Follow along in the diary pages of Verle McFarland (Shanks), an Iowa farm girl who is learning to teach. From her first days as a substitute teacher in one-room schools, to the adventure of leaving home to live in the dorms while attending the three-month summer certificate program at the Iowa State Teachers College (ISTC) in Cedar Falls, she shares interesting daily details. Entries include those from fellow classmates who shared the ISTC experience in the summers of 1926, 1927, and 1928.