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Dalton School Alumni reception
Dec. 7th, 2023 05:35 pmLast night I went to a Dalton School Alumni Reception in Boston. Dalton is a progressive private school in NYC that I went to for 1st through 8th grades. At that time the high school was girls only - it is now co-ed. It was and still is a great school. It has expanded - 3 new floors added to the main building. I also taught 7th and 8th grade science for one year while I was in grad school at Columbia.
There about 30 former students there - all after my time.The new headmaster was the host and I had a pretty long conversation with him.
Here is a writeup I prepared a while ago.
Dalton School was (and still is) a progressive school. In 5th grade through 8th grade they followed “The Dalton Plan” with subject teachers: each teacher gave an assignment sheet for the month’s work. The assignment components were assigned “unit” values -usually 1 or 2 for each. You got a Unit Card and as you completed assignments you got the teacher to mark off the units. There were houses with a house advisor and a few people from each class were in each house. At the beginning of the year there was house selection where you could choose the teacher you wanted as your house leader and if accepted that was it. The school day started with a house meeting for a few minutes. After the House Meeting there were several hours of “Lab time” where you went for informal meetings with teachers and worked with other students on projects. At the end of the month you went to each teacher to sign off their section of the Unit Card. When you got all assignments you were considered “off the assignments” and you ran back to your house to post your card on the wall – hoping to be first, and certainly not last.
I remember many of the teachers. My math teacher was Kitty O’Connell – the other math teacher was Miss Newby – I stuck with Miss O’Connell for all four years. History was Mrs DalNegro for 5th grade: Greek, and 7th grade: South America; Ethel Mukerji: Indian and some Europe for 6th grade, and American for 8th grade. Her husband was Dhan Gopal Mukerji who In 1928, he won the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal for his children’s book Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. The book’s protagonist is the eponymous Gay Neck, who, along with its companion Hira, serves as a messenger pigeon during World War I. Through the pigeon’s trials and adventures, Mukerji obliquely speaks to the ties between man and animal, the futility of war and its lasting impact.
For English it was Mary Alexander for 5th and 6th grade, and Hortense Tyroler for 7th and 8th. Interesting ly Miss Tyroler and my mother were classmates at Barnard College.
Science was Miss Laylor for 5th grade (and maybe 6th) and Hugo Robus for 7th and 8th grade. Science included lab work and the class room was suitably equipped. Many years later in my part-time job teaching 7th and 8th grade science it was in that very room.
Gwen Davies was the art teacher and she was quite dramatic in explaining how to use the whole piece for paper for the art work. Shop was Thornie (Harold Thorne) and Brownie.
Geography was John Seeger (Pete’s brother). I remember making paper mache maps of the places that we were studying. He encouraged doing research outside of school. I remember going to countries’ consulates to get information. John ran a summer camp – Camp Killooleet and I went there as a camper for 5 years in 1947-1951, and later for 3 years -1959-1961 -as a counsellor.
The Gym teacher was John McCook. The tenth floor gym was small so sometimes we went by school bus to a gym on 54th street (Dalton was on 89th street between Park and Lexington). In spring and fall often went to Randalls Island for football and baseball. He organized us into “heavies” and “lights” so the skills were better matched – I was a light. John McCook ran a summer camp: Tacoma Pines in Litchfield, Maine. I went there as from 1952-1958 starting as a camper and evolving into a counsellor.
In about 7th grade a new music teacher – chorus leader arrived: Harold Aks. I still remember singing
It's me, it's me, O Lord,
Standin' in the need of prayer;
It's me, it's me, O Lord,
Standin' in the need of prayer.
There about 30 former students there - all after my time.The new headmaster was the host and I had a pretty long conversation with him.
Here is a writeup I prepared a while ago.
Dalton School was (and still is) a progressive school. In 5th grade through 8th grade they followed “The Dalton Plan” with subject teachers: each teacher gave an assignment sheet for the month’s work. The assignment components were assigned “unit” values -usually 1 or 2 for each. You got a Unit Card and as you completed assignments you got the teacher to mark off the units. There were houses with a house advisor and a few people from each class were in each house. At the beginning of the year there was house selection where you could choose the teacher you wanted as your house leader and if accepted that was it. The school day started with a house meeting for a few minutes. After the House Meeting there were several hours of “Lab time” where you went for informal meetings with teachers and worked with other students on projects. At the end of the month you went to each teacher to sign off their section of the Unit Card. When you got all assignments you were considered “off the assignments” and you ran back to your house to post your card on the wall – hoping to be first, and certainly not last.
I remember many of the teachers. My math teacher was Kitty O’Connell – the other math teacher was Miss Newby – I stuck with Miss O’Connell for all four years. History was Mrs DalNegro for 5th grade: Greek, and 7th grade: South America; Ethel Mukerji: Indian and some Europe for 6th grade, and American for 8th grade. Her husband was Dhan Gopal Mukerji who In 1928, he won the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal for his children’s book Gay Neck: The Story of a Pigeon. The book’s protagonist is the eponymous Gay Neck, who, along with its companion Hira, serves as a messenger pigeon during World War I. Through the pigeon’s trials and adventures, Mukerji obliquely speaks to the ties between man and animal, the futility of war and its lasting impact.
For English it was Mary Alexander for 5th and 6th grade, and Hortense Tyroler for 7th and 8th. Interesting ly Miss Tyroler and my mother were classmates at Barnard College.
Science was Miss Laylor for 5th grade (and maybe 6th) and Hugo Robus for 7th and 8th grade. Science included lab work and the class room was suitably equipped. Many years later in my part-time job teaching 7th and 8th grade science it was in that very room.
Gwen Davies was the art teacher and she was quite dramatic in explaining how to use the whole piece for paper for the art work. Shop was Thornie (Harold Thorne) and Brownie.
Geography was John Seeger (Pete’s brother). I remember making paper mache maps of the places that we were studying. He encouraged doing research outside of school. I remember going to countries’ consulates to get information. John ran a summer camp – Camp Killooleet and I went there as a camper for 5 years in 1947-1951, and later for 3 years -1959-1961 -as a counsellor.
The Gym teacher was John McCook. The tenth floor gym was small so sometimes we went by school bus to a gym on 54th street (Dalton was on 89th street between Park and Lexington). In spring and fall often went to Randalls Island for football and baseball. He organized us into “heavies” and “lights” so the skills were better matched – I was a light. John McCook ran a summer camp: Tacoma Pines in Litchfield, Maine. I went there as from 1952-1958 starting as a camper and evolving into a counsellor.
In about 7th grade a new music teacher – chorus leader arrived: Harold Aks. I still remember singing
It's me, it's me, O Lord,
Standin' in the need of prayer;
It's me, it's me, O Lord,
Standin' in the need of prayer.
