Scissors and Braids

When I was in third grade my class was sent temporarily to a school across the street from the one we were supposed to attend. I don't remember why or maybe we were never told but I think our regular school was having some remodeling done.

This new school was actually pretty nice. It had a large room in the center surrounded by the classrooms. The large room was used for a variety of things, but I remember it mostly as a place to cross to get from one room to another. I don't remember my teacher and I've forgotten most of what I did during that time. I guess it was uneventful except for a couple of things.

We did a lot of crafts in that class, always a good way to give teachers a rest. Apparently, my teacher was able to use the mimeograph machine because we usually had pictures to cut out as part of our work. One day we were making something which involved cutting out another picture. Before I knew it my teacher was standing over me and telling me that I was doing a terrible job with my scissors and I should be more careful. Then she used my work as an example of how we should not be scissoring. I don't think I had ever heard that word before but I certainly have never forgotten it. I was embarrassed and also confused because I hadn't understood that my work was supposed to be perfect. I quickly learned that lesson.

Another day when we were working on a craft project, my teacher started harassing another student because he didn't know how to braid. This time she singled me out as the student who did the best braiding, and told me to show my classmate the correct way to braid. It never seemed to occur to her that most little girls know how to braid because they braid their own hair, and most little boys don't.

One other thing that happened to me in third grade was that I had my tonsils out. But that had nothing to do with the teacher.