What Teachers Can Learn from a One Room School House

What today's teachers can learn from the methods employed in the one room school house of yesteryear would seem to be marginal at best. Television and movie portrayals of the one room school house leaves viewers with pleasant memories of children of scattered ages, in old fashioned clothing, answering a hand rung school bell and then spending the rest of the day busily at work on their slates or following along on shared readers. These renditions seldom delve into the real lessons taught in a one room school house, lessons that go beyond reading and writing and continue to have meaning and value in today's world.

My first year of elementary education took place in a modified one room school house at the Brick School in Franklin, MA, The school contained one classroom and a cloak room with a lavatory in the cellar. The teacher, Mrs. Dorothy Perron, had responsibility for the education of first and second grade students, whom she taught in a single room, first graders in the first three rows and second graders in the remaining two rows.

For us students, a learning environment that would surely be frowned upon by today's standards was viewed as quite normal. What became clear to me only years later when I became a public school teacher myself was what an extraordinary arrangement our little one room school house was and how much I had benefited from the diversity of experiences I absorbed there.

One Room Demands Focus. To make any kind of headway as a young student in a one room school house students, even six , seven and eight year olds, had to learn how to focus on our own desk and our own work. While two rows of students might be reading aloud under the teacher's direction, the other three rows might be required to practice handwriting or doing addition on worksheets.

This meant that students had to work diligently on their assigned work and on blocking out everything around them without the luxury of constant re-enforcement from the teacher who was otherwise occupied. While we always were given proper tools and directions, the responsibility for completing our assigned desk work was clearly on us. As a result we learned more than our basic lessons. We discovered how to mind our own business and get on with the work at hand. Lessons that remain valuable today.

One Room Produces Mentors. In the first and second grade reading is a much studied skill. With two different grade levels in play and many different reading skill levels in each grade, our teacher faced a serious challenge. Her solution was to rely on assistants from among the students. Those who excelled in reading were often paired with less adept students and were asked to listen, correct and encourage their partners who were reading at a lower level of proficiency. Students reading at the higher level were also asked to model good reading skills by reading sentences from time to time as they assisted their partner.

Everyone got lots of out loud reading time huddled in two's throughout the room, the hallway and the entry of the school itself. And the system worked. Kids not only improved their reading but along the way we all found new friends and role models. Instead of being intimidated by older students we saw them as our mentors, protectors and friends. As first graders we all looked forward to taking on those same roles during our next school year.

One Room Enforces Discipline Within the first week of school in a one room schoolhouse, most of us kids saw quickly that our teacher, while very nice, had her hands very full. If we wanted to enjoy the school year, we needed to follow the simple rules set out for us.

In rather short order we learned to reduce Mrs. Perron's load by disciplining one another. Second graders disciplined first graders; smart kids disciplined those less gifted; big kids disciplined other big kids who hadn't quite gotten the message about behavior. The self devised system worked so well that our teacher could trust us to go outside for recess in the school yard by ourselves. Most days only an occasional glance out the window was required from our teacher . Her trust in our ability to police ourselves built up our own confidence . As a group we learned to curb excesses and get along harmoniously .

One Room Creates Community . Perhaps the most remarkable growth that occurred in our one room school house was the building of community. With each passing day we took less and less notice of our differences in age, size, maturity or skills. We studied, snacked, sang and played together. We shared the same learning space, playground, restrooms and teacher. We were all students of the little, red Brick School and proud of it.

Historically, it would seem that the day of the one room school house has come and gone. Modern educational institutions now house hundreds of students, sequestered by age or grade. A rush is on to match academics with students around the world which means more time spent on math, science and reading.

While we are unlikely to experience a return to buildings like my Brick School, teachers may want to seriously consider the importance of fostering some of the lessons provided by the one room school house. As teachers in one room school houses discovered, there really are ways to create situations, activities and exercises which while providing academic training can also help children to learn life skills like focus, concern for others, shared discipline and a sense of community.