“One Room Schoolers” will be honored during the third annual Educator Appreciation Day on Saturday, August 16, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Ohio History Center and Ohio Village, 800 E. 17th Avenue, Columbus. Ohio’s active teachers and retired teachers and their families will be admitted free to all Ohio History Center activities and facilities.
As co-sponsor of this event, the Ohio Retired Teachers Association (ORTA), along with representatives of some ORTA local retired teacher chapters, will host commemorative activities for children and adults in the Ohio Village’s One-Room School.
ORTA will provide a simple arts and crafts project, classroom games, and sets of jacks games for children. ORTA has also prepared One Room School informational flyers to distribute to visitors: A History of One Room Schools; Rules of the School House; Rules to Live By (for teachers); and A Test for Adults: Could You Have Made the Grade?, with questions on Grammar, U.S. History, Arithmetic, Health, Geography, and Orthography.
Visitors will be able to participate in some classroom learning simulations typical of the one room school. Children will be invited to sit at desks that typically seated students ranging from 6 to 16 years old, and participate with a teacher who will demonstrate/discuss a typical day of classroom learning, as well as some of the vocabulary that described a day’s school routine (e.g., orthography, privy, etc.) Behavioral decorum expectations for students will also be carefully explained (dunce cap and all).
To prepare for recognition of “One Room Schoolers”, ORTA’s Public Relations Committee, chaired by Marion chapter’s Jo Ann Zimmerman, is asking that Ohio’s local retired teacher chapters assist with identifying and recruiting individuals who either taught in a one-room school or who attended a one-room school. The “One-Room Schoolers” will be able to pin onto a large wall map of Ohio’s counties a small flag onto which they will write their names, the name of the school and location, and the years they attended/taught in the one-room school. Special commemorative certificates will also be awarded to the honorees.
The One-Room School, constructed at the History Center’s Ohio Village and furnished to resemble the many one-room schools that dotted Ohio’s landscapes from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, was significantly financed (approximately $60,000) by ORTA and donations from the state’s 90 local chapters during the 1970’s.
In addition to free admission for present or past educators and their families to the Ohio History Center’s museum and to the Ohio Village, Educator Appreciation Day will also include a teachers’ vendors fair, professional development workshops for teachers, and educational resources/materials.
In preparation for ORTA’s “One-Room Schooler” recognition, Marion City/County teachers who either taught in or attended a one-room school should contact ORTA/MCCRTA’s Jo Ann Zimmerman, 740-389-5795 or [email protected], if they plan to attend Educator Appreciation Day at the Ohio History Center on August 16, 2014. The names for recognition will then be forwarded to ORTA so that certificates can be created.
About Marion Online News
