Friday Flashback – 6th Grade
BlogMommas is having a new Friday meme, so join in. I really should remember more than I do about sixth grade. I am now a 6-8th grade teacher so I thought I would participate to see if I could jog some memories.
I went to a Catholic school that wasn’t too strict. I had three teacher and all of them were lay people (not nuns). They were good teachers, but I loved my fifth grade teacher so much. The three classes were divided into groups based on prior performance on achievement test. I was relieved that I was in the accelerated class because I was a good nerdy student and I would have been very unhappy in the middle or lower class. (I know now that learning like that isn’t entirely beneficial and I make sure to never group my students by an achievement test as it creates ego maniacs and is very hurtful to the kids who scored lower).
I loved reading and at the end of the year I got an award for the most independent book reports (the big time nerd award).
At the beginning of the school year, my homeroom teacher told the story of how the Blessed Mother statue in her classroom had turned towards her by the end of the year. She explained that the statue turned because the Blessed Mother was trying to give her strength from all of the noisy students she taught. As a joke a few weeks later, one of the boys stood on a desk chair and turned the statue to face away from the teacher entirely. She was mortified and we all laughed a lot.
As for fashion, at the beginning of the year, I had pigtails or braids because my Mom was afraid I was going to pick up lice. Mid-year, I cut my hair short into a Dorothy Hamilton feathered front and duck tail back short haircut. I thought I was so cool.
I wore Jordache jeans and I thought I was the coolest! It took many hours of complaining and begging to get these jeans and I just loved them.
My friends were soooooooooooo important to me. We were into secrets and talking about boys all of the time. I was slow to get into music (ya know because I was a nerd with my head in the books), but as soon as I got into music, I would tape it from the radio onto a cassette and then play it over and over so I could learn the words. This way, I could be cool when songs came on the radio and I could sing them with friends. When Madonna came out with the song Like a Virgin, I belted that song out several times at the top of my lungs, yet I had no idea what a virgin was, nor did I care even to ask anyone. Years later, I understood the song a lot better.
Oh and the commercial for McDonald’s was two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun sung/said very fast. I have no idea why we sung this, but we did and we sung it in union as if it was a sorority song. BTW, we didn’t have a McDonald’s nearby so we weren’t going to get any hamburgers from singing it.
I also remember singing the tune to a television show. The show was called the Greatest American Hero and this guy flew around in a spandex long john suit. I remember the entire song and not so much about the show. And of course it’s on You Tube.
Hugs,
marlene
Topics: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
July 11th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
LOL! I am reading this and thinking of cassettes. That seems forever ago, but then I remember that my Billy Joel album was on 8 track. ACK!
The statue story made me giggle. That is too funny.
We did not have a McD’s near by either. I remember the commercials though. They were fun.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I remember when McD’s had those commercials! LOL! Now I want a Big Mac! LOL!!!!!
That is hilarious about the statue…I can just imagine the horror on the teacher’s face!
I’m so glad you joined in!
July 11th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Ahhhh jordache jeans and guess jeans too!…I loved mine so much, my mom eventaully cut them all up and me a denim quilt, which I still have.