USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > Inaugural address of the mayor, with the annual report of the officers of the city of Quincy for the year 1932 > Part 26
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The follow-up of pupils in their work has been handled as usual except that a number of teachers have acted as advisers for cer- tain groups of Sophomores. Many cases of failures are referred to the Dean and adjustments made. The whole problem of failure needs further study.
Special cases of various kinds are constantly attracting attention and being referred for investigation. The services of Mr. Clark as home visitor have been invaluable here; also those of Mrs. Baker when health factors have been involved.
The adequate handling of health cases has been one of the out- standing achievements of the year. Since last May, when Mrs. Baker came to take charge of the work, 980 girls have received treatment in the Emergency Room. The increase in number over previous years would indicate that many who would otherwise have been dismissed were cared for and were thus able to return to classes. Also many minor injuries hitherto neglected have received proper attention.
There has been a systematic follow-up of all health cases which have been found to need special attention.
The past few months have revealed an unusual number of cases of real want. Welfare work has been done along various lines. Complete reports in regard to it have already been given to you.
Respectfully submitted,
MILDRED B. HARRISON, Dean of Girls.
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CITY OF QUINCY
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF GRAMMAR GRADES
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
It gives me pleasure to submit the following report:
Since the "process of education is made up of units of learning" -each of which must be mastered-the general trends are towards such types of instruction. Traditional schools ignore the mastery of true units of learning and focus their attention upon the per- formance of assigned tasks. It has been well said, "The practice of keeping the mind fixed upon lesson performance instead of upon clearly defined units of learning leads logically and unalterably to the theory of appraisal and control of pupils' progress, the antithe- sis of mastery."
Keeping our place in the van of progressive education, the prin- ciples underlying instruction by units of work have been presented to the teachers and types of such work placed in their hands. They have been asked to fix as the goal of their year's work, such types of instruction. These are to be submitted to a central committee for constructive suggestions. The ultimate plan is to take such outstanding pieces of work-the past of our schools has had splen- did examples of creative teaching-and "pool" them for the benefit of the city. We anticipate, by use of the work done in our midst, broadening ideas for the experienced teachers and real help for the teachers new in the profession.
I wish to thank the girls and boys of the Massachusetts Fields and Montclair Schools for their excellent contributions to the Bridgewater Exhibit. The one, an individual project, wherein "the stage was set," portraying accurately the scene of "The Signing of the Oath of Allegiance"; the other, a set of slides in colors depict- ing the salient episodes connected with the solution of the problem, "How the English Colonies Came to Separate Themselves from the Mother Country."
In closing, may I again avail myself of the opportunity of ex- pressing to you my sincere appreciation of your confident sup- port, and also of thanking my co-workers-the principals and teachers-for the encouragement afforded by their spirit of gra- cious loyalty and untiring cooperation.
Respectfully submitted,
HELEN MAUDE DELLICKER,
Supervisor of Grammar Grades.
377
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF DRAWING
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass.
My dear Mr. Muir:
I herewith submit my annual report of the drawing department of the public schools of Quincy for the year 1932.
Several extra pieces of work were completed this year in addi- tion to the routine work of the department. The first of these was an exhibit held in Kingson Hall, in February, for the Quincy Art League, showing the progress of the drawing work from Grade I through the Senior High School in the subjects of Design and Rep- resentation. The exhibit contained ninety-six mounts of drawings which well filled the hall. The work exhibited was chosen from the regular school work, and every school in the city was repre- sented. Twenty of these mounts of drawings were later loaned to the Wollaston Woman's Club for exhibition purposes.
Later in the spring a request was received from the Chamber of Commerce for a design for a banner for "Quincy Day." This was made a contest in the four Junior High Schools of the city. The judges announced Barbara Drury of the Central Junior High as the winner of the first prize, Forrest Kimball of Central Junior High winner of the second prize, and Helen Ferris also of Central Junior High winner of the third prize. Six special honorable mentions were given and many honorable mentions, all divided among the four schools.
Posters were made again this year for the Norfolk County Health Association, the contest being carried on in the Junior High Schools of the city. The Quincy judges met on May 20th, and selected the five best posters from the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. These posters selected by the judges were sent to the annual meeting of the association at Braintree to be exhibited and judged with posters from other cities and towns of Norfolk County. Geraldine Avery of the Quincy Point Junior High received second prize in grade seven and Marilyn Walsh of Central Junior High received honorable mention in grade eight.
In the fall of this year, several changes occurred in the teaching staff of this department. Miss Julia Rutledge of the Quincy Point Junior High had resigned to fill a position in Boston, and her place was filled by the appointment of Miss Helen Leighton of Arlington, who is an experienced Junior High School art teacher. With the addition of the eleventh grade at the North Quincy High School, and the prospect of the twelfth grade next year in that building, it became necessary to have two full time art teachers in that building. Miss Marjorie White of the Central Junior High was therefore transferred to this new position, and her former place was filled by the apointment of Miss Vera Stevens, who had satis- factorily filled a vacancy for us a few years ago.
A course in Art Appreciation has been started in the first six grades by means of slides from the department of Visual Education with the kind cooperation of Mr. Krasker.
I am glad to have this opportunity to thank you, Mr. Muir, for your unfailing help and interest in this department, and also to thank Miss Helen Ash for her faithful cooperation, and to thank
378
CITY OF QUINCY
all the teachers and pupils who respond so generously to any de- mands this department makes upon them.
Respectfully submitted,
AMY E. ADAMS, Supervisor of Drawing.
379
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
It gives me pleasure to submit the following report for the music department.
We are still striving to attain the objectives of our music work already set forth in previous reports.
Our aim in the vocal field is to foster a love for singing, intelli- gence in reading and interpreting music, and the correct use of the voice. This work is carried on in small classroom groups from the first through the seventh grade in Junior High School, followed by chorus singing in larger groups in which all children of the eighth and ninth grades must participate. In the Senior High School grades all vocal music is elective, and the interest is so great that the choruses are almost unwieldy in size. In January, 1932, the entire class which graduated from Quincy High School sang Gounod's "Gallia," with the solos performed by members of the class. In May the opera "Pinafore" was presented by the members of the Glee Club in the same school.
Music appreciation is still stimulated in the elementary schools by music memory contests. In these contests in June, 685 attained perfect scores. We hope that at an early date a regular plan for music appreciation with text books and records may supplant the older contest method. Much could be accomplished in the Junior High Schools for the love of listening to music if there could be some program time devoted to this particular phase of the work. In the Senior High Schools elective courses in music appreciation and harmony are offered with diploma credit.
In the instrumental field the work remains constant. Class in- struction for all orchestra and band instruments is offered at twenty-five cents a lesson to any girl or boy from the fifth grade through Senior High School. These classes have been in operation since 1920, and have always financed themselves. For the last three years piano class work has been offered to pupils of the fourth grade with excellent results. Orchestras are available to all children who have studied at least a year. For elementary schools there is a central orchestra which meets every Saturday morning. Each Junior High School has its own organization and each Senior High School has not only a first orchestra of approxi- mately fifty members but also a training group of almost the same number. In May five hundred pupils participated in a concert which exemplified all branches of this class instruction, also the results attained by the orchestras and band. These last-named organizations are maintaining a high standard of work and won much honor at the State Contest held in Norwood this year. Our next development will be a band at the North Quincy High School.
As results of our work we know that many former members of high school organizations continue their vocal and their instru- mental work; many are singing acceptably in the church choirs or other singing groups of the city; some have organized their own orchestras; many have gained a social recognition in college or other surroundings which they could not have had without their musical experience; some are directly training to use music as their vocation, and some are already filling positions.
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CITY OF QUINCY
The most important result, however, is that music is felt as an essential by the children themselves, and through the children and what they can do, the people of the community are expressing their appreciation and realization of the value of music in the schools.
In closing, may I thank you for your constant support and in- spiration, and express my gratitude to the School Committee, the school officials and the teachers for their cooperation.
Respectfully submitted,
MAUDE M. HOWES, Supervisor of Music.
381
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
I herewith submit the report of the department of physical edu- cation for the year 1932.
The health survey of the Quincy schools by Dr. Frederick Rand Rogers was concluded in the early spring. In Dr. Rogers' report he made this statement: "Evidently Quincy's school children are, on the whole, in excellent physical condition. About fifteen per cent need daily, individual attention by specialists to remove growth handicaps and increase vitality." Following the survey, preliminary physical fitness tests were made of children in the ninth, tenth and eleventh grades. These tests were made the basis for determining new classifications of pupils which went into effect with the opening of schools in the fall.
These tests were preceded by medical examinations and con- sisted of :
(a) Foot prints-to determine the need for strengthening the muscles of the feet or for other corrective procedures.
(b) Strength tests-to determine the need for modified physical activity programs.
Nine hundred and forty-three girls and ten hundred and sixty- six boys were given the physical fitness tests at the Quincy Senior High School, while at the North Quincy High School two hundred and seventy-nine girls and three hundred and sixteen boys were tested. The average physical fitness indices of all pupils tested were boys 107-girls 96. The tested pupils were then grouped ac- cording to their P.F.I. (Physical Fitness Index) into three divisions.
Group D
(1) All boys with P.F.I.'s below 85 and all girls with P.F.I.'s below 80 to attend classes four times weekly.
(2) To this group to be added all pupils with foot print angles below 20°.
Group A
(3) All pupils with P.F.I.'s over 115 to be allowed choice of physical activity.
Group B and C
(4) All other pupils to attend a physical activity at least once weekly, in intra-mural, inter-school or individual sport or recrea- tive activities, either in gymnasiums, on play fields or elsewhere during school hours, after school or during weekends subject to approval by physical educators.
At the North Quincy High School crowded conditions prevented a complete change of organization, although wherever possible changes in keeping with the new program were made.
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CITY OF QUINCY
At Quincy Senior High School a complete reorganization of the physical education program was made in September, grouped ac- cording to the following table:
Girls
Boys
Grade
Group A
Group B & C
Group D
Grade
Group A
Group B & C
Group D
12
75
207
105
12
121
200
10
11
37
140
62
11
84
142
67
10
87
158
72
10
162
117
67
Totals
199
505
239
367
459
240
This program has functioned well for the four months and in- teresting changes are looked for when the retests are made in January.
The outstanding feature of the program is its adjustability to the individual needs of the pupil.
Respectfully submitted,
WILLIAM H. WHITING, Supervisor of Physical Education.
383
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF VISUAL EDUCATION
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
I submit the following report of the work of the Visual Education Department.
The eventual success of the value of visual aids in the schools will be measured by the criterion, "Do the aids help the teacher more efficiently ?" The work of a Department of Visual Education is a service to teachers.
Research throughout the country is consistently proving the value of the proper use of "Teaching Aids."
The experiments caried on in Quincy last year by the Harvard School of Education in cooperation with the Carnegie foundation- testing the value of Sound Motion Pictures in the teaching of Science, indicates experimentally the value of visual education. The increased demand for materials by our teachers is an excellent practical indication that Visual Aids are serving their purpose as Teaching Aids.
The general interest of educators in Visual Education was made evident on February 6, 1932, when about 500 school teachers and school administrators met at the North Quincy High School at the annual program of the Massachusetts Branch of the National Academy of Visual Instruction.
Boston University, School of Education, has recognized the value of Visual Education by offering courses to train teachers in this field and also by establishing a curriculum for the specific purpose of developing leaders to direct departments of Visual Education for school systems. Many normal schools and schools of education now require a course in Visual Education of all students who are preparing to teach. These are indications of the acceptance of the value of the extended use of teaching aids.
Keeping in mind the one goal of serving the teacher, the Visual Education Department has been emphasizing the following four services :
1. To correlate the available teaching aids with all of the new courses of study and to make these correlated lists of teaching aids available to the teachers. The most certain method of having teachers use the available aids is to make the material a part of the course of study.
2. To increase the number of schools with 100 per cent projec- tion equipment. Each school building should own three projectors: motion picture, slide, and filmslide, to make use of the materials available in the central office. This year for the first time we are able to say that every school principal has available the use of a motion picture projector. One school has found it necessary to purchase two projectors to take care of the demands of the teach- ers. Five more motion picture projectors are necessary to supply each building with a machine. The same machine is used by some principals for two schools, alternating weekly.
Much of the equipment has been made available by the Parent- Teachers' Associations of our schools. These organizations are to be congratulated for their vision in supporting a service that makes available to the pupils a more realistic, a more natural, and a more efficient education.
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CITY OF QUINCY
3. To increase the number of schools with 100 per cent teachers capable of operating the projectors and to prepare the teachers with the proper methods for the efficient use of the teaching aids.
Many meetings have been held with groups of teachers for the purpose of giving instruction in the operation of the machinery and in the technique of properly using the aids.
Several of our teachers have taken courses of instruction in Visual Education. Some teachers are doing graduate work in this field.
The Quincy Teachers' Association has organized a visual educa- tion study group which has planned several meetings for the year. At a recent meeting to demonstrate how teachers may make their own illustrative materials about 80 teachers of Quincy were present.
4. The fourth service emphasizes the accumulation of sufficient teaching aids to enable the teachers to use them properly.
Teaching aids are constructed to be either predominately in- spirational in nature, appealing to the emotions, or factual in con- tent aiming at teaching subject matter through reasoning. The first group of films may be as successfully used with large groups as with small groups. Such films tell their own story. They are of a general interest nature and are as desirable for use in the assembly as in the classroom.
Most of the available motion pictures today are of the factual type. The proper use of these makes necessary their use by the individual teacher in her own classroom as a regular part of the teaching program and at the time when the lesson with which the film correlates is taught. It is with this ideal in mind that we are meeting a problem in our visual education program.
A teacher of the sixth grade geography teaches the unit of China. She asks for a film on Silk for March 14, and she is told that the first open date is May 20. This is an actual case. The teacher iustly replies that she will have no use for the film at that time. Such a teacher is to be commended for her reply. She is using a film as a teaching aid. She realizes that unless she uses it at the time when she is teaching the lesson for which the film is intended that it hasn't maximum educational value. It becomes a mere show. One teacher reported that showing a film on cotton growing at the time when they were studying silk resulted in confusing the minds of the pupils. It is good teaching to teach in units and not haphazardly.
Films are a teacher's aid and as such they must continue to serve the teacher. We cannot expect the teacher to vary her schedule of teaching, awaiting the films. Such a procedure would be hindering the teacher and not aiding her.
It is better that fewer films be used properly as teaching aids than many films merely shown. It is necessary that the service from the department of visual education be limited to serve only when such service will help, rather than hinder the teaching process.
What causes this condition? A film is left in a school building for a period of a week, delivered on Mondays and collected on Fri- days. This we believe absolutely essential to allow all the teachers of a school, who are teaching the subject matter of the film to use it in the classroom. It also permits the teachers to preview the film, to properly prepare for its use, and to use the film several times with the same class when this is necessary.
A few figures will indicate our problem. Let us note that twenty- three of our twenty-six schools in Quincy are using visual aids from
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REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
the central library. The total library of material for distribution consists of one hundred forty-eight teaching films, one hundred eight sets of slides and one hundred fifty-eight filmslides.
Our library of films is limited. There are many teachers using films now. This is made plain by the fact that 65 per cent of our films are in constant use.
In comparison with other school systems in the country, we are very well off. In serving the demand which we have created in our school system for the proper use of visual aids, our library of materials needs extension.
We discuss this problem in such detail because we feel that the opportunity is ours for working out a satisfactory solution. We have twenty-six schools and about six hundred teachers. If we are meeting this problem what about the larger school systems ?
One solution to this problem is to own your own library of films. This we are doing. Secondly, if our library were more extensive the teachers would have a greater choice and the demands for the same films would be somewhat lessened.
A third and most important solution to the problem is to have duplicate copies of the few films which are very much in demand. Our next order will make a beginning in this direction.
Modern education requires using every aid which will increase the efficiency of teaching. Our experiences are showing the right direction for this movement.
The Quincy System of Visual Education is receiving National and International recognition.
I wish to express my appreciation for the freedom of work per- mitted in steering the services of the Department of Visual Edu- cation.
Respectfully submitted,
ABRAHAM KRASKER, Director.
386
CITY OF QUINCY
REPORT OF THE SCHOOL PHYSICIAN
MR. JAMES N. MUIR, Superintendent of Schools, Quincy, Mass. My dear Mr. Muir:
The report of the activities of the Hygiene Division for 1932 is herewith submitted. The most important events are mentioned in the order of their occurrence during the year.
The Follow-Up Clinic of the State Department of Health visited us in January and re-examined the children on their list. The fol- lowing summary is taken from the report of Dr. David Zacks, the supervisor of the Chadwick Clinic:
Number of children recommended for re-examination 162
Number of children re-examined
154
Number of children improved 146
Number of children unimproved 8
Number of children X-rayed
151
Number of children tested 148
Number of children reacted
99
Number of children non-reactors
Number of children arms not read
44
Number of children recommended for Summer 4
5 Camp
Number of children discharged from the Clinic ...... 54
These children were X-rayed and tested by the Clinic in Decem- ber and will be re-examined again in February, 1933.
Co-operating with the Department of Health, the campaign of immunization treatments for the prevention of diphtheria was included in the school health program during May. The results were most successful-748 children were immunized. We wish to thank the Health Commissioner, Dr. Cornelius J. Lynch, and also the doctors and the nurses for their aid in this important field of prevention.
On account of the new program of the Department of Physical Education, put into effect during the spring, physical examinations were given in June to the girls and boys of "Group D." after the test had determined their "Physical Fitness Index." The records of the examinations of this "Group D" present many conditions that demand careful consideration for recommendations. It will be very interesting to note the improvement when this group is re-examined.
During September, the pupils of the seventh grades of the Junior High Schools and the tenth grades of the Senior High Schools were examined by the following doctors: Rachel L. Hardwick, Ella G. Hedges, Robert L. Cook, Fred P. Costanza and Edward Broderick. The boys of the athletic group and also the entering classes of the Trade and the Home Making Schools were included in this series of examinations. The program of the physical examinations of the children of the first grades of the elementary schools started the last of this month.
The number of health certificates issued for the employment of minors decreased during the year. A total of 139 certificates was granted, compared to a total of 210 last year.
Conditions of contagion have not been so numerous during 1932, with the exception of scarlet fever. The control of this disease still
387
REPORT OF SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
remains a problem in the school and in the community. The school nurses maintain most diligent supervision in cases of contagion.
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