Who remembers Mrs. Stearns. What a neat lady. Made science class fun. She was a total nut cake but kept our attention and would do cool stuff like have us to her house at night to star gaze and study the constellations with telepscopes. She was one of the most enthusiastic teachers I ever had. If she had a difficult student, she could dish it right back to them!
I remember her. I had her for 7th or 8th grade science and yes, she was a hoot. You're also right about her being tough when she had to be; no one took advantage of her or screwed around in one of her classes. She was married to Mr. Stearns (Dah, I guess that makes sense) point is, that he taught at BBHS also, one of the higher math classes. Very short, nerdy type of guy. I never had him but I heard from others that he was cool with a quick dry humor and a really nice guy.
I remember Mrs. Stearns saying "I'm a little green plant cell" and pretending to be one when she taught photosynthesis. I agree that she was an inspiring teacher for her enthusiasm and toughness. She also had eyes that sometimes went in different directions, either a lazy or a blind eye I suppose. One could never tell who she was really looking at and this contributed to the comparatively good classroom behavior.
Mr. Stearns was even sharper but somewhat absent-minded in the classroom. If a window on either side at the back of the room was partially opened the draft would inevitably blow his graphing chalkboard off the front ledge, often hitting him on top of the head. It happened more than once each year but he never caught on that he was being set up. I regret that I didn't do anything to stop it.
BBHS was lucky to have enthusiastic and interested teachers like the Stearns. I often think of them and others when I'm teaching here in WV.
Here's another Stearnsism that popped into my head today: "Mr. ____, that's rude, crude, uncouth, and socially unacceptable." That one made me sit up and pay attention on more than one occasion!
Great people, the Sterns's. She had a lazy eye and you could never tell if she was looking at you - spooky. Also, the Sterns's used to set up a telescope in their yard all the time. I remember someone going into Al Stern's class early one day and filing a little notch into every piece of chalk, so they would all break when he tried to use them. When he got frustrated he'd occasionally fling a chalk against a colset.
