I knew her as soon as the door opened. It was her eyes and her cheeks. I’d have known her anywhere.
When I was 15 and Ms. Norton 24, she seemed much older than me. In 1967 she was the new and only English teacher at my small school. English was my favorite class. I had high hopes for her.
On her first day Ms. Norton was gruff and demanding. You could hear a pin drop. “What are we in for?” I thought. Sitting on her couch in 2022 I asked about that.
She chuckled. “That may have been the only thing ISU taught me about classroom management. Establish control in the classroom early and relax it only if your students prove they can handle some measure of freedom. Sounds harsh, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. You scared us badly. Then it got better.”
“I enjoyed your class. You were a good group to work with.”
“So, Danvers was not your first school?”
“No, I taught in Cullom right out of undergrad. Then went back to ISU for my master’s before joining the Olympia district. I taught there 29 years, until I retired.”
Ella Norton (not her real name) is now 80 and I am 71, still nine years apart but somehow much closer in age.
“I remember you taught us to diagram sentences. I could see parts of speech, phrases, and clauses, where they fit and how they affected meaning and tone. How the sentence itself made a difference. Not just the words. I could tell you liked it.”
“I did like it. I had a high school teacher who was very good at diagraming. And when I took grammar at ISU the prof was surprised I had so much knowledge of it.”
“You were a big part of why I majored in English. You made me a better writer. I want to thank you for that.”
“You taught for a short time, right?”
“Yes. One-year full time. But I use my English degree in everything I do.”
“You gave up that job to travel if I recall. That’s a choice I considered.” Ms. Norton reads my blog.
“So, you traveled?”
“I made good use of summers off after graduate school. Four trips to Europe; Great Britain, Greece, France, Ireland. I wish more Americans would do that. They might see America and the world differently.”
“I agree.”
“You were so good at directing the plays. But I have to ask, why did you put me in those roles? Mortimer Brewster in “Arsenic and Old Lace?” And Tommy Albright in “Brigadoon?” I couldn’t read music. You gave me the lead in a musical.”
Ms. Norton laughed.
“You kept telling me you couldn’t sing, and I said we would teach you. It worked. It was a small school, Dave. I chose actors by personality. I knew you would work hard.”
“You taught me something about myself.”
She smiled. “And now you sing in your church choir.”
We talked for two hours, reacquainting in a new way, sharing views.
“I get tired of people equating education with earning money. Education is not about money. I’m afraid we’re losing something important. Education is about learning to think. Who is going to teach Americans to think?”
Thanks, Ms. Norton, and others like you for taking teaching seriously. We all benefit.
- Dave McClure lives in Ottawa. He is a long-retired director of a local private agency. He is also a blogger. You can read more of Dave at Daveintheshack.blogger.com