I have not managed to find any school records for anyone in my family, but I have a lot of ancestors and relatives who were school teachers, including a living cousin, who is not on wikitree.
My mother, Lois Gardner, was an excellent teacher, and it was a profession she loved. She told many stories about her teaching experiences, but one that always struck me most was early in her teaching career, so it was probably around 1954 or '55, in the Los Angeles basin. She said new teachers were often given difficult students that no one else wanted. She was given a 3rd grade class of students who were all non-readers. She soon discovered that only a few of them spoke any English. They were all Spanish-speaking. She had taken Spanish in school, and so she translated the curriculum into Spanish, getting them up to grade level in math and science, and also taught them English (as a second language). It turned out that most of these students were really quite bright, and learned quickly when they could understand what was being taught. Halfway through the year, she started having her class challenge others in spelling bees, first challenging the lower grades, as her class was not yet up to grade level. She felt this would help to build self-confidence in her students. Her class would often win, and they moved up to challenging 2nd graders, then other 3rd grade classes. All the students were up to grade level by the end of the school year.
The principle was so impressed, he asked her to take the same students the next year. She agreed, and by the end of the 2nd year, when they were in 4th grade, they were all testing in the 5th and 6th grade level in all subjects. Another teacher accused her of cheating on the test, as racial bias made them think that the Hispanic children could not possibly do so well in school. She asked the principal to re-test the kids himself. He did, and it came out the same. However, he fired her, because they still couldn't believe it.
My father, Bill Gardner, was also a school teacher, teaching 5th and 6th grades in Santa Barbara, Calif. for about 5 years. He was reportedly a good teacher--I know one of his old students. He tired of teaching and changed profession after about 5 years.
My mother's father, Peter Stoner, taught math and astronomy at Pasadena High School, and Pasadena City College, from around 1913 until he retired. He was also head of the mathematics and physical science departments. He was involved in building the observatory on Mount Wilson. After he retired from teaching (in the mid 1950's) at PCC, he received a request from a friend to develop the math and science departments at a small Christian college--Westmont College--in Santa Barbara. He moved there, teaching there for a number of years, developing their curriculum, and building a small observatory. (Oops, I need to finish his bio!)
His brother, George Stoner, taught High School English, in Orange, California.
Their father, C. C. Stoner, taught grammar school in a small, rural one-room school-house in Kansas, for a few years.
My father's aunt, Alice Gardner, was an art teacher, in Colorado. She had a short career, as she died young, of appendicitis.
Her father, my great-grandfather, William Gardner, served as county Superintendent of Schools in Saguache county, Colorado.
His mother in law, Esther Eggleston, my great-great grandmother, taught grammar school for a time in Salida, Colorado.
