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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEarly Education II Home Interview C. MitchellEARLY EDUCATION PART II HOME INTERVIEW Group 8 Caroline Mitchell Interviewed by Mollie Guin 0 Home Interview - August 1, 1996 Moderator - Mollie Guin Interviewee - Caroline Mitchell Mollie - Alright, Ms. Mitchell, is this going to bother you if I lay it right here by your lap? This recorder, is this going to bother you? Caroline - Mollie - OK. Is that OK is that comfortable? Caroline - Sure. Mollie - OK. Well first of all, the first question I was going to ask, was where were you born, and you had stated that you were born on the A&M campus? Caroline - Um hum. Mollie - Was this in the infirmary?Like it was on the campus at that time? A hos a little A&M hospital? Was it something like that where you were born? • Caroline - Um hum. Mollie - OK. Um, Caroline - It was in Bryan. Mollie - Oh it was in Bryan. It was where the where we now have the St. Joseph's hospital? Caroline - Um hum. Mollie - OK. Alright uh where did you go to elementary school, middle school, and high school? Caroline - What did you ask? Mollie - Uh yeah, where did you go to elementary school? Caroline - ? ?? Mollie - Was the school on the campus? Caroline - Well I wish I could get up and get around I've got a piece of paper that's exactly what you want. Mollie - OK. How did you get to school? Caroline - Walked. Mollie - Oh, walked to school. OK. Um Caroline - ? ?? Mollie - OK. Caroline - There was a little school in the country. You know where ?? Creek is? Mollie - Yes ma'am. Caroline - OK they had a, a elementary school there but it wasn't much. They had trouble keeping it going. ? ?? all the grades. So, they finally got the idea of... Mollie - Kind of combining the schools? Caroline - Yes, because there was a teachers program at A &M ? ? ? ?. And they proposed putting together, that would make the elementary school here on campus, and the secondary school would be just the high school as we know it. Mollie - Um hum. And thats how it got... Caroline - That way there was some money for it becausethe government provided some money for the secondary school. Mollie - OK. Caroline - ? ? ?? Mollie - OK. Caroline - ? ?? Provided they put ? ?? money. However, there, when I get up after while I'll look and see if I can find that. Mollie - OK. Caroline - But I ? ? ?? do this program. Mollie - Um hum. Um, Caroline - ? ?? Mollie - OK. Caroline - ?? put together. Mollie - What did the school facilities, what did those look like, the school house, the school buliding look like? (both laugh) Caroline - An old dormitory. Because at one time, when they moved into it, it was a dormitory, and everybody was proud of it. Really. Mollie - And so that's what the school , it was an old dormitory that y'all moved into. Caroline - Moved into this old dormitory, and up on the campus, A &M's campus, after that we didn't have an enterance on the south side, we had that one on the west and one on the side, and the physics building ? ?? and that was our secondary school. Mollie - OK. Alright,uh, what did y'all do during recess or play time, in the elementary schools? Caroline - We had a good time. Mollie - (laugh) Were there any particular games that you played? Caroline - Yeah - hide and seek. Mollie - OK. Were there, did you have any kind of playground equipment? Caroline - We had a ocean wave. Mollie - Now you want to explain that. Caroline - Sure. ? ? ?? It was fixed, I suppose ? ?? , and we were on the thing and did your feet. That's that. Mollie - Um hum. Caroline - And that made it go up and down. Mollie - Alright, and... Caroline - And not just straight around. Mollie - And you called it an ocean wave? Caroline - That was it. ? ? ?? Mollie - OK. I don't think I've ever heard of one. Um, Caroline - You'd have remembered. Mollie - Alright, um, what did you do for lunch, did you have a cafeteria, or did y'all bring yourlunch? Caroline - Uh huh, ? ? ?? great cook. Mollie - Oh, I'm sorry. Caroline - You know what a ?? looks like don't ya? Mollie - Yes ma'am. Caroline - Well we had coal with chains on it, and uh, the chains were fastened to this ?? , and you ran and when you got yourself going good, you could fly. Mollie - You could try to fly out in the air. Caroline - Yeah. Mollie -Oh! Did this have a name? Caroline - No, I don't think so. If it did, I don't know what it was. Mollie - OK. Well I bet that was fun. Then you could swing... Caroline - Yeah. And it would come back in and hit you in the head. Mollie - (laugh) Or the kid that was swinging out could hit somebody, right? Caroline - Yeah. Not many would get in the way ? ?? of the kid. Mollie - (laugh) Alright, is there anything else you can tell me about the playground or the recess? Caroline - There was a fine big ditch there! (laugh) ? ?? We would see if we could jump that far. ? ?? Mollie - So it was kind of a game to see who could jump across the ditch. Caroline - Yeah. Mollie - OK. Can you think of anything else? Caroline - ? ?? Mollie - OK. Alright, then we'll go on, what did y'all do for lunch? Caroline - I wasn't quite normal, because I was close enough to home. And I could walk home for lunch. Mollie - OK. Caroline - And I did that from time to time. Mollie - So your parents lived on the campus? Caroline - Um hum, my father taught. Mollie - Well, can you tell me anything about any of the school dances or school traditions? Caroline - Well, ? ?? there were dances just like other places did,except not like ? ?? Mollie - (laugh) Caroline - ? ?? Mollie - Um hum. Caroline - Partners. Mollie - Were there any kind of special school traditions that you remember that you really enjoyed or liked? Caroline - No, I can't remember ? ? ? ?? Mollie - OK. So this was a school yell that y'all had? Caroline - Yeah.???? Mollie - Now you tell me anytime you get tired or you want to stop, OK. Caroline - I was born tired. Mollie - (laugh) Oh, no Ms. Mitchell! That's kind of how I felt, because sometimein the mornings I get up, and I don't think I can make it, ya know, so I think we all have those days that we're tired. Um, Caroline - ? ?? however many you wanted, ? ? ?? football we'd all, we'd just get out on top of the stadium, ya know. ? ? ?? Mollie - (laugh) You trying to still try to think of that yell, right? It'll probably come to you in a minute. Did the school have yell leaders or cheerleaders or anything like that? Caroline - ? ?? dance orchestra... Mollie - (laugh) Well what can you tell me about the dance orchestra? Caroline - Well ?? played the trombone. ? ?? Well I played the piano. ?? played the horn. ?? did too. We practiced a half hour before school started. We weren't too bad. We ?? around other little high schools. Mollie - Did y'all have a name? Did you call yourself a name? Caroline - I "m sure we did. But I don't remember what it was now. Mollie - And y'all would play for the school dances and stuff like that? Caroline - Um hum. Mollie - Um. OK. Caroline - It was hard to play ? ? ? ?? Mollie - (laugh) Well sometimes having music you could dance by is better than not having anything! Caroline - Yeah. Mollie - Alright, alright, um for you what was your most enjoyable part of the school day? Caroline - I liked school. Mollie - What was your best subject? Caroline - Math. Mollie - OK. Caroline - I think ? ?? Mollie - So you were a teacher later on at the Consolidated High School? Caroline - Uh huh. Mollie - How many students, then, once you became a teacher, how many students did you normally have in your classes? The number. Caroline - Mollie - Can you remember the names of any of your teachers? In elementary, middle school that you can think of? Caroline - Mollie - Well, you said that... have you given an interview, like this, before to anyone on anything else? Maybe like another part of this, like for A &M. Caroline - On education. Mollie - On education, OK. As a teacher, how did you discipline the children? Caroline - we didn't have much ... Mollie - Do you remember how long the school day was? What time did you take in school, when did you start, you know, when did you begin, when did it get out? Mollie - Describe something a typical type of holiday. A Christmas, or something like that. Did ya'll do any kind of activities or plays or something as far as ...