Oriole and Tower-Light, 1922-1927, Part 122

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Publication date: 1922-1927
Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Number of Pages: 1024

USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Towson > Oriole and Tower-Light, 1922-1927 > Part 122

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I need not go further to convince you that I love a rural school. For that reason I came back to Normal School. I wanted to get the very best possible so that I might go back with new vigor to that little school in Wash- ington County. I have tried to work especially hard in the subjects in which I felt most deficient. I hope I shall have gained something worth while to give to those boys and girls next fall.

I have gained much from classes-a great deal more from actual experi- ence as a student teacher, but one club has really inspired me to do better and bigger work in my rural community next year. I joined this club-the Rural Club-because I wanted to contribute all I could to rural workers and that I might receive much more from them in ideals and standards.

I feel this year has not been in vain. It has been a profitable year for all members. We have worked and we have played. One big topic discussed in

the club was the "consolidation of schools." We believe the time will come when there will be no really and truly rural schools. The little red school- house is vanishing from our sight. Consolidation cannot be done in a day or year. It will take time to work out a plan for taking care of all of the rural children in graded schools. What we need now is good, true-hearted rural workers with sufficient education to put the rural program into effect with a bang. Are you one ?

NORA V. MCDONALD, Sr. Sp.

CRAFT CLUB DOINGS

. .

The Craft Club

HE Craft Club was organized in 1914 under the direction of Miss Vera Greenlaw. Since the time of its organization the club lias been interested in crafts of all kinds.

Our entertaining at the beginning of the school year 1925-26 was in the form of several tea dances. They were largely attended by those who like to "trip it on the light fantastic toe."

The huge success of our Art Exhibit, held in November, was due to our members, who have special talent along the artistic line.

Our play, "The Farce of Pierre Patelin," received many praiseworthy comments. Our actors and actresses were loudly applauded and our scenery, designed and entirely created by ourselves, was highly complimented.

Throughout the school year the whole student body of the Maryland State Normal School showed excellent spirit in attending our functions and so enabled us to put them all "across" effectively.

The Craft Club officers this year are: President, Charlotte Tickner; Vice-President, Elizabeth Hoffmeister; Secretary, Louise Young; Treasurer, Jeannette Griffith; Social Chairman, Eleanor Purdy; advisers-Miss Vera Greenlaw, Mrs. Joseph McCord.

Stagecraft in Public Schools

W RÅR

HAT is stagecraft, we ask? If we combine the originality to design with the ability to construct we have the meaning of stage- craft. We all know that interest plays an important part in learn- ing, and what could be more interesting for both teacher and pupils than making the scenery for a play ?

The construction of scenery may be combined with many sub- jects which are uninteresting to some children unless they have a strong need for them. The amount of material needed must be estimated. These calculations may be made during arithmetic period. The construction problem will challenge the children to more extensive reading. The play set may call for a historical study of the architecture and life of different periods and people.

In constructing scenery there are several things one must have, namely : the help of the person producing the play to say how the stage must be set, enough space for the set, and material means to carry the work through. Material means does not necessarily mean money-it may be the scenery on hand, curtains, flats or stage properties.

Stratton suggests several possibilities for scenery. The first is the use of curtains, plainly colored, hanging in vertical folds clear of the floor. When curtains are used entrances may be had at any point desired by building the doors in frames that will stand alone and fastening the curtains to them. In choosing curtains there are two considerations-material and color.

There are various materials to use. Rep gives a very good effect ; canton flannel with the woolly side to the audience gives a soft, restful appearance. One of the loveliest curtained scenes I ever saw was made by having two colors-red cheese cloth over purple. Where cheese cloth is used the folds must be heavy, as it is nearly transparent, but it is pretty and inexpensive. The colors used for curtains should be of shades that do not tire the eyes or become monotonous.

A built interior may be made as attractive as a curtained or tapestried one. It is also very economical since it can be repainted as often as desired. The materials needed to construct this scenery will be : wood for frames, iron braces to hold the corners firm, screw-eyes to lace the flats by, rope, nails, screws, glue and canvas, or unbleached muslin.

To make the flats, first make the frame of wood, making sure the corners are secure with no possibility of getting loose, for if they do so they will not strap easily. Stretch the canvas or muslin tightly over the frames, tacking the inside edge and glueing the outside edge to the wooden frame. In the upper right hand corner of the back of the flat, fasten a rope as long as the flat itself. Put several screw-eyes along the sides of the flats to lace them

together and it is completed except for the paint. Kalsomine is the best paint to use and is very inexpensive. It may be bought loose in vivid colors and mixed to the desired shade. A little sizing must be used to make it stick. The children will enjoy mixing their own colors to paint flats with.

For most plays a back drop is necessary. A very good sky effect may be had by painting the drop a light shade of blue at the bottom and darker near the top. Blue lights on this give a midnight effect while amber and white give a mid-day scene and white gives the cold of winter. Red and amber against the blue give sunset or dawn.

When we begin lighting, footlights are necessary. These should be shaded from the eyes of the audience in some way. There should also be a top row of border lights to counteract the shadowy effect of this. Flood lights are not necessary but often produce a lovelier effect than the others alone. It is very interesting as well as instructive to work up the different effects of lighting in a play.

When the children you teach want to give a play try letting them make their own scenery and see if it doesn't increase interest, teach many new skills, and provide for a great deal of new experience.

CHARLOTTE PERRIE, Senior '04.

The Romance of A Library

T school we are told that the library is a treasure house of knowl- edge where we may, by diligent perusal of material, gain a few of the pearls of wisdom thus placed at our disposal. The idea is incul- cated tliat a work atmosphere, a seriousness of purpose, should pervade the place, whether we be searching for knowledge or chasing grades.

"How do you spend your leisure time?" is a question that the library will answer for us, and so we go there for the amusement that books afford.

So interested are we in pursuing our own respective ways, be they pleasure or work, that we do not stop to think of the romance of our sur- roundings. Is "just a roomful of books" all that a library means to you? It is possible to reconstruct one from something more than paper and print; to people it with the flesh and blood that really constructed it; to recapture the spirit that breaks from printed pages and yet has no voice to speak.

Granted the power, what would we see? Certainly it would be a strange assemblage to our modern eyes. A roomful of people in the dress and hair- cuts of by-gone ages! Old friends and yet perfect strangers in the flesh !

One wonders what would happen under such circumstances. What illu- minating bits of conversation we might hear! Would Chaucer bemoan the deterioration of the English language? What would John Bunyan have to say to Lord Byron? How many jokes would "Mark Twain" tell? Would Sir Walter Scott and Joel Chandler Harris find anything in common? Could Mencken retain his attitude of superiority? These and other questions we might find answered. Did some of the authors prove so vehement in their speech as in their writings the peacefulness of the surroundings might be somewhat marred.

I have said that it would seem a strange assemblage, and yet how deeply, essentially human. There would be success, typified by the author whose ideal was realized, whose works are widely read and well liked. Then we might pick out the strong, purposeful face of the man who had unfurled the banner of his principles for the world to see and cared not how it liked it. Next, perhaps our eyes would light on the dreamy face of a poet who saw visions of beauty and entrusted them to words for the pleasure and inspiration of the race. The iconoclast would stand out by way of contrast and we might feel pity for the man who, hurt by the world, tried to smash the images of its ideals. The determined face of the reformer, the student face of the scientist, the dream in the eyes of the educator, the dogged look of the per- sistent writer who kept on in spite of adverse criticism and at last "arrived" would all lie before us. A few countenances would be marked with the sign of failure. Starting out with high hopes and succeeding in presenting their

message to the world, they lived to see it embodied in a dust-covered book, a sight that holds more pathos than we busy mortals sometimes realize.

When we have met all of its true builders we might look at the library in another sense. It is a wonderful chamber which contains genii capable of marvelous deeds. We enter to see prosaic walls lined with shelves of books and then in a few moments we may find ourselves whisked to far away lands, there to delight in all the strange sights that greet us. We may mingle with princes of the earth or with its humblest laborers. Scholars may speak to us or we may endeavor to interpret the tongue of the savage. We may visit any land and be friends with all whom we choose. There can the hand of time be turned backward for a while when we find ourselves in the atmosphere of a long gone yesterday. There can be summoned at, will any spirit that ever actuated man.

Is a library just a roomful of books to you ?

ANNE SCHAEFER, Sp. Sr.

LAW

A GLIMPSE AT ONE OF THE LIBRARIES

FIRE

CAMP

GIRLS

LILETA CAMPFIRE GIRLS

Lileta Campfire

IRST of all, we want to ask you if you realize from what source our nanie is derived. It is the first two letters of the three names of a certain person we all admire very much.

Second, since every organization has a purpose, we, of course have one, and we wonder if you know what it is. It is:

Seek Beauty, Give Service, Pursue Knowledge, Be Trustworthy, Hold on to Health, Glorify Work, Be Happy.

And how have we carried out this purpose? We have achieved it in the following ways. At Campfire meetings we made baskets, went out on likes, where we were taught Camp Cookery, and had taffy pulls. Several times Miss Woolsey entertained us at her apartment. At Christmas time we filled a stocking for a little girl who was being cared for by the Baltimore County Children's Aid Society. We gave Monsieur Beaucaire as a benefit movie, and we expect to use part of the money earned to present a gift to the school.

We have two good trips in store for us. First, an annual visit to the circus and, second, our week-end camping trip down on the South River. This year we shall leave for camp Friday night, April 30, after the contest.

There will be ten vacancies in the Camp Fire next year, so if any of the Juniors wish to join, make application now.

FRANCES NIXON, President.

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

GIRL SCOUTS

What Normal Has Done to Me

HE title for this article might well be "What Normal Has Done For Me" or "To Me." In such an article one would naturally expect to read about the knowledge and experience I have gained, or the ideals and principles of teaching that I have acquired, or perhaps the many new interests in various things. But it will not be about any of these, valuable as they may be.

At the end of my high-school career I knew everything under the sun. There was nothing so complex that I did not know all about it. I was not even bothered by "girls" at that time, and what is so diffi- cult to understand as a girl?

As I come to the end of my two years at Normal I know that I don't know so much after all. As some old philosopher said, "The less a man knows the more he thinks he knows ; the more he knows the less he thinks he knows." It is not a slam at my teachers when I say that I know how much I don't know. It is the highest compliment that could be paid them.

When practice teaching began I thought I knew something about teaching. When it was all over I began to see how much I didn't know about it.

Had Normal done nothing more than that, it would not have done me much good, but it did lots more. It gave me an inquiring mind so that I am not con- tent to accept everything they tell me or that I read as true. One of our teachers told us that about one-half of what he said was true, the other half may or may not be true, no one knows as yet.

When a person thinks he knows everything you may be pretty sure that he is afflicted with the "swelled head." He will cease to learn, and stagnate. Therefore, do not consider the admission of ignorance a disgrace, but regard it as a challenge to your highest mental powers. If you can say to the "kids," "I don't know, but let's find out." you will do some real teaching.

Have you ever noticed how many speakers in assembly tell us that if we do not remember their entire address to at least never forget "this one thought I wish to leave with you." Usually the "thought" has gone by the time we have completed our hundred-yard dash to the cafeteria. However, I am not writing about "thoughts" that have gone, but about a "thought" that did not go.

In a speech about Rural Education in assembly, Miss Fannie Dunn of Teacher's College, Columbia University, quoted the aim of education as stated by Professor Thorndike to be "to increase the sum of human happiness." Every- thing else she said in that assembly has departed from my memory, but the idea of education seeking "to increase the sum of human happiness" caught my attention, probably because it was so different from any aim of education I became acquainted with in my classes.

....

When I see a man, whose face shows every "bump" or harsh contact with the world, walking along a city street with a little boy, his son, who is alert, inquiring and joyous, I begin to wonder. One sees so many people like old Scrooge in Dickens' "Christmas Carol"; people who have allowed their "bumps" to sour them and make them bitter and disagreeable. My job as a teacher becomes very clear to me then and I see that I must try to keep that "kid" from growing up like his parent. And when one sees a wizened, dried-up, "practical" man and reflects that once he was like the youngsters around us, with their boundless potentialities, it seems a pity that he ever had to grow up.

Our job is to keep alive in children the capacity for doing, for living, which they have when they enter school. When we can say regarding the children we have in our school that we have "increased their sum of happiness," then we are teachers and not before.

G. H. ALGIRE, Senior '10.

Teaching --- The Biggest Job In The World

EACHING! What a wealth of possibilities in that word! How far-reaching it is and how significant to every one !

Few of us realize that many, many times a day we are teach- ing-sometimes ourselves, sometimes others. According to our type of teaching. our lives prove a help or hindrance to those about us.

If we are sincere in all we do and say. strive to do right with all our might and work for the welfare of our fellowmen as well as ourselves, then we are teachers of the highest order. Our com- panions and acquaintances, who are our pupils. will then be learn- ing worth-while things and we. as unprofessional teachers, are giving them the best of our wares.

If our words and actions are not above reproach. then we need to intro- spect and try to make better or best that which is not so good.

What has been said deals with unconscious teaching-teaching in which everyone participates all the time, either for better or for worse.

But what about teaching as a profession-a life job? What has it to offer us? Why should we be interested in that extensive field of work- teaching ?

The word itself is potent with meaning and rich in expression. Each letter that helps to make the living word-"Teaching"-is full of significance.

T-What does it represent ?

The T in Teaching means Training.

Yes, teaching as a profession offers training-training in patience, in per- sistence and in citizenship virtues. The proverb "patience is a virtue" often changes to "patience is a necessity" when it comes to classroom management. We get training in patience and that training carries over in life situations outside the "little red schoolhouse." Teaching ably qualifies one in the art of persistence. There are blue days and rosy days and the former may often seem to outnumber the latter. However. each difficulty surmounted makes one more confident and capable when encountering other discouraging situa- tions. The training we get in citizenship virtues is beyond compare. Hon- csty, co-operation. broad-mindedness and sympathy must precede, accompany and follow classroom teaching. Are not those virtues essential in our living with ourselves and others? The training in citizenship qualities makes one more useful and happy in his relations to society.

E in Teaching.

For what does it stand?

E means Enterprising.

Perhaps when we further explain enterprising as analagous to adven- turing and undertaking we can see better the part teaching plays in our lives

Those who are content to stay in a rut and are satisfied with things as they are, never climb very far up the ladder of success. We must be ready to try new things. Teaching develops initiative, for any instructor who wants his pupils to drink from a gushing fountain rather than a stagnant pool must ever be on the alert to start experiments. What suits one child cannot suit all. Teaching helps us realize the importance of being always ready to do new things and wander from the straight and narrow path if the wide and crooked one is better when thinking in terms of our pupils' mental, physical and spiritual growth. Teaching shows us the futility of staying in a rut.

The A in Teaching means Achievement.

We like to feel as though we are doing something worthwhile-are really accomplishing something, don't we? Teaching is achieving. We take children as they come to us with their natural equipment, interests and instincts. We try to develop those qualities that are desirable and inhibit the traits that are not good. Every day we are working-achieving. The materials we use are plastic-they are children. We are helping them build something more stu- pendous than pyramids. We are helping them mold their lives in the best, the most beautiful pattern. Does not that alone make teaching a big, big job? C.

Perhaps the most significant thing that the C in Teaching represents is Character. All of us have a certain type of character, but teaching tends to develop character of the highest order. When we see how our pupils look up to us for guidance, there is something within that compels us to be good so that we can be worthy of their respect and affection.

There are many things that the H in Teaching means-Happiness, Humor, Helpfulness, Honor and Humbleness, but the greatest of these is Happiness. Teaching is a pleasant occupation because we work with the most interesting materials-children. They are vivacious and lively. They are happy and their happiness is contagious. Teaching imbues one with a sense of happiness because one is helping. Happiness is one of the goals of life. Teaching helps you reach that goal.

Can you guess what "I" means?

"I" represents Industry.

Idle people are a curse to human society ; industrious persons are a bless- ing. After all, the busy people are the happy people, the successful people. Those who have time to sit and forever fold their hands are not the persons to be envied. Everyone needs to have something in which he is particularly interested and center his activities around that particular thing. Why not let teaching be "The Thing?"

N is symbolic of Nobleness. N.

Teaching calls for noble words and actions. Self cannot be dominant. The welfare of others must be considered. We need to have noble purposes and ideas. Teaching is a noble profession.

G-the last letter of the word-signifies Growth. The moral growth that accompanies teaching is invaluable. We learn to stop. look and listen before we judge. We dare not, by our conduct, set an example that will in any way weaken the morale of any school. We try to look up and lift up.

Teaching embodies Training, Enterprise, Achievement. Character, Hap- piness. Industry, Nobleness and Growth. These factors are the foundation of successful living. Teaching is helping others live most and serve best. By fulfilling that mission we can truthfully and fervently say: "Teaching is the biggest job in the world."

DOROTHY BRASHEARS.

What Normal School Has Meant To Me

T HEY say. "Ignorance is bliss," and well I do believe it. When I finished high school. I thought I knew about all there was to be known. I had no need for studying. Since I came to Normal School. I have had opened to me the world of knowledge. and I have learned to appreciate and desire knowledge. I am sincere in saying that my two years at Normal School have meant more to me than all the rest of my life.

I have learned so much about human nature by living with such a group. It seems to me to be a rare privilege to live with nearly one thousand persons of your own age. I have learned to under- stand people better and. consequently, to like more people. What a shame to form opinions of people before you really know them! People are so different when you know them than what they seem.

Teaching is a sacred profession and no one should enter it unless they love it and realize the duties of a teacher. If I should have gone to teaching when I left high school, what a pitiful teacher I would have been! My teaching would have been a failure, indeed, even though now it may not be as successful as I wish it might be. Normal School has given to me high ideals of teaching, the best of present-day methods. and a longing to do the best I can. I have seen many wonderful teachers unsparingly giving their lives for education and so 1 have been spurred on.

I have realized what it means to live a pure, unselfish and clean life. Of course, all people in any community are not good, but I do believe that the students at the Normal School at Towson are a select group. Morally, the great- est thing that I have from my life here is the realization of the beauty of goodness and purity of a Christian soul.

J. MARIE KELLY, Senior '15

Values of Student Teaching

HEN we, as seniors, look back on our term of student-teaching, do we think of it in the light of values? Maybe, some of us do, but I dare say that most of us do not take time to think of student-teaching as being of great worth. Here are some of the benefits as I see them.

First of all, we must look ahead into next year, our first trial at real teaching. With the future in mind, we should aim to get all the teaching experience possible in twelve weeks. My reason for making such a statement is this: probably, one-third of us will be placed in one-room schools, and about one-fourth of us in two-room C schools. Of course, the students from Baltimore City. and some county students will go into graded schools, but we must consider everybody. Our burdens will be lightened if we can use student-teaching experiences to help answer the problems which arise.

One does not feel the need of experience until he tries the job of teaching children. I almost shudder when I look back on the first time that I stood before a class of boys and girls. I was so self-conscious that every muscle in my body was tense. My training teacher said to me at the end of the lesson, "I could see you were not at ease, but don't worry, for you will not think of yourself in a few days." Suppose I had been in a rural school without anyone to console me or encourage me! What would I have done? Nobody knows what the out- come would have been.

Since we are sent to two practice centers during the twelve weeks we see different situations. For sake of illustration, let's suppose that a senior is sent to the first grade for six weeks, then to the upper grades of a two-room school for six weeks. Doesn't he get a wider experience by being in two centers than by staying at one the entire twelve weeks? He most assuredly does. He has an opportunity to see many children, to observe how they behave in their particu- lar situation, and how different teachers handle the boys and girls. We know that no two children behave alike, and we know that no two teachers teach alike. So we have a chance to get many viewpoints.

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Oriole and Tower-Light, 1922-1927, Part 122

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.) Publication date: 1922-1927 Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.) Number of Pages: 1024

Author: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Publication date: 1922-1927
Publisher: Maryland State Normal School (Towson, Md.)
Number of Pages: 1024