first grade--too much trouble

I must have had a magnetic personality when it came to my elementary school teachers. My first grade teacher, Miss Arnett, was a real charmer. Kinda like a snake. That woman was mean--at least she was mean to me.

I wanted to like her. I really did. After all, she was young and attractive. She dressed nicely. I wanted to look up to her and fall in love with my teacher. But it just wasn't happening. She didn't like me at all.

Don't get me wrong. I wasn't the perfect student. At least for back then. I was noisy sometimes. For instance, during silent reading time, I was looking at my Dr Seuss book. Books were VERY important to me. I wanted to be sure and get everything out of this book that I could so I started at the inner cover illustration. It was of a huge traffic jam with Dr Seuss characters. I loved them. They were whimsical creatures that had great personalities and style. While I was looking at the cover, at this great traffic jam, I started thinking about how the jam would sound.

I let down my guard. I got lost in this book and I immersed my thoughts in these covers. I'd have been OK if I'd only thought of what it sounded like, but I started doing sound effects and saying all the things in this jumbled jam of traffic. This was supposed to be silent reading.

"Beep, beep!"

"Honk, honk!"

"Hey you, get out of the way!"

"LOOK OUT!"

"CRASH!"

Miss Arnett heard the commotion and asked, "Who is making all that noise?" I didn't hear her and I kept on going.

I was stuck in traffic.

She found out who was the noisy one and jolted me back into reality.

"SUZANNE! Be quiet! This is silent reading. Put down your book and lay your head on your desk! You will be quiet!" (Thinking back on it now she sort of sounded like Colonel Klink!)

OH NO! I didn't want to lay my head down and stop reading! This was a terrible thing! Then Miss Arnett came to my desk and took my book away.

I was done. I was humiliated and done.

During my first grade year I got paddled a time or two and yelled at a lot but my mother was my champion. I got into trouble so much that Mama finally told Miss Arnett that if she laid one more hand on her daughter she'd come up there to that school and tear her up!

She would have, too.

After Mama threatened her, Miss Arnett still never liked me, but she did lighten up on me and the unfair punishment.

That battle would have been something to behold wouldn't it?

The Tennessee Wildcat Protecting Her Baby vs Miss Arnett, Yankee School Teacher Who's Too Big for Her Britches.