My time in first and second grade was miserable to say the least. There were some good times, for sure, but a combination of not-so-good teachers and on-going health issues made for interesting times. At the school I attended, I was in a class that had two teachers in one really big room with around 40 first and second graders mixed together.
- Until doctors found a medication that worked, I had severe migraine headaches for days and weeks at a time. Doctors requested I always have a small notepad to write the time I got headaches. My teachers refused to let me use this and said whenever I claimed to have a headache, they would send me to the nurse, who would say (by taking my temperature) if I actually had a headache or not. The nurse went along with this. (She should have know better because body temperature is not a measurement of whether one has a headache or not – there is not test for that.) One of the teachers said, “I get migraines, and my doctor said you always throw up, so you’re not actually having migraine headaches.”
- Because they were worried I would injure my head, teachers made me wear this big bicycle-like helmet during PE for several months. Before this, I never got to participate in PE. After this, because I was struggling with reading, I was sent to extra classes and never got to attend PE. No wonder I was endlessly teased.
- I wrote an essay for our assignment, and for some reason the teacher didn’t like it. She tore it up and stormed out of the room.
- I was drawing a picture of my house for an assignment. I drew the roof as being blue. The teachers said, “Why did you color your roof blue? I’ve been by your house. It’s not blue.” (For the record: it was!)
- One day we were all working at our desks on an assignment. I needed to tie my shoe, so I started to do so. The teachers said, “What are you doing?” I answered accordingly. She screamed, “Liar! Liar! You are lying!” over and over.
- Teachers regularly forced me to eat foods I was not comfortable eating.
- During the annual 4th of July program one year the teacher walked up to me (we were all seated on the stage) and said, “If you don’t watch me, I’m going to drag you off this stage.” (I was watching her because she was “directing” “the choir.”)
- Because some of the boys and girls kept making a mess in the restroom, teachers constantly threatened to WATCH everyone go and said we could only go when they were available to watch.
- For reasons I can’t remember but because the class did something they didn’t like they constantly threatened to remove all the furniture from the room and all the books and all the posters as a rest-of-the-school-year punishment.
- For the longest time, I was placed in the reading group called “tortoises” because I was too slow.
- Doctors at M.D. Anderson wanted me to eat a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups as part of my lunch each day because it would be like a peanut better and jelly sandwich. Teachers refused to let me eat this, even with a doctor’s note.
- We were forced to recite the United States Pledge, Texas Pledge, Star Spangled Banner, all of the states, and all of the presidents every single day, without ever being told what we were actually saying or what it meant. (More on this here.)
- Being lied to. About history. About science. About e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. In first grade, they told us, “the sun never moves.” In second grade I asked, “If you can do 6-3, what happens when you do 3-6.” The teacher replied, “That’s not possible. You can never subtract a larger number from a smaller number.”
These memories stay with me and help inform the professor I am. I use my experiences to creative positive learning environments and experiences for others. I demonstrate what a good educator does.
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 