Memories of the teacher Ruckel
As a young man I was a village school teacher in Harxheim from 1955 – 1961. In my memory, this period is one of the most beautiful and interesting years in my educational career. Even today I still like to visit the place for the Weinhöfefst and meet acquaintances from my active Harxheim time.
“For reasons of service, we are transferring you to the Harxheim Elementary School.” On the basis of this order, I arrived at this two-form entry rural school on April 19, 1955, after the Easter vacations, not exactly the place of choice for a young teacher, as I thought at first. When I inquired about the village of Harxheim, which was unknown to me, I was told: “Ei, hinnerm Berg, in de Palz!”
To be blunt, I taught at this school for six years and, in retrospect, it was my most enjoyable and satisfying period of service that I have had the privilege of experiencing in my professional career. As I wished, I took over the upper school in a classroom that was common at that time: bare walls, two-man benches standing one behind the other with folding seats and folding writing surfaces, the raised teacher’s desk in front. Next to the door was the large, round stove that the janitor heated in the morning. The teacher made sure that the fire kept burning by adding coals. Depending on the weather, the smoke was sometimes so intense that we fled outside and continued our lessons there.
Classroom in school
Image source: Friedrich Ruckel
Lessons
Image source: Friedrick Ruckel
I got along very well with my new colleague Walter Ferger right away. We had the same ideas regarding education, pedagogical leadership and teaching.
As principal, he nevertheless gave me a free hand for my work at all times, and a warm, untroubled friendship quickly developed that lasted until his death. Always supported by him, I was able to put all my ideas of modern pedagogy into practice.
In consultation with parents and students, we organized new forms of work such as group work, independent work on a weekly plan, exploratory experimental and epochal lessons, and tried to move away from the usual frontal teaching. This required a shift to more independent learning and action and greater student voice and decision making. School should be more fun and enjoyable and attuned to practical life needs. My ideas found support and were gladly accepted by all.
Instead of writing in the usual notebooks, we wrote on A4 sheets of paper, which we filed in folders and binders and enriched with suitable pictures and other texts. Faulty and untidy designs could thus be easily replaced. We collected essays by topic in homemade folders, which were still decorated in art class. The subject areas of the various subjects were dealt with comprehensively on an epochal basis, i.e. one particular subject dominated the entire teaching event for one week, supplemented by appropriate contributions from the other subjects.
We practiced mental arithmetic daily on self-designed price lists, short dictations deepened orthographic knowledge, and tests after each lesson checked and secured the acquired knowledge. With their own test suggestions, the children slipped into the role of the teacher, who then took notes on this test himself in the respective student’s seat – to the delight of the class.
In the spirit of experimentation and research, we started more class walks and series of experiments from all subject areas. The assignments were completed in groups and the results were written down.
Every Saturday, the “question box” was emptied, where students could anonymously ask questions and make requests, etc. Difficult questions taken from the lexicon and intended to embarrass the teacher were very quickly omitted, as the teacher freely admitted his ignorance and had the children look for the explanation in the lexicon and read it aloud. Interesting was our “Sütterlin- day”, on which we entered all blackboard texts in this script on Saturdays. We had practiced this handwriting in our Schönschreib lessons, which were still taught according to the curriculum at that time. The children were happy to be able to read Grandma’s letters again.
At the beginning, the school had a small annual budget of 250 marks, and teaching and learning materials were largely lacking. Because of the lack of maps, I drew a map of the world and Europe on the wall of the school hall with colored chalk and cut stencils of geographical areas, plants, animals and organs, etc. out of cardboard, which could then be circled with a pencil. With better funding, this could have been done more easily with a large-format stamp.
In addition to the lessons, we visited industrial companies, government agencies and public institutions, such as Blendax-Werke, a sewage treatment plant, a waterworks, a printing plant, a general newspaper, a court hearing, museums, a savings bank and the city administration. Beforehand, we asked politely and thus learned to formulate letters and to make our request known in an appropriate form. We eagerly awaited the letter carrier with the reply letters. Invitations often came for further visits and they were always happy about our interest. We always received a friendly welcome, were usually well catered for, and were given bundles of promotional brochures and materials that greatly benefited our follow-up work in class. Often the companies and authorities also used our visits for their own advertising and asked the press to attend the meetings. In this way, the Harxheim school also became better known.
Mainz city view in classroom
Image source: Friedrich Ruckel
A special project was a six-meter-long collaborative work from the visual arts that we made in class and many afternoons. This picture work depicted the city view of Mainz, seen from the Mainz-Kastel side of the Rhine. To do this, we drove to the right bank of the Rhine several times and each child picked out a prominent building, ship or vehicle. Larger objects such as bridges, railroad trains, etc. were processed by groups.
We also collected visual material of the buildings and I told about the historical background. Often parents and relatives also contributed, so that the whole thing blossomed into an interesting, lively lesson on which everyone worked with diligence and dedication. The fact that the Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung reported on it in detail increased the class’s joy and pride in this work, in which everyone was involved.
Similar collaborative efforts were our annual performances, in which all students participated as a matter of principle. These games took place in the packed old cultural center.
We usually made the necessary backdrops and equipment ourselves in handicraft classes. It was a great performance by the fellow actors, who learned the various roles and the mostly self-rhymed contributions by heart and sacrificed a lot of free time for the rehearsals.
The numerous visitors also improved our financial situation and we were also able to donate a ball to the sports club for the use of the hall.
Amateur play in the cultural home
Image source: Friedrich Ruckel
The school savings program, which was very popular at the time, also brought us income, and we were awarded a prize by the Kreissparkasse several times for being the first winner. Designing a counter for World Savings Day at the main branch of the cashier’s office in Mainz enriched our art and craft lessons and was also rewarding for our class treasury. Our annual, multi-day hiking trips to the surrounding low mountain ranges and forest areas are vividly remembered. They particularly fostered a sense of community and cohesion in the classes and are still a favorite topic of conversation today when former students meet with their now old teacher. These traveling trips are recorded in trip books designed by the children and are a pleasant reminder of joint undertakings.
With the children who participated in our French course on a voluntary basis, my colleague Walter Ferger and I went camping in Freilingen in the Westerwald for three school-free days as a reward. We catered for ourselves using a camping stove. One evening, we had pea sausage soup with noodles, meat sausage and rolls, and after dinner a student said, “Teacher, moi Mudder nit koche as good as you!” That was nice praise for our volunteer efforts.
Not to forget our carnival celebrations at school, for which the children colorfully decorated the hall and appeared costumed and masked in the morning. Due to lack of space, the Elferrat was reduced to five members, the foolish contributions were performed from a real wooden hut and rewarded with homemade medals.
Fassnachtsfeier in the school
Image source: Friedrich Ruckel
“On the Swabian Railway” during the Fassnachts celebration in the school
Image source: Friedrich Ruckel
There is much more to report on the topic of “School as a place to learn and live”, such as the trips to the swimming pool in Nieder-Olm, to which a father took us with his tractor in hot summer weather, sledding and building snowmen when it was snowing, and visits to neighboring schools.
My relationship with Harxheim is, of course, not only shaped by my official commitment, but is also based on personal contacts. Among others, Lottchen and Michel Kehle should be mentioned here, with whom I found accommodation and a family connection. The same goes for Käthchen Fritzsch and her family, who took good care of my physical well-being. Likewise the friendly contact to my neighbors Georg and Katharina Lenz, whereby I met with Georg Lenz in the fifth foolish season often until deep into the night preparations for the meetings of the HKG. The good understanding between the school and the sports club was ensured by the cooperation with Fritz Horz, through whom my work as the district school administrator of the Mainz district also came about. In conclusion, I can say that I felt accepted and fully integrated in the village community. It was a formative, extraordinarily beautiful and instructive period of my professional and private life.
References:
Friedrich Ruckel
