Devonne Brown

Since I started teaching I’ve undergone many changes. I still have a real honest to God chalk board in my classroom instead of the standard white board these days. 

 The way I copy papers has changed significantly over the years. I started with the purple stuff. I would get so frustrated trying to type tests and worksheets on those purple master sheets that would take my students minutes to finish. 

The purple ink layer adhered to the backside of whatever was typed or written on the master sheet. Then it was placed on a drum mechanism with some kind of toxic fluid. If the conditions were all aligned, and no wrinkles got on the master, purple duplicated papers were made of the page. 

I quit typing out the masters quickly and began handwriting every test, practice sheet, review sheet, worksheet I ever devised for my students. I developed perfect teacher handwriting for those things. A Xerox machine was out of the question, they were too expensive to use. Only the purple stuff was acceptable. I could make that drum rolling purple machine sing. People came to me for guidance on how to use it.

Another thing I could do that seems ridiculous now was the waxing of the columns of the school newspaper. Then, it was laid out in strips, headlines,  and black and white photographs on wax dots. The wax went into an iron with a roller that rolled onto grid paper to mark where columns were to go. It was then packed in a box and sent to the local newspaper to be printed once a month. Today, a newspaper is printed in a program like Publisher or Photoshop. It can be done and redone in the blink of an eye. 

In many ways, it was more fun with the strips and dots. It gave me a greater sense of spatial awareness, design, and creativity. That’s not to say I want to do wax and dots again though. I much prefer the ease of a computer program. 

I’m proud of myself for going from the purple drums to disseminating worksheets, tests, and other documents to students on their iPads, not just running papers off on the Risograph machine, though passing out papers is still necessary for them. Pen and paper work is still crucial to reading and writing. It’s nice to know that my skills have grown over the years.