Today we will start!

 TERRY

Terry agreed to start walking with the walker several times a day starting NOW.  She said she wanted to do it on odd hours so I have an alarm set for 11:00, 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00.  We NEED to start somewhere and I am hopeful that today is a good start.  As I blog she is watching Hallmark on TV!

No tennis today and tomorrow so I will use this time to clean up this place.  It is not dirty BUT it has papers from here to there and everywhere in-between!  By the end of today this place will look very nice--maybe!!!

On to mid-October of 1969

In May of 1969 I had accepted a teaching contract from Mr. Hayek at the North Dakota School for the Deaf.  The salary was a nice round number, $6,000.  I, in no way, had any idea what I signed up for!!!  As the summer flew by and August came I was ready but really was I?  The first day of in house meetings I found out that my teaching assignment was 4th grade.  BUT in other words my teaching assignment was one where I had better be battle ready.  The class consisted of only 7 students which would be contained all day with me but the range of personalities and abilities were as wide as the ocean!

• I had Jim who would challenge any teacher with his lack of ANY knowledge.  
• There was Cheryl who could go head to head with Jim in terms of NOT knowing the answer
• Dianna was in the mix and one had to feel sorry for her.  She was just a happy sweet girl with a BUNCH of physical issues which made her life difficult.  She was born with no ears so had plastic ones which she needed to hold her glasses on.  She also had a cleft plate and her eyesight was terrible without her glasses
• Going down the line there was Mary Ann who came to the school from the reservation.  She was a sweet girl with gorgeous looks and often thought she was in high school!!  IF you know what I mean!
• Then there was Dick who came from a family of deaf parents and several deaf siblings.  Dick was sharp as a tack which set him apart from the others.
• Next in line was Loren G.  He had the demeanor and character to match his flaming red hair.  In the end he was a favorite.
• Lastly there were Loren C.  He came into the world with pitch black hair and had a personality to match in MANY ways.  

As one can guess these kids knew Mr. Lee was a first year teacher and even at the age of 11 or so they tried to play the part of "Get under Mr. Lee's skin and bug him!"  Well I would say that I pretty much met them head on and most of the time came out on top.  But one afternoon on a Friday I almost lost it.  I had been going back and forth with Loren C. as he seemed to think he was at times the boss and at times the smart one and of course neither was ever true.  It was early afternoon and for some reason the kids came back to school from their lunch hour and time outside and they were all in a mood that was not very conducive to learning.  We were about to begin a math lesson where they all needed rulers and compasses.  About the time we begin Loren C. raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom.  Now class had only been in session after the lunch hour for about 15 minutes and I could not believe Loren C needed to go now.  I politely told him that he could wait until after math class.  I turned my back on the class to write something on the board and as I did that I heard one of the girls scream.  As I turned to see what it was all about I caught a glimpse of Loren C charging out of his desk and charging towards me with the point of his compass in his raised hand.  Back then I was 22 and not 74 like today so I did a quick side step and caught his hand as it came towards me.  With a squeeze of his wrist the compass dropped to the floor and it seemed like time stood still.  Still grabbing his right wrist I looked around and all I saw was six kids with their eyes bugged out looking at what just happened.  As Loren twisted I held tight and led him back to his desk.  As I tried to continue the lesson I had scrambled ideas in my head as to what to do.  Do I leave things as they are?  Do I take Loren to the superintendent?  Do I go the the principal?  I felt that this was perhaps a defining moment in my room in terms of what the kids thought of Mr. Lee so with a firm grip on Loren's right wrist I walked him outside the classroom and we had a long talk.  After a time we both entered the classroom again and carried on as if all was well.  As the day ended I found myself tired and drenched in sweat but I felt I had made myself heard and the class would be mine the rest of the year.  That actually turned out to be true BUT there would be more adventures with Loren which "for sure" made the year memorable.