Christmas Open House at St Charles One-room Schoolhouse

I had the opportunity to attend a Christmas Open House at the Pioneer Sholes School (one-room schoolhouse) in St. Charles, IL, today.  Some of the people attending had parents who had actually attended the school when it was on the David Sholes farm near Burlington Road.  It was built about 1872 and was in School District 58.

Public school children had worked with the Executive Director of the school to prepare a program that included a spelling bee, a choral reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas, and general singing of several popular Christmas carols.  The open house was Sat and Sun, 12/12 and 12/13/2009 from 2:00PM to 5:00PM.

As I observed the open house I was reminded by The Secret School by Avi.  Many of the current best practices for teaching involve techniques used in these early schools in the pioneer days of America--including grouped reading, peer tutoring, game-based learning.  Those days students had personal slates (mini blackboards with a kind of chalk).  Today we use mini whiteboards and colored dry erase markers.

There are more desks in the schoolhouse today than there were in the days it was originally used.  Teachers dealt with classes of mixed ages and abilities and frequent absences caused by farm duties (or lack of academic motivation).  Many of the people graduating from one-room schools went on to become doctors and lawyers and teachers.  Some of today's problems have just evolved from similar problems in those days.

It's amazing to see how much the one-room schoolhouse reflected the essence of teaching still needed in today's classrooms.