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3 Elul 5765 - September 7, 2005 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Home and Family

WITH ALL OF ME
by SARA GLASER

CHAPTER TWO

PART III

Teaching

I invested much time and effort to earn the money I needed for living expenses. In high school, I would leave immediately when classes were over and go directly to whatever job I had. There was no time to enjoy the activities available after classes, in which I would have very much liked to participate.

I was a packer in a department store, a sales clerk in a bakery, a typist for a writer of stories for a popular monthly magazine, and much more. In addition to working after school, some jobs included working evenings, and all day Saturdays [this is before she become observant] and Sundays, such as one position in a local bakery shop.

Summer vacations during my college years I spent working in the Catskill Mountains (also called the Borscht Belt). I was a waitress at resort hotels seven days a week, twelve to fourteen hours a day. Every time I lifted the large metal trays, loaded with ten to twelve heavy plates of food, off the counter, and raised them up above my shoulder, I would feel as if a string was being pulled at both ends inside my stomach, and was ready to snap. Years later I learned that doing this caused an unknown spinal condition to surface some twenty years earlier than usual. The tips received doing this work was significant enough to make me not want to do something else.

Those of us who waited on tables in the 1940s did not have the benefit of writing customers' orders down on paper. One's concentration had to be focused and sharp to remember how many wanted roast, or boiled or broiled chicken, and how many wanted the white or the dark meat, and which to serve to whom. A waiter or waitress usually had four to five tables of eight to ten people per table.

Particularly difficult was trying to remember how many guests, during breakfast, wanted one or two soft-cooked eggs (three or four minutes), hard-cooked (commonly called boiled), poached, scrambled (wet or dry), or fried eggs (sunny-side up or down). If one egg was requested we told the chef a 'single,' if two were wanted we said 'order.' In addition, we had to remember to give the right food to each person.

We had to set the tables before each meal, and cater to those who wanted special attention before breakfast, such as getting them hot water and lemon, or prune juice, and obliging those who wanted other items in between meals. We earned every penny we got!

When the college, which was in northern New York State, was in session, some of my jobs included cleaning houses for thirty-five cents an hour, baby-sitting for ten cents an hour, being an office clerk, a sales person, a secretary, and working the midnight shift (midnight to 7 am) at a local razor blade factory. I got some of these jobs by knocking on doors of people living nearby. I would explain that I was a student at the local college and needed employment, and was willing and able to clean, cook, and baby-sit.

Approaching people, especially strangers, asking if I could work for them, made me feel uncomfortable, but I did it anyway, because my wanting a college education was stronger than the discomfort of asking for help. I believed the education I received would yield lifetime benefits, whereas these activities were only temporary.

After receiving a Bachelor's degree in Science in the field of home economics, I found, much to my surprise, that teaching home economics to high school girls was only part of the job. Afternoon milk and cookie visits at my home were frequent. Teenagers, like everyone else, often need someone to confide in, with whom to share their troubles and concerns, to have a shoulder to cry on, to be a sounding board, and sometimes to serve as a liaison, intermediary, or more.

For example, one eleventh-grader would sometimes crawl under the table around which we sat and bark like a dog. Her teeth were almost black. As our relationship developed, I learned that the dog in her home was the only one that gave her affection. After doing some research, plus making a number of phone calls, she and her family received professional counseling and she received much-needed dental work.

One twelfth-grader rang my doorbell at two o'clock one morning, suitcase in hand. She was planning to leave home and asked if she could spend the night.

Although I wanted to help my students, I had to set limits. In the case of serious problems, I tried to steer students and their parents to appropriate professionals or agencies. I was afraid that with all the best intentions, I could give wrong or harmful advice that would only worsen their situations.

I learned first-hand about a multitude of life situations students could be having, while at the same time trying to participate in class, study, prepare homework and get passing grades. These experiences, plus my own when growing up, heightened my awareness of the many difficulties youngsters can have. It affected my approach to, and expectations of, each student.

One particularly enjoyable aspect of teaching was developing new ways to help children learn more effectively. For example, I had home economics classes for elementary school pupils. Individual classes would come to my department where I would combine pupils' reading and arithmetic lessons with, for example, baking cookies.

By following recipes, they learned new words, cooking terms, measurements, whole numbers and fractions. They had to add, subtract, or multiply amounts of ingredients. Hands-on learning, and eating what they themselves produced, made their lessons fun and easier to understand and remember.

In one school I instituted a new aspect to the curriculum by creating after-school sessions for parents and teenagers, where they could discuss and share their concerns. Periodically, I would arrange to have a professional psychologist, psychiatrist, counselor, or social worker as a guest speaker. Questions and discussions always followed.

I was also given permission to add a new elective course for junior and senior boys who were interested in learning practical skills dealing with basic sewing, cooking and baking, managing money wisely, and more. Together, we planned what the course would consist of. There was always a list of boys waiting to participate in these classes. It is gratifying to know that teaching, especially such a practical subject as home economics, can make a positive difference in people's lives.

 

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