School Haze

1.What do you remember as the most interesting, required reading assignment you had? What class was it for?
The only books that I can remember reading in school are “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, and “Call Of The Wild” and I guess I liked the one about Buck the dog the best.  All of these were for English Class, but I don’t remember the grade.

2. Were you required to write a book report or were you required to give an oral presentation? What do you remember about it?
I vaguely remember having to do some book reports, but I don’t know what books they were, and I don’t think any of them were oral reports.

3. What did you consider the worst book or article you were required to read? What made it the worst?
I imagine that I must have been forced to read some Dick and Jane books when I was young, as this kid’s series was very popular back then.  I really don’t remember anything about them, but I am certain that they were lame.

4. Were you ever required to debate other classmates? If so, what class was it for? Do you remember any of the subjects and your ‘side’ of the debate?
I was never in a debate that I can remember, but I was the campaign manager for a student who was running for class president, and I had to give a speech introducing him and point out his good qualities and why the students should not vote for his opponent.

5. Were you ever required to do a science project or enter school science fair? What was your project? Did you do it alone or did your parents help you? If you were graded, how did you do?
This is really a good question, but I am coming up blank here.

6. Did you have a Home Economics class or a Wood/Metal Shop class? What types of things did you make?
I had wood shop in High School, l and I made a small storage box.  The class got cancelled a few months into the year, as one of the students started a fire in the shop.

7. Did you frequent the library? Was it for class work or for pleasure? What book that you read for pleasure had the most impact on you?
In High School, I only went when I was required to go, but I did make use of the library in college.

8. What was your most creative class? Band? Chorus? Art? Drama? Writing? What standout creative project do you remember most?
When the wood shop class was canceled, I took a speech class.  The only assignment I remember is giving an instructional speech on how to tie a tie.

9. Were you Required to write a term paper or an end of year report in any of your classes? Did you remember what you wrote about?
As a freshman, in college I had two term paper assignments, one for my course on the history of North Americans and the other was for English class.  My English teacher said that I could use the same paper for both classes, if it was formatted to her specifications, which were different from the History class specs, so even though it was the same paper it had to be typed twice.  I was lucky as my sister volunteered to do the typing for me, so all I had to do was the research and the writing.  I chose Watercraft Structures of the North American Indians, and I covered the birch bark canoes, buffalo skin boats, and the dugout canoes.  I knew that my English teacher was in love with Henry David Thoreau as most English teachers are, so I included a preface section on my term paper from his book “Walden’s Pond” where he talked about how beautiful and peaceful it was and that did the trick for me.  I got an A+ on my History paper and I received an A++ on my English paper.

10. Bonus Question: Did your teachers ever offer extra credit assignments? Did you do them to help improve your grade?
One year I got a C in Math class, and my mom thought that was the most important subject, so she made me go to summer school to raise my grade.  They take the average of your two grades, so I had to get an A in Summer School to raise my grade up to a B, which I did.

Written for Throwback Thursday #66 which is hosted by Maggie this week and her topic is “Class Assignments.”