Population: small Patricia Cox ('77) specializes in one-teacher schools. by Katlin Smith II's a warm autumn afternoon in southern Oregon. Outside the schoolhouse In tiny Agness. an isolated community on the Rogue River, oil steel-gray squirrel creeps headfirst down a massive oak tree. He hesitates, swiveling his head to peer in the wmdow at the eight students who are struggling with their math lessons. The scene is typical - but with a twist. The students. all laught by one t e a c h e r ~ range from first-graders to sixth-graders. They are students in one of Oregon's' 7 remaining one-teacher schoors. Agness school teacher Patricia Cox ('77) is a rarity. She has specialized in ~ ~ ~ : ~ c ~ ~ ; ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ s ! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ k s to leach in larger lawns, the schools in small burgs continue to attract her. Cox's firslleaching job was tn north central Montana in the 19&05. A college degree was not required (or the position, but stamina was. Her first class included 10 students and seven different grade levels. "Now when I think back," ~ h e says. I think 'How did I have enough nerve to go and do thaI!' ., Cox soon realized that seven different grade levels translated into seven different daily lesson plans. She also found that specialization wa not an option. Not only did she teach the basic subjects, but also art, music and physical education Planning time and pe:oona I break!, were, and are, also an ImrKlSsibJlity. "'n my school, jf they go somewhere, I go with them," she explains. "We are together all day long from the time they come to the time they leave. There are no breaks off, for them or for me, from each other." Antelope p e ~ c e shattered Cox finished her college degree at Portland Slate in 1977, followed by a stint at substitute teaching. She then headed for her next one·teacher school, in soon·to-be-famous Antelope, Ore. Expecting another quiet. small·town teaching aSSIgnment, Cox found herself in the center of a tense media event. When Ihe f o l l o w ~ of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh moved 10 the Big Muddy Ranch near Antelope, and the media followed. the placid central Oregon town changed personalities. "The school was the only big building in town where .....e held meetings," s.1ys Cal(. "The telephone was always nnging. "At first It was exciting," she remembers. But the stre5S of the situation soon interfered with her teaching. She finally refused to allow film crews into the school. Her students thanked her In relief. Aher three years in remote Antelope, Cox decided it was lime to move 10 a larger school. But when she read about the opening in Agness, she remembered a spectacular trip she had taken up the Rogue River by maillxtal years earlier. Her memories of the natural beauty of the communrty. which is still served by mailboat. swayed her. In 1982, she arrived in the tiny resort town to take over another one-teacher school. One large family moving into or out of the district can totally change her teaching plans. Cox finds many advantages to her teaching assignments. The one-teacher situation allows her to work with Individual students over a number of years. "You can see that they are definitely learning," she says. "If you have them fOf one year and they are having difficulty in some subject, you never know if they ever learned that or not But here you do." Cox also appreciates her independence in the classroom. "You don't have someone standing over your shoulder and telling you what to do," she says. "You choose what you want to teach, when you want 10 teach it, how you want to teach it. and you choose your textbooks. But the ,ob can be unpredictable. One large family moving inlO or oul of the district can totally change her teaching plans. She once expected eight students in her Antelope classroom and ended up wilh 18. Older kids help Ihe younger Cox is presently teaching 1 S students - eight students ranging (rom 6 years to 11 years, and seven kinderganen students. Though she is still responsible for her youngest students' curriculum development and leaching. Cox gladly accepts help from a part·time aide who works wilh the kindergarteners. In the classroom, Cox's youngest students benefit from the knowledge of It'lelr elder5. "Give me an equation," Cox commands, as she points to the day's date. October 9. Instantly, each student has a hand in the air, regardless of age. "Zero plus nine," a first-grader responds. "Seventy-two divided by eight," suggests a sIxth-grader. Each student shares an equation whICh equals moe. Afterwards, they al! stand in a circle for a counting game, the older : ~ ~ ~ u : ~ t ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ students At the end of the day, Cox drives 3S miles - a winding hour-long drive along the Rogue River - to her apartment, which she shares with six cats, neat Gold Beach. She lived in Agness during her first three years in the community. but chose to move to a more populated area. Even Agness' main sign, posted by the store, which is now out of business, doesn't give the count of the few people living In the scenIC fishing and logging village. " says "Population: small." The number of one-teacher schools continues to dwindle. But there will ~ ~ ~ ~ i ~ : ' a r . k ~ ~ ' ! ! ~ n need of a leacher who is committed to facing a roomful of children of different ages and at differem stages of development. Patricia Cox is one of a rare breed who is happy in front of such a challenging and unusual classroom. Blumel reminiscences eonfinuu/ from ~ 2 NMK:y T ~ n g Accounting It is a measure of the man, and of his respect for us as individuals, that in a job as demanding and intense as that of a University president, Joe Blumel knew each one of us and. more importantly, that he cared about us Frederick Wdller Emeritus, fns/ish If I had to cite one pre-eminent virtue among others that Joe has ~ h o w n as president. it would be. steadHless of purpose toward the welfare of the University, steadiness In deCIsion-making, and steadiness to the face of the disappointments. Dd¥id Newhdll Philosophy Probably the most significant achievement while Joe was president has been the progressive recognition of Portland State University as a valuablc resource to the metropolitan area and to the entire state of Orcgon... We are continuously SC'Cking our own identity. Joe has certainly conlributed a part of thaI Identity. PSU PerspectIve. Fall 1986 page 7
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