Yeah - that's her name - Mrs. Goodness. 4th grade teacher. The only teacher in elementary school I hated. I'm sure I hated her for a lot of reasons, but I can only recall 2. I remember her being short & chunky.
We had penmanship as part of our learning. Her system was that every one started out with a black pen. As their penmanship improved, the kids were bestowed a red pen - a visible reward for such skill. After that came a green pen. Then the penultimate (get the pun?) - a gold pen for perfecto penmanship!
I struggled through the year with the black pen, watching jealously as a kid would be called up to her for a different colored pen. Finally I was to receive a red pen. I finally broke ranks with the black, proletarian pen of the masses. However, she insisted that I ask for the red pen, rather than give it to me outright. I was super shy back then & just couldn't do it, especially with the condescending way she talked to me. Well, I ended the year with the black pen. Hell with her.
The 2nd instance was about our class singing. She was teaching us the Star-Spangled Banner & we were trying to sing it. Well, she was not pleased with how we sang it. Something about us singing "ban-ner" instead of "bann-er". Well she kept us after school as punishment & we had to keep singing it. Only, she didn't let the parents know we were staying after school. When my father found out what was going on, he marched to the Principal & then came into class & gave the evil Goodness a few select words. That ended the "banner" controversy. Hell with her.
But I do remember in Spring & going on a field trip. The sweet smell of Spring was in the air. We each had our little brown bags of lunch to take with us. Some class mothers were there to go also. I remember hearing, then seeing the buses pull up. The sound of the buses & smell of the exhaust was a source of excitement & mystery. It seemed so exotic to be going away. We went, I think, to see the WWll carrier, USS Enterprise. I remember being on it & boating pass the Statue Of Liberty to get there.
Mrs. Goodness never did fall into the river like I wished, but a little later on & I was outta there - promoted to 5th grade. Hell with her.
We had penmanship as part of our learning. Her system was that every one started out with a black pen. As their penmanship improved, the kids were bestowed a red pen - a visible reward for such skill. After that came a green pen. Then the penultimate (get the pun?) - a gold pen for perfecto penmanship!
I struggled through the year with the black pen, watching jealously as a kid would be called up to her for a different colored pen. Finally I was to receive a red pen. I finally broke ranks with the black, proletarian pen of the masses. However, she insisted that I ask for the red pen, rather than give it to me outright. I was super shy back then & just couldn't do it, especially with the condescending way she talked to me. Well, I ended the year with the black pen. Hell with her.
The 2nd instance was about our class singing. She was teaching us the Star-Spangled Banner & we were trying to sing it. Well, she was not pleased with how we sang it. Something about us singing "ban-ner" instead of "bann-er". Well she kept us after school as punishment & we had to keep singing it. Only, she didn't let the parents know we were staying after school. When my father found out what was going on, he marched to the Principal & then came into class & gave the evil Goodness a few select words. That ended the "banner" controversy. Hell with her.
But I do remember in Spring & going on a field trip. The sweet smell of Spring was in the air. We each had our little brown bags of lunch to take with us. Some class mothers were there to go also. I remember hearing, then seeing the buses pull up. The sound of the buses & smell of the exhaust was a source of excitement & mystery. It seemed so exotic to be going away. We went, I think, to see the WWll carrier, USS Enterprise. I remember being on it & boating pass the Statue Of Liberty to get there.
Mrs. Goodness never did fall into the river like I wished, but a little later on & I was outta there - promoted to 5th grade. Hell with her.
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