USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1901 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11
192
In the primary grades the Speer number work in second grade proves very helpful in the preparation for the first book of Werner, taken in the third year. Additional material in the form known as Hobbs Number Sticks proves of excellent service, especially as it may be used for profitable busy work after the pupils become familiar with it.
The language work in all grades is found to make substantial gains by requiring daily work upon the blackboard, while penman- ship gains, as the amount of hurried written work on paper is lessened.
The work in Manual Training continues to hold the interest of those engaged in it, and better results are secured as the pupils come into the advanced work. In my judgment, we shall not reach the limit of advantage in introducing new subjects into the course until we have given our girls the opportunity to take sewing and cooking.
I find that the services of a competent instructor in sewing can be secured for one day per week at an expense of $125, while the material used would probably cost less than twenty dollars for the eighty or more girls who would take the work.
At an expense of two or three hundred dollars an equipment for cooking can readily be fitted up in the Highland School, and it is to be hoped that the advantage of this kind of instruction will appeal to our voters in a way to yield the amount of appropriation necessary to secure this training for our girls. I am more and more convinced that our training of the young should savor less of bookishness and more of the practical sort of knowledge, that it shall make them familiar with many things that concern hygienic living and that occupy so large a place in the lives of the great majority of wage earners. Even the little experience gained by pupils in school in mending, felling, basting, hemming, cutting, fitting, boiling, roasting, mixing, kneading, rolling, basting, sawing,
193
planing, hammering, matching, gluing, staining, polishing, grinding, whetting, besides making them better able to care for themselves upon leaving school, will tend to make them more appreciative of labors of those who earn scant living by a monotonous grinding away at one or another of these single exercises. By gaining a mastery over a number of these exercises, even a mechanic's life becomes sufficiently varied to allow much of enjoyment, while no knowledge of these makes the lady of the house a slave to her servants, the man a mere machine, simply articulating with the inventions of the more gifted or better educated of his fellows.
Let us give our boys and girls more than an even chance in the sharp competition that will surely try them as they enter upon mature life.
The work in Humane Education is still maintained with ever increasing good results. The special occasions of Thanksgiving and Christmas afford opportunity for more elaborate programs to entertain the pupils and emphasize the lessons of kindness and good will brought out in the regular meetings held throughout the year ..
Through the co-operation of the Woman's Club we have been able to make a beginning in introducing the work of the Stamp Savings Association. The eagerness with which this matter has been taken up by the pupils of the Highland School may be under- stood when it is stated that since taking up the work about Dec .. 1st, the pupils have deposited over forty dollars. The demand was so much greater than anticipated, that we shall be under the neces- sity of securing a larger working capital than we have at present, or go into business on our own account in connection with our local savings bank, as other places have been obliged to do on account of the volume of business. We have not been able to extend this benefit to the other schools thus far, but with the co-operation of the good ladies who have taken hold of the work, we expect to give all our pupils a chance to learn this kind of thrift and self control.
I believe that this kind of experience will do more towards.
194
training up a class of citizens that can be relied upon to favor not only no license principles, but total abstinence, than all we can do by direct temperance instruction. These savings, for the greater part, come from the pennies that, without this incentive to save, would be spent upon candy, gum, and other trifles, and each time the decision is made not to gratify the passing desire, the will gains the power that is almost certain to result in resisting the temptation to indulge in wine and other stimulants later in life. In this re- spect, too, we are endeavoring to give our pupils training and guid- ance in a way to establish habits which shall prove helpful in all later life.
The manner in which literature is used to develop character may be judged by the list of memory gems learned by the pupils of the different grades.
The assistance of Miss Alice Barrows in collecting this mate- rial has made it possible to give this outline in the present report.
The collection has been made after years of trial to secure se- lections that seemed to appeal to the pupils of different grades.
LITERATURE FOR GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
In all work in literature with elementary schools the first aim of the teacher should be to lead the pupil to the enjoy- ment of really good things. This is often best accomplished if the teacher reads the selection in her best manner. The frequent stumbling of the average child through a beautiful passage is most sure to produce real dislike for what we wish him to love.
OUTLINE FOR FOURTH GRADE.
LONGFELLOW-Stories about his Life.
Read Parts of "Hiawatha."
" Wreck of the Hesperus."
Memorize " The Village Blacksmith." " Children's Hour." " The Children."
195
WHITTIER-Stories about the Author.
Read " In School Days." " The Wreck of Rivermouth." " Kallundborg Church." Memorize " Corn Song." " Our State."
CELIA THAXTER-Stories about Author. Read "My Island Garden." Memorize " Sandpiper and I."
EUGENE FIELD-Stories about Author. Read " Seein' Things at Night." " Jest 'fore Christmas." Memorize " Little Boy Blue."
LOUISA ALCOTT-
Read Selections from " Lulu's Library."
Aside from this definite work, the teacher is expected, in all grades, to give many short selections, which the children shall be required to copy into blank books, and commit to memory. These gems of thought should be selected to fit occasion, commemorating patriotic anniversaries, describing the seasons, and emphasizing the ethical teaching which the conduct of the school demands. It is here that the use of literature for character building may be most effective.
FIFTH GRADE.
H. W. LONGFELLOW-Review Stories of his Life. Read Selections from " Hiawatha." " The Skeleton in Armor." " From My Arm-Chair." Memorize "Paul Revere's Ride." " The Builders."
1
196
J. G. WHITTIER-Review Stories of his Life."
Read " Selections from "Visions of Echard." " Skipper Ireson's Ride." Memorize " Yorktown." " Barefoot Boy."
LOUISA M. ALCOTT-Stories about Author. Read "Little Men."
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE-
Read "Some stories from Wonder Book."
LEWIS CARROLL
Read " Alice in Wonderland."
CHAS. KINGSLEY- Memorize "My Little Doll."
From the beginning of the sixth year on there should be a more thorough study of selections than is possible in lower grades. While much of the material would better be read by the teacher, some passages should be placed in the hands of the pupils, to be studied with critical attention to the sentiment, the literary and historical allusions, and particularly to the beauty of diction. Have the children find out, if possible, how that beauty is secured. It is wise to urge them to imitate the author's style occasionally.
SIXTH GRADE.
H. W. LONGFELLOW-Study "Pegasus in Pound." "The Bell of Atri." "Building of the Ship." Memorize "The Day is Done." Selections from "Building of the Ship." "The Arrow and the Song."
J. G. WHITTIER-Study "Abraham Davenport." "The Witch's Daughter." "The Swan Song of Parson Avery."
197
Memorize "Barbara Frietchie." " The First Flowers."
H. H. JACKSON-Stories about Author. Memorize "October's Bright Blue Weather."
J. R. LOWELL-Stories about Author. Memorize "The First Snowfall." "Christmas Carol."
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE-Stories about Author. Study "The Snow Image." Stories from "The Wonder Book."
LOUISA M. ALCOTT-Read "Little Women."
F. H. BURNETT-Read "Little Lord Fauntleroy." SEVENTH GRADE.
H. W. LONGFELLOW-Study "Evangeline." Memorize Selections from "Evangeline." "Christmas Bells" or "The Three Kings." "The Norman Baron."
N. HAWTHORNE-Read "The Tanglewood Tales." Study "The Great Stone Face."
JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS-Read stories from his "Uncle Remus " series.
CHAS. KINGSLEY-Stories about Author. Read "Water Babies."
JOHN RUSKIN-Read "King of the Golden River." W. C. BRYANT -- Memorize "The Fringed Gentian."
EIGHTH GRADE.
H. W. LONGFELLOW-Study "Courtship of Myles Standish." Memorize "The Ladder of St. Augustine."
198
J. G. WHITTIER-
Memorize "To Massachusetts." "Fanueil Hall." "The Trailing Arbutus."
J. FENNIMORE COOPER-His Life.
Read Extracts from "The Spy."
O. W. HOLMES-His Life. Read Some Humorous Poems. Memorize "Chambered Nautilus."
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE-His Life. Read "Grandfather's Chair."
J. R. LOWELL-His Life.
Read Extracts from "Biglow Papers."
Memorize Selections from "Vision of Sir Launfal" and "The Present Crisis."
WASHINGTON IRVING-His Life.
Read Extracts from "Sketch Book."
"Knickerbocker's History of New York."
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE-Life.
Read "Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare." Memorize "Many short passages from the plays as they are referred to in the " Tales."
CHARLES DICKENS.
Read "Christmas Carol."
Our plan of placing a teacher in charge of each room at the Highland School has so far proved satisfactory, as this allows Miss Barrows to act as supervising principal and give such support as may be needed at any time throughout the building. With so many changes in teachers as we suffer every year, this seems the only way to avoid disaster to the schools.
199
In regard to our needs for the coming year a brief study of the statistics will show that we must open the last vacant room in the Highland School next April or refuse admittance to some thirty-five or forty pupils whose age will entitle them to admission to the John Street Primary School. A year ago last September the school census showed a gain of twenty-five over that of the previous year, while last September it showed a gain of thirty-seven between the ages of five and fifteen.
It will be seen that this gain is practically in the enrollment below the High School.
Again upon inspection of the enrollment of the rooms of the primary buildings it will be seen that there are not vacant sittings enough to accommodate one third the number of beginners we have reason to expect upon the opening of the spring term, while the rooms at the Highland School occupied by the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades show a still more crowded condition.
This will call for approximately $150 for new desks, for three- fourths the number required must be bought.
Provision should be made for painting the Union Street and the Prospect Street schoolhouses, and repairing the roofs of those and the two remaining schools by the plan adopted for the High School last summer, so as to avoid shingling anew in the near future.
The grounds at the Highland should be brought to the grade of the street on the north and west sides, but the usual appropria- tion will not allow it to be done without crippling the work of the schools through lack of books and supplies.
We have suffered to some extent this past term because of the heavy drafts upon our treasury in fitting the High School building for the increased amount of work to be done in it, and the coming summer should see the interior of that building renovated at consid- erable expense.
ES
11 .
200
We are justly proud of our Highland School, and we should not suffer the appearance of the grounds to continue in a condition so far out of harmony with the structure itself any longer than necessity compels it.
I ask your consideration of the special reports of our super- visors of music and drawing, with a feeling that the high ideals manifest in them should inspire the pupils with still stronger pur- pose to improve their opportunities in these subjects, and should lead us to express our approval of their work by granting their requests for material just as far as we can. The exhibit of last May was a great success for both departments.
I desire to express my hearty appreciation of the cordial co- operation of teachers, parents, and of your honorable body in the work of the past year, and trust that my endeavors may receive the same harmonious support throughout the coming year.
Respectfully submitted,
MELVILLE A. STONE,
Superintendent of Schools.
HIGH SCHOOL REPORT.
To the Superintendent :
The report of the High School for the year ending December 20, 1901, is respectfully presented.
The total enrollment for the year, including sixty-one (61) pupils admitted from the grammar school and six (6) from other schools, has been two hundred and two (202). Since the opening of the fall term three (3) pupils from North Reading have been attending the school. The largest monthly enrollment was in Sep- tember, the membership of the school being at that time one hun- dred and sixty-six (166), consisting of sixty-two (62) boys and one hundred and four (104) girls. The average membership has been one hundred and thirty-seven and seventy-four hundredths (137.74) ; the average attendance, one hundred and thirty-two and six-tenths (132.6); the per cent. of attendance, ninety-six and twenty-seven hundredths (96.27). Twelve pupils were awarded diplomas in June, and two received certificates for work performed.
In the commercial department ninety-nine pupils have been enrolled in the classes in Arithmetic, seventy in Bookkeeping. At the present time forty-four pupils are studying Arithmetic and forty-six Bookkeeping. The teacher of Stenography and Typewriting, Miss Jennie F. Currier, submits the following report concerning her department :
" During the months from January, 1901, to January, 1902, there have been enrolled in the classes in Stenography forty (40) pupils, and in the Typewriting classes thirty-eight (38). The Sten- ography class, at the present time, is divided into a beginning class
202
of nineteen (19) pupils and an advanced class of twelve (12) pupils ; and the Typewriting class is composed of a beginning class of eighteen (18) pupils, and an advanced class of thirteen (13) pupils.
" The course in Stenography is arranged to cover two years, with three recitations a week for the first year, and two recitations a week during the second year. The course in Typewriting also requires two years to complete it, with two recitations a week during both the first and second years.
" Every pupil in the Stenography class at the end of the first year had a speed of more than one hundred (100) words a minute, and the rate of one hundred and fifty (150) words per minute was obtained by several. The average speed was one hundred and thirty (130) words. The speed has been increased by these pupils in this, the second year of their study, and, with only two recita- tions a week, some of them have been able to write at the rate of from one hundred and fifty (150) to two hundred (200) words a minute.
" The Typewriting classes have done work on letters and corre- spondence based on various lines of business, while law and insur- ance work will be thoroughly studied before the close of the second year, as well as manifolding.
"All of the pupils of the advanced class in Typewriting have a good speed and are as competent to take dictation as to do copying work."
While excellent results have been attained in this part of our commercial work as indicated by the above report, yet at least three more typewriters are needed to insure economy of time in instruction and to afford the pupils still further opportunity for practice in typewriting.
I have received many expressions both from the parents and from pupils of their appreciation of the opportunities which our course affords for commercial training.
Since the opening of the fall term, the work in English and in
203
Mathematics has been distributed more widely than formerly among the teachers. This has been necessitated both by the increase in the number of classes in these subjects and by the many and varied requirements for their effective teaching.
In connection with the work in English, we are enabled, at. the present time, to give more attention to drill in declamation than this subject has received for several years. In addition to the practice in speaking and debating which our school program will afford, it is planned to hold public rhetoricals occasionally for the benefit of the different classes. The careful study of selected passages from the works of our best authors, with instruction and drill in the elementary principles of effective speaking, will prove invaluable to the pupil.
In my last report, I referred to the probable demand this year for the Harvard course in Physics. The purchase from time to time of such physical apparatus as this course requires, has made it possible to offer the course as an elective the present year.
For the completion of the course, still more apparatus will be needed. Nine pupils are now enrolled in this department of work. An excellent outline of the course in the sciences was printed in our school paper, last June, which with the outline of English is appended to this report.
The languages have been taught in accordance with plans out- lined in previous reports. Frequent use has been made of the series of examinations that have been published for admission to the higher institutions of learning for several years past, both to accustom the pupils to sight work and to acquaint them with the difficulties of college entrance requirements. Beginning with the year 1903, Massachusetts Institute of Technology will require both French and German in the entrance examinations. This plan will necessitate the formation of a class in German next year, for the benefit of those pupils taking the Institute course.
The instruction in music under the special teacher has been
204
supplemented during the fall term by daily drill. More time than formerly has also been devoted to drawing. Excellent work has been done in both these departments.
Physical culture has not the place in our school program which its importance merits. However, such simple gymnastic exercises as the narrow aisles of the school-room have not made impracticable, the pupils have had daily during the major portion of the year.
The opening of the fall term found the places of three of our teachers who had served the school for several years, filled by others. As principal I desire to express my appreciation of the faithful service those instructors rendered and for the high ideals of life they set before our school.
The present teachers have willingly cooperated with me in my effort to secure good results both in scholarship and in the general management of the school. The employment of a snb-master has been helpful in many ways.
I desire to make acknowledgement of the following gifts to the school : a portrait of Mendelssohn, presented by the Junior and Senior classes ; an engraving of Pharaoh's horses, by pupils of the first class ; a portrait of William McKinley, purchased from the school fund ; an engraving of the Lowell Textile School, presented by Principal Crosby. The bust of Shakespeare injured during the summer vacation, has been replaced by another purchased of Caproni.
Several reference books have been added to the Library, including Hinsdale's The American Government, Channing's His- tory of the United States, also MeLaughlin's and MacMaster's.
I desire to express my appreciation of the cordial support the school has received from all interested in its welfare.
F. E. WHITTEMORE,
Principal.
205
OUTLINE OF WORK IN ENGLISH LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION IN THE READING HIGH SCHOOL.
It is the aim of this course to present a connected and pro- gressive line of work for the four years in the High School ; to lead the pupil to see the importance of English Literature and Com- position, and to cause him to feel that each year of his work is carefully arranged to give him more advanced and valuable knowl- edge of this subject.
Three prepared recitations will be prescribed for each week, and two unprepared recitations in which work will be discussed, methods of study suggested, and criticism of written work carried on.
FIRST YEAR.
LITERATURE.
The aim during this year is to gain acquaintance with the best American literature, and a knowledge of its history. Effort will be made to quicken the perception of the pupil and to arouse his sym- pathy with what has been strongest and noblest in our literature.
IRVING : Selections from " The Sketch Book." (" Alhambra" for class-room work ).
HAWTHORNE : Selections from "Twice Told Tales." ("The House of Seven Gables " for class-room work).
COOPER : " The Last of the Mohicans."
HOLMES : "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." Selections from his poems.
BRYANT: Poems, including "Sella," "Thanatopsis " and the " Forest Hymn."
LOWELL : " Vision of Sir Launfal" and some minor poems.
206
AMERICAN STATESMEN.
WEBSTER: "First Bunker Hill Oration," and selections. JEFFERSON : " Declaration of Independence."
SHAKESPEARE : " A Midsummer Night's Dream."
COMPOSITION-RHETORIC.
For the first three months, review of Grammar (once a week ). For the rest of the year, the prescribed work in Carpenter's " Ele- ments of Rhetoric (once a week). Throughout the year, com- positions from one to two pages in length will be prepared weekly on topics drawn from experience or Current History.
SECOND YEAR. LITERATURE.
The aim of this year is to gain knowledge of some of the most important forms of Literature and of the teachings of the best writers.
THE MODERN SHORT EPIC OR BALLAD.
SCOTT : "Lady of the Lake." ("Marmion " for class work on days when no prepared lesson is required).
COLERIDGE : " Ancient Mariner." (" Christabel," to be taken as "Marmion," above).
TENNYSON : Selections from " Idylls of the King." (" Elaine " and " Enoch Arden," as above).
THE NOVEL.
GOLDSMITH: " The Vicar of Wakefield." (" Traveler " and " The Deserted Village " as above, to show the author's social ideals) .
GEORGE ELIOT : "Silas Marner." (" Scenes of Clerical Life," as above).
SCOTT : "Ivanhoe." (" Kenilworth," as above).
207
THE DRAMA.
SHAKESPEARE : " Julius Caesar" or " Coriolanus," according to college requirements. " As You Like It." Other selections.
COMPOSITION-RHETORIC.
Special study of paragraph structure as prescribed in Scott and Denney's "Composition-Rhetoric " (once a week ). Regular weekly compositions of two or three pages of narrative or description. During the last half of the year attention is to be given to making outlines for these compositions. Once during the year a long com- position on some research subject will be required of each pupil.
THIRD YEAR.
LITERATURE.
The aim of this year is to carry further the study of the novel and drama, as they deal more with social problems and higher ques- tions, and to gain a knowledge and appreciation of English poetry of the Eighteenth Century. Throughout this year more attention will be given to the thought and teaching of the authors, and an attempt will be made to stimulate interest in social problems and to arouse the feeling of social responsibility.
THE NOVEL.
THACKERAY : " Vanity Fair."
DICKENS : " Tale of Two Cities." (Parallel with these two novels, will be the class reading and discussion of " The De Cov- erly Papers" ).
THE DRAMA.
SHAKESPEARE : " Merchant of Venice," "Macbeth," " Hamlet."
COLLEGE REQUIREMENTS.
MILTON : " L'Allegro," "Il Peneroso," " Lycidas " and "Comus," " Paradise Lost " Books I and II.
5
208
DRYDEN : " Palamon and Arcite."
POPE : " Iliad," Books I, VI, XXII, XXIV.
BURNS : Selections.
COMPOSITION.
Weekly compositions (exposition) on subjects drawn alter- nately from literature and outside life. Effective arrangement sought. Twice during the year a long composition on some re- search subject will be required of each pupil.
FOURTH YEAR.
LITERATURE.
The aim of this year is to gain a knowledge and appreciation of the " literature of thought," and to stimulate independent thought on the part of the student. It contains the college-required essays and orations, hence must be varied from year to year.
THE ESSAY.
EMERSON : "Self-reliance," "Representative Men," "The American Scholar." (Selections from Lowell's essays for class-room work).
MACAULAY : "Milton," "Addison," "Lord Clive," (when col- lege requirements).
BACON : Selected essays.
THACKERAY : "Addison."
CARLYLE : "Burns."
BURKE'S ORATION : "Conciliation with America."
(Parallel with these essays will be the classroom reading and discussion of De Quincy's "Revolt of the Tartars," for effective arrangement ).
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.