Frankenmuth

I started teaching in the Frankenmuth School District before phones. Really, it's true. I think there were only three phones at List Elementary. If someone called you, secretary "Boots" Schmidt would step into the hallway and shout, "Adele, you have a phone call!!" I'd run to the office or teacher's lounge, talk as fast as I could, and run back to my classroom. I joined the Frankenmuth School District in 1997, as a third-year teacher. When I walked into my classroom for the first time, my principal, Mary Anne Ackerman, delivered a brand new overhead projector and a standing oscillating fan. I remember asking her if they were really mine and she told me that I would need them to teach. In my first school, we had more teachers than overhead projectors, so there was a lottery each year – if you didn't get picked, you used a chalkboard for everything. Mary Anne then took me into a room with shelves of beautiful construction paper, a box of masking tape, extra teacher scissors and sticky notes of all sizes. A little pip of a lady standing next to the laminating and copy machines introduced herself as Doris Koopman. She told me to bring my copies to her and she would take care of me. I nearly cried. I was overwhelmed that Frankenmuth provided so much. Until this point, my own parents had been helping me pay for the supplies that I used in the classroom after my $100 allowance ran out. After an unseasonably HOT May, I realized why an oscillating fan was considered a necessity. My classroom had one tiny window and the fan kept the stale air moving. My fourth graders were melting in their seats with sweat running down the sides of their faces. I found myself playing "Let's Make a Deal." If they would give me 30 minutes of math time, I would take them outside to play. 4th Grade Teacher Adele Martin, 1997 One Phone B Y A D E L E M A R T I N Secretary Katherine "Boots" Schmidt, 1997 26

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