Mrs. Harris and the Red, Red Robin

I don't remember very much about my first day back at Woodland Elementary for the 1957/1958 school year. I was ten years old, almost eleven really, and was now entering the Fourth Grade. My best guess is that I wasn't too happy about being there. For me, the first days of school had always been a mixture of excitement and dread. The excitement came from the idea of being with my classmates again. The dread came from not knowing what complicated and confusing tasks the teachers would impose on us. All too often my difficulty with school assignments left me feeling stupid and humiliated in front of my classmates.

When I walked into my Fourth Grade classroom I immediately spotted something different. It was something that none of my previous classrooms had. Sitting right next to the teacher's desk was a great big piano. Huh? Did that mean our teacher could play the piano? What would it sound like? I quickly got an answer to my question when our teacher, Mrs. Erma Harris, an older lady with white hair, big glasses and a kind expression sat down at the piano and launched right in to a peppy version of "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along". It was her way of welcoming us all back to school and giving us a taste of what the school year in her class would be like. The singer Doris Day had recorded a hit record of the song a couple of years before and I remembered hearing it on the radio.

OK, our Mrs. Harris was no Doris Day, but she was pretty darn good. Actually, she was great! As I looked around the classroom I saw that the other kids liked the music as much as I did. Everyone was smiling and having fun. Some of my friends from last year were there, and I was glad to see them. I spied some pretty girls too! As I sat back in my chair gazing out the window at the robins hopping around on the playground I thought to myself, "Maybe the Fourth Grade won't be so bad after all".



Not all American students had such a pleasant first day back at school as I did. In Little Rock Arkansas nine young African American students were turned away when they tried to enroll in Little Rock Central High School. What happened next would change America forever. I tell their story in my post entitled The Little Rock Nine.

Some great songs that really rang my bell in the Fourth Grade

Factoid: The Everly Brothers lived briefly in Knoxville and attended West High School in 1955.