Good-Bye, Mr. Ferguson
Woman in the Middle | May 12, 2016I picked up the paper today and found out my 4th grade teacher had died. That year with Mr. Ferguson was memorable in so many ways. According to the article in the paper, Mr. Ferguson started teaching in 1968. I had him just two years later when he was still at the very beginning of his teaching career. Oh, how I remember that year. Let me count the ways.
1. He was my first male teacher.
2. He was the first teacher I had that used a rewards system. We could save up our points to get a package of Certs, among other things. I still remember the thrill of getting those Certs!
3. We had a contest to collect blue chip stamps for some kind of fundraising event. We all faithfully brought them in but lagged behind the other classes, until the last day when we surged ahead and won! Mr. Ferguson hadn’t turned them all in as they were brought in. He save some back to turn in the last day. My first exposure to using strategy to win something. A very useful life lesson!
4. A few months into the school year our class was moved from a windowless portable into a brand new building at the school that was using a new concept in teaching at that time. There weren’t any walls between the classrooms. Isn’t that so late 60s early 70s? (Why do I think that building now has walls?) Mr. Ferguson told us we were chosen because we were a nice quiet class. Uh, I have a feeling that was another one of his “strategies.”
5. We made an interesting craft that Christmas. We took a toilet roll, set it on end, poured very think plaster of Paris over it, and stuck a paper flame on top. After it dried we painted it gold. It looked like a big, melting candle!
6. That was the year a kid from our class starred in the Christmas program, doing the song “I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ For Christmas. I still remember the thrill of being in the class with the famous soloist. Mr. Ferguson recorded the performance on a cassette reorder so we could enjoy it over and over!
7. It was the year I had to write my first real report on something. We had to do a famous person. I was out for a week with chicken pox when the rest of the class picked their people. When I came back, my desk mate explained what I had to do (kudos to Mr. Ferguson that he instilled such confidence in a 9-year-old that they could take responsibility to bring a fellow 9-year-old up to speed on such things). Since I was gone, I was assigned a person to research and write a report on.. I will never forget. It was Ralph Bunche. Don’t know who he is? Look him up! All I will tell you is that he was African-American and I think it was a good lesson for a little white girl in 1971 to learn about an African-American man who had achieved greatness in our country.
Mr. Ferguson went on to have a long and distinguished career in school administration, including being superintendent in a number of school districts. However, for me, he will always be my 4th grade teacher. Godspeed, Mr. Ferguson!
What a touching memoir! He reminds me of my second grade teacher who had a reward system using trophies.