1978 Kathleen’s First Class
Kathleen’s First Public School Class (1978)
Kathleen’s first public school teaching position was right up her alley – a behavior handicapped 1st-2nd split in a cluster unit at Redwood Elementary School in the Granite School District. Kathleen would teach at this school for the next five years.
![Kathleen's First Class at Redwood Elementary](/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/1978-Kathleen-First-class-web-size_medium.jpg)
Kathleen’s First Class at Redwood Elementary
Just before that first year, she was in an automobile accident which left her with a severely broken arm. She taught her entire first year with a cast and a sling.
Though 23 years old, Kathleen looked much younger. She recalls being regularly mistaken for a 6th grader by Clarence the janitor and scolded to get back to class each time he caught her in the hall.
Here she is in a vintage 1978 Polaroid with her six special students. This was tough duty. She loved the challenge and she loved the children.
Like all Kathleen’s students over the next 30 + years, these kids appear to be wearing paper plates on their heads.
The use of disposable dinnerware as creative apparel would become a Newcastle School trademark over the years.