USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Town annual report of Weymouth 1887 > Part 10
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The National 1st Reader, .25 The Normal .32
2d 66
.40
66 .60
66
3d
.40 66 .60
The charts complete cost the sum of $10. From these prices a discount of 163 per cent is given.
Another system of music that we have considered is the Tonic Sol-fa system. This is a new system of writing music as well as teaching. While it may possess some advantages as a method of voice culture we cannot recommend. it for introduction to the ex- clusion of the universal system of writing music, with which we all are more or less familiar.
For these among many other reasons your Committee have de- cided to report in favor of the introduction of the National music course, published by Ginn & Co., of Boston, and to move its adoption by this Board.
(Signed) W. A. DRAKE, JOSEPH A. CUSHING, GEORGE L. WENTWORTH.
This report was accepted by the Committee, and in accordance with their recommendation, Mr. A. E. Bradford, of Hingham, has been engaged as a musical instructor, to devote three days in each week during the school year, at a salary of $700 per year.
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We would respectfully ask for the following appropriations for the ensuing year : -
Salaries of teachers .
. $24,500 00
Janitors, cleaning, and fuel 4,700 00
Repairs of school buildings
3,200 00
Miscellaneous expenses
1,500 00
Incidentals
500 00
Text-books and school supplies
3,500 00
$37,900 00
Which may be reduced
By income, Pratt fund
$300 00
By one half Dog License fund .
475 00
By Alewife fund
252 00
By State School fund
133 00
1,160 00
Leaving a balance to be raised by assessment of
. $36,740 00
AUGUSTUS J. RICHARDS,
GEORGE L. WENTWORTH,
WILLIAM A. DRAKE,
JOHN C. FRASER,
JOSEPH A. CUSHING,
JULIAN S. WADSWORTH,
School Committee.
REPORT
OF THE
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
To the School Committee, Weymouth, Mass. :
I have thought I would undertake in this, my sixth annual report, to describe our schools quite fully, and tell what they are seeking to be and do, so that any one, resident or non-resident, could, if he chose to read the report, form a very good general idea of their scope and character, and learn in a way how well or how ill they compare with other schools. The preparation of such a report may involve the repetition of some things that have been said during the past few years, but as reviews are necessary in the school-room, so they may not be wholly out of place here. At any rate, it seems desirable to make the attempt at this time, especially as, during the past year, a supplement to the course of study, going into details somewhat, and making the work of each par- ticular grade and what is expected therein quite clear to the new- comer, was published for the benefit of the teachers. This report will, it is hoped, be a suitable companion for that supplement, and while it is addressed to the people, contain some things calculated to give the teachers themselves a better idea of the relations they sustain to the system under which they are working. I would, therefore, enjoin it upon them to read the report, no matter how dry and dull it may be. The frequent recurrence of the words, " I am doing my duty," as seen between the lines, must clothe it with the charms required for the pedagogic mind.
ARITHMETIC.
I will take up the leading subjects below the high school, and speak of them one by one.
The number work in the primary grades is largely based on the Kindergarten and other German methods, but these are thoroughly Americanized ; that is to say, adapted to the bright, quick wits of
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our little folks. We require a great deal, but the exercises are so varied, and so carefully graded, that I do not think the children are crowded at all. They hardly know they are climbing, the incline is so gentle. With everything that we need to do with, - counters, splints, balls (on wires), blocks, and other objects, - they enjoy every step. A very elementary treatment of fractions and com- pound numbers is begun in these grades, and every primary build- ing is provided with a yard-stick and a foot-rule, a pint, a quart, and a gallon measure (tin), a quart and a peck measure (wooden), and a box containing sea-sand for testing these measures. We have, also, pasteboard squares, one foot on a side, to be put on the floor, for illustrating the number of square feet in boards, mats, etc., and pasteboard squares, one inch on a side, to be distributed for exercises at the seats, and used in illustrating the number of square inches in envelopes, report cards, etc. Indeed, it would be futile to attempt to describe all the devices we have for making the work of these grades interesting, especially for bringing out the meaning of the tables, and reducing to a minimum the drudgery of learning them. Included among these devices are "soldier classes" in the lowest primary. These classes have as many members as the number under treatment has units, and the little ones file off by twos, threes, etc., to illustrate all the various com- binations and separations. Briefly, then, through object-teaching we break ground, then memorize the facts thus brought out, or, in other words, learn the tables, which we think every pupil should have, and which we mean he shall have, at his tongue's end. Broadly stated, development and drill are our two lines of work,- the former belonging more especially to the New Education, and the latter more especially, perhaps, to the Old.
As for the work of the grammar grades, I shall give the best idea of it by repeating here the rules which I have reason to be- lieve are strictly adhered to by our teachers : -
Master fractions.
Make sure your pupils can foot up ledger columns with rapidity and accuracy, and are good in all the other merely mechanical pro- cesses.
Avoid all problems that are merely puzzling and all problems
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the conditions of which are such that, though plain enough to the mature mind, they are likely to end, even after exhaustive study on the part of the pupil, in being a " dead pull."
Carefully grade your work in mental arithmetic, and give your pupils a good, thorough drill in the same. Good old Warren Col- burn was not far from right in the amount and kind of work required.
Leave out compound proportion, equation of accounts, and other subjects and parts of subjects equally remote from the every- day life of the pupil.
Concentrate your drill on the fundamental processes, fractions, simple proportion, square root and cube root, and elementary mens- uration, the practical and important parts of compound numbers and commercial arithmetic, including plain percentage and profit and loss, simple interest, bank discount, and domestic exchange, important as illustrating our present system of paying money so largely by means of checks.
GEOGRAPHY.
Our methods in this subject have been essentially modified within the past few years. We learn nothing that is not worth learning ; at least, we carefully consider every question : Is it worth while to require the pupil to learn the name or location of this or that bay, cape, strait, mountain, lake, or river? And we have practically put a stop to that waste of time, which resulted from looking up so many little out-of-the-way places on the map. The teachers sketch maps in the lower grades, putting in only what they want the pupils to learn at first, building by degrees, and finally requiring the pupils in the higher grades to sketch their own maps. We are careful that map-sketching shall not be conducted in such a way as to overload the subject. We use perforated cards for map-sketching (locating a few river-mouths and great cities, and requiring the pupil to sketch the rest unaided), and are satisfied that the true end of map-sketching, as a means of visible description to brighten the work of the class-room and diminish rather than increase the amount of time to be devoted to the study of geography, is realized by them. For a good business outfit people do not require so very much of what a mere map can teach. Rather is it of importance
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that they should know more of the life of the people, and that the places of which they know the names should be invested for them with a sort of personality. Even lakes, rivers, bays, capes, and mountains may have this personality, and unless they do have it for the great majority of highly-educated people throughout the land, it is not, generally speaking, worth while for pupils to learn their names or anything else about them. What and where is the Gulf Stream? Where is the Spanish language spoken? Why do people go to Florida ? are more important questions than, Where is Cape Canaveral ? What is the capital of Costa Rica ? or, How high is Pike's Peak ? How to drop out the needless minutiæ, and thereby gain time to give the pupil a richer, fuller, and more comprehensive idea of the great world we live in is the main question with us. I prepare an outline, and the teachers fill it in, and how ?
They take books out of the library for the pupils to read.
They cut pictures out of the illustrated weeklies and monthlies, with suitable reading matter to accompany the same, paste them upon cards, and require the pupils to read and talk about them.
They make collections of woods, barks, minerals, fibres, grains, and curios for school cabinets.
They encourage the pupils to bring items of news and other clippings from the newspapers and magazines to put into the school scrap-book of countries.
I will not say that all the teachers do all these things. You could hardly expect the whole teaching fraternity to be so zealous ; but the great majority of the teachers resort to one or more of these devices, all of which are in regular use.
To facilitate the awakening of interest, we have five geographies instead of one. Every eight weeks a new set of geographies is taken to each building and an old set taken away. These five geographies - Harper's, Appleton's, Swinton's, Mauray's, and the Eclectic - are used chiefly as reading and reference books. At the beginning of the course in geography, or in the third year of school life, the moulding-table is used; and at the close of the course, or in the first grammar grade, the school solar camera. No appropriation was made the past year for increasing the num- ber of slides and cameras, but I hope there will be the coming
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year, so that this whole matter of teaching through the eye may be put upon a good working basis, and the pictures transported from school to school when the geographies are transported, and the cameras, being too bulky and cumbersome for convenient removal, retained.
LANGUAGE.
We work our way in language from the simplest sentence-mak ing to original essays. Much is necessarily left to the personal. influence and personal ingenuity of the teacher, who finds it pos- sible always to incorporate much of the language-teaching with the other teaching. I quote from the course of stndy, as giving a good general idea of what we do in this department : -
During the first four years there should be a daily exercise in composi- tion work, - letters, stories, descriptions, abstracts of reading lessons, abstracts of teacher's talks, etc., and during the next five years at least as much time shouid be devoted to composition work as to technical gram- mar. Tlk about the subjects beforehand, if necessary, and do not set the pupils to writing until they have, or should have, a great deal to say. Seek to make every recitation, so far as possible, an exercise in language. Send the pupils to the board to write topics in physiology, history, geog- raphy, etc., to be criticised by the class. If teachers will but use the same ingenuity and good judgment in teaching language which they display in matters of dress, society, etc., success is assured.
It is vastly important that pupils in the high and grammar grades should be able to express themselves well, - should be able, for instance, to write a good business-like letter, clear and well- worded, and should be familiar with the ordinary business forms, such as bills, receipts, and promissory notes. Elegant diction, like the growth of thought, is the work of years ; but skill in punctuation, capitalization, and the simple rules of grammatical construction is attainable in the grammar grades. Language is a very comprehensive branch of study. It embraces certain artificial laws,- the etiquette of speech. Mere glib expression is not enough. We must know the accepted canons. The Old Education, which concerned itself so much with technical grammar, and the New Education, which concerns itself so much with language as a pure art, should be combined. Our forefathers were not all wrong. They did some things well. I think that all the old-fashioned analysis and parsing contained in Lindley Murray that is strictly
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English, and not in any sense Latin or Greek, should be taught to-day. Recent departures in language-teaching, while attended by great gains, have not been taken without some losses. Let us hold tenaciously to that which is good in the Old Education, and accept without hesitation that which is good in the New.
READING.
. Reading, spelling, and penmanship are all parts of one and the same general subject, expression, and we are seeking now to treat them more and more as such, especially in the lower grades, and so carry them right along together.
In reading, I think our primary and intermediate grades excel. We begin with the " sentence method," so called, which includes the word method, and may be described as the word method made more interesting. After a child has handled toys for a few days, and talked about them, the teacher writes on the board the simplest of sentences, " I have a dog," "I have a rabbit," etc., and the work is begun. The child learns to read these sentences at sight. After a few weeks, he begins to learn the names of the letters contained in the words. But the sentence comes first. That is the unit of expression. After the sentence come the words and the letters, on the principle that the whole precedes the parts, and it is as easy for the child to recognize the whole as the parts. Thus, in walking the street, he would recognize, for ex- ample, a church, and say, " There is a church," as readily as he would recognize the spire or the roof or any other part of the edifice.
The following is a vocabulary of three hundred words taught in twenty weeks by the sentence method, script characters, so that bright five-year-old's, who have been constant in attendance, would recognize and read any sentences made up of these words, whether written upon the board by the teacher, or by me.
First and Second Month.
Object words (represented and taught by means of toys) : Rat, mat, hat, cat, mug, bug, jug, cup, box, hen, bird, dog, cow, horse, boy, girl, ball, top, bell, axe, apple, pitcher, rabbit, squirrel, donkey.
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Have, see, has, is, are, can, will, bite, run.
A, an, the, red, fat, big, little, pretty.
I, it, my, me, you.
Yes, no, not.
Third Month.
Doll, man, fan, fox, fur, tail, lamb, wool, nut, milk, egg, nest, 'eye, ear, hose, head, hair, fade, hand, feet, kitten, chicken.3
·Do, did, was, mày, lay, play, fly, hit, like, spin, eat, drink, smell, hear,' wash, jump, catch.
He, she, we, our, this, that.
One, two, three, four, five, good, bad, new, old, white, black, gray, right, left, bushy.
Here, there, where, fast, very, too, now, ever, in, on, of, to, for, with,' and.
Fourth Month.
. Tree, leaves, grass, hay, fish, boat, water, book, slate, desk, chair, floor, pencil, school, teacher, lady, gentleman, papa, mamma, flower, garden, day, night, bed, morning, evening, Christmas, Santa Claus, present.
Be, saw, grow, put, make, row, swim, read, write, go, say, thank, please, love, buy, give, gave, should, bring.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten, green, yellow, brown, large, small, dark, bright, polite.
Us, your, his, her, him, they, their.
Yes sir, yes m'm, no sir, no m'm, why, when, well, at, up, O, if, always.
Teach sentences, inculcating habits of politeness, as : "I say 'yes sir ' to a gentleman," "I say 'Yes m'm' to a lady," " When I go to bed I say ' good night,' " " When I get up I say 'good morning,'" "I always say ' thank you ' and ' if you please,'" etc.
Fifth Month.
Brother, sister, baby, house, barn, home, yard, street, summer, winter, snow, ice, pond, hill, sled, sleigh, skates, mittens, hood, fire, stove, wood, coal, sun, moon, star, sky, rain, wheel, wagon, clock, time (o'clock).
Feel, try, help, let, live, slide, coast, ride, wear, shines, laugh, fall, fell, could, burn, ticks.
Warm. cold, pleasant, round, hard, soft, sick, happy, beautiful, young, kind, cross, clear, blue, glad, great, long, some, any.
Who, whose, those, these, what.
By, down, into, out, over, much, how.
Add fifteen easy proper names wherever desired, in any month. - Woburn Course of Study.
The excellence of our reading in all the lower grades is due largely to our bimonthly interchange of books. All our schools (high excepted) are divided into sets, five in a set, and every
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eight weeks all the readers and geographies we have, some six thousand volumes, are moved on to other schools in the same set. In this way, the reading matter is always kept fresh, and pupils- are not required to go over and over the same old pieces until they have well nigh memorized it. The plan works admirably up to the highest grade grammar, in which I think it would be well to have an easy Fifth Reader permanently retained in the school-room, for the sake of the good, old-fashioned elocutionary drill, in which teachers of a generation or two ago so much delighted, and for the sake of living with the masterpieces of English literature a little longer. At present, no Fifth Readers are used below the high schools.
Forming a part of this circulating library, of which, as I have already stated, the wheels are set in motion every eight weeks, . are the following readers (or books used as readers) : -
Lippincott's, Appleton's, Monroe's (old and new series), Franklin (old and new series), Eclectic, Butler's, Barnes's, Swinton's Readers, I., II., III., and IV., complete.
Sheldon's I., II., and IV., McGuffey's Alternate I., II., and III., Parker's . I. and II., Harvey's I., II., and III., Insterstate I., Tweed's I., Turner's I., Normal I. and II., Stickney's I. and II., Our World at Home I., II., III., IV., and V., Scribner's Geographical Reader, Little Folks of Other Lands, Parts of Prang's and of Appleton's Natural History Series, Goodrich's and Van Antwerp's Child's History of the United States, Easy Steps, Golden Book, Little People, Soldier Fritz, Swiss Family Robinson, Æsop's Fables, Seaside and Wayside, and other publications.
In place of a single series of five readers, as formerly, our pupils now read about twenty first and second, and twenty-five third and fourth readers, before the completion of their grammar school course. There you have, then, a measure of comparison between the Old Education and the New, five hard readers, imperfectly understood, on the one hand, and forty-five easy readers greatly enjoyed and fully comprehended on the other. Which is better?
In well-directed efforts to make our boys and girls appreciative and thoughtful readers, - to make them love reading for reading's sake, and find in it an intellectual pastime, - to make them under- stand what they read and get the most possible from the printed page, our schools may, I think, safely challenge comparison with the best.
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Every reading lesson in the primary and intermediate grades is prefaced by a " development " or " vocabulary-building " exercise, in which the teacher takes the place of the dictionary. In the grammar grades, each pupil has a dictionary, and is taught how to use it.
SPELLING.
A spelling-book is used in the fifth to ninth years inclusive. In the first to fourth years inclusive, the words selected for spelling are largely those, the meaning of which has been brought out in the development of the reading lesson. Pupils make up original sen- tences, introducing these words in such a way as to show they have grasped their meaning. We write spelling, as a rule, but . spell orally not a little. We write whole sentences as well as lists of words. We give special attention to oft-recurring simple words, such as where, there, which, whose, their, etc.
PENMANSHIP.
We do not use copy-books, although I think it would be well to introduce them in the higher grades grammar. One blackboard in each room is ruled in a manner to match the ruling of the slates and the practice paper, and the methods of instruction are such that each teacher is obliged to become a correct writer in order to teach successfully. What these methods are will be best learned, perhaps, from the course of study : -
Put copy on blackboard daily. Let it be in strict conformity to the system of penmanship in use, and absolutely correct. Send pupils to board to write the copy, and point out to them their errors. Discuss the forms of the letters very fully and critically. Attempt to carry neatness and precision into all written work, and to make every written exercise an exercise in penmanship. In addition to the regular work, have a brief daily drill in ovals, slides, etc., to give the pupils freedom of movement, and to prevent them from merely drawing the forms of the letters. Insist upon a correct pen and pencil holding at all times.
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HISTORY.
The following letter is self explanatory : -
WEYMOUTH, Sept. 23, 1884. To those who teach History :
Holding you responsible for results, I leave it to you hereafter to teach history the best you know how as individuals ; also, to make out the writ- ten examinations, which are to be combined as before. I discontinue mine, because I think they pin you down too much. My examinations here- after will be oral, and when I give them, I shall hope to be accompanied by one or more members of the School Committee. On these occasions, you will have an opportunity to show what your ideas and methods are, as well as what the attainments of the pupils are. I advise you to cut down' on battles much more than you have ever done before, and never to let the pupils recite in the words of the book, unless these are the very simplest that can be formed. History is largely a reading, talking, and drawiny-out study. The pupils should grasp the thought and then repro- duce it in his own words. If you have hitherto let him fill his mouth and memory with words that are too big for him, do not longer do so, but make him fix over every sentence that sounds in the least degree bookish. "' The study of history affords, incidentally, the best opportunity for the cultivation of the faculty of expression."
G. C. FISHER, Supt.
History should be taught topically with the aid of a library. That, at least, is the ideal way. That is the adaptation of the adult method. One text-book is not enough. Several are needed. What do we do when we wish for information upon a given topic ? We go to a library, we consult this and that authority, we read up, as we call it. That is what our pupils should do. History .is a many-faced subject. It is easier to teach it in the old memoriter fashion, just as it is easier to neglect our health than to take care of it, but that is not the point. We should give to every sub- ject the individual treatment it requires to make it fulfill its true office in the development of the human mind. The adult or re- ference method, I am happy to say, has been adopted in the high schools, and it could, I think, be adopted to advantage in the grammar schools if we had the books.
PHYSIOLOGY.
We have an elementary drill in physiology and temperance teaching in all the grades, and take up the subject of physi-
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ology as a daily study in the first grade grammar. One of our teachers' meetings was specially devoted to methods to be pur- sued in teaching temperance, a subject we do not mean to neglect.
DRAWING.
I do not feel that I can say so very much in praise of our draw- ing. Like that of too many schools, it is in accordance with an arrangement, by which the pockets of publishers in New York and other great cities are to be enriched. I think we have too much drawing the drawings contained in a series of drawing-books, and too little drawing from objects. But we are improving, and are making drawing more and more the offspring of the daily reci- tations. Thus, in arithmetic in the primary grades, the little problems about the cost of apples, oranges, etc., the reduction of quarts to pints and pints to quarts, are all pictured out. In geog- raphy, the pupils describe the course of rivers, the trend of moun- tains, and the shape of bays, capes, straits, etc., by drawing the rivers, mountains, and coast-lines ; while recently, in language, I found a class engaged in writing stories about pictures, but they drew their own pictures. I think in time our pupils will be as wil- ling to draw as to write, and our teachers as ready to give an exhi- bition of their skill in drawing on the board as to write a boy's name, and thereby give an exhibition of their skill in penmanship.
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