The one-room schoolhouse on the Lincoln County Fairgrounds opens its doors July 22-26 for its annual Open House. Stop in for a bit of nostalgia any time between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
This year’s new displays at Brickyard School Museum include a tribute to Fred Schepp, as well as an examination of memorization – a learning technique predominant in one-room schools.
Fred Schepp served as the co-director of Brickyard School from 2000-2007. During first graders’ visits to the school, Fred was the jack-of-all-trades; he could be found doing the duties of instructor, photographer, custodian, and more. He served on the committee which planned the first grade experience. Fred was also instrumental in collecting and organizing photographs, documents and artifacts into albums and displays which share the history of one-room rural schools in Lincoln County. His work is evident throughout the museum.
The topic of memorization as a learning technique is a second focus for this year’s Open House. Going backwards from 1950 for hundreds of years, memorization was considered the prime method of mastering material in most schools. Be it multiplication facts, famous speeches, spelling words or rules of grammar, all were to be “learned by heart.” An area of special focus in the Brickyard display will be the memorization of poetry. Visitors will rediscover many famous works of poetry memorized during their school days.