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...a
One-room Schoolhouse Teacher Roger Wyse
 I
value my three years as a one-room
schoolhouse teacher and consider it the most interesting time
of my life.
The schoolhouse was truly one room. There was a furnace in
the back, southeast corner, a blackboard at the front on a
raised area, a dinner bucket shelf along the back wall and
north-south rows of desks in various sizes to accommodate
various sized students. There was no electricity or running
water-we had an outhouse and a water pump outside.
The room smelled of books and sweeping compound. I liked to
consider myself the custodian as well as the teacher. One
of my daily duties was to sweep up all of the mud the students
tracked in. I'd also raise the flag first thing every morning
when I arrived at 8 AM And I'd run outside and bring it in
at the first sign of rain!
I was just 18 when I started the job-a bachelor living at home.
My father would drive me to the school every Monday morning
because I didn't have a car of my own. I'd stay at a home nearby
as a border during the school week. Somebody would usually come
after me again on Fridays, but I did make the seven-mile walk
home along those muddy roads once or twice.
School started at 9 AM. The first thing on our schedule was
always to say the Pledge of Allegiance. We'd then recite a
Bible verse. On Fridays the students got to tell jokes or
riddles. Wednesday mornings we talked about current events.
I taught most of the lessons by grade level-I had 11 students
spanning first through eighth grades the first year. The second
year, three kindergarten students were added to my classroom.
The students would come up to the front of the room for their
lesson while the others stayed at their desks and worked quietly.
Sometimes the other students would listen in and pick up a
little of the other students' lessons.
 I
was lucky that I didn't really have any discipline problems.
When I did need to discipline a student, I'd have him or her
stand in the corner or stay after school, or I'd take away
a privilege, like recess.
We had two recess periods a day. Since I was only four years
older than my oldest eighth grader, I'd sometimes get involved
in the games. We played a lot of ball. In the winter we made
snow forts.
My time at the school was cut short in 1942 when I was drafted
to join the fight in World War II. As a conscientious objector,
I was deferred for farming and unable to continue teaching.
I have great memories of my time in Stringtown, Iowa. In fact,
I'm still in contact with several of my students through visits
and e-mail some 60 years later.
Roger Wyse (MA '65 - Educational Administration)
spent time farming and raising a family after his time at
the one-room schoolhouse. He then went back to college to
meet the expanded requirements to teach again. He taught at
Mid-Prairie Elementary School for four years. After earning
his master's degree, he spent 20 years as an elementary school
principal for Davis County Community Schools in Iowa. Wyse
retired in 1986 and now lives with his wife, Rachel, in Wayland,
Iowa.
 
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