew, too, who had played the prank. It was from this “friend to all” bachelor who lived in the district.
I hadn’t planned to teach after I married, but in the fall of 1942, some parents came and begged me to take the school a mile from our place. There was such a shortage of teachers now, due to the war. So, I took the position, but it was a very unrewarding year with 6 pupils and almost that many grades. There was no challenge for pupils or teachers.
I didn’t teach again until 1964. I substituted for 2 years here in our town school and what a change to have a roomful of pupils, all in one grade. Those who have had more experience in this situation know the pros and cons of this better than I do. So, I won’t go into that here.
Before I close, I would like to elaborate on the system we were trained for at C.M.S. This was a new concept called “The Enterprise System,” and our slogan was: “Learn to do by doing.” The grades were divided into Divisions:
Div. I - Grades 1-3
Div. II - Grades 3-6
Div. III - Grades 6-9
This system of divisions was designed to give more flexibility in pupil progress. Our Course of Study outlined the type and number of “enterprises” that should be covered in Div. I and Div. II over a three-year period. The Enterprise had to be organized to include subject matter and activities appropriate to the learning level of that Division.
One example of an Enterprise is taking a trip, which could include a lot of subject matter and related activities. These situations lent themselves very well to teaching subjects like Social Studies. We taught the basics - reading, spelling, arithmetic, etc. separately, of course. Division III had a very specific outline of subject matter to be taught in the “course of study.”
I’m not sure how this all worked out because I was away from teaching for so long. In the meantime schools became centralized and everything had to be adjusted for one or two grades to a room. When I substituted in 1964-1966 I didn’t see much that I felt was related to the Enterprise System.
In conclusion, I must say that, as a teacher, I worried a lot and wondered if we were doing all we could to apply learning to life. I think I worry even more now because I see my grand children using calculators and computers and wonder if the basics are over-looked. I would hate to live in a push-button world and I don’t want them to. But, I guess Grandmothers tend to be old-fashioned! In any case, I certainly wish the Educators and the Students all the best in the future.

Opal Hughes:
Memories of Camrose Normal School
It was a lovely spring day in 1938 when Class B went out on the lawn of Camrose Normal School for their P.E. class under Sgt. Major Hawkes, the instructor.
The session was over when the school buzzer sounded. We raced toward the north entrance, each of us wondering how we could possibly go down to the basement, to the gym lockers, change our clothes, get our books from another locker and arrive in Mr. Haverstock’s room in five minutes.
We all decided to go into his class just as we were - in our shorts. And that we did! Mr. Haverstock (principal of the school) sat at his desk. I can still see him peering over his glasses and solemnly asking “What is the reason for this?” Some of the girls who sat in the front row bravely explained. Then he calmly ordered us to go to the gym and change into our regular clothes. He made it very clear that future teachers were not to appear in the classroom in shorts. We must be properly dressed.
It may be of some interest to readers to learn that the boys had a separate class from the girls and the girls were divided into two classes according to surnames. A to McC were Class A and McK to Z were Class B.
How things have changed over the years!

My Special Teacher
When I was in grade seven, a very young teacher arrived from Edmonton to teach in our country school. There were less than ten pupils when she arrived but enrollment increased to about fifteen in about five different grades.
She was truly a marvelous teacher. She taught us not only what was on the curriculum but also anything that she felt might help to enrich our lives and stimulate us to venture out on new paths.
She had a Friday afternoon session for a meeting. We learned how to conduct meetings, the duties of officers and how to write up reports for a little school news-sheet which we sent home to the parents. We passed rules regarding conduct and speech in our school.
She also taught the girls sewing. We made little books with samples of various stitches, seams and hems. She loaned us dress patterns so we could make our own clothes. She also taught us crocheting and knitting and encouraged the boys to do woodwork.
Our imaginations were stimulated when she decided we would compose our own plays, songs etc. for the annual Christmas concert.
This wonder lady was just seventeen when she came to us. She remained with us for four years, probably the best years of my school life. She eventually married a farmer in our area and I still see her occasionally. She is still the same helpful, encouraging person.

The Country School
There were many advantages for children in the one-room school, which the authorities never seemed to realize. Amalgamation began about 1948 sending children on long bus rides to consolidated schools or to town.
In the one-room school children cared for each other. They walked or rode to school together, carried each others books, helped hitch or saddle the horses and always helped the little ones get boots, scarves, coats and mittens on properly.
They played together, teaching the little ones the games. They learned to show kindness, patience and tolerance.
The children in a one-room school planned the Christmas concerts with the teacher’s suggestions of course. And in war time my pupils put on fund raisers for the Red Cross, selling various little items which they had made.
One winter some of my pupils decided to make crib quilts for the Junior Red Cross. They sent to Eatons for free scraps of cloth (quilting bundles). These they ironed, cut into the desired sizes and pieces together on their mother’s sewing machines. Then at school we set up a quilting frame and at noons and recesses they quilted. Everyone had a hand in it, even the boys. That winter they made three lovely rib quilts which we sent to the Junior Red Cross.
Sometimes older children helped the teacher by checking work of younger students or by dictating spelling. This was not time wasted. It was an experience of learning and responsibility for the older ones.
The larger schools did bring better libraries and equipment but the kindly cooperative spirit of the small school has been lost.

The Fire
At one school I taught, we had some excitement, when a pupil looking out of the window noticed a fire spreading from the school ash pile into a stubble field not far from a neighbor’s house.
“What should we do?” I suggested the only quick thing I could think of. “Grab your towels, soak them in the water cooker and beat out the flames.” We all rushed out with our dripping towels and went to work on the little flames which really weren’t very threatening. Soon the fire was out. The neighbor thanked us for putting out the fire before it had spread out over the field, but one of the mothers was very irate over her children’s extremely dirty hand towels.

Isobel Rutzebeck:
Whacks
1938 Mr. J.K. Haverstock, principal of the Camrose Normal School, admonished our graduating class to “start with the brakes on,” in our new teaching positions.
One day in September of 1938, two grade 7 boys required discipline for picking on a younger child. I kept Mr. Haverstock’s advice in mind and kept them in after school. There was a leather strap in the teacher’s desk. I gave each boy two “whacks” on each hand with it.
That was the end of the incident and the need for discipline, while I taught at Horse Shoe Lake S.D. (No parental questions or interference)
In 1943 I was in the RCAF Women’s Division section in Halifax. There I met my grade 9 student, Stewart Black. He was an officer in the RCAF and I had to salute him.

My First Cheque
September 28, 1938 - My first cheque was hand delivered to me at school in an envelope, by the chairman of the district school board, a local farmer. That envelope was so precious I carried it in my hand as I left the school for my two mile hike to my boarding house.
A necessary detour took me to the newly dug girls outdoor, two open seater toilet. I set the envelope far to the left as I sat over the right hole. To my dismay, as I stood up, my coat tail whisked my precious envelope down the left hole. What was I to do?
I went back to the school shed to get a long stick with a nail on it to retrieve my envelope with the cheque. It was dark inside. As I reached for a stick I was confronted by my nemesis - the mouse.
Immediately I left that stick and decided to come to school early the next morning, in the daylight, to get a stick.
On September 29th I was successful. Thank goodness for the envelope. My first $80.00 cheque was clean.

Daily Routine
To begin our day we: 1) said the Lord’s prayer 2) saluted the Union Jack as we sang O Canada 3) the command “Class be seated”
Assignments for each class were in a particular spot on the blackboard which was across the front of the school room. The teacher read first with the grade one students and then gave them seat work.
The seat work had been reproduced by the teacher on a hectograph pad. This was a “jelly-like” purple substance made by the teacher and poured on a cookie sheet. It resulted in a smooth surface and it did duplicate copies.
Each class in turn was attended to by the teacher. Everyone took part in Current Events, Music and Art. There was a climate of helping each other in the Grades 1-6 when the teacher was busy with Grades 7-9.

Teaching in Retirement
In 1986 the Canadian Teachers’ Federation sent me on a four-member team to the Gambia in West Africa. We were the sixth and final team of a three-year project with the Gambian Teachers’ Federation to upgrade their elementary school teachers.
My assignment was using audio-visual materials in the classroom. In Ottawa I was told that there was no electricity in the classroom, no cassette players, no projectors of any kind and no record players. What was I to do?
My thoughts went back to Horse Shoe Lake School in 1938. I planned 1) maps (of different colored local mud...no money for salt and flour) 2) puppets and plays in English 3) oral stories, written and copied 4) local songs in native language 5) musical scale on bottles - tap out songs 6) rhythm band, sticks, hands, feet, voice.

Winnifred Atkin:
The First School
A one-roomed building out on the prairie was where I first met twenty eager pupils, who helped me overcome many qualms I had about being able to enrich their lives. The school had been closed for many years and was overrun with mice. We spent about two days mainly cleaning and scrubbing (with the help of the district ladies). We thought w had everything “ship-shape” but we discovered the organ was the home of two more mice families. Undaunted, a local friend, (who later became my husband) took it apart, cleaned it up and we used it for music, which one of the pupils played very nicely.
The library shelves were in disarray too. That may have been a blessing in disguise because most of the books were soiled or outdated. There was no budget for books (times were hard) so we scrounged from far and wide and got many classics such as “Call of the Wild,” Kipling’s “Just So Stories,” “Treasure Island” etc. Many of these books were read a chapter a day, sometimes by me, sometimes by an older student. We always had a discussion of how the characters acted, or what they might do to solve a problem that would arise.

Gym
We played ball in the summer, and in the winter such games as “Fox and Goose,” weather permitting. At noon during cold days we often played board games. Also the mothers provided a big bowl of homemade soup which we heated on top of the pot bellied stove; it was enjoyed by all on chilly days.

Janitor
The janitor work was done by one of the older boys. He swept after school, chopped wood and brought in the coal, and provided a limited amount of water. He lit the fire in the cold mornings. Often it took till noon for the little stove to emit enough heat to warm up the room. He did this for about four dollars a month.
Equipment
The Department of Education provided some texts such as spellers, arithmetic books and readers such as the “Dick and Jane” series. Other than that we had to rely on our own resources. Our Normal School Staff must have anticipated our needs because we were well prepared for many of the omissions. We were shown how to use a pantograph, make a jelly-like substance in a cookie pan for duplicating materials, make large charts using cut-outs from magazines, make our own flash cards for word recognition, and arithmetic and a long list of free materials. This last source was indeed helpful in the social studies and science classes. We could get colorful charts on teeth, the oil industry, the trip of a grain of wheat to the flour mill. One place we sent to, for information on cotton, sent us several charts and a “cotton ball.”

Cooperation
In a school with most grades from one to ten, the older students seem to naturally help the younger ones, especially in enterprise activities. We had four different tables set up in the corners, one had a sand box on it, another had magnets and meccano pieces etc., another had games and puzzles and the last one had old magazines, colorful paper, scissors, glue etc. The children used these tables when they were finished their main work and the older and younger ones conversed quietly about some project they were doing. If the younger ones were puzzled over some aspect of their assignment they would quietly ask an older pupil if the teacher was busy. Often the younger ones would listen in on lessons or science experiments the older ones were having.

Projects
Some of the main group activities were the Christmas concert, and in the Spring, a seed planting contest.
Another project the pupils enjoyed was making their own newspaper once a month. All the articles, such as news, jokes, poems, cartoons etc. were submitted by the children. Some of it was hand written and some typed on my old typewriter. Then it would be duplicated on the jelly-like substance so that each family could have one. One grade nine student started to learn typing that way and she later became a secretary for a premier. She always said that typing the paper got her started.
We were quite isolated from any large center, a trip to town about twelve miles away would be a big event. There was no electricity; just a barb-wire telephone (which didn’t work in wet weather).
So how did the pupils get an education? - sans television, computers, internet and specialized courses? I really think that the attitude from home encouraged the children to appreciate the opportunity to learn no matter what their future occupation. Many of the children went on to university and others have become good citizens of their community.

Margaret Doran:
When I first started school my brother and I had to walk about 1 and 3/4 miles to the one-room school of Jones Valley. I don’t recall how long it was before our dad got us a horse called Bird that we rode double on. One winter my uncle and his family came for a couple months visit and my cousin went to school with us. Then there were three of us on the horse. Sometime later my dad got another horse so then my brother and I each had our own horse to ride.
We had a pasture out behind the school barn and in summer the horses were turned loose during the day. In winter they were tied in a stall and standing still all day were a bit cold. Consequently they weren’t very cooperative and would sometimes buck a bit when we first started out. We rode bareback. Our dad had seen some accidents where people were bucked off and their food caught in the stirrup and as a result they were dragged and hurt. He didn’t want that to happen to us.
When I completed grade nine I had to go to highschool in Lacombe. I boarded in town during the week and came home on weekends. My brother usually took me to town on Sunday evening. He would let me drive part way to town so that was the way I learned to drive a car.
When I taught in the one-room rural schools some pupils rode horseback. One family I remember sometimes came in a buggy with a team of horses. Of course there were always those that had to walk.
After I was married and our family started school, they had to walk too. One time when our oldest daughter was walking to school she saw a porcupine on the road about a mile from home.. She was afraid to go by it and came back home. Another time a bull was standing just inside the fence by the road and she was afraid to go by it.
A few years later when some of her brothers and sisters started school and she had to look after them, being in charge, she was much braver.
About that time the one-room schools were closed and larger schools were built that amalgamated many rural school districts. Then the school buses took over transporting students to school.
In the one-room schools the janitor work would be done by the pupils or the teacher or both. I remember for awhile, I don’t remember how long, I swept the floor each night after school. I was paid 10 cents a day. For awhile it was my brother’s job to start the fire in the stove and have it warmed up for school. He used a mix of wood and coal which was stored in a shed beside the school. He earned 25 cents a day.
In the one-room rural schools we put the letters of the alphabet along the top of the blackboard, both the printed and the written ones.
While you were instructing one class, the other classes were doing different assignments. Most times the only subjects that all classes participated in at the same time were Music and Phys. Ed.
At recess time and noon hour the teacher usually supervised the outdoor activities too.
At the school I attended when I was young we had a teeter totter, a ball diamond and a basket-ball hoop. The basket ball I remember playing with didn’t have any air in it but was stuffed with old mitts etc. that had been lost at school. You couldn’t bounce it but you could catch it and try to make a toss into the hoop.
When we played ball the only player that had a ball glove was the catcher. One time I remember was when I was playing in left field and caught the ball off the bat. I still remember my hands hurting but I think I hung onto the ball so the batter was out.
Usually each spring the whole school would go for a hike. We would try to learn the names of plants we saw on the way to a creek a couple of miles from the school. We also watched for birds and animals to identify. They didn’t use pesticides or round-up in those days and the sides of the road were full of all kinds of wild flowers.
Each December the school would put on a Christmas concert. They had them on different nights so it was possible to go to a concert in a neighboring school as well. A few schools had a raised section in the front of the school. Those that didn’t usually made a stage for the concert using sawhorses and planks. They used bedsheets for curtains to open and close.
Nowadays as you travel through they country and see those old school houses you wonder how it was possible to crowd so many people in for a concert. They look quite small now. There aren’t many left. Most have been demolished.
Nowadays students have all kinds of backpacks etc. to carry their homework in. When I went to highschool we just carried our books in our arms. We didn’t have calculators in those days either. We had to work multiplication and division out ourselves. When I taught multiplication I used the same method I had been taught. You wrote out the table from 0-12. An example would be:
3x0=0
3x1=3
3x2=6
Then add another 3 for the answer to the next one. When you had completed the table at 3x12=36 you learned to count by 3's by reading the answers: 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36.
When I graduated from Camrose Normal School I first taught 2 years in a one room rural school called Elkhorn. Then I taught 2 years in a one-room rural school called Half-Way Grove before I got married.
When I went back teaching later most of the one-room rural schools were a thing of the past, but I taught at a Hutterite school for 9 years. It was a one-room school too, with grades 1-9. After 9 years there I decided it would be beneficial for them to have a different teacher. When the colony learned I had quite I had a visit from some of the men to inquire why. I guess my explanation satisfied them.
My next school was at Rimbey where I taught one year. That was a distance of about 30 miles from home. One morning on my way to school a large herd of deer were on the road and they didn’t ant to get off. It took me awhile to finally get by them.
Another time part way up a hill I got a flat tire. I was having trouble loosening the nuts on the bolts to change it. I was lucky 2 men came along and helped me so I got to school on time.
Another time in the winter two of the schools closer to home, Sylvan Heights and Crestomere were closed because of weather conditions, but Rimbey was open. Someone had to sub for me.
When I taught at Rimbey I usually felt like a sub myself. I had my own class the first period of the day for math. Then I had to go to different rooms for a variety of different subjects. I could have continued teaching there but I asked if I could get something closer to home.
The next term I taught at Sylvan Heights where the grades 3 and 4 teacher retired. I was there 2 years when they decided to reduce staff. I could have remained, but since I would have had to teach Phys. Ed. I decided not to. If I had been about 20 years younger I would have enjoyed the challenge. At Camrose Normal School I had learned to stand on my head, turn cartwheels etc. but the bounce in my step was different then.
My next school was in Ponoka where I taught a grade 4 class. We were about 22 miles from Ponoka. Four years later my husband’s health made it impossible for him to continue farming so we moved into Ponoka. I continued teaching at the Ponoka Elementary School until I retired in 1981.
When I attended school and when I first started teaching our subjects were: Arithmetic, Spelling, Writing, Composition, Grammar, Reading, History, Geography, Art, Music, Phys. Ed. and Science.
Now History and Geography are combined into Social studies and some of the other subjects are combined too.
In my school days it was legal to use the strap. One time just before Christmas we drew names to see who we were to get a present for. We were not supposed to tell whose name we got. I think I was in grade 3 at the time and some of us showed our friends whose name we had. I don’t know how the teacher found out, but we got the strap. That was the only time I remember being strapped.
When I taught at the Hutterite colony, they were used to the strap. I never actually used it on any of them, but I sometimes carried it in my hand and hit their desk to show I meant they were to get their work done.

Lloyd Lindberg:
I was born in Bashaw, Alberta in 1916, moved, and grew up on a half-section farm near the village of Kingman, Alberta. There were three older brothers, one older sister and later one younger brother and two younger sisters. Dad was a railroad section foreman and the family did the farm work.
I started school in Grade 1 at Coal Hill Rural School, a half mile away that had grades 1-8, with about 25 pupils of various nationalities. Teachers were usually “Permit” qualifications and several turnovers. When I finished Grade 8, the Kingman rural High school opened, teaching Grades 8-11. Department Exams were written in those days. I received my Grade 8 diploma in 1929. Some of my Grade 12 was obtained by correspondence courses and help from the high school teacher. The Depression halted further education for five yeras. Farming jobs, if any, paid 20 cents per hour, or for some transients $5.00 per month government allowance if a farmer supplied food and lodging for this “hired man.” In 1935 arrangements were made so that I could attend Camrose Lutheran College to complete my Grade 12 with some Commercial courses. Graduating in 1936, jobs were still scarce, teachers were unemployed, etc. Later, it seemed that positions were opening for teachers and nurses. The Government had set minimum salaries for teachers to be $840.00 per annum. I applied to enter Camrose Normal School in 1937. Unfortunately, I became ill in the last part of the 1938 term so that I had to complete my course at Edmonton Normal School.
World War II broke out in September 1939 - with thoughts of “now what’s in the future?” Teaching jobs became available and I obtained a position in a rural school with 10 pupils. Grades 1-9, and one student taking Grade 10 correspondence. I taught at several other rural schools, with some better situations. My highest salary reached $710.00 per annum. “Saving up” I managed to attend “Summer Schools” in Edmonton to obtain a permanent certificate. In July, 1942 I joined the Canadian Army until November 1945. On return, I attended University of Alberta from 1946 to 1950 for my B.Ed. And B.Sc. I then taught in Edmonton Public Schools from 1950 to 1980.
I, of course have had many students, and meet some of them from time to time. Some have gone on to great careers.
In my time I have seen several changes in education courses and experiments, some accepted, some discontinued. As for dreams/fears for the future - there are still problems with reading weakness, writing, spelling and math. Education should receive sufficient funding, new “gadgets” in electronics should prove their worth, class sizes should be kept at efficient levels, teachers’ salaries should be at a level to cover costs of professional development and comfortable living.

Frank Dembicki:
While in high school, I was encouraged to become a school teacher. After completing schooling in Old Strathcona in 1937, I entered Camrose Normal School in the fall of 1937. After a year’s program, I received my teaching certificate.
My senior room of Prosvischenia School consisted of 14 students from grades 8-10. It was a real experience. With the coming of school divisions, my school became a one-room school. I was transferred to Bellis School where my grades were 6-9 consisting of 30 students.
In 1940, I married Nancy. Francis, our oldest, was born. Both Nancy and I raised a family of four boys, namely Frank, Jr., Henry, Wayne, an Richard (Rick), who are all married and have provided us with eight grandchildren.
In the fall of 1942, I had my basic army training in Camrose. By late fall of 1943, I was a member of 86 Bridge Company overseas.
Until World War II ended, I saw action in United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Waiting to be repatriated, I was selected for one of the cultural tours of Berlin.
On February 14th, 1946, I had my feet back on the soil of my country of the Maple Leaf.
It was back to the U. of A. in the faculty of Education. There I found time to pick up the Industrial Arts Certificate. Soon I was relieved of the academics on the staff at Calmar and I took over the arts program where the classes were limited to eight students, and I received a raise in my salary.
In 1957, I arrived in Fort Saskatchewan High School and stayed with the Arts until my retirement in 1977.
I have been a member of the Pioneer Singers for almost 20 years. I am a charter member of the Calmar Royal Canadian Legion. I came to volunteer in several organizations such as the Red Cross and Canadian Diabetes Association.
Since April 1, 1999, Nancy and I are residents of Dr. Turner Lodge in Fort Saskatchewan. Since our association with the Lodge is short, it is difficult to assess the atmosphere, but volunteering seems the route to go.

Early School Days
The first three years were very difficult at the school. The school population was nearly 50% Ukrainian and the other half was Romanian. We were the only Polish speaking family in the district. There were no residents of British stock. As youngsters we learned to speak each others’ languages. The two imported teachers from Ontario were unilingual and had the school’s by-laws in their hands. They forbade us to speak any language except English on the road to and from the school grounds. At the kangaroo court, you at least got a hearing. There were many days I had a hard time to hold the crayon to write on the slate. But there was joy.

Transfer
I could not do justice to the ½ hour academic courses consisting of thirty students. Marking the assignments was a burden. A spare per day was not enough. So off to the vocational school. The classes were four (hours?) long. The wood working and metal courses lasted from 8:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon. It took two summers to get my Junior Industrial Arts certificate. The senior certificate followed.
There was a good reason to change. The classes were two hours long. The eight student class was the limit. I had plenty of time to work with the student. Marking went along with the class. The students wanted to be in the course. Here are some of the gems I picked up during the years of teaching industrial arts:
a.) Mr. , I cut this board twice and it is still too short.
b.) Imagine, one day in the shop, I already know how to make sawdust.
c.) What tree is buried in this sentence? The lumber was sent tO A Kiln to be dried. Ans: Oak.