Another English Class: One Where "A's" Were Scarce (Cont.)
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Still in quiet but full command, she continued. "Next, Tom, I am not to be called 'teacher.' It is true I am your teacher, but my name is Miss Potter, and I wish to be called by that name. I shall return the same courtesy to you and all the other students in this class." She paused as she looked around at us all. "I will not call any of you by impersonal names such as 'student,' 'boy,' 'girl,' or 'you there.' During this first week, I expect to learn all your names, and after that I will address each of you by your correct name--the one given you by your mother and father, not some nickname made up by someone else. Is all this quite clear to everyone?"

Another rhetorical question. No response was necessary. Her point was perfectly clear.

"Now back to Tom's concern about having to hand in a theme every week." She knew she had our attention, as she continued her explanation with obvious confidence. "I deem it absolutely necessary for each of you to do some thoughtful writing each week. As I said at the beginning of the period, the only way to learn to write is to write. Moreover, the writing must be done regularly and followed by immediate reaction and correction by the teacher, if the student is to make steady progress and improvement in his writing." She was silent for a moment as she looked over the class and then ended her remarks on this point by saying, "If I can read, correct and return almost one hundred fifty papers each week, it is certainly not too much to expect each of you to write just one paper!"

A girl in the class raised her hand and when recognized by Miss Potter, asked, "How long must each theme be?"

"At least two pages of legible, long-hand writing," the teacher replied politely, "and not more than six pages, unless my approval for a longer paper is given in advance."

Miss Potter's specific answer to the question was not as surprising to me as the fact that the student had raised her hand and waited to be recognized before asking her question. No one had told her such a procedure was required. She probably just sensed, as I was beginning to do, that Miss Potter would expect such a courtesy. How different all this was from the confusion taken for granted in some of the classes we had taken the year before. We were soon to learn, however, that in addition to the principal, Miss Nina McGinnis, a number of other teachers at Bowling Green High School expected--and got--courteous behavior from students. Mr. Jackson, the chemistry teacher; Miss Ruth Driskoll who taught Latin; an algebra teacher, Miss Dawn Gilbert; the assistant principal, Mr. L. C. Curry; Mrs. W. J. Craig, another English teacher; and the librarian, Mrs. Leeper were a few of those I still remember.

While I was trying to figure out what made Miss Potter so different, I suddenly realized that she was talking again.

"I will read, correct and grade all your themes over the weekend and return them to. you at our class period on Monday," she stated calmly.

How could she possibly do all that? I wondered. But at the same time, I had the distinct feeling she was not making empty promises. Several other questions were by now skipping through my mind. Who was this person? Why was I fascinated by her? Could she really control this heretofore rather unruly group of students? "What makes her tick, anyway? " I whispered to a friend seated just ahead of me. "What are we in for this year with her?"

While she continued her instructions to the class, I leaned slightly out into the aisle and stretched my neck, in order to get a better look at this woman. Her modest crepe de chine dress of light blue hung loosely but neatly from her narrow shoulders and reached almost to her ankles. Its collar was narrow, rather stiff looking and buttoned up close to her throat. Pinned to the upper part of her dress, near the left shoulder, was a round gold case from which hung a small watch--also gold. A delicate chain, attached at one end to a spring in the case and to the watch at the other, made it possible for Miss Potter to pull the watch out occasionally to check on the time. I suppose I remember this detail so well because I was always impressed with her fine sense of time. She would invariably pull that watch out and glance at it about one half minute before the class bell rang. These thirty seconds gave her time to repeat the assignment for the next day and us the opportunity to close our books and clear the desks before the bell. This, too, was different from most of our first-year classes where the bell had seemed to take the teacher by surprise, resulting in disorganized and noisy exists by the students. Miss Potter never told us precisely how to enter and leave her room, but I remember even to this day how orderly and quiet those movements always were.

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