Ora Nall

Ora T. Nall was my U.S. history teacher when I was a junior at Apollo High School. I had her for college preparatory U.S. history during the 1988-89 academic year. She was a great teacher. She taught college preparatory U.S. history, one advanced placement U.S. history class, she taught a current issues class, and senior U.S. government class. The A.P. history class was for juniors that were in the honors track level. She was a very serious and dedicated history teacher. She didn't just teach history in class and then once class was over with, she was done with history for the day. History was a part of her life. She and her husband, Don Nall taught U.S. history except Don Nall taught history at Daviess County High School and Mrs. Ora Nall taught history at Apollo. She taught at Apollo from 1975-96. She retired in 1996 due to lung cancer. She died in August 1996. I had the privilege of attending her graveside funeral. I remember a statement that then principal Dale Stewart said when eulogizing her. He said that she was dedicated to her teaching profession. That was absolutely true. She strived to be as knowledgeable as she could be about history so she could impart the necessary information to her classes. She would attend a number of development workshops over the years and she would visit a host of countries. In the 1983-84 Apollo High School yearbook, it showed a picture of her at the Great Wall of China. She went to China one summer and she posed for some pictures in that yearbook. She also learned how to eat with chopsticks when she was in China. I had once asked her of any countries she hadn't seen and she told me they were Austrialia and New Zealand.

Her class was upstairs at Apollo. In her classroom she would have a couple of chalkboards, a podium on her desk, and several pictures on her wall. One of the pictures on her wall was from then U.S. Senator Wendell Ford (D-KY) and former 2nd district Congressman William Natcher (D-KY). She was acqauinted with Kentucky's lawmakers. She also had posted several satirical political cartoonson her bulletin board. She one day made a comment about our lack of noticing them on the wall and said we were "numbskulls". She was the first person whom I heard mention that word. Each day on her chalkboard she would have written "Goal of the day" for various periods. I was in her 3rd period class. She would many times begin the goal with "consider". One time on the board it said "Consider labor unions". We would know what we would be doing each class day by reading what was on the board. The class consisted of lectures and tests. Sometimes we would watch a video about some historical event in America. One time we all went to the auditorium and we sang the national anthem. She would do that with all her U.S. history classes. We also were required to quote the preamble to the Constitution as well.

On the first day of class she would explain to us what the class would consist of. She wore a button for two days that said, "I'm easy to please, just do it my way." She was letting us know if we will listen and follow directions, we'll be okay. We learned it wasn't a class for horseplay or frivolous chatter. She would have a list of classroom rules on the board and they would start with "Thou shalt" or "Thou shalt not". One rule stated, "Thou shalt be on time for class." Another one stated, "Thou shalt bring necessary items to class." Another one stated, "Thou shalt not chew gum or eat candy in class." She was a stickler about that. There would be a number of times a student would be chewing gum while she was lecturing. She sometimes would tell them to head to the trashcan and spit the gum out. Other times she would carry the waste paper basket to the student's desk and they had to spit it out. When she saw your mouth moving, she knew you had gum in it. She didn't like students chewing gum in class. She would call out the class roll on a daily basis and we would have to either say "here" or "present." During that school year we had two student teachers that shared in teaching to the students, so we didn't have Mrs. Nall lecturing to us everyday.

For the first semester and a few weeks of the second semester, we didn't use a textbook. We had to take copious notes in class. Starting with the 1987-88 school year, the U.S. history textbooks were redesigned differently. In the Daviess County Public School system, students in the 8th grade and students in the 11th grade took U.S. history. Starting with the 1987-88 school year, the school system decided to teach the first half of U.S. history to 8th graders and the second half to 11th graders. 8th graders would study history from Columbus until the Civil War. The 11th grade class was supposed to study history from Reconstruction to present time. Mrs. Nall didn't issue us the original textbooks which covered all of U.S. history from the beginning of time to present. She decided to give us a refresher of early U.S. history for a semester. We would have to take copious notes. The second semester we received our history textbooks when we started studying the period of Reconstruction. Our tests would consist of essay, multiple choice, and fill-in-the blank. You had to study your material thoroughly. In the second semester, she gave primarily scantron tests. Scantron tests were multiple choice or true or false and they were graded by a scanner. She also gave us essay assignments to write as well. She was a huge believer in students expressing themselves both orally and through written exams. We had a few essays to write in her class. Her A.P. class wrote more essays than we did. They also had a booklet which she referred to as "baby" they had to keep and bring with them to class. It had various selections of reading lessons in it.

She was also different in her approach to grading tests. On a scale from 1-100 she would give you points for every correct answer. For example, suppose you had a ten question test. Every question that you answered correctly you would receive 10 points. Every incorrect answer she gave you 0 points. She didn't grade the way most teachers grade and subtract points for every wrong answer. If you had it wrong, you didn't receive any points for it. Then she would add up the points and that would be your score. If you had seven answers correct, then she would multiply 10 x 7 and your final score would be 70%, which was a D. She said it was backwards deducting points for every wrong answer. Why assume you have a score of 100 until you calculate all the correct answers? She had a point there. Another thing that was different about her was if you misspelled a word or used improper English, you would receive reduced points for that answer. Many students thought that was silly, but she was emphasizing it's important to experess oneself both orally and in written form in every class. She said the proper usage of English should be emphasized in every subject area; not just English class. In my senior yearbook there was a little caption of Mrs. Nall and she stated her philosophy in regards to education. I'm going to quote it for you." "I believe that all people need to be able to express their ideas in an acceptable manner. This includes both verbal and written expression. I further believe that school has as its goal the overall education of its students. Each class is responsible for this general goal rather than just being responsible for teaching a particular subject. As a result, I believe that all classes should encourage acceptable verbal and written expression." I believe she was exactly on the mark.

Mrs. Nall was very dedicated in her teaching profession. She was also dedicated in the Owensboro community as well. I remember one year she performed in Owensboro's annual "Messiah" performance at Third Baptist Church. I've seen her once at a bluegrass festival in Owensboro. She would attend state teacher's conventions and any seminar that was history related. She taught school from 1968-96, which was almost 30 years. She started teaching what was then Daviess County Jr. High (now Daviess County Middle School) and then later at Apollo. I learned a lot from her and I believe in her approach that in education a student should be able to express oneself both orally and in written expression.