Teaching at PHS expanded to history and speech/theater.

A scene from the production of 

"Teahouse of the August Moon" 

with Jim Winn, Barry Poth

and Steven Dietrich. 

In my first year in Pleasanton High School teaching history, I took a page from science teachers and introduced the first history fair in which students prepared projects concerning history — dioramas, maps made with flour paste, historical clothing and other exhibits.  The fair was a success.

In another effort to create interest in classes, I asked students to write a paper defending a political philosophy with which they disagreed.  We also discussed how in World War II, German soldiers' bodies were found bearing religious artifacts. Were all these men evil?

My second year, I also taught speech and worked with theater students. This was a blast. Students in Speech 1 performed "Aria del Capo," "Sorry Wrong Number" and "A Color-conscious Conscience" for an evening of one-act plays.  Parents loved it.

Students produced the play, "Teahouse of the August Moon,"a production that required more lighting and sound effects than the school auditorium had, but we improvised.  

Japanese speakers probably would have been appalled by the pidgen Japanese used.  A few parents complained about the "damns" and "hells" in the production and asked that the administration censor the language.

Principal Joe Mitchell, my high school mentor and former history teacher, stood firm, saying "generals don't say darn and students would have to learn different lines." 

Thanks to Mr. Mitchell’s brave stand, the play went on as scheduled.