Norwood annual report 1911-1914, Part 53

Author: Norwood (Mass.)
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: The Town
Number of Pages: 1828

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norwood > Norwood annual report 1911-1914 > Part 53

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Another means of securing an efficient organization of the schools is to reduce to a minimum the number of rooms where a teacher has more than one grade. The teacher who has more than one grade has to divide her time among a larger number of classes than the teacher with one grade and so is able to give less attention to the individual pupil. At present there are only four rooms in town where a teacher has more than one grade and in this respect the organization of the schools is on an excellent basis.

Still another means of securing an efficient organization of the schools is to reduce to a minimum the number of absences. It is obvious that unnecessary irregularities of attendance inter-

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fere with efficiency in school work. The law of Massachusetts requires that except when ill a child shall not be absent from school for more than five days in a period of six months. Hith- erto, the school nurse has followed up cases of unexcused absences. The membership of the schools, however, has grown to be so large that she cannot do this work without seriously impairing her efficiency in looking after the health of the pupils. The police department has found that such work interferes with the regular duties of its officers. Furthermore, there are many cases of absences to be investigated that ought not to be looked up by an officer in uniform. This situation can be met by the appoint- ment of a woman attendance officer, whose duty it shall be to investigate unexcused absences.

The law of the state provides that, " The School Committee of every city and town shall cause every child in the public schools to be separately and carefully tested and examined. . to ascer- tain whether he is suffering from defective sight. . or from any other disability or defect tending to prevent his receiving the full benefit of his school work ". . Unfortunately, although the law recognizes the importance of examining pupils for defective sight the method prescribed by the State Board of Education for making these tests fails to detect many cases of defective vision. This fact was clearly established as the result of an examination of seventy-three children made in the fall by the oculist connected with the work of the Norwood Civic Association. Of these seventy-three children, twenty were found who gave evidence of defective vision. Of these twenty cases of defective vision only four had been detected through the school tests.

Accurate testing for defective vision requires the training, experience, and skill of the specialist. If this work is to be done efficiently it must be done by an oculist. The work is important: for it may be the means of making a child who has always been dull, bright; of restoring to sight an eye going blind from disease; or of improving the general health and comfort of the child and thus giving him an equal opportunity with the one

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who has been more fortunate in having normal vision. Through the Norwood Civic Association it is possible to secure the services of an oculist at a slight expense for each examination. The expense is so slight and the possible benefit to the child is so great that it is hoped many of the children in the schools may have this examination.

Buildings and Equipment.

The New Balch school was opened the last week in Novem- ber. At that time three hundred sixteen pupils were trans- ferred to the New Balch school from the Balch, Winslow, and Guild schools. Nine of the regular classrooms were occupied; also the smaller extra recitation room for special classes. Three of the rooms remain unoccupied. Of these three rooms two will be in use in September.

This new building is thoroughly modern in its adaptability to school work. Besides the twelve regular classrooms and the extra recitation room the building has a principal's office, teach- ers' room, nurse's room, and library. The classrooms are especially well lighted. The windows in each room are placed on one side of the room only and the pupils' seats and desks are so arranged that the light falls over the left shoulder of each pu- pil. The rooms are twenty-three feet in width and the pupils farthest from the light are not much more than eighteen feet from the windows. The colors used in painting the walls have been carefully chosen so that the greatest quantity of light shall be reflected with the least possible eye strain. The curtains are adjustable so that the light can be admitted through the upper parts of the windows without the sun shining directly into the faces of the pupils. Eighty movable seats in the base- ment afford opportunity for neighborhood meetings and public assemblies.

The opening of the New Balch school has greatly relieved the congested conditions that existed in the schools during the fall but this relief is only temporary. The town is growing rapidly and the citizens must soon be called upon to provide additional

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school accommodations. The pressure of the school popula- tion upon the schoolrooms at present available is continually becoming greater. This pressure exists throughout the entire school system but it is especially strong in the upper grades and in the high school. In the upper grades relief from this pressure can be provided for temporarily by putting several of the classes in the seventh and eighth grades in the Shattuck, Winslow, and New Balch schools. These buildings, however, are rapidly filling up and if the present rate of increase in the school popula- tion continues, within two years there will be no further room for expansion.

Already the classes in drawing at the high school are obliged to meet in the Board of Trade room at the Bigelow Block. Another year and the classes in the manual arts will be forced into the basement at the Guild school. The classes in the household arts are at The Corner House of the Norwood Civic Association and the high school classes in physical training are also taken care of at the Civic Association. The class to enter the high school in September is unusually large and it is not improbable that when that time comes the number of pupils in the high school will be in excess of the capacity of the building.

All these facts mean that the town must provide new accom- modations for the seventh and eighth grades and the high school. The work of the schools above the sixth grade can be more efficiently carried on if centralized in one building. The con- struction of such a building with one assembly hall and one gymnasium will meet the requirements of all the pupils above the sixth grade and will be more economical than the construc- tion of two buildings, each with an assembly hall and a gym- nasium.

The equipment of the schools is excellent. Except in three of the rooms the seats and desks are adjustable. In these three schoolrooms the seats and desks should be replaced with ad- justable furniture. A good many of the seats and desks need to be scraped and varnished. As fast as the curtains now in use wear out adjustable curtains should be substituted.

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The work of improving the school premises begun in previous years has been continued. At the Guild school shrubbery has been planted on either side of the steps at the front of the building and shrubbery, trees, and Boston Ivy set out along the westerly line of the school premises. A granolithic walk has been con- structed from Guild street to the entrance at the side of the building. Wire fences have been built along the boundary line at the rear of the Guild and Everett schools, and at the Everett school the grade in front of the building has been raised. At the High school trees have been planted. The West school has been painted. At the Winslow school shrubbery has been massed at the southeast corner of the school grounds. This shrubbery has been so placed that it fills in a low spot and relieves the bareness of an open stretch of lawn. The playground at the rear of the Winslow school is too small and should be enlarged by the purchase of adjoining land.

The Program of Studies.

During the present year several changes in the program of studies have gone into effect. These changes have all been made for the purpose of giving the pupils a more practical preparation for life. In the seventh and eighth grades the boys are receiving instruction in the manual arts and the girls are being taught the household arts. In the ninth grade book- keeping has taken the place of algebra. In the high school classes in physical training have been organized. These classes, one for the boys and one for the girls, meet for two hours each week at the Civic Association. The commercial course in the high school has been revised for the purpose of putting more emphasis upon business and office practice. The time given to stenography and typewriting in the third year has been nearly doubled. It is expected, and the present indications are, that pupils who complete this year of work will be able to fill office positions out of school hours and so assist themselves by earning money during their last year in the high school. The practical experience thus gained will have the further effect of making the

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pupils of greater value to the employers who engage them after they have graduated from the school.

Up to the present time the work done by the boys in the man- ual arts course has included the making of drawings for sixteen woodworking benches; repairs on door locks, door knobs, roller curtains, plant shelves, bookshelves, and teachers' desks; the construction of woodworking benches, book racks, drawing boards, and dowel pins; painting and glazing. This work and other kinds of manual work such as the construction of grano- lithic walks, the grading of school grounds, the packing of faucets, and the printing of cards and other material used by the school department is not vocational training. It is pre-vocational in the sense that it gives the boy an insight into several different kinds of manual work and because the knowl- edge so acquired helps him to choose the vocation he wishes to follow in life. The aim of the course is to give the boy a liberal education and not to prepare him for a specific trade. The term " liberal education " as here used may be defined as that kind of education that gives the boy a greater appreciation of the significance and value of the activities of contemporaneous life.

Many people will think of a liberal education as having to do with the study of history, literature and the fine arts, that is with the study of different phases of development that have led to the building up of what we call civilization. It certainly is as important, however, that the boy shall understand the nature and significance of what is going on in his present environment as it is that he shall study the steps that have led up to our present social organization. Vocational education as dis- tinguished from work in the manual arts has to do with giving the boy or girl preparation for some specific occupation. The aim of the high school courses in shorthand and type- writing is distinctly vocational because these courses are planned to train the boy and girl to become a skilful stenog- rapher upon graduation from the high school. It is obvious that the work in manual arts in the seventh and eighth grades does not give such preparation.

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The household arts course for the girls in the seventh and eighth grades has included preliminary lessons in the explana- tion of the utensils and other equipment used in the cooking laboratory; talks upon food, the value to a girl of a course in domestic science, the study of a coal range, rules for building a fire; the study of a gas range, a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of coal and gas as fuel for cooking, and the care of the sink and the plumbing connected therewith. Pupils have had practice in the preparation of such foods as cocoa, junket, potatoes, bread and pastry. The work in sewing has included the making of the holders, towels, and aprons needed in the cooking classes. The work in the household arts is carried on at The Corner House of the Norwood Civic Association where a laboratory for cooking has been fitted up in the basement and a room for sewing with tables and sewing machines has been pro- vided on the second floor. The school department has the use of The Corner House for this work in return for the payment of an annual rental.

The records being made by the graduates of our high school prove that the school is giving efficient preparation for college, normal school, or business. Of the eighty-five pupils who have graduated during the past three years seventeen have entered colleges and scientific schools; two are now taking post graduate courses in the high school in preparation for college; seventeen have gone to normal school; and twenty-two of those who have completed the commercial course are now engaged in business. Among the pupils who have entered college several have been awarded honors. Of the nine young women of the Class of 1911 who went away to normal schools, seven are teaching and two are now completing their normal school courses. Of the twenty-two pupils now engaged in business, nineteen entered business immediately upon graduation from the high school. Of these nineteen, two began work at $5 a week, two at $6, four at $7, one at $7.50, four at $8, one at $9, three at $10, one at $11, and one at $12. The average weekly pay of the graduates of the Class of 1911 who are now engaged in business as a result of

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completing the commercial course in the high school is $12; of the Class of 1912, $10.75; and the Class of 1913, $9.50.

Although the practicability of vocational guidance as a part of the program of the work of the schools has not as yet been fully demonstrated, the subject is one of great possibilities. Vocational guidance means more than merely helping boys and girls to find work. It means helping boys and girls to find the right kind of work; that is, the work they are best fitted by na- ture and training to do well. It does not mean that some one else is to choose a vocation for the boy or girl; it does mean bringing to bear upon the choice of a vocation information that is accurate, complete, and intelligible. The school department is now paying for the instruction of one of its teachers so that she may be prepared to undertake this important and difficult work.

The Quality of Teaching.

The town is fortunate in having an excellent corps of teachers. Among the teachers are several who either have taught in normal schools or have had opportunity to do so. Great care is exercised in selecting teachers. The records of applicants are carefully investigated and whenever it is possible applicants whose records are good are visited in their schools and their teaching observed. This method of selection means the expenditure of considerable time and money, but results in the selection of good teachers. No work that can be done for the schools is more fundamentally important than this; for no town can have good schools without good teachers.

The Co-operation of the Public.

The efficiency of any school system depends to a considerable degree upon the support and co-operation of the public. The schools of Norwood are fortunate in having the support and co-operation of the people of this community and of their or- ganized activities. The interest shown in the schools by private citizens, and by such organizations as the Board of Trade, the

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Woman's Club, and the Norwood Civic Association is gratifying to those connected with the administration of the schools. Especially are the thanks of the school department due to the Norwood Civic Association for making possible the better care of the teeth and eyes of the school children, the work in house- hold arts in the grades, and physical training in the high school.

Appropriations.

The Committee recommends the following appropriations for the ensuing year :

Teachers,

$47,000.00

Janitors,

4,300.00

Schoolbooks and supplies,

4,500.00

Incidentals and repairs,

5,000.00

Heating and lighting,

3,700.00

School tickets,

400.00

School physician,

180.00

Evening school, 3,000.00

Note. The next fiscal year will close December 31, 1914, and the estimates submitted are for a fiscal period of eleven months.

Attention is called to the reports of the high school principal, the principal of the evening school, the supervisors of music, drawing and penmanship, the school physician, the school nurse, and the school savings department submitted herewith.

Respectfully submitted, AUSTIN H. FITTZ,

Superintendent.

HARRIET W. LANE,

RALPH E. BULLARD,

ALFRED N. AMBROSE,

SARAH N. BIGELOW,

GEORGE H. SMITH,

CORNELIUS M. CALLAHAN, School Committee.

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REPORT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

Mr. Austin H. Fittz, Superintendent of Schools:

I submit the report for the high school for the year ending January 31, 1914.

The school year which ended in June was marked by the small number of pupils who left school during the year. The greatest falling off has usually been in the Freshman class. Last year there were but five who left school from this class and but four- teen who left from the whole school. One reason for so small a number of scholars leaving was that owing to the way the pupils elected their studies the scholars were more evenly distributed among the classes and in this way the number of pupils to a teacher was less. By being able to give more attention to pupils the teachers could keep the backward pupils up in their classes better and prevent discouragement and consequent dropping out of school. This year the conditions have been such that larger divisions are necessary.

There have been several changes in the program of studies. The course in shorthand and typewriting has been changed so that the pupils who take this course spend practically all of the Junior year on this one subject. The only other study they have is English. So far this arrangement is working out very satis- factorily. It allows those who wish to leave school at the end of the third year to do so with a knowledge of shorthand suffi- cient to enable them to do very satisfactory work in an office. Those who remain the fourth year for graduation ought to be able to do unusually good work. It is possible now for a pupil who has finished three years' work in school to take for his fourth year the course in shorthand. It is also possible for a graduate to return to school to complete a course in shorthand in one year the same as he would do in a business school.

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The commercial geography of the first year has been dropped and the arithmetic and bookkeeping brought together in a two years' course under the name of business practice. Penmanship has an important place in this course. A regular spelling book has been introduced for the first two years and in this way more systematic work in spelling has been done in these two classes. The work in English has been strengthened by having more time given it in the upper classes. The gymnasium classes at the Civic Association have been opened to high school pupils and the work done there allowed to count toward a diploma.

The last three Senior classes have gone to Washington and the Senior class this year is planning to go. The chief objection to this trip comes from the interference with the scholarship of the school on account of the work necessary to raise the amount of money required. By distributing over the four years' course the work required to raise this money, the interference with scholarship can be made less.

Respectfully submitted,

N. A. CUTLER, Principal.

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REPORT OF THE EVENING SCHOOL PRINCIPAL.

Mr. Austin H. Fittz, Superintendent of Schools:

The evening school opened the fall term, September twenty- second with a registration 324 pupils. Since that time, 332 have been added, making a total registration to date (Decem- ber thirty-first) of 656. Of this number 476 are men and 180 are women. The youngest pupil is fourteen and the oldest, fifty."

Of the twenty nationalities represented in the registration there are according to the place of birth :

Americans

236

Austrians 7

Russians

130

Poles

Finns

English 5

Scandinavians

Greeks

Italians

Germans

Irish

Hungarians

Syrians

Scotch

Lithuanians

Servians

Turks

9 Dutch

Canadians

9 Armenians

Unknown

Of the twenty-six subjects in which instruction was offered, classes were formed in nine. These subjects with their enroll- ment follow :

English Language,

358

Civil Service,

Typewriting,

Penmanship,

Bookkeeping,

316

Stenography,

Mechanical Drawing,

Spanish,

German,

On the basis of the registration, classes in English language, civil service, typewriting, and mechanical drawing met four nights a week while the classes in the other subjects met two nights a week; namely, Tuesdays and Thursdays. With the numerous subjects taught and the large registration it became necessary to have additional space, and five rooms in the Everett school were opened.

The evening school has been in session for fifty nights with an average attendance of 246 per night. The per cent of at- tendance of those taking English language during this time has been 40.5 while the per cent of attendance of those taking the other subjects has been 25.7. The teaching staff of the evening school is composed of twenty-two teachers, seventeen women and five men, all but one of whom teach only two nights a week.

During the fall term over eighty dollars' worth of text-books have been purchased by the pupils. This fact, better than any- thing else, indicates the kind of interest most of the pupils have shown in their evening school work. This interest combined with regular attendance has brought excellent results. Perhaps the best way to measure these results is to note the progress of the pupils who comprise the beginners' classes. When these pupils entered in the fall they could neither read nor write our language and in many cases could not understand enough spoken English to meet the requirements for registration. These same pupils have now read a "First Book in English" which consists of one hundred eleven lessons and are well into a "Second Book." In short, by the time school closes these beginners will have read about two hundred lessons, or approximately two hundred . sixty pages. These pages include a great variety of the com- mon words, phrases, and sentences of our every day speech. With a better knowledge of the needs of our pupils, and the

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experience gained from the past year we may reasonably expect even better results from our evening school work in the future. Respectfully submitted, ISAIAH A. WHORF, Principal.

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REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC.

Mr. Austin H. Fittz, Superintendent of Schools:

It is with pleasure that I submit this second report; for the music in our schools is improving. Much of the progress is due to the conscientious and enthusiastic co-operation of the grade teachers. Several teachers have attended a weekly class in sight reading and subject matter. It is expected that others will avail themselves of this opportunity for a more thorough musical training.

There are two classes of children to consider in planning a course in public school music. First, there are those whose study of music will end with the public schools; secondly, those whose school work is, or will be, supplemented by outside in- struction on some instrument-usually the pianoforte.

Some one has said, "A song will outlive all sermons in mem- ory." And we wish to make the songs and general instruction such, that the child of the first class, who must depend entirely upon the public schools for his musical education, may acquire a true taste for the best from the general knowledge obtained in school: so that in after life, he will often make an effort to hear the best music and will gain the culture derived therefrom. For we in America are realizing the truth of the saying, " Music brings to the soul a veritable inward culture, and is a part of the education of a people."

But we aim also to base our technicalities on such a solid foundation that the public school music may prove of real help to the child of the second class, who is receiving instruction on the pianoforte. In order to bridge over the wide chasm of difference between sight singing by syllable and playing by letter, paper keyboards have been placed in the grades above the fourth and the children are taught to apply to the pianoforte

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keyboard the knowledge already received. By this means the pupil gains an insight into music from more than one point of view and hence has a broader preparation for musical appre- ciation. Thus we aim to make our teaching such that the best professional musicians will recognize the true worth of the work and will be anxious to co-operate with us in our efforts to bring the best music before the children of our schools.

It has seemed wise to give each room an opportunity to hear songs sung by all the other rooms of the same grade, and to give the townspeople a chance to hear the regular song work. To this end, one afternoon in May will be set aside for a School Song Festival to be held in Everett Hall. Each room will sing one song selected from the regular work, and will listen to songs sung by other schools of the same grade. Although this Song Festival is not a concert, we trust that much inspiration and pleasure may be gained by coming together for such a common purpose; and we hope that all who are interested will be present to help us enjoy the afternoon.

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Norwood annual report 1911-1914, Part 53

Author: Norwood (Mass.) Publication date: 1911 Publisher: The Town Number of Pages: 1828

Author: Norwood (Mass.)
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: The Town
Number of Pages: 1828