Book description
In an educational era defined by large school campuses and overcrowded
classrooms, it is easy to overlook the era of one-room schools, when
teachers filled every role, including janitor, and provided a familylike
atmosphere in which children also learned from one another. In Tales
from Kentucky One-Room School Teachers, William Lynwood Montell reclaims
an important part of Kentucky's social, cultural, and educational
heritage, assembling a fun and fascinating collection of schoolroom
stories that chronicle a golden era in Kentucky. The firsthand
narratives and anecdotes in this collection cover topics such as
teacher-student relationships, day-to-day activities, lunchtime foods,
students' personal relationships, and, of course, the challenges of
teaching in a one-room school. Montell includes tales about fund-raising
pie suppers, pranks, outrageous student behavior (such as the quiet
little boy whose first “sharing” involved profanity), and variety of
other topics. Montell even includes some of his own memories from his
days as a pupil in a one-room school. Tales from Kentucky One-Room
School Teachers is a delightful glimpse of the history of education.
William Lynwood Montell, professor emeritus of folk studies at Western
Kentucky University, is the author or editor of twenty-five books,
including Tales of Kentucky Ghosts and Tales of Kentucky Doctors. He
lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
