Oklahoma Meets Harry Stottlemeier

Abstract

Introduction:  Sixteen months ago my husband's job required that our family move from Fort Worth, Texas, where we had lived for the past seven years, to Edmond, Oklahoma.  At the time of this transfer, I was teaching English and analytical thinking to seventh graders at a small private school in Fort Worth.  I had taken teacher training in analytical thinking while a student at Texas Wesleyan College; additionally, I had been a graduate assistant in Wesleyan's analytical thinking program.  Therefore, my interest and involvement in the program were extensive.  Waiting for me in Oklahoma was a job teaching seventh grade English at Sequoyah Middle School.  Sequoyeah was then the only middle school in Edmond, a conservative, quickly-growing bedroom community north of Oklahoma City.  However, analytical thinking had not been introduced into any Oklahoma schools, and I was reluctant to move from Fort Worth and from opportunities to use this course in my teaching.  I was skeptical that the district and the administrators in Edmond would be receptive to a totally new idea in curriculum.