Comment Reminded me of a Teacher Story

Of the teachers we had at Lexington, Mr. McGraw was unforgettable. He did read Little House on the Pariae to us almost everyday. He had stories of his war days that could keep my six grader mind at full attention. At the time I did not realize that he was an accomplished writer. Mr. McGraw being a writer, must have been why his reading held my attention so well.  He did not have the greatest control over some of his students. My little brother being one of them. Which my brother was full of mischief to say the least. Mr. McGraw was what our teacher wanted to be called, not Albert. Albert seemed to be what the little brat boys wanted to call him; just because the teacher did not want them to. I had him for homeroom one year and not for a scheduled class. He was located in the two story building that was torn down many years ago. The classroom was on the backside of the building with windows all away across the side closest to the lunchroom. The lack of control he had over the class my little brother was in, was terrible. One day I am going to the lunchroom, just passing by the windows when not really to much surprise there are boys climbing out of all the windows. Tony Phillips, Tony Grigsby, Wade Newton and of course my mean little brother. They looked like monkeys swinging from trees. Poor Mr. McGraw was yelling for them to get out of the windows. He would go from window to window yelling. Each boy would move in one window and out the other. The kinder than normal person that Mr. McGraw was could not be forceful enough to stop the boys. I can still see, Kenny, my little brother on the outside window sill.  Class ended or they might have swung in and out those windows all day long. As far as great punishment; there was none. I guess Albert McGraw chalked it up to boys will be boys. It still amazes me how some teachers could have total control of their classrooms and some could not. The students figured out soon the classes that you could talk constantly and not get in trouble. Then their were the teachers that had rooms that resembled a Hoarders house. Mrs. Johnson had one of those classes. Her class was in the Highschool Building that had the hall that we walked round and round. The auditorium was right in the middle, with a smoking alley at the back of the auditorium. Hard to believe that at one time there was a place for highschool students to smoke during breaks. Even then I considered the one's that hung out in the smoking alley to be the rebels.