Mrs. Rule---English teacher at Putnam JHS -- The Ashland Tomcats Alumni Forum

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Date Posted: 21:54:59 11/14/04 Sun
Author: Jonathan Wright (Class of 1971)
Author Host/IP: ip-wv-24-196-184-254.charterwv.net / 24.196.184.254
Subject: Mrs. Rule---English teacher at Putnam JHS

It's often true that the "meanest" teachers are the best. A good example of that from my school years in Ashland was Mrs. Rule, my unforgettable eighth-grade English teacher at Putnam Junior High School. She did well to prepare me for English at Paul Blazer and beyound. Mrs. Rule was a stern, no-nonsense teacher, requiring absolutely no talking and operating her classroom as a tight ship. She made us memorize, memorize, memorize---from the conjugation of verbs (I can still hear her stressing, "Present tense: burst; past tense: burst; past participle: burst!" to select sections of Longfellow's Evangeline, to---and get this---the wonderful poem "Abou Ben Adhem," the words of which I still can quote word for word even today, at age 51. She inspired both fear and awe in me, and I'm sure she had a lot to do with my eventually becoming an English teacher for 13 years. I wish I could remember her first name, but, of course, we students really had no need of that. I do remember that she lived on the street that parallels Putnam Stadium going down the hill to Dawes Street. Of course, no one ever dared going up to her door, but nonetheless it was fun knowing where she actually lived. Mrs. Rule always looked old and mean, and no one, at least in my class, ever dared cross her. I'm so privileged to have had her as a member of my life's "Hall of Fame" of memorable teachers. When I lived a few years in Lakeland, Florida, in the mid-1970s, I ran into her a few times there--I believe that's where she setttled in retirement--but I don't know what year she passed away. Anyway, those are some of my memories of Mrs. Rule. I'd love to hear those of any other person who had her for English.

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Replies:

:-)Re: Mrs. Rule---English teacher at Putnam JHS -- Phillip Rogers (PBHS Class of 1973), 15:31:58 12/29/04 Wed
- Thanks, Phil! -- No name, 22:06:13 12/29/04 Wed