Autobiography of Barbara J. Crim...
...Teacher of the English Language
by Randy Rivers
December 14, 2004
To teach or not to teach has never been the question. How long
to teach has bothered others far more than myself because I will
quit as soon as I cannot spell William Shakespeare or recite most
of Romeo and Juliet by heart.
The first two years I taught seventh, eighth, and tenth grade
English as well as German in my hometown of Golden City, Missouri,
where I had to teach most of my friends’ younger brothers and
sisters. When they put ring-necked snakes in one of my drawers, I
didn’t find the poor creatures until they were shriveled and
turning to dust.
When the BOE told me to do the junior and senior plays, I found my
second job...at Joplin Senior High School teaching English I and
English II for two years.
The next school was a life-changing assignment, for that was Carl
Junction and the beginning of my intense love for newspaper,
yearbook, and photography. During the four years at Carl the
newspaper and the yearbook rated high in four-A journalism
competitions at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.
It was also the time that the 1984 Smalltown USA yearbook ranked
All-American through the National Scholastic Press Association.
At the end of the journalism experience in Missouri, I taught
freshman speech and English II at Altamont’s Labette
Community High School for one year before coming to Northeast High
School and settling in to English I, newspaper, yearbook,
photography, English III, and freshman speech.
Here at Northeast I have advised 11 All-American newspapers, 19
All- American yearbooks and one Pacemaker yearbook, making it one
of the best of eight books in the nation in 1988. Northeast was
also inducted into the Yearbook Hall of Fame at the University of
Minnesota in 1992. The All-American and Pacemaker honors allowed me
to be asked to teach workshops at the University of Missouri,
Kansas State University in Manhattan, Pittsburg State University,
and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. I also did yearbook
workshops for Jostens for 10 years and for Taylor Publishing for
six years.
The 2000 edition of The Viking yearbook was the final book before
Susan Lofts assumed the roll of adviser. Ever since then, I have
been teaching English I, English III, freshman speech, and have
been sponsoring Scholar’s Bowl off and on.
At this point in time, and as a well-established old-timer, I plan
to stay at a school I have invested most of my career in and am
very proud of.
Autobiography of Barbara J. Crim...
Post your feedback on this topic here
| Date | Subject | Posted by: |
|---|---|---|
| 12/20/2004 | Yea, Barb. | Bessie Chaussard |
| 01/03/2005 | Salute to a very good teacher! I and... | Connie Prettyman |
| 05/06/2005 | Mrs. Crim, You are a great... | Jarod "JT" Tingley |
| 07/19/2005 | Mrs. Crim, you are one of a kind. You... | Cyndi |
| 08/08/2006 | I learned so much from you. You're a... | Michael Walcott |
| 11/21/2006 | Crim your the best! Everyday you... | Britt Zimmerman |
| 03/06/2007 | Hello & TY for being such an... | Ron J. Vigil |
| 03/07/2007 | Mrs. Crim, I had a fantastic... | Anastasia Tiner |
