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The Dalton School - some memories
Jun. 22nd, 2016 12:12 pmGoing to the reunion brought back a bunch of memories.
I went to the Dalton School from 1st through 8th grades. The high school at the time was girls only. It was (and still is) a very amazingly wonderful progressive school in NYC. In 5th through 8th grades the academic work was organized into what was called the Dalton Plan.
Students were divided into Houses which people for each of the grades and there was a House Meeting every morning. Part of the day was called Labvoratory time where you were free to go to any classroom and meet with the teacher or work on projects either alone or with other students. It was a good exercise in learning how to manage time. Classes were called Conferences.
Every month each subject teacher gave each student an Assignment Sheet that described what was to be done that month. It was divided into 20 Units and you had a Unit Card with two columns for each subject, When you completed work you marked the student column and then at a meeting with a teacher the other column would be marked. At the end of the month when the last of the 20 units was completed you got the teacher to sign off. When all subjects had their signoffs you ran back to your House and posted it on the wall and proclaim "I'm off my assingment". It was often a contest to see who would be first. They still follow the Assignment pattern and time allocation but don't have Unit Cards any more.
A few tidbits about teachers and rituals:
My second grade teacher was Norma Jones. Among other things she taught us cooking. The idea was to give us some practical exercises with fractions and the idea of following a recipe. Pretty good ideas i think.
My 5th grade and more Geography teacher was John Seeger, Pete's brother as it happens. He was a great story teller. In addition to geography I was in his House once. It was in geography where I learned how to do research. We would each or sometimes a pair of people pick a country and study it with books and go to the country office if there was one, make a paper maché and prepare a report and make a presentation to the class. He and his wife were also the Directors of Camp Killoleet in Hancock, Vermont that I went to for a few years and then in '59-'61 was councillor. The camp still exists and is run by his daughter Kate. I went to the camp for his memorial service a few years ago (and got to speak to Pete about a common friend).
My 6th and 8th Grade Social Studies teacher was Ethel Mukerji, the wife of Dhan Gopal Mukerji, a well known Indian author who wrote in English. We studied Indian history and medieval history, among other things; She was tough, exacting, and wonderful.
My 5th and 7th grade Social Studies teacher was Mrs. Dal Negro, An Argentinian (or Brazillian - I forget which) and among other things we studied South American History.
Hugo Robus was my science teacher. He was great. In my one year of teaching at Dalton my clasroom was the one that had been his; it looked pretty much the same.
My Math teacher was Kitty O'Connell. Once when I was having trouble being motivated to do my homework my mother made an appointment with her and we went in and she gave a lot of reasons why math was going to be impoortant in my life. It worked.
My 6th and 8th grade English teacher was Hortense Tyroler, or Horty as my mother called her because they had been classmates at Barnard. In 6th grade we were challenged by reading a Shakespeare play, I forget which one, but I think it was Julius Caesar.
The boys gym teacher was John McCook, or Muscles as he liked to be called. He also ran a summer camp, Camp Tacoma Pines (no longer in existence) that I went to as a camper and councillor. The basement had a pool - no longer there, the gyms were on the 10th floor - we sometimes went by bus to another gym and to Randall's Island for outdoor sports - they still use Randall's island, but have a gym building a couple of blocks away.
Lincoln's Birthday, Feb 12, was Book Day. Everybody donated a book to the library and we paraded up to the stage in the Auditorium to leave our offering.
Arch Day was at the end of the year and we all marched up to the auditorium stage and walked through the arch to signify passing on to the next grade or graduation. They still do this.
Around Christmas time we Candle Lighting day where we paraded up to the stage to light a candle.
I'm out of touch with any of my classmates, but it was nice seeing a few of them at the reunion. I do know that several of my best friends from those days are deceased or have disappeared. Dalton tried to have a cross section of people - not everyone was white, but most were moderately or more wealthy. One of my best friends was Chris Kazan, son of Elia. There were some others with famous parents: Eileen, daughter of William Shirer; Fiona, daughter of Marshall Field; Jeff, son of William Paley.
I went to the Dalton School from 1st through 8th grades. The high school at the time was girls only. It was (and still is) a very amazingly wonderful progressive school in NYC. In 5th through 8th grades the academic work was organized into what was called the Dalton Plan.
Students were divided into Houses which people for each of the grades and there was a House Meeting every morning. Part of the day was called Labvoratory time where you were free to go to any classroom and meet with the teacher or work on projects either alone or with other students. It was a good exercise in learning how to manage time. Classes were called Conferences.
Every month each subject teacher gave each student an Assignment Sheet that described what was to be done that month. It was divided into 20 Units and you had a Unit Card with two columns for each subject, When you completed work you marked the student column and then at a meeting with a teacher the other column would be marked. At the end of the month when the last of the 20 units was completed you got the teacher to sign off. When all subjects had their signoffs you ran back to your House and posted it on the wall and proclaim "I'm off my assingment". It was often a contest to see who would be first. They still follow the Assignment pattern and time allocation but don't have Unit Cards any more.
A few tidbits about teachers and rituals:
My second grade teacher was Norma Jones. Among other things she taught us cooking. The idea was to give us some practical exercises with fractions and the idea of following a recipe. Pretty good ideas i think.
My 5th grade and more Geography teacher was John Seeger, Pete's brother as it happens. He was a great story teller. In addition to geography I was in his House once. It was in geography where I learned how to do research. We would each or sometimes a pair of people pick a country and study it with books and go to the country office if there was one, make a paper maché and prepare a report and make a presentation to the class. He and his wife were also the Directors of Camp Killoleet in Hancock, Vermont that I went to for a few years and then in '59-'61 was councillor. The camp still exists and is run by his daughter Kate. I went to the camp for his memorial service a few years ago (and got to speak to Pete about a common friend).
My 6th and 8th Grade Social Studies teacher was Ethel Mukerji, the wife of Dhan Gopal Mukerji, a well known Indian author who wrote in English. We studied Indian history and medieval history, among other things; She was tough, exacting, and wonderful.
My 5th and 7th grade Social Studies teacher was Mrs. Dal Negro, An Argentinian (or Brazillian - I forget which) and among other things we studied South American History.
Hugo Robus was my science teacher. He was great. In my one year of teaching at Dalton my clasroom was the one that had been his; it looked pretty much the same.
My Math teacher was Kitty O'Connell. Once when I was having trouble being motivated to do my homework my mother made an appointment with her and we went in and she gave a lot of reasons why math was going to be impoortant in my life. It worked.
My 6th and 8th grade English teacher was Hortense Tyroler, or Horty as my mother called her because they had been classmates at Barnard. In 6th grade we were challenged by reading a Shakespeare play, I forget which one, but I think it was Julius Caesar.
The boys gym teacher was John McCook, or Muscles as he liked to be called. He also ran a summer camp, Camp Tacoma Pines (no longer in existence) that I went to as a camper and councillor. The basement had a pool - no longer there, the gyms were on the 10th floor - we sometimes went by bus to another gym and to Randall's Island for outdoor sports - they still use Randall's island, but have a gym building a couple of blocks away.
Lincoln's Birthday, Feb 12, was Book Day. Everybody donated a book to the library and we paraded up to the stage in the Auditorium to leave our offering.
Arch Day was at the end of the year and we all marched up to the auditorium stage and walked through the arch to signify passing on to the next grade or graduation. They still do this.
Around Christmas time we Candle Lighting day where we paraded up to the stage to light a candle.
I'm out of touch with any of my classmates, but it was nice seeing a few of them at the reunion. I do know that several of my best friends from those days are deceased or have disappeared. Dalton tried to have a cross section of people - not everyone was white, but most were moderately or more wealthy. One of my best friends was Chris Kazan, son of Elia. There were some others with famous parents: Eileen, daughter of William Shirer; Fiona, daughter of Marshall Field; Jeff, son of William Paley.
I went to NYC on Thursday and my first activitiy after checking into my hotel was to get a ticket for American in Paris which was playing in the Palace Theatre - a magnificent old theatre. I loved it. I am a big Gershwin fan. The dancing was wonderful and they had fascinating scenery/stage effects. I just read that it is coming to Boston in the late fall and I will go again. Times Square at night is pretty amazing. 
Ellis Island is fascinating and overwhelming. I don't remember if I was every there before. (My great grandparents were - since that is how they came to the US). There is so much information - data, pictures, posters, etc. about the whole migration history of people coming to the US. It's definitely a must see.
And then up to Dalton. The tour was not well organized but interesting. Our group's guide is a current teacher and was a teacher there during my one year of teaching there in 1960-61. On the 12th floor (which didn't exist in my day) they have lots of science labs for the middle and high schools. I got to ask about what 7th and 8th grade science was like these days (that is what I taught). he auditorium was a lot smaller than I remember.
