USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norwood > Norwood annual report 1948-1950 > Part 36
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Each student in the school attended three of these conferences during the morning. Thus, the pupils secured valuable occupational information to aid them in making plans for their vocational future.
At the close of the group meetings, the guest speakers enjoyed a luncheon in the Tea Room of the Henry O. Peabody School for Girls. Many thanks are due Miss Marcionette and Mrs. Marcoux for planning and supervising this important part of the program.
One of the most pleasant experiences associated with the Career Day project was to note the ready cooperation given by all who were invited to take part in the program. These busy men and women gave generously of their time and knowledge without receiving any compensation other than the satisfaction of knowing they were helping the students of the Norwood Senior High School.
Our heartful thanks are extended to all who contributed toward making Career Day a success.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Placement
During the year, there was a decrease in the number of requests from employers for pupils to fill part-time and full-time positions. This was a reflection of the increase of unemployment that developed during 1949. Even so, this office helped some sixty boys and girls to secure work. Forty-eight per cent of the senior class, forty-four per cent of the junior class, and thirty-two per cent of the sophomore class reported that they engaged in some type of part-time work.
We thank the employers of these young people for giving them an opportunity to secure practical experience in the business world, as well as the opportunity to earn monetary compensation.
Other Activities
The Guidance Department arranged for several lectures by outside speakers. Some of the topics covered were: "Educational and Vocational Opportunities in the Armed Forces of the United States"; "Improve Your Personality"; "The Changing Employment Situation"; "Correct Procedures in Applying for a Position"; "Correct Conduct During An Employment Interview"; and "The Co-operative Plan of Education."
As in former years, the Director had the pleasure of attending several confer- ences of guidance workers, other educators, and businessmen. The New England Regional Guidance Conference of the National Vocational Guidance Association, which was held at Northeastern University, had as its theme, Basic Guidance and Personnel Services. The Third Annual Conference of Businessmen and Educators, sponsored by and held at Babson Institute of Business Administration, had as its topic, Freedom, Education, and Business. The Fisher School of Boston was also host at a meeting and supper for guidance workers and administrators. The New Eng- land Aircraft School at Logan International Airport organized a conference on Career Opportunities in Aviation. Northeastern University planned a meeting for headmasters and guidance officers at which Dr. George F. Zook, former. United States Commissioner of Education and now President of the American Council on Educa- tion spoke on Education for Tomorrow.
The Director had the pleasure of being one of the Consultants who assisted the State Supervisor of Guidance and Placement in revising the Department of Education bulletin on Directors and Programs of Occupational Guidance and Placement.
Follow-Up
A follow-up of 161 of the graduates of the Norwood Senior High School Class of 1949 showed the following distribution: (does not include Veterans, Boys' Voca- tional School, or Henry O. Peabody School graduates.)
Number
Per Cent
Attending School or College
61
37.9
Employed
91
56.5
Married
1
0.6
In Armed Services of United States
8
5.0
Of the sixty-one members of the Class attending school or college on a full-time basis, the distribution was as follows:
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TOWN OF NORWOOD
Type of School or College
Number Enrolled
Four Year College
32
Business or Accounting (less than four years) 13
Schools of Nursing 6
Preparatory Schools
5
Post Graduates
2
Miscellaneous
3
A. broad classification of the number of members of the Class employed, shows the following distribution:
Type of Employment
Number Employed
Industrial
20
Secretarial, Stenographic, Clerical .:
24
Sales and Distribution
Building Trades 27
5
Apprentices in Printing Trades
5
Telephone Operator
3
Cooks
2
Miscellaneous
5
Conclusion
It is well to keep in mind the fact that effective guidance comes from the combined efforts of those working in the interest of young people. The cooperation of pupil, home, school, and church is required if desirable results are to be achieved.
Sincere thanks are extended to the School Committee, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Hayden, and all who have helped the Guidance Department.
D. VINCENT KENEFICK.
REPORT OF THE ART DIRECTOR
This is the annual report of this department for the year ending December 31, 1949.
Organization
Mr. Lloyd Schultz, Instructor of Art in the Junior High School, has been trans- ferred to the Senior High School to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mrs. Ethel Cook.
Mr. Carl Lindgren has been appointed as a substitute teacher of Art and Mechanical Drawing in the Junior High School. He is a graduate of the Mass. School of Art with the degree of B.S.E. and brings to us a background of professional accomplishments in the fields of Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, Photography and Industrial Design, combined with a contemporary viewpoint of the place of Art Education in today's curricula.
Appointments to fill Elementary School vacancies have given us the additional task of acquainting these people with our General Art Program. We expect that in a very short while they will be making their creative contribution.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Emotional Immaturity Is An Art Problem
We are living in an extremely fast moving and constantly changing age whose every month sees us drawn into a sphere of complexities so great that we can only hope to understand the significance of but a tiny fraction of it. Because cold intel- lectualism in the hands of skilled specialists has served to run us far afield of emotional maturity, the scope of our job as teachers is gradually being expanded into fields which find us groping with some of the same problems we try to teach.
In our everyday life we are faced with new tools and new technologies which are shifting the ways of production, possessions, and power; yet, though we accept these same technologies as offering us many new and improved ways for labor saving and profit making, and though these things are accepted on pragmatic intellectual terms, how often we see those new ideas in the emotional sphere stubbornly opposed - where we cling to obsolete standards and empty conventions of the past, not to be approached by any logical argument and often as not against our best interests.
Though it may go by many names the largest problem of our time is to bring the intellectual and emotional, the social and technological components into bal- anced play; to learn to see and to feel them in relationship.
We probably don't think of it as such but today we not only buy material goods on the free market but also emotional commodities. Specialists in entertainment now provide for the greater part of our passive recreation. This industrial era marks the arrival of what we might call the "careerist", that person whose aim is purely to commercialize a certain means of expression. This new form of occupation has become part of our way of life, not from any sincere efforts to produce out of con- viction (for personal self-fulfillment) but merely to deliver a technical skill for whatever subject is asked. The Art involved is taken not as an elevation of indi- vidual effort through the sincere expression of feelings, or as evoking an intense range of emotional experiences, but as an escape in a kind of spectator's art, a display of skill.
Many years ago there were countless group activities which served to give people a feeling of solidarity, coherence and articulation. Many festivals of former times have been transformed into dull fairs. Television, radio, phonographs, and the movies have killed the amateur plays, group quartets, home crafts, etc., without opening any new doors for the creative abilities so subtly usurped.
To think of one's self as having a mechanical mind, a mind capable of cool, factual intellectualism is hardly to be a warm human being. Without the inter- relatedness of the intellectual and emotional sides of life which serve to bring the social and technological components into balanced play we would - and easily might - retain only the disjunctive technical skill of handling human affairs, a rigidity stifling the most basic of biological and social impulses; a memorized, not a lived life.
It is an individual as well as social waste to have eyes and not see; ears and not really hear; to destroy the endowment of instincts to create. The results would be an atrophy of our inherent capabilities, a step-by-step deterioration of that part of our mental being which really gives us the most out of life. Man, in order to function as a well and satisfied person must function through an integration of all his abilities.
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TOWN OF NORWOOD
In order to bring education into a state of equilibrium of hand and brain, of intellect and emotion, the task must be to give the student enough opportunities to use his brain together with his emotional potential; to provide for experimental sensory experiences of eyes, ears, tongue, and fingers; and to assist him in his problem of bringing about their transformation into controlled expression. The student must be allowed to find the facts himself by experience with his material. In Art Educa- tion especially, we must provide youngsters with the opportunity to make their own discoveries and to form their own expressions. Our work must then provide the purposeful fusion of social tradition with experience, practice, and conclusions.
Art in the Elementary School
There is no level in our program which finds a more uninhibited and responsive audience than in these early grades. Without our adult fears of perfectionism these young people are quick to awaken their imaginations, and sweeping aside the clutter of unessential details, they express their individual ideas honestly, clearly, and unhesi- tatingly. The position of our grade teacher, perhaps a bit vague at the start of our new program, has gradually crystallized to the point where she now has the con- fidence to expose and stimulate these young people to use freedom of expression in their own individual ways, without fearing the problem of trying to criticize their productions by adult standards; those commonly based upon the criterion of stark realism.
The task of class stimulation and guidance toward aims which will serve to do the most for a child's growing awareness of the world about him and the important part that he plays in such a world is a major function of our program. We feel that this year has shown marked progress in that direction.
We are gradually beginning to absorb many new ideas with regard to the im- portant place of visual aids and each school now has at its service a projector capable of handling both slides and filmstrips.
Activities
The Kindergarten teachers are to be commended for the fine use they have made of creative materials which have included exceptionally fine work in tempera color, colored paper, finger paint, and clay. At an age when manipulation plays such an important part in the learning process we have succeeded in offering a broad selection of materials. Individual creative initiative has been competently fostered by teachers who have learned to recognize that "by-gone" pattern work can never develop individual personality adjustments but can only serve to pour each child into the same mold. The efforts of each teacher to make her environment conducive to the pleasant, informal, group functions of these young people is greatly appre- ciated, since we recognize that such an atmosphere has an emotional appeal of friendliness completely lacking in many classrooms.
Grades One to Three, while making good use of art work as means for a child to express himself, have also matured to the point where it is recognized that a child should respect individuality. It is to be expected that an art lesson should produce results equal in variety to the number of differing personalities in the class. With so many subjects requiring some form of mental regimentation the problem of getting a group to express individual ideas is a difficult one. In a group study of
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
our work examined at the Mass. School of Art we were highly commended for our creative work at this level. We hope to do just as well with the Design and Three- Dimensional problems.
Grades Four to Six have made many outstanding contributions during this year. Some of them include our Craft Program which from a slow start of two years ago has been accorded much enthusiasm, the results of which have been very nicely exhibited by each of the Grade Schools. This department recognized the many difficulties entailed with the presentation and conduct of a program which included such a variety of projects and has forwarded each teacher a note of appreciation.
We have also succeeded in refreshening the approach to understanding famous pictures. The historical importance of paintings have been de-emphasized to the benefit of relative meanings. This unit has been incorporated into notebooks which contain both reproductions and individual comments by the children. Our collec- tion of colored slides was used as supplemental study.
Our emphasis on the problem of seeing color by awakening the eyes of children to the increased range of color mixtures has been well received and the results are most gratifying. It is rather peculiar that we have accomplished more in this respect at the elementary level than in the upper grades. We hope to study this next year. We also feel that we have come to a point in our new program where it would be justified to develop and administer a testing program.
Art in the Junior High School
At this level we are primarily interested in helping students develop a sense of artistic discrimination. Many class discussions were held in connection with units of work involving contemporary art viewpoints, both in the fine and in the industrial arts field. A very commendable unit of work was built around the art properties of line, shape, form, color, and texture.
Two sound films in color and four in black and white were shown during the year as part of class study.
Three-dimensional projects in the arrangements of contemporary rooms bene- fited the eighth grade classes in their knowledge of function as applied to an art problem.
Ninth grade classes completed a very interesting project concerned with the making of a filmstrip. Upon the completion of studies relative to spacial relation- ships as a factor in contemporary design each student had his work photographed and shown in the projector.
Last March the Art Room and the adjoining Studio room had an Open House session after a PTA meeting during which many visitors and parents had an oppor- tunity to see an exhibit of recently acquired reproductions, student work, and a demonstration of our use of visual aids as an instruction media.
Clay modeling, bulletin boards, the art and layout of the "Junior Narrator", stage properties, various poster projects, the design of new book covers and shoulder bands, and assistance with Red Cross projects were also tucked into the year's work.
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TOWN OF NORWOOD
Art in the Senior High School
Representational drawing, painting in water color, traditional design work, puppetry, and elemental studies of perspective made up much of the work. The classes also found themselves very much occupied with the production of posters. A three-dimensional mural project done in a decorative manner was most interesting.
We have held several discussions between members of the department with regard to establishing a new curricula and hope to have it ready to incorporate into the High School program as soon as we can recognize fully our administrative problems.
Experimental Photography
Because we are vitally interested in photography and the part it plays in the expression of ideas, we have experimented in the production of filmstrips and colored transparencies. Many slides showing various school activities have been made in the Junior High and we hope to expand these efforts to assist other schools when our time and equipment can be put to its best use.
Studio Groups
The third to twelfth grades are participating in our special program which pro- vides for the interests of youngsters particularly adapted to the arts as a means of expression. Three of these people have been accepted by the Mass. School of Art for experimental work conducted during Saturday morning sessions.
Recommendations
Senior High - We would like to solve the administrative problem of keeping each class separated into homogeneous groups. We feel this is a vital factor in creating an effective teaching program. In addition, we hope an adequate number of copies of our recommended text can be made available. We also hope to achieve a cooperative interest in the space and arrangement problems of the art room.
Conclusion
May I take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Mr. Lynch, the School Committee, and to the principals and teachers which this department contacts for their many cooperative efforts in behalf of our program.
WALTER E. LUNSMAN.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC
I herewith submit the report of the Music Department for the year ending December 31, 1949.
Elementary Schools
The study of music, both applied and theoretical is progressing satisfactorily in all grades. Besides acquiring a working knowledge of the technical facts of music, the children are also trained to sing in groups and individually for pleasurable musical experience.
A few slight changes in the outline have been made to meet some special requirements.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
The Winslow School children gave a fine rendition of the operetta "Midsummer Days" last spring.
We hope to continue this kind of activity in all the schools.
Junior High School
The program in vocal and theoretical work has continued as indicated in pre- vious reports. Although the classes meet only once a week, very creditable work was accomplished in singing, theory, and music appreciation.
Senior High School
In the Senior High School, vocal and instrumental groups were formed and gave several performances in and out of town with great success.
Some of the rehearsals necessary to prepare these groups were held during the homeroom period; the others were held after school.
A Senior Quartet sang for the Chamber of Commerce at their Education Night Program in May.
While small groups as the one mentioned above have been able to carry on in spite of difficulties, the formation of a large glee club which would include members of the three classes has not been possible owing to the present set up of class meet- ings, lunch periods, student council, and so forth.
However in order to satisfy the demand for choral work, a Junior Glee Club has been organized and is preparing a program to be given in the early spring. We plan to do the same thing for the sophomores as soon as time and room space permit it. The outstanding feature of the year in the Senior High School was the rendi- tion of the operetta "Sunbonnet Sue" in which the majority of the Senior Students took part. The Choral Group from the Peabody School sang in public on two occasions and were very well received.
Conclusion
I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation of the helpful interest and the cooperation of all who have aided in the work of this department.
JOHN V. DETHIER.
REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
The report of the Physical Education Department for the year ending December 31, 1949, is respectfully submitted.
Introduction
Education in America has a responsibility, as have other great social institu- tions, to help boys and girls live effectively in a democratic society. Education dedi- cated to the democratic ideals of this society must provide -
An opportunity to deal honestly and realistically with problems which come within the experiences of boys and girls and within the experiences of teachers.
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TOWN OF NORWOOD
A program rich in knowledge, skills, techniques, and understandings in all areas of life.
An opportunity to recognize and deal effectively with needs and purposes of boys and girls.
An opportunity to translate ideals of democratic society into everyday living and teaching.
Physical education has the same responsibilities and the same objectives as has education in general. It is that area of education which, because it deals with the body in action, in movement, has one of its major aims the development of the more sensitive control of this instrument for more effective functioning. It is significantly that area which deals constantly and continuously with the individual in his most dynamic learning, for he moves, sees, thinks, feels at once in situations of social and democratic import.
The physical education program must provide -
An opportunity for the promotion of vigorous normal growth through a wide range of large motor activities such as natural activities of daily life, free and indi- vidual play, games and sports, dance, athletics, self-testing activities, relaxation and rest, remedial and adapted activities, co-educational and co-recreational activities, trips, and parties.
An opportunity for the development of sound attitudes, habits, and knowledge of wholesome living.
An opportunity to develop interest, joy, and satisfaction in many skills, and these skills in terms of sports, dance and recreational activities, now and which will con- tinue in the mature use of leisure time.
Physical Education Program
Senior High School - Boys
An integrated program of physical education that included calisthenics, group correctives, combative activities, and group games was carried on during the year.
The athletic program consisted of the following sports:
Varsity Football Junior Varsity Football Varsity Basketball Junior Varsity Basketball Intramural Basketball Hockey Indoor and Outdoor Track Golf Varsity Baseball Varsity Tennis
This year the intramural basketball program was under my supervision. This activity was run for two weeks after the football season and was enjoyed by eighty- five boys. It is expected that this program will be continued at the end of the basketball season.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL COMMITTEE
A varsity and junior varsity basketball schedule of fourteen games in competition with Bay State League teams was completed in a successful manner. Our record: nine wins, five defeats in varsity competition.
Varsity hockey under the direction of Mr. William Hagblom held practice sessions in the Skating Club, the Boston Arena, and the Arena in Providence, Rhode Island. Games were played with teams of the Bay State League.
An indoor track program was scheduled with Mr. Fisher in charge. Meets attended were the Northeastern University meet, the State meet, and the Greater Boston Interscholastic meet which takes two Saturdays to complete,-first, at the East Armory and then, at the Boston Garden. No individual stars were developed, but Norwood again won the "Intermediate" class relay championship in the GBI (Greater Boston Interscholastic) meet. One lap, two lap, and Medley Relay teams finished well in large starting fields.
Outdoor track candidates were called out early in April. About thirty-five boys answered the first call and started preliminary conditioning, getting into shape for the first dual meet with our neighbor, Foxboro High. The boys' spirit was one that showed enthusiasm for the sport; competition was keen among all candidates seek- ing their desired place in the various events. The schedule consisted of three dual meets, three triangular meets, and entry in the State Meet at Newton. Robert Flaherty, Co-Captain of the team, accomplished a remarkable feat in the high-jump at the State meet. He took a second place, forcing the record holder to his utmost to win.
Boys' Tennis was held in May and June with home and home matches with Boston College High, Dedham, Needham, Wellesley, and Westwood.
The Varsity baseball team played fourteen games in the Bay State League. The league Championship had to be decided by a play-off game between Norwood and Framingham. This game was won by Framingham.
A Junior Varsity baseball schedule of ten games was carried out under the supervision of Mr. William Cavanaugh.
The Golf team under Mr. Everett Learnard competed as in the past in the Norfolk County High School Golf League. The teams in the league are as follows: Dedham, Needham, Walpole, No. Quincy, and Quincy. All home matches were held at Ponkapoag Golf Club.
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