This is something that I'd originally posted over at Facebook in my Notes...
I've just joined the Frog & Toad Fan Club here at Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/no
and am tripping on some great memories from three-plus decades ago...
When I was in the spring quarter of grad school almost 33 years ago, I
had the most amazing instructor named Dr. Richard G. Kolczynski.
Don't even get me started on him!
Did I develop a major crush on him because I loved his class or did I love his class because I had a major crush on him!?!
In all seriousness, it was the former rather than the latter--even
though it didn't hurt any that he looked a lot like Conway Twitty.
If he had been an 80 year old man teaching the course, I doubt that (at
the age of 24) I would have gotten a major crush on him, but I would
have still looked forward to those Monday evenings of being part of his
delightful class.
One thing we both had in common was that we wanted kids to develop an
appreciation for the written word--and we were sick to death of some of
the government red-tape that (in our opinion) stood in the way of the
kids who were in school at that time getting the most bang for their
bucks when it came to quality learning.
Both of us had bumped heads with authority figures on many occasions
because of our take on things and not wanting just to sit back and
allow it (education strangled and mangled by red-tape) to happen.
Anyway, one of the things he did was to point me (along with the rest
of my classmates) in the direction of the Frog & Toad books.
My cousin, Carolyn, and her then-husband, Larry, had three of their
four children by late May/early June of 1977 when I went up there
(little village of Hemlock, Indiana) to visit them.
Lisa would be born a year later in 1978.
Except for Annie (who had been born in February), all of their kids had
May birthdays (as Lisa also would the following year). Carolyn and
Larry would be celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary that June 6.
Eva was eight, Annie was six, and Larry Joe was five.
So, they were celebrating all of the kids' birthdays and their anniversary at the same time with a big family gathering.
My present to my young cousins consisted of a couple of Frog & Toad books:
Frog & Toad Are Friends
and
Frog & Toad Together
They loved those books!!!
That well-known part that goes "'Blah!' said a voice..." had them in
stitches. They had me read it over and over and went around repeating
it, themselves, dissolving into giggles each time.
In the movie, Mary & Tim (where Mary is teaching Tim--a developmentally-challenged
When I get to that part of the movie, I go back in time to sitting on
my cousins' front porch with the kids snuggled around me reading those
books together.
Within the past few years, Eva (married and the mother of one daughter,
now a teenager but about Eva's age back in 1977 at the time), told me
how much she had loved those books as a child and that she had passed
that love on to her own little girl.
I've lost track of Richard now, but I wish him well and hope that at
least some of his dreams have materialized in some way, because they
were--and still are--beautiful dreams!
Richard, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for introducing
me to these delightful books as well as for allowing me to be a part of
one of the most unique and amazing college courses I've ever taken.
And yes, Richard, I still go with phonics when it comes to the best
overall way to teach reading--and, if you're still touting that
whole-word method, we'll just have to continue to agree to disagree!
To Professor Look-Say from The Phonics Queen...Ten-Four, Over-And-Out!!!
http://www.facebook.com/no
and am tripping on some great memories from three-plus decades ago...
When I was in the spring quarter of grad school almost 33 years ago, I
had the most amazing instructor named Dr. Richard G. Kolczynski.
Don't even get me started on him!
Did I develop a major crush on him because I loved his class or did I love his class because I had a major crush on him!?!
In all seriousness, it was the former rather than the latter--even
though it didn't hurt any that he looked a lot like Conway Twitty.
If he had been an 80 year old man teaching the course, I doubt that (at
the age of 24) I would have gotten a major crush on him, but I would
have still looked forward to those Monday evenings of being part of his
delightful class.
One thing we both had in common was that we wanted kids to develop an
appreciation for the written word--and we were sick to death of some of
the government red-tape that (in our opinion) stood in the way of the
kids who were in school at that time getting the most bang for their
bucks when it came to quality learning.
Both of us had bumped heads with authority figures on many occasions
because of our take on things and not wanting just to sit back and
allow it (education strangled and mangled by red-tape) to happen.
Anyway, one of the things he did was to point me (along with the rest
of my classmates) in the direction of the Frog & Toad books.
My cousin, Carolyn, and her then-husband, Larry, had three of their
four children by late May/early June of 1977 when I went up there
(little village of Hemlock, Indiana) to visit them.
Lisa would be born a year later in 1978.
Except for Annie (who had been born in February), all of their kids had
May birthdays (as Lisa also would the following year). Carolyn and
Larry would be celebrating their 9th wedding anniversary that June 6.
Eva was eight, Annie was six, and Larry Joe was five.
So, they were celebrating all of the kids' birthdays and their anniversary at the same time with a big family gathering.
My present to my young cousins consisted of a couple of Frog & Toad books:
Frog & Toad Are Friends
and
Frog & Toad Together
They loved those books!!!
That well-known part that goes "'Blah!' said a voice..." had them in
stitches. They had me read it over and over and went around repeating
it, themselves, dissolving into giggles each time.
In the movie, Mary & Tim (where Mary is teaching Tim--a developmentally-challenged
When I get to that part of the movie, I go back in time to sitting on
my cousins' front porch with the kids snuggled around me reading those
books together.
Within the past few years, Eva (married and the mother of one daughter,
now a teenager but about Eva's age back in 1977 at the time), told me
how much she had loved those books as a child and that she had passed
that love on to her own little girl.
I've lost track of Richard now, but I wish him well and hope that at
least some of his dreams have materialized in some way, because they
were--and still are--beautiful dreams!
Richard, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for introducing
me to these delightful books as well as for allowing me to be a part of
one of the most unique and amazing college courses I've ever taken.
And yes, Richard, I still go with phonics when it comes to the best
overall way to teach reading--and, if you're still touting that
whole-word method, we'll just have to continue to agree to disagree!
To Professor Look-Say from The Phonics Queen...Ten-Four, Over-And-Out!!!
This
talented country legend, imo, looks a lot like the legendary Professor
Look-Say who stole the heart of The Phonics Queen back when ABBA and
K.C. & The Sunshine Band were current events instead of nostalgia
and CB Radio was almost as popular as The Internet is today.
talented country legend, imo, looks a lot like the legendary Professor
Look-Say who stole the heart of The Phonics Queen back when ABBA and
K.C. & The Sunshine Band were current events instead of nostalgia
and CB Radio was almost as popular as The Internet is today.
Labels: 1977, Ainsley Jo Phillips, Ball State University, English, frog, Frog and Toad, Kolczynski, language arts, Lobel, reading, toad
posted by Ainsley_Jo_Phillips at 3:28 PM
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