Bonnie/Larry Update: For new viewers, I’m trying to bring this blog up to date with a column I write for a local newspaper. The column needs to be limited to 750 words, so these stories will follow suit. If you wish to know more about me, I suggest you scroll back to story #1. Otherwise, I’ve included a picture of Bonnie and Myself shortly after we retired from a program that got to be quite well known. This story is about how it began.
Story 19 The development of our Lapidary/Geoscience Program
To better understand these offerings, perhaps I need to go into the origin and development of our lapidary/geosciences program which is composed of multiple stories. It began on a fishing trip I had taken to that shame/shame on me trip to Montana. Stopping in a rock shop, I got sucked into purchasing a geode that when it was cut open surprised us with beautiful amethyst crystals. Deciding to dig some on my own, I bought a small rock saw for myself.
I brought the geode into class when we were doing a science unit on crystals. Funny thing about it, though, the 8th graders were more interested on how I got it cut open; nobody having ever seen a rock saw. So, the next day, I brought it into class with some small specimens to cut on the very safe diamond blade that would cut the rocks but not the fingers.
Of course everyone wanted to know if they could bring their rocks into cut. “Well, if you have your work done by Thursday, we’ll save Friday for a rock cutting day.” Good Grief, they all had their assignments done by Wednesday. Most important, I now had secret to getting good work done; the perfect lure.
Shortly, though, the Principal called me in and demanded I get “that dirty, messy, dangerous saw” out of my classroom” forthwith. Nothing I could say would change his mind. Interestingly, that same day the Superintendent and his staff took a surprise tour of the campus; and, what I didn’t know was that one of the assistants happened to be a full-fledged rock hound and loved what he saw. What I didn’t know as well, was that this Principal didn’t set too well with District Office because of many complaints. None of this was known to me as I obediently carried the 50 lb trim saw towards my car after school. I didn’t get a foot past the front office when the door burst open and the Principal (Dr. F) came rushing out waving his hands and actually yelling at me to take the saw back to the room and even encouraged me to use it more often. What???? So, this is the way I was introduced to the “politics” in our system.
Just think, if it weren’t for that fluke visit (or, a “Plan” from Above?), our massive program of today would have never happened.
Next thing I knew was that students wanted to be able to polish the specimens they cut; which meant more and different machines that would severely tax my paycheck. Not to worry, students knew of many ways to raise funds; and, so they did; over a half million dollars for supplies and equipment over the next 40 years, equipping the finest program of its kind in our nation.
I was pleasantly surprised, too, that I could actually adapt most every aspect of science we studied to the identification and formation of rocks and minerals. Now, I was a happy camper, with the students even happier as they could earn more time with the lapidary equipment. I had inadvertently created a class that interwove the skills of shop along with art into the academics of science.
Of course, there were our critics. A new Principal took over and was determined my approach was not the best approach as I needed to direct full attention towards the statewide science test scores and the lapidary time the students were earning took away from that. However, there was this thing called Academic Freedom; and, I wouldn’t budge which made him even more hostile. I’ll go into some of these incidents in later posts; needless to say that after the big standard science exam (STAR?), he called me into his office and actually said: “Unfortunately, I have to congratulate you on how well your students did on the Exam”. Unfortunately? What???? What makes these people tick? Then, too, there were other critics to follow, whose stories will leave you scratching your head. It was all about Power and Control.
Then, there was the field trip aspect of the program. One day a student brought to class some crystals of Fluorite he collected in the hills of nearby Azusa. With such a large number of students interested, there had to be a planning meeting even though bicycles would be used for the short trip. Then, too, parents would be needed to assist with supervision; and, on and on.
I’ll not forget sitting on that Azusa hill next to a parent, D. Simpkins, when looking around at all the enthusiasm, she said: “Wouldn’t it be neat to take a trip every month!” I looked at her aghast and yelped that I’d be too consumed with the planning time. However, she shot back: “Not to worry, I’ll handle that part!” And, so the Rock Club was born along with a massive number of unbelievable stories; but a mountain of happiness to boot.
Much, much more on our history to follow:
Wishing you well, LarryBme2@aol.com