# Watching the old school clock intently... tell me your old school/classroom wall-clock stories



## Aunt Marg (Dec 21, 2020)

Remember watching the clock tick away on the classroom wall... minute-by-minute... hour-by-hour, in anticipation of the school bell sounding to signify the end of another school day?

That was me, I loathed school from day one to day none, and while every single school day wasn't torture, I enjoyed very few days.

But somehow, as boring as it was, time flew by. Thinking back on it now, I see my old school days/years as being nothing more than a brief flash.


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## win231 (Dec 21, 2020)

I remember it well.  But my school clock didn't have a second hand.  Every minute, the hand would click twice - once without moving & once forward to the next minute.  Teachers always got mad at me when it clicked on the last minute of class & I'd shoot out of my seat like a rocket.
_A really bored rocket. _


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 21, 2020)

win231 said:


> I remember it well.  But my school clock didn't have a second hand.  Every minute, the hand would click twice - once without moving & once forward to the next minute.  Teachers always got mad at me when it clicked on the last minute of class & I'd shoot out of my seat like a rocket.
> _A really bored rocket. _


The most memorable times for me where getting out for Christmas holidays, and running out of the school on the last day (month of June) to enjoy the start of summer holidays!


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## Gaer (Dec 21, 2020)

It was an old oak clock with a pendulem.  It was right next to George Washington's picture. Every day I would watch the clock from 2:30 PM to 3:15 PM when school let out!


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 21, 2020)

Gaer said:


> It was an old oak clock with a pendulem.  It was right next to George Washington's picture. Every day I would watch the clock from 2:30 PM to 3:15 PM when school let out!


Now that you mention it, there was a sort of magical witching hour where my clock-watching intensified, and if I remember correctly it happened towards the last stretch of the afternoon... sometime in and around the 2:30 - 3:13 zone.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 21, 2020)

Gaer said:


> It was an old oak clock with a pendulem.  It was right next to George Washington's picture. Every day I would watch the clock from 2:30 PM to 3:15 PM when school let out!


Gaer. Did you attend an actual school (full-sized) or a small school-house?

I ask account your mention of the oak pendulum wall clock.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Dec 21, 2020)

@Aunt Marg I hated every minute of school also. Our clock was  oak with a pendulum like Gear had. My first two years were spent in the same school my grandpa had gone to,  when we walked in the school yard for recess I remember seeing the old outhouse that was rotting away probably from back in his day.. 
Kindergarten and first grades were combined. 
I wouldn't doubt that the clock was from his day also.
I remember watching it like a hawk. Counting down the minutes until each and every subject was finished. Hoping and praying I wouldn't get called to go to the black board and do a math problem, we called it arithmetic, or worse yet diagram a sentence. 
Remember flash cards? My fingers never moved fast enough to keep up.  The object was to memorize them. I never caught on and to this day I use my fingers.
I sure learned how to tell time in a hurry though. That clock was my lifeline to freedom every day at 3:15.
.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 21, 2020)

Ruth n Jersey said:


> @Aunt Marg I hated every minute of school also. Our clock was  oak with a pendulum like Gear had. My first two years were spent in the same school my grandpa had gone to,  when we walked in the school yard for recess I remember seeing the old outhouse that was rotting away probably from back in his day..
> Kindergarten and first grades were combined.
> I wouldn't doubt that the clock was from his day also.
> I remember watching it like a hawk. Counting down the minutes until each and every subject was finished. Hoping and praying I wouldn't get called to go to the black board and do a math problem, we called it arithmetic, or worse yet diagram a sentence.
> ...


Such history when you know generations before you attended the same school and haunted the same hallways. 

Oh yes, I remember flash cars! Also remember when the big thing was speed reading (can't remember what it was called), but you read a story that would flash each sentence onto the wall from a projector, and the teacher would start it at a set speed... something like 40 words a minute, and as you got more comfortable with the flash and read process, the speed was increased.

But critiquing the hands of the wall clock was my specialty, and I never needed a reminder that it was Friday. LMAO!


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## wcwbf (Dec 22, 2020)

typical HS kid (if even wearing a watch) will have the biggest, gaudiest, most fake looking (gold) watch imaginable.  fake diamonds all over the place.  and MOST of them can't tell time period.  if it's not a digital clock/watch, they have no clue.  if someone asks what time it is... and i look at the clock... and the hands are on 2:17... i'm gonna say... almost 2:30 and that will go over heads at Chuck Yeager speed/altitude.  "quarter of/after" causes apoplexy!

we had a sign-out/in sheet for students to use when going out to the restrooms.  our classroom clocks "had hands"... bummer.  now these were special needs kids who were perfectly capable of what they were told to do... yet reverted to total helplessness when someone who would do for them was around.  they would try to sneak out without filling in the time... usually didn't make it!

and before anybody calls me a "mean" teacher... the goal for a special needs kid is to be as independent as possible.  to do everyday things to the best of their ability.  BUT most (even those with severe multiple disabilities) know exactly WHO to "play" and HOW to play them... and imnsho, it's just wrong to let them get away with it!


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 22, 2020)

wcwbf said:


> typical HS kid (if even wearing a watch) will have the biggest, gaudiest, most fake looking (gold) watch imaginable.  fake diamonds all over the place.  and MOST of them can't tell time period.  if it's not a digital clock/watch, they have no clue.  if someone asks what time it is... and i look at the clock... and the hands are on 2:17... i'm gonna say... almost 2:30 and that will go over heads at Chuck Yeager speed/altitude.  "quarter of/after" causes apoplexy!
> 
> we had a sign-out/in sheet for students to use when going out to the restrooms.  our classroom clocks "had hands"... bummer.  now these were special needs kids who were perfectly capable of what they were told to do... yet reverted to total helplessness when someone who would do for them was around.  they would try to sneak out without filling in the time... usually didn't make it!
> 
> and before anybody calls me a "mean" teacher... the goal for a special needs kid is to be as independent as possible.  to do everyday things to the best of their ability.  BUT most (even those with severe multiple disabilities) know exactly WHO to "play" and HOW to play them... and imnsho, it's just wrong to let them get away with it!


Just for kicks I would love to throw a gamut of times at a younger class such as "half past", "quarter past", or "on the hour". LOL!


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## Damaged Goods (Dec 26, 2020)

Depression is defined as sitting in class, looking at the clock, and it's like 9:40am, on a Tuesday.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 26, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> Depression is defined as sitting in class, looking at the clock, and it's like 9:40am, on a Tuesday.


I always found Monday's to be the hardest.

I'd start stirring Sunday night in anticipation of Monday morning.


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## Damaged Goods (Dec 26, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> I'd start stirring Sunday night in anticipation of Monday morning.


Amen to that!  Sun. nights were depressing from 1st grade even up to the time I was relatively secure in a career.  It all worked out but you didn't know it at the time.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 26, 2020)

Damaged Goods said:


> Amen to that!  Sun. nights were depressing from 1st grade even up to the time I was relatively secure in a career.  It all worked out but you didn't know it at the time.


My husband said he has struggled with it from the time he was in elementary school, and I've spoken with others who have said the same.


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## peramangkelder (Dec 26, 2020)

When I started primary school in 1957 school was held in one large room of a large brick schoolhouse
This large room held all of the primary grades from grade 1 through to grade 7 all being taught differently
Hard to believe but the mixture of school grades worked very well and there was about 40 of us
Under the same roof was an ablution block and a lunchroom but most kids preferred to go outside and eat their lunch
We brought our lunches from home but we had a daily milk delivery and each child received a miniature bottle of milk for morning recess and if they were skinny like my sister they often received 2 bottles of milk
Our Headmaster lived in a lovely home behind the school building and he and his wife were nice approachable people
I loved school and I recall my primary school teachers with much fondness


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 27, 2020)

peramangkelder said:


> When I started primary school in 1957 school was held in one large room of a large brick schoolhouse
> This large room held all of the primary grades from grade 1 through to grade 7 all being taught differently
> Hard to believe but the mixture of school grades worked very well and there was about 40 of us
> Under the same roof was an ablution block and a lunchroom but most kids preferred to go outside and eat their lunch
> ...


Boy, your post jogged my memory as to split-grade classes, Peram.

I remember being in a couple of split-classes, but only two grades.

We used to eat outside, too, on lunch breaks, often taking up a spot under one of the large oak trees, or a grassy corner somewhere on the grounds away from everybody.

Such lovely memories.


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## Pappy (Dec 27, 2020)

Always remember the last few minutes before summer vacation. Talk about getting antsy. When the time came, it was like the dam busted.


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## Aunt Marg (Dec 27, 2020)

Pappy said:


> Always remember the last few minutes before summer vacation. Talk about getting antsy. Wh*en the time came, it was like the dam busted*.


It sure was!

So euphoric it was!


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## Pecos (Dec 27, 2020)

I had a cheap, old fashioned pocket watch and snuck many a quick glance at it, especially during the more boring classes. The wrist watches that I could afford could not stand up to the rigors of farm work.


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