Jerry Apps

What we're gonna do today is I'll say a few words about storytelling. Then, we're going to do some exercises where you'll have a chance to think about and write about some of your own stories. So it's really your workshop. I'm just here to sort of guide it along. Ordinarily, I've done this workshop over five days. So now we've consolidated it into two hours. I continue to do day-long workshops at The Clearing. And people say to me, "Why in the world do you keep doing this? You're old." And I say I've been doing it since 1971 and I'm trying to figure out how to do it. If I ever get it figured out, I'll probably quit. So you're all gonna help me today figure out how to do this writing workshop thing. Today, the focus is on your experience as an elementary school student. How many of you, for example, how many of you attended a one-room country school? Quite a few of you. That's one of the areas that we'll look at. But it doesn't matter. Whatever schoolroom you were a part of, that's gonna be the focus of the program today. This little book, Telling Your Story, this little book came from workshops just like this, where my students said to me, "When in the world are you gonna write down what it is you've been telling us all these years?" And so I did. And in here you will find a number of stories written by students just like yourselves. I got their permission to use them, and they are in here at various places. What I'm talking about today, you can read in far greater depth here in this book. All the way from how to trigger memories of your early life to how to tell your story in front of a group, in addition to how to write it. So that's what this little book is about. And on occasion, I will refer to it. What we're gonna start with-- Well, first,

I need to say this

Why in the world is it important that you should do this? Why take time from your busy life to write down some of these stories? Well, there's several reasons. And I wanna say thank you to my wife who created these visuals for us. It's the old-school way of doing things, but I still like to do it that way. Can you all see this? Maybe need to tip it around a little bit this way. Why write your stories? And there are several reasons that are listed here. For those of you who are older, it's a way for your family to know what it is that you experienced growing up. Your family deserves to know that, interestingly enough. And you may think, "Well, my family doesn't care what my early schooling was like." You'd be surprised what your family would care about. And I think we all have some obligation to pass on our stories to the next generation. I feel very strongly about that. Writing down your story is another way to record history. No question about it. And one of the things that I encourage everyone to do, especially after writing down your stories, and sharing them with your family, is to make sure you share them with your local historical society and your local public library. There's an interesting collection of stories in this little library on the other end. And the Wild Rose Historical Society has a bunch of stories that they've collected, as most other historical societies do. So when you are writing these stories, you indeed are writing history. And then the last reason for doing it, which I think is so important-- and I say this to every group I've ever worked with-- when we forget our histories, we forget who we are. When we forget our histories, we forget who we are. And so now we move along. The first thing I'd like to have you do, and you should have sheets of paper in front of you, along with some very special Public Television pens, which you are welcome to take home with you, here's what I'd like to have you do. Take one of those big sheets of paper and what I'm gonna ask you to do is map, make a map of the schoolroom that you were a part of, in, let's say, fifth grade. And put in that schoolroom the floor plan. Put in the desks and the tables and the shelves. Put the pictures on the wall. Make a little note what pictures were on the wall. Make a note of the sounds that you remember from that schoolroom. And I'm a product of a one-room country school. And if you were to ask me what the sounds were, I would answer in this way. We had a big Regulator clock on the wall. And the teacher insisted that the schoolroom be absolutely quiet. And the sounds that we heard were tick-tock, tick-tock. Unless you could hear the clock, the room was not quiet enough. And we had an old wood stove in the back of the schoolroom. And the sound that you would hear in addition to the tick-tock, tick-tock was the sputtering and crackling of the wood burning in that old wood stove. Those of the kinds of sounds I want you to remember. And I want you to remember and write down the smells associated with the school. And again, a personal memory. This old wood stove in the back of my school had on it, on top, a pan of water. And in that pan of water, we could bring from home chili, soup, something like that. And when we put it in that pot-- that was our school lunch, by the way. There wasn't any school lunch program-- in that little pan.

And by about 10

30 in the morning, that's a wonderful smell of chili and tomato soup along with the smell of all of the kids who worked in the barn and didn't really clean up too well when they came to school. The smells were really very much a part of it. So take a minute and think about, "What do I remember about that schoolroom "that I was a part of when I was in, say, fifth or sixth grade?" And when you think about that for a minute, then I want you to sketch the map of that schoolroom, and do what I'm suggesting here. And you have 10 to 15 minutes. Any questions before you go on? Anybody? All right, go for it.

light music

And by about 10

Oh, and by the way, there's no looking on your neighbor's-- There's no cheating here.

class laughs

light music

And by about 10

Okay, I'm gonna interrupt. I think most of you are finished. How did that work for you? Anyone want to comment on that? Did you come up with something that you hadn't thought about in a long time? Not enough room on the paper.

class laughs

And by about 10

What?

Student

Not enough room on the paper. Not enough room on the paper. Well, that's probably right. Anybody else want to comment, just how the process worked for you? Yes.

Jennifer Wirth

As soon as I started thinking about things and you start remembering... I remember we had a flag in the corner, and every morning-- I forgot that every single morning-- we got up and said a "Pledge of Allegiance" to the flag. And that's something... Did you all hear that? There was a flag in the corner, and we said the "Pledge" every day. Someone else that...? Yes?

Jane Erickson

I found myself remembering a couple specific events

rather than the general. - Jerry

Sure. So,

my picture was an event. - Jerry

Okay, alright. And I kinda built off of that. - Yes.

Fred Johannes

And you know, what I remember of pictures, there was Abraham Lincoln and George Washington up in the front by the blackboard.

Jerry

Yeah, most country schools had those. Anybody on this side have a comment? Yes?

Lenora Glover

Reminded me that not only we had coat rooms to hang our coats and put our boots in that we go, but then I remember too there was always a piano in every classroom because the teacher would, we'd have a session for music to sing. So there was always a piano, and most of the teachers were able to play well enough to get us through some music lessons.

Jerry

Yeah. How about you young guys? What did you come up with?

Matthew Wech

It seems like a lot of it's a little different than maybe what some of...

laughter

Jerry

That's why I'm asking.

Matthew Wech

Instead of pictures of presidents, I remember a lot more inspirational posters and stuff. For example? "You can do anything if you put your mind to it." Stuff like that.

Brady Hinrichs

I had, like, letters of the alphabet, or like maps or like the counties and the states that we lived in and stuff. Okay, here's what I'd like to have you do next. I'd like to have you turn to your neighbor and introduce yourself if you don't know that person, and say where you're from, and then share that picture with your neighbor. And we're gonna take 10, 15 minutes to do that. So, introduce yourself, share that picture with your neighbor.

multiple conversations

Brady Hinrichs

Once more, I'm going to interrupt. Here's the next thing I'd like to have you do. Look at that map and think about a story that happened in that schoolroom. For example, when I was in first grade at Chain O' Lakes school, and I'll give it all away. I'll give my age away. It was in 1939, which is a day or two ago. No electricity, no anything. We didn't have electricity at home either. And there I discovered-- a little five-year-old, because there wasn't any kindergarten-- that there's this wonderful water cooler. And if you pushed a button, water came up right out of it you could drink. We only had a water pail at home with a dipper. And this was a wonderful new thing. Now Clair Jenks-- some of you will know the name-- He lived in this community for a long time. Clair was a couple, three years ahead of me. And Clair said, "I see you're interested in that water cooler." I said, "Yes, I never saw anything like that before. How does that work?" And Clair said, "Well, here's what you do. "You put your nose right down here where this, see that little hole?" Yes, oh, I see that. He pushes the button, shot right up into my nose. I could have-- Well, good thing the teacher did not-- Ms. Piechowski didn't see that or he would have been in big trouble. And he got-- Well, that's my story. That was my introduction to school as a first grader. Take 15 minutes and write a story about something that happened to you in that schoolroom that you just drew a picture of, 15 minutes.

light music

Brady Hinrichs

Find a place to put a period or a question mark or an exclamation point or whatever seems appropriate. How did this work for you?

Students

It was fun. This is called "timed writing" or "forced writing," and I use it a lot in my workshops. Most people find it useful. Some people absolutely hate it. But it's one way, if you have problems, in getting at doing some writing, it's one way to get over that.

And just a quick comment

we have each of us in our heads, a creative self, and a judging self. And that judging self is constantly working to tell us, "Oh, that's dumb! "You're never gonna be a writer. You shouldn't even try it." And the creative self is desperately wanting to be expressed. Timed writing forces the judge into the corner so that the creative self has the chance to come out. And you will discover, if you haven't already in what you've just done, that by forcing yourself to write about something quickly you just don't have time-- the judge doesn't have time to get started to destroy what it is you're trying to do. So, with that in mind, anyone find that useful? When you go home, just set the timer sometimes you want to write something. Set the timer for 15 minutes, agree on a topic and start writing. You will surprise yourself. I do that sort of thing all the time. I start writing something. I haven't a clue what I'm gonna write about really until I get into it. And some people think you oughta plan it all ahead of time. Well, you don't; you really don't. Enough said. I now want to have some volunteers to come up at this mic and read your story. This is your time, people. And I can see some wonderful stories on the expressions on your faces. So, who'd like to start by coming up and sharing your story? Come right up, Jane, come right on up here.

Jane Erickson

This is from third grade, 'cause I remember nothing about fifth and sixth grade. We were doing some science experiments. Karen Smith was doing something with chick development of fertilized eggs. I sat in the corner of the back row because I was one of those good kids. Side note, a perk of being a good kid meant that the teacher had the naughty boys sit next to me, and I've always liked the naughty boys.

laughter

Jane Erickson

Anyway, one day Karen accidentally dropped one of the dead eggs with a half-developed chick behind my chair. And what an awful stink. One of the other students sprinkled that mop-up powder on it, but the smell lingered at least all day and probably longer. I wonder what grade Karen got.

laughter

applause

Jane Erickson

Somebody else? In a little bit, we're gonna talk about what makes a story. But right now, I'd just like to get a bunch of them out there. So who's next? Don't be afraid, it's a fun thing. Sure, Judy, go ahead. Judy was one of my students many years ago.

Students

Too old.

laughter

Judy Adrian

We moved from Tacoma to Chicago when I was seven, and I was very excited about moving to the big city. Now my mother was quite nervous about this move from the rural area into the urban area. So to prepare my sister and myself for elementary school, she made us walk from the elementary school five blocks to our house. We were complaining and carrying on and acting out the whole way because she drove along next to us like a stalker in her aqua-blue Nash Rambler, looking at us all the way. The next day she found out that Laurel School was not where we were supposed to go. We were supposed to go Central School, and she just sent us off and said, "Go. Go on your own." Just abandoned us.

laughter

applause

Judy Adrian

Who's next? Come on.

Kathy Mahoney

When I was either in the fourth or fifth grade, I went to a big elementary school in Appleton, Wisconsin, and I remember at recess getting into kind of a nasty verbal argument with one of the other girls in the class. I don't remember what the argument was about. I think she was being snotty to me.

And what I remember is

I slapped her in the face. And I always felt really bad about that. But later on in my working career, she came into my office on business and I had the opportunity to apologize. So that was really, really nice.

laughter and applause

And what I remember is

You know, talking about having sort of bully-like experience, I share this story from my own experience and had I done that today, I would probably be expelled, but I'm gonna tell you the story anyway. I had a cap, one cap. And I was very proud of my cap. And Clair Jenks, that same guy who initiated me,

laughter

And what I remember is

I was getting kindling wood for the stove. The little first graders had to bring in the kindling wood. I'm getting kindling wood from out in the woodshed, and there's Clair Jenks, and he steals my cap. That is the worst possible thing to happen for a little kid, to have some-- when you only got one cap. He's got my cap. I took a piece of kindling. I whopped him over the head and he fell on his knees, tears running down his face. He never bothered me again.

laughter

And what I remember is

And thankfully the teacher never heard about it either. Who's next with a story to tell? Yes, come ahead. You know one of things we've forgotten to do? You should say who you are to start with. Pretty obvious, but I forgot to say that. I'm Guy Kaplan, and I was a teacher for 34 years, but I'm not from Wisconsin either. I always liked learning science in fifth grade. It was my favorite subject, especially the systems of the body. I remember memorizing the parts of the ear or the eye. We did digestion and we did the circulatory system. I still remember the posters on the wall and all the names of each part. Later in life, I use that information in my teaching career and in training for an EMT program in the community.

Jerry

Well, how 'bout that?

applause

Jerry

Who's next? I saw another-- Yes, come on up. You two young guys are on notice, you know.

laughter

Jerry

We're gonna get to you. I'm Peggy Thiel, and I went to a one-room schoolhouse... Move closer to the mic. - In first grade. My clearest memory of first grade centered on the lack of indoor plumbing.

laughter

Jerry

One day there was a huge snowstorm and it blocked the entry to the outhouse. And I made several trips outside, but it was blocked every time. And finally, I had to tell the teacher that I needed help. I was so embarrassed, and Mr. Rodencel had to stop teaching and go outside and shovel a path for me to get in. The unwanted attention was very embarrassing for a six-year-old girl, but I made it. And I was very relieved.

laughter

Jerry

And then there was the matter of drinking water. Although the first-graders never had to pump the water, I was always afraid 'cause it looked like it was hard work. But fortunately for me, there was one kid, Gary, who was in seventh grade, and he got in trouble every single day and his punishment was always to pump water and fill the stone water container. So I got out of that job.

laughter

Jerry

Very good.

applause

Jerry

Somebody else? Yes. I'm Leroy Staaland. Get right up close to the mic. I'm Leroy Staaland. Well, my experience with country schools was only a year and a half. My first year was down in Illinois, and I was in a school with eight girls, and I was the only one. But I was small for my age, so they took good care of me. Just before the Christmas program was gonna be, I decided I needed to cut my hair. So I did a little cutting job which looked like, "Ho, ho, ho!"

laughter

Jerry

But one of the girl's mother helped it out and took care of it.

applause

Jerry

Okay, I want to hear from one of you guys. I wanna hear a story from one of you guys. Okay, my name is Brady Hinrichs, and the remembrance I had was from sixth grade, and I don't know why this was on my memory today, but it was. And it was the time of Barack Obama's first inauguration. So it was in January. And we had the choice, as kids, to stay after lunch and watch the inauguration or go out and play recess. And I obviously chose recess, but one of my friends whose family was very liberal decided to watch it. And all I remember is coming back from recess into a dark classroom with the TV on. And I was thinking, "Why in the world would you want to watch this?" As a sixth-grader, I had no interest in doing it. So that's just the memory that I thought of today.

laughter

Jerry

Yeah, do you have a story to tell?

Matthew Wech

I guess, sure.

laughter

Jerry

Give us your name first. I'm Matthew Wech. One of my memories I have is from fourth grade. All the fourth graders got to take a trip to University of Madison to tour it. One of the reasons I remember it is because my sister was a senior. Since she graduated a few days early, so she was out of school. And she decided to be a chaperone, which I thought was cool 'cause no one else got to have a sister, a sibling, and it was always their parent. So I thought that was way cool. And then, she actually had the same fourth-grade teacher as me, and she went to be an elementary teacher because of that teacher. Great, well thank you.

applause

Jerry

Okay, front row.

Kathy Mahoney

I did it. - I know. I'm looking at the rest of the front row. Yes, come on up. I'm Beth Wilcox, Elizabeth, but I'm always called 'Beth.' Our son went to the same school my husband and his father and grandpa and probably great grandpa all went to the Raymond's School in the town of Dakota. Well, Paul, was our first child, and all our kids learned to take part in the farming process so they all helped build their muscles. I have to admit, I wrote this before coming here because I couldn't remember too many things. I was only in country school eight grades for one year, and I couldn't remember too many things that were too pleasant. But I'm going to tell you about my son, Paul. He walked a mile to the Raymond's School. It was a one-room school that the family had all gone to. Sometimes he rode his two-wheel bike with a chain that sometimes was loose, and he'd keep turning 'til it finally hit the right cog and pulled him on to the school. He came home one day after school when he was in the first grade. The kids were playing baseball, and wouldn't you know it, the batter hit that ball straight through the hole... the hole of the outhouse window and fell right into the hole that, luckily, had just been given a cleaning a few days before. Well, Paul, being the smallest and the youngest kid at school, got lowered down the hole

laughter

Kathy Mahoney

through the seat to retrieve the ball. Well, while he's down there, and this kid's hanging onto him, the teacher came to the door and rang the bell. Down Paul was dropped. Everybody ran into the school. So Paul thought, "Well, how am I gonna get out of here?" They had all this dirt there so he dug his feet in and climbed up and grabbed the dirt. I suppose there was some grass in it. He made it out. He was a little late getting into class, and the teacher asked him why he was late. And he said the truth. He told her he was dropped down in there and she rang the bell and everybody ran in and left him down in the bottom of the hole. Well, he told the truth, but nobody stuck up for him. So he got turned over the teacher's lap and spanked. And I thought that was really terrible, and it wasn't right. But it was a lesson he learned, and he's always been a real good kid.

Jerry

It didn't damage him permanently?

Beth

No, but I thought, "What first grader would be able to climb out of a toilet hole?" and he said, "I hung on to the seat."

Jerry

I didn't bet he smelled too good either.

laughter

Beth

Well, it was pretty clean in there really at the time,

laughs

Beth

so he was lucky.

Student

That's a poopy day. - Yes.

laughter

applause

Student

Oh, we got time for a couple more. Yes, come on up. And you ought to tell us, Kay, not only your name but how old you are. We need to hear that. I'm Kay Barnard, and my son is the librarian here. So I'm not responsible for anything he does.

laughter

Student

My first day in school was in September of 1925, and I'd been waiting oh so desperately. I could go to school and I could learn to read. Well, I got to school, with my pencil, new paper, met my friend whom I hadn't seen, Pat, for some time. We went into the room, sat down, and we really learned right away that you do not talk in school.

laughter

Student

So we shut up and pretty soon the day was... the morning was over. I hadn't even had a book. So the teacher said, "Okay, dinnertime. You're excused." All right, Pat and I had lots to say to each other. So we were bumbling all the way downstairs, went around the corner of the building. There was a little terrace. We weren't very hungry, so we sat down and started talking. A little bit later, a very red-face lady appeared on the lawn behind us and said, "Pat, Doris, get home! Now!" We didn't know what we'd done. We were sure it was something real bad. So we scooted for home. I got home, discovered that I was late for dinner. I got switched, you know, with little branches. That doesn't hurt as much as other spankings do. And I ate dinner, went back, and the afternoon went, and I left that school at three o'clock and got home right away. But I hadn't learned to read yet, and I was very disgusted with first grade.

laughter and applause

Jerry

That's absolutely disgusting. Go to school a whole day and you didn't learn to read?

Kay Barnard

That's right. And they didn't even give me a book. How'd you do by the second day? Well, let's go on to the second grade,

and we had a section

you could read these books if you were in the first grade. Then there were those for the second grade. And then there were those for the third. Well, I'd read most of the first and second already. It wasn't legal to read the second grade. And I got to school and my mother and the teacher had been talking. So the teacher said, "Take your books and ought to clean out your desk." And I thought, "Ooh what did I do now?" And she moved me over to the third grade. Well, with three grades in a room by the time you are in the second grade, you're hearing for the second time everything. So it was a breeze. That's how it worked. - Yes. Thank you very much.

applause

and we had a section

Anybody who's just been reluctant to come up here, here's your chance, come on up. My name is Lenora Glover, and I went to school in Milwaukee, in the big city. And when I was in about, oh, around fifth grade, I was always-- I always tried to be a good kid. I always wanted to be good, never got in trouble. And I always did my best to get the best grades I could. But one thing I always would do in fifth grade, I had a desk, of course, with the inkwell. And I lived right across the street from school. So I would go home for lunch. And when I got done with lunch, at the other end of the block, there was a candy store. And if I had an extra nickel, I would go to the candy store and buy myself a bag of sunflower seeds. And I would sneak that into school with me. And I had a cup from a pencil sharpener that I would have sitting in my inkwell, and I'd have books propped underneath it so it was just at the proper level. And I would sneak sunflower seeds in my mouth without the teacher looking. I'd suck on them, and then I'd sneak the hulls out and drop them in the little cup in the inkwell. And I never got caught.

laughter

and we had a section

That was my naughty part of being in school. Well, that's pretty good.

applause

and we had a section

Okay, we're gonna move on and the stories you've been sharing are absolutely wonderful. But I want to go another step and talk a little bit about what makes a story a story. And I wanna start out by saying there's a difference between recalling a memory and simply writing it down, and a story. There's nothing whatever wrong with recalling a memory. That's wonderful, but as someone interested in stories and storytelling, I encourage everybody to go further, to go deeper. To turn that memory into a story. And here are the elements of a story, and I'll talk a little bit about each one of them. Telling your Story book, I've got a whole chapter about that. You can look at it later. So what makes a story? Well, this sounds so simplistic, but it's true. A story has a beginning, and a middle and an end. It's as simple as that in some ways and as complicated as that in some ways. And the elements of a story beyond a beginning, a middle, and an end, a story has characters in it. And if you're writing your memory, you are one of the characters. But then you're meeting other people and your little stories talked about other people. But I want to see those people. What did they wear? What were their mannerisms? How old were they? Characters need to come alive in your story, not just referencing them but making them come alive. And everybody talks. There's dialogue in a story. Dialogue means somebody is saying something, and if you're writing it, that's what you're putting in quotation marks. And dialogue is tricky because, well, as you look around just our state of Wisconsin-- I used to live in Green Bay. The Green Bay folks do not talk the same way that Hayward folks talk, nor do the Milwaukee folks talk the same way that the natives of Wild Rose talk. And so you develop an ear for dialogue and in your memory of your stories, think about, "How did my teacher talk? What words did she use and how did she use them?" My first teacher was Theresa Piechowski, and she had a hint of a Polish accent. Think about using dialogue, and think about how it fits the person. Educational level is another determinant of how people talk. My dad had a fifth-grade education. He dropped the 'G's often when he talked. He had very few, if any, 50-cent words, but you could understand him very clearly. And my mother, same way, had a seventh-grade education. And their spelling was most creative, of course, because they spelled the words as they sounded. So you capture the character, the people in your stories by how their physical descriptions, their mannerisms, their age, and all of that, and how they talk, their language, how they use language. And that helps now bring your story alive. And we want to give life to these stories so that when you tell them, and when you write them, people will say to you, "It's just like I'm standing next to what had happened." That's one of the clues. And then, generally, there's some kind of conflict. Dumping the poor kid in the outhouse; there's a wonderful conflict. That has all the elements of what would make a wonderful story. You need some kind of conflict. Having a bout with this person who was trying to be a bully. That's a kind of a conflict. Not all stories have conflict, but many, many of them do. And there's suspense. You wanna know, "What's next? What happened?" And when you say, my eighth grade was a disaster, ho, ho, that's a suspenseful statement. In what way was it a disaster? See that's the suspense. And you don't give the story away in the first line. Some people tend to do that. They say, this is what happened, and then they tell you the rest of the story, and they need not bother because you already know how it's gonna end. You want a little suspense, meaning you want people to keep reading, to keep listening, wondering, "What is going to happen next?" That's what suspense is all about. The Clair Jenks story with the water cooler, that's an idea. "What in the world is he gonna do?" Well, it's a simple thing. The stories do not need to be complicated. In fact, the simpler the story, the better it's understood often. So conflict, suspense, emotion. And some stories, well, several of these, evoked some laughter. I did not hear a story that brought tears to my eyes. Often there are those stories, but emotion is often a part of a story. And then details. Oh, I want to know where and when and what color? The aqua... What was the car? A Rambler or whatever it was. That's an example of detail. Detail helps make the story. That's why I had you drawing these maps of your schoolrooms so that you've got bunch of detail there that you can draw on. We want to know time and place. When did this story take place and where? And what was it like then? The time and place are a part of stories. Questions? I've just given you two days of the deal that I've done in my workshops in about five minutes. Any questions about this? I'm really challenging each of you to go deeper with your stories, and take that memory, that wonderful memory of whatever it is. We all have a bunch of them, and take that memory and work on it and set the timer, and do whatever it takes, and keep these in mind as you work your way through. Now we're gonna do another exercise. And this time, we're gonna go a step further. And I don't wanna frighten any of you. You're here to learn how to do this stuff. And what we're gonna do is I'm gonna have you writing some stories, sharing the stories, and then we're gonna talk about to what extent did that story meet these criteria. In other words, we're gonna test right off the bat. I spent 38 years teaching. I can't get over it so it probably shows badly. Okay, so here's what's gonna happen. Think about your favorite teacher. And this can be high school, I suppose, too, if you want. I want-- Just make a list of these kinds of things to start with. What's the name of the person, physical characteristics, special skills, personality quirks, teaching approach, discipline strategy, whatever you wanna do. Make a list of that. I'll give you an example. Some of you will remember Arlene Holt, who was one of my high school teachers, here, at Wild Rose High School, where I graduated in 1951. Arlene Holt was an English teacher. She also was the librarian. And Arlene Holt had a magnificent way of sneezing. We all sat watching. Would today be another day for a Holt sneeze? And it would go something like this. We would all be watching. And we were supposed to be talking about Beowulf as I remember. I was a senior then. And Ms. Holt said, "I don't understand this stuff." And so we then studied the Reader's Digest, but that's a little aside. We all understood the Reader's Digest. But now this is the day when we knew there's likely to be a Holt sneeze. And it would start like this.

sniffs

and we had a section

A-ha-ha-ha. She's getting ready.

sniffs

and we had a section

She had a little dainty handkerchief she pulled out. Now...

sniffs

and we had a section

She would sniffle-- I mean she would sniffle for an enormous amount of time before she ever got around to the sneeze. And then

sniffs

and we had a section

and she'd screw up her face. I mean it was just most difficult to keep a straight face as an eighth grader who was supposed to be a decent sort of a student. And finally, there's a little bit, "Achoo." That was it.

laughter

and we had a section

There was no big ACHOO that everybody would hear. Take some time and write down the characteristics of your favorite teacher, and then we're gonna go another step with that. But let's do that first. Just take about five minutes and write down the characteristics of one of your favorite teachers.

light music

and we had a section

Next thing I'd like to have you do is just share that list, whatever you've written about that favorite teacher with your neighbor. We'll take a couple minutes to do that. I think you'll find that interesting. Just share that with your neighbor.

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Sarah Peterson

My favorite teacher...

multiple conversations

Jerry

Let me interrupt again and now what I'd like to have you do is to think about that teacher and write a story related to how that teacher, in your mind, became one of your special teachers. And let me give you an example. When I was-- I had polio when I was in eighth grade, and I came to Wild Rose High School hardly able to walk. And I was, along with all the other freshman boys, we were encouraged to go out for baseball. And, of course, I'm standing at the base, and I can't run. I could hardly walk. And Cliff Simonson was the pitcher then. And he had, well, he had a way of initiating the freshman by whistling the ball right by your nose. And the ball hit me in the head and knocked me cold. And Paul Wright, who was the coach, when I came to-- And there weren't any ERs and trips to the hospital and all that. When I came to, he said, "Jerry, I don't think you're gonna make the baseball team,"

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Jerry

which was the understatement of the year. But then he encouraged me to take typewriting. And why in the world should any boy take typewriting? Everybody knew typewriting was for girls. And it was in 1946 or seven, whatever that year was. And so here I am in a classroom with 15 girls. It was not the worst situation, I must tell you. Paul Wright got me into writing. Because that typewriter class at Wild Rose High School was also the newspaper office. We produced the Rosebud. Wasn't that just-- Do you just want to grab that and read it? And, eventually, I became editor of it. Paul Wright was my hero. He saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. I was a miserable little kid. And he was able to say, "Jerry, maybe you can do something else rather than baseball." Write a story now for 15 minutes about your favorite teacher along the lines that I just shared with you.

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Jerry

Again, find a place to put a period or a question mark or whatever would be appropriate. And I'm going to ask for volunteers, especially those who have been reluctant to come up here to share their stories. Now before you do, this time we're gonna do it a little differently in that once you've heard the story, then I want you to look at this list and note, note what you really like about the story. And every story has all kinds of worth and every story, no matter how good it is, can be improved. So we're here to help each other, not to send you home thinking, "I was not cut out to be a writer, and now I know for sure." Come on up. Well, my name is Karl Gutknecht, and I went to the Seaman's School in Richland County and had one teacher for all eight grades, Mrs. Harper. And as wonderful as Mrs. Harper was, my favorite teacher was never even in the classroom. He came to us through the radio. And every single Monday morning for eight years Mrs. Harper would go to the front of the room, and there was this big radio with two knobs on it. And she'd turn it, and it was set to a certain station, and it was the Wisconsin School of the Air. And after we recited the Pledge of Allegiance with the flag was right next to the radio, so our attention was focused right there. This voice would come over the radio from a place called Radio Park in Madison. And we sat there, all eight grades, from this big up to this big imagining this Ranger Mac sitting in a studio on this vast agricultural campus, he said, at the University of Wisconsin. And he would start to talk like our friend Jerry Apps here, about the wonderful things that we already knew about when we walked to school every day. Some people walked two miles and they had their dinner buckets, and they would be walking. Nobody ever took their kids to school in a car and dropped them off like today. God help us. So... Here Ranger Mac is talking about squirrels and acorns and nuts and all the things that we knew, and in our imagination on the way home, we said, "Oh, that's what he was talking about today." And it just came alive because he talked about the wonders of the valleys and the meadows and the cows and all the things that we knew. And here we sat in this one-room school and listened to this man. Well, about the sixth grade, I was startled to learn that he had a double identity. It's almost as bad as learning there isn't a Santa Claus. This was really a man called Wakelin McNeel and he had a job at the state conservation department. And talking about nature, it was just part of his job. And of course, there were other memorable teachers, but he would start every Monday morning, and he would say, "Hello, boys and girls. "This is your day-- so, up and away."

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Jerry

And at the end of his half-hour show after he talked about the squirrels and the raccoons and soil conservation, he would... He had this statement that I remember so vividly. "May the great spirit put sunshine in your heart, "now and forever more, keep much." My favorite teacher, Ranger Mac.

Students

Aw...

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Students

I've just got to do this. I listened to that same radio program, and I was so privileged to get to know him. I was a professor in the College of Ag for years and that's where Wakelin McNeel was. He also was the state 4-H leader at one time. And if you ever been to Upham Woods on the Wisconsin River north of Wisconsin Dells, he was the first director of Upham Woods. So I have all kinds of wonderful memories of Wakelin McNeel. Write down your comments about this man's story. He has the best German name, Gutknecht. Is that pretty close?

Karl

"Gutknecht" means good servant, so there's a story... Are you sure about that?

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Karl

Write down some comments related to what's here, and we're gonna talk about this story for a little bit.

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Karl

All right, who wants to start? Generally, we get everybody into it, but we're running out of time. Anybody? Comments? Yes.

Jane Erickson

I'm just picturing-- I was thinking at first about suspense, and the way he took us through a Monday morning and you're looking at the radio, and you say the Pledge, and then you're waiting for the show to start. It was wonderful. And then you hear, "This is WLBL, your state's station, "coming to you today from Auburndale, Wisconsin. "And today we feature, one more time, Afield with Ranger Mac." Okay, we want another volunteer to come up here. And don't be afraid. We're all here to help each other, especially somebody who hasn't done it yet. This is a chance to be up here and share a story that we can help you with. Look at that. Yes, by all means. Come right up. Tell us who you are and the whole schmear.

Kate Norman

When I was in seventh or eighth grade, we had a substitute teacher. I don't remember her name. She was very pretty, very young. I think a blonde. She had such a pretty smile and voice. She was very sweet and calming. I was very shy and unconfident. I was made fun of a lot by other kids, so I didn't smile much. And this is bringing me to tears. I remember her telling me that I had a pretty smile and that I should smile more. She made me feel important and valuable. She inspired me to teach later. And all growing up, I wanted to be a teacher and a mother. My mom was just a wonderful mother. And... later on, I found out... Terrible news to me was that that substitute teacher was fired or was not asked to come, and I always wondered why. I couldn't figure it out because, to me, she was the best substitute teacher I'd ever had.

Jerry

Thank you very much.

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Jerry

Again, just take a moment and think about what you just heard. Write down a couple notes, and we'll talk about it. Okay, let's start with what you liked about what you heard. Let me make a comment about emotion because that's a good example of emotion in what you just heard. One criterion for checking your own writing as to whether or not it has any emotion. If you are not laughing when you are reading what's supposed to be funny, it ain't funny. And if you are not coming to tears when you read it, then the emotion of sadness is missing. And we saw the example of that just now. And never ever apologize for allowing emotion to be expressed. Do not ever apologize for that. That often gives tremendous life to a story. Emotion is a powerful, powerful thing. Comments now? Yes.

John Gwinn

I would mention emotion as well. That's obvious, but also the suspense. What happened to the teacher?

Yes. - John Gwinn

We don't know. And sometimes that's just fine. We want, well-- What I saw when she was speaking, what I saw she saw in this teacher, apparently somebody else didn't, or saw that as not a positive characteristic. Comments? Yes.

Kathy Mahoney

What was the time period, the years?

Kate Norman

Okay, I got to figure it... This was seventh and eighth grade. I was born in '58, graduated in '76, so this would have been probably early '70s. Other comments? Yes.

Karl Gutknecht

What came through to me was the crucial importance of teachers in our lives and how they help us to become what we are in such a positive way.

Jerry

Yeah, excellent, and that was a wonderful example of that, yes. Somebody else? Yes.

Lenora Glover

I think she had a lot of detail about the teacher, herself. You know, the impression she got from that teacher.

Jerry

And what she looked like.

Lenora Glover

What she looked like and how that teacher made her feel.

Jerry

Yeah. This side? Yes, Jane.

Jane Erickson

Back to emotion, you know, we felt your emotion, but your comments about bullying made me angry for you. So, it brought up that emotion within me. Again, when you're writing it, you should feel the emotion. The reader ought then feel that emotion as well. Generally speaking, if you don't feel it yourself, the reader isn't gonna feel it either. That's the point I was trying to make. Anybody else? In the back? You folks way in the back there, you've been mute.

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Jane Erickson

What did you like or not like? How would you make this better? This is a great start, yes. Anybody? Judy?

Judy Adrian

Not on how to make it better, but on the idea that sometimes we write through adult eyes. And this felt like it was written through a child's eyes to me. And I liked that perspective a lot.

Jerry

Yeah, I didn't get into point of view at all, but that's a wonderfully good comment because, generally speaking, if you are writing as a child, and several of my books-- they're piled up out there if you want to go look at them. Several of my books are written from the perspective of when I was eight or nine or ten years old. And I worked really hard at that. The language used, the dialogue, the whole schmear has to be authentic or it's not going to work. And that's the fun of doing this work by the way, is to seek, to remember yourself as who you were and just crowd everything out and forget that you got a Master's degree and a lot of big words stuck away in your head, and think about, "What would I have said when I was five years old, and how would I have said it?" Other comments? And we're almost out of time. So, anything you want to say, questions about what we're doing and all that. And I'm sorry the time goes by so quickly. Anything at all? Questions? Comments? Yes.

Kate Norman

I'd just like to make a comment about just even getting out there.

Jerry

A little louder please.

Kate Norman

I was just going to say, just going up there in front of everybody was very... a big step for me. And I never have considered myself a writer. I don't feel like-- I'm not confident as even to do journaling 'cause that-- all the judgment of the years of other teachers or whatever of my writing, it just feels like that I can't do it right.

Jerry

That's not uncommon. You've got a huge judge sitting on your shoulder that I referred to earlier. Sometimes you just need to do some of what I've been suggesting, doing some timed stuff, and knock the judge off your shoulder and say, "Go talk to somebody else. I want my creative self to be expressed." Somebody else? Any? Yes.

Jennifer Wirth

I wanted to make my experience a little bit different and tell my story through the school's point of view.

Jerry

Uh-huh. And how it's no longer a school. It's now just a storage building and how sad it must be that it once housed all of these kids through the ages. Fantastic. Some of you know that I write about barns and mills and breweries and all that kind of stuff. And it's really interesting to take the point of view of a barn or a school. And every building, especially older buildings, every one of them has a story to tell if we could only figure out a way of hearing the story. And sometimes that building needs a storyteller so that we can capture... That's a great idea. Get after that. Why are you sitting here? Get going, git!

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Jerry

Yes?

Fred Johannes

I have to tell you, Jerry, you know my one-room country teacher was Alice Daye at Webb School. And I thought I was coming here today to write and talk about the school. But you made me realize that I'm really here to write down about the teacher, the magnificent teacher we had at Webb school. And she taught us for the rest of our life. And called me over to her deathbed at Heartland just a year or two ago and gave me an assignment to write about Webb School. And how are you doing? Well, you're helping me along.

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Fred Johannes

But I think it really has to switch that the school and the teacher because they taught us for the rest of our lives.

Jerry

Of course. Anybody else have? Yes.

Guy Kaplan

I used to call it "Drop Everything and Write" when we were in fourth and fifth grade. 'Cause we had to drop everything and read, and then we let everybody read and then drop everything and write. It was journaling. Well, writing is a powerful activity. It's one way of finding out who we are. It's a way of helping us get out from behind ourselves. Think about that for a while. Helping us get out from behind ourselves. It's a way of having us reflect on where we've been because we can't begin to know where we're going, unless we have a pretty good idea of where we've been. History is a powerful, powerful area of inquiry. Yes?

Karl Gutknecht

It seems to me you can help me rediscover that happy eight-year-old. Exactly, and my discovery of the happy eight-year-old was just the opposite because I couldn't walk. I was paralyzed in bed. But I had to rediscover it, and I wasn't about to. I don't want anybody to know I'd ever had polio. I spent ten years in the Army Reserve. I never told. No doctor ever asked me so I didn't tell them. So, that's right. Folks, we are just about out of time. You have been the most wonderful group. We've just begun to do what needs to be done in this area of storytelling. And I hope you've gotten enough hints out of what we've done today that when you go home, you're gonna sit down and you're gonna write the story about the school, and you're gonna write some more about this wonderful woman who helped you get in touch with yourself. And you're gonna write more about this poor kid stuck down in the toilet hole.

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Karl Gutknecht

Thank you all so very much.

applause

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