Thursday, February 18, 2010
Small Time Business
My fourth grade education was filled with diversity.
Our class room was located at the end of the hall on the third floor of the newly labeled Primary School. Kentucky Education Reform Act, KERA had recently been established and among these programs were the invention of Primary, Middle and High School distinctions. These distinctions replaced the former Elementary, Junior High, and High School titles.
That year was really a great year for several reasons. Mrs. Gay Sisk was our teacher, she was young, had a great sense of humor and made school a place that you wanted to be. The class was a split grade allowing us to mingle and work along side a different age group which was all together new and exciting. Our desk were set up in two long groupings, where as one row of desks were connected with another to create two long pods on each side of the room. This was a refreshing change from ordinary rows. There were also a couple computers in the corner of the room, new then but now archaic, these were intriguing devices at the time. The front of the room hosted a long reading table, a rocking chair and our television on a rolling stand. You're getting the picture right?
Mrs. Sisk desk was in the back of the room near the curtain that opened into Mrs. Simons class room. Her class was also a split level and often on cold or rainy days the curtains would be opened for recess and the two classes would play together. That was always fun and especially good for business.
What is really of interest about my fourth grade class is that uniquely that year some friends and I began bringing in treasures from home and sitting them out on tables, selling them during recess. Over the course of a couple months this turned into a full on flea market of sorts. The merchandise consisted of costume jewelry, posters, odds and ends found at home that could be transported to school to be sold. Throughout the year almost everyone in the class took part in the business in some way or another. Money was made and saved, when money wasn't coming in like we thought it should we looked for ways to increase revenues. It was quite an operation.
You could take a drawing class from my friend Ryan who could teach you how to draw his famous dog sketches in just a few easy steps. Seasonal wreaths were made out of construction paper and sold to adorn individual lockers. A menagerie of nick knacks, erasers, pencils and pens were always big sellers. And during this process we really had a good time rolling in these nickles and dimes. As you can imagine the prices were really low, usually small change.
Interestingly at the time my friends and I saw nothing strange about this process. We often let the business take up all our time at recess as we were having just as much fun with it as we could playing chase. Most interestingly, Mrs. Sisk never put a stop to this business in her class. She monitored it closely and was always involved in any return disputes or other incidentals that we may have encountered. She kept a watchful eye, our parents became aware of the scenario that was playing out and no one put this operation to a halt.
As the year came to a close and all too quickly I might add, my classmates and I began to wonder what we would do with the money we had made over the year. The total was somewhere over $60.00. Ultimately we decided to honor Mrs. Sisk with the money. With the help of our Primary School Principal and Secretary: Mrs. Dorinda and Mrs Sharon, and of course our parents, we arranged an end of the year party. Decorations, refreshments, entertainment and gifts, all on us. We were very proud. Classmates and buddies Will and Robert entertained an audience with their original song "Skin and Bones," and the class presented fresh flowers and potted plants to our teacher. The party was a hit.
Over the years I have thought about that year many times. It was undoubtedly one of my favorite classes. We were all eight and nine years old then and now we're getting pretty close to thirty. I am not sure what role KERA played in my life educationally, but I do know that I learned many valuable lessons that year in Mrs. Sisk class. Many teachers would have shut us down for fear of complaining parents, mishandled money, you can imagine the fears. But not Mrs. Sisk! She allowed us to take our ideas and put them to use. Fortunately ideas that are allowed to flourished promote bigger and better ideas. After the party was winding down I remember Mrs. Sisk gave a presentation including her thoughts on the year and what she could see us individually doing in the future. I remember that we were all really proud to accept her visions of what we might become.
I have maintained contact with many of the students that I shared that year with and I like to think that we all got a boost from being a part of Mrs. Sisk class. I am not sure if we have made it to the destinations that she predicted for us, but I think that as a group, we're still giving it our best shot!
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