It seems like a long time ago I was one of these new teachers in Minnetonka--24 years ago to be exact. Even longer ago than that, almost 90 years ago, my grandmother, Dorothea, was an English teacher. She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, the same school from which I graduated 65 years later with my own degree in education. Unfortunately I never got to meet my grandmother because she passed away from cancer before I was born. 
Dorothea got her first teaching job in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota, a small town on the far western end of the state near the Montana border where my mother grew up (pictured on the right). She taught in a three level schoolhouse (pictured above) that had around 10-20 students per grade. Elementary students mainly had classes on the first floor and moved up to high school by attending classes upstairs. The basement housed a cafeteria, science labs and a shop class. The school is no longer standing. Its last class graduated years ago and the building has since been torn down. The few students who still live in the area are now bused to another town nearby for their education.
My mom recently showed me my grandmother's first contract. Back in 1931 my grandmother signed the contract pictured below to begin her teaching career. As an English teacher in a very small school, she had numerous preps. My mother had her own mom as her teacher many times over the years. Dorothea taught writing classes, speech classes, journalism, Latin, music and more. According to the contract, she earned an annual salary of $1,400 for this work, minus an annual retirement fund withdrawal of $14(!). This worked out to $154/month for a nine month contract. It's hard to imagine a time when that would be enough money for an annual salary. I'm sure if my grandmother were alive today she'd be amazed to see how far education has come in the past century, not only in salaries but in many other ways, too, such as all the technology now available.
