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Country School Days: True Tales of a Wisconsin One-Room School (Narrated Presentation from the 2021 CSAA Virtual Conference) CSAA member Larry Scheckel attended the one-room Oak Grove District#15 School from 1948-1956. Oak Grove sat on a slight knoll in rural Seneca Township, Crawford County, in southwestern Wisconsin and educated farm kids from 1897 to 1962. Follow Larry as he trudges the one-mile gravel road with four siblings, the neighbor children, and a farm dog or two. He describes the interior: stove, library, drinking fountain, piano, hectograph machine, Ranger Mac corner, and radio. Larry will talk about the recitation period, visits by the County Nurse and the Supervising Teacher, softball games, playground and indoor games, Annie-Over, snowball fights, the outdoor privies, school discipline, the curriculum, the Basket Social, the Christmas program, and the end-of-the-year picnic. Larry delves into teacher training, contracts, teacher expectations, and how teachers managed 28 students grades one to eight. Larry also explores the bitter consolidation controversy and the closing of all 115 Crawford County one-room schools. This presentation was a prelude to his book, Country School Days: True Tales of a Wisconsin One-Room School, published in 2022. It is a comprehensive and delightful look at the 115 one-room schools in Crawford County, with emphasis on Oak Grove School.  Larry Scheckel grew up on a family farm in the hill country of southwestern Wisconsin, one of nine children. He attended eight years of a one room country school, four years of high school, off to the military for a spell, trained in electronics as a TV broadcast engineer, married, college, and started a teaching career. That career stretched over thirty-eight years teaching physics and aerospace science at Tomah, Wisconsin. Larry Scheckel has been named Tomah Teacher of the Year and Presidential Awardee. He is the recipient of numerous teaching awards. Larry and his wife, Ann, are both retired teachers and live in Tomah, Wisconsin. Larry and Ann have published eight books, including Seneca Seasons: A Farm Boy Remembers, Ask A Science Teacher, and countless educational articles. For more about Larry Scheckel and his other fascinating books visit: larryscheckel.com
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