teaching in the psych ward . In Reno , she taught stroke victims . Sometimes listless patients would be brought in on a gurney . They would be placed on a table , similar to a massage table , with an easel and drawing materials arranged below them so they could see what they were doing . Linda bought frames from the Dollar Store and put the patients ’ finished pictures in them . One of the patients , who began negatively , sat in his wheelchair looking at the framed piece he had done — and smiled .
“ I did one thing that worked really well ,” Linda said . “ The principal told me not to put them in the hall . The teacher across the hall from my class , the math teacher , said to watch out because the kids would put razor blades in my Coke can . So here I am with these junior high kids , with whiskers and everything , and I knew I had to figure out a way to get control of this group .
“ What I did was I spoke gently and told them that if they broke a rule , they had to go put their nose on the board . The first kid who misbehaved told me he wouldn ’ t do that . So I told him to get out of my class . With the kids , I knew if I followed through with the discipline , they would respect me . I learned that what happens when you get their respect , is that they protect you .”
She also went into the juvenile jail to teach , after teaching junior high students . One of the kids in the jail recognized her as having been his art teacher before . He had got himself in some pretty serious trouble , and his comment on his last day there was , “ If only I had art , my life would be okay .” Many of the kids , who had trouble expressing themselves verbally , found ways through art .
She would go into hospitals and teach art therapy , some of it while she was still in college . One of the weirdest times was
There is one more story to share before we leave the Nevada portion of Linda ’ s life . She taught second grade in a high-risk area . For parents ’ night , she helped the students make “ life sculptures .” The kids plastered papier-mâché over balloons for their heads , and Linda had cut out construction paper eyes and hair to match their own . She had each child bring in an outfit of clothing , which they stuffed with newspaper , and she brought in Dollar Store glasses for the kids who wore glasses . Finally , they traced their hands and attached them . Then they put each life sculpture at the child ’ s desk and put some homework samples on the desktops so that the parents would see the sculptures of their children when they came into the classroom .
“ We did fun things like that for the kids ,” Linda said . “ I would read a story to them , and I wouldn ’ t finish it . Then I would ask each of them to come up with what they thought the ending should be . We would go down to the lunchroom , which had a stage , and I ’ d have them act out the ending to the story , too , since I love theatre , and I ’ ve done it for years . We did every aspect of art except for singing since I can ’ t sing . We even made up more plays , performed them , and did as many art-related learning activities as possible . I tried ― and I believe I succeeded ― in making learning fun for them .”
After Schneider moved to Washington some time ago , the editor of the Liberty Lake newspaper told Linda that if she designed something in calligraphy for the White House , he would do a story on her . Undaunted by the challenge , she went home and called the White House . “ When I asked for the calligraphy department , they hung up
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