My School Years in Mill Valley

{adapted)

My years growing up in Mill Valley and attending the schools there were full of fun and enlightenment. I started Kin­dergarten at Old Mill School. That was back in 1948. Mrs. Ei­leen Schroeder was the teacher in Kindergarten. She was won­derful, playing the piano while we were dancing or cutting out parts of paper people so we could put them together.

What I was taught at home was also taught at school: the im­portance of property rights 'what isn't yours, isn't yours'; the importance of manners, including listening to those speaking about you without interrupting, and not being rude to the teach­er; waiting in line to play a game or waiting for the school bus.

My experience at Old Mill (from Kindergarten to the sixth grade) was one that I look back upon with lots of satisfaction. I feel today that I received as much as I wanted to get from the wonderful and talented teachers that taught me there.

After Old Mill, I attended Alto School. We took the school bus over in the morning and rode back in the afternoon. Most of the time songs were being sung. Alto was very crowded, as I remember, because we had a lot of kids there. I remember Mrs. Schroeder, my Kindergarten teacher, had decided to start an orchestra at Alto including all the students from the seventh and eighth grades. She taught me to play the cello and I played for graduation. She was a wonderful musician, teaching four of us how to play the cello at her home on Saturday afternoons for free because she believed music was important.

In High School, the first real test of my confidence was put to the forefront. I had to sing a song for Mr. Greenwood to get

into Girls' Club. I was a bit scared, but from that time to the present I thank Bob Greenwood for his dedication and his thoughtfulness for all of his students. The following year I was able to get into the Choir and was so grateful to be able to sing in this wonderful group. In the fall (Am.: autumn) of 1960 our Choir was chosen to sing at the opening ceremony for the Win­ter Olympics. It was thrilling to take the bus very early in the morning and drive up into the snow and then sing for the open­ing. I'll never forget that experience. We had a ball!!!

Most of us wanted to learn. I don't know of more than a few students out of my class of over 200 who didn't succeed in what­ever they tried to do in life after attending schools in Mill Valley.

I learned quite a lot of good social skills at Tam. I learned how NOT to write a note from my parents ... (I always got caught...). I learned that water balloons really smash the best when you throw them at a metal locker. I also learned that if you had long hair and used the wall dryers in the girls' gym, you'd better not get too close!

After Sita Dimitroff Milchev

Discuss with your partner.

1.Is the author happy about her school years? Why do you think so?

2.What makes you like / dislike this story?

3. a) Answer the questions. Are all students happy at school? What makes some students unhappy?

Qb) Listen to the girl's memories. Was the girl happy or unhappy when she was a student?

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1692