III.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.*

I. THE ENDS TO BE ATTAINed.

1. Immediate (1.) To preserve organization and order. (2.) To teach needed practical lessons.

2. Ultimate.-(1.) To excite lasting love of order, system, symmetry, and beauty. (2.) To create the habit of obedience to all rightful authority. (3.) To make pupils self-governing. (4.) To teach the nature of law; its necessity in society, and the relation between rights and duties.

be:

II. BASIS.

Government rests ultimately upon authority, power or force. This may

1. Moral. That is, power making itself felt without appeal to pains and penalties. It depends for its efficiency upon (1) the character of the teacher, (2) upon the nature of the pupils, and (3) upon the relation between the

two.

2. Physical. That is, power making itself felt, when necessary, by pains and penalties. The need of this will continue in schools and in society so long as human nature remains as it now is.

III. METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION

Are reducible to two:

1. The method of restraining and coercing the desire of activity.

2. The methods of directing and guiding this desire.

IV. THE PRACTICAL PROBLEM

In all governing: To secure the necessary order and unity of action in the whole body, and to allow the greatest possible individual freedom.

V.-PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.

1. Have the fewest possible rules.

2. Have only such rules as will commend themselves to fair-minded pupils.

3 Do not attach specific penalties to general rules.

4. Have no penalties which are unnecessarily irritating and offensive.

5. Govern as far as possible without appearing to govern.

6. Cultivate the honor and manhood of pupils by trusting them even though you are sometimes cheated.

7. Remember that a child cannot entirely "put away childish things."

*NOTE. -The governing of a school cannot be separated from the teaching. The organization, general management, discipline and government, are among the most effective agencies of instruction. They form character.

IV.

THE RECITATION.

1. It is in the recitation that the real power and worth of the teacher is exhibited, for it is here that he may come in closest contact with the mind and heart of the pupil.

2. The general purposes of the recitation may be stated as follows: To cause the pupil to restate, so far as possible, in his own language, the matter contained in the assigned lesson; to give additional clearness to the pupil's knowledge by means of illustration and explanation; to create an interest in the subject by supplying suitable motives to pursue it, and by engaging the pupil in the art of thinking.

3. These are some of the marks of a good recitation: Good order and active attention; a lively interest in the subject under discussion; an intelligent restatement of the matter contained in the lesson; a sharp appetite for knowledge; a disposition to think.

4. Some of the qualities needed by the teacher are the following: A good knowledge of the subject and a living interest in it; a graceful, kindly manner; enough of the nervous temperament to give quick discernment to eye and ear; the ability to ask questions which are clear, definite, pointed and suggestive; skill in stimulating pupils to self-activity.

5. Some of the necessary mechanical elements in the recitation are the following: A simple system of signals for calling and dismissing classes; a comely and uniform posture of pupils; calling pupils up without regard to numerical or alphabetic order; assigning lessons which are neither too long nor tooshort; a time-table well planned and faithfully followed.

V.

TEACHERS' READING CIRCLE.

The purposes of this organization are the following:

1. To supplement the work of the institute by assisting teachers in pursuing a systematic course of self instruction.

2. To recommend to teachers a graduated course of study, showing where to begin and how to proceed.

3. To secure to teachers a selection of good books at the lowest obtainable rates.

4. To secure to teachers a proper credit for this course of study on the books of the county examiners.

The following items embrace the essential features of this organization: 1. Mode of Organizing a County Board.-In counties where the reading circle has not yet been organized teachers who are interested in this work should request the secretary of the county board of examiners to forward to the secretary of the State Council the names of six teachers whom he deems qualified to constitute a county board. From this list of six candidates the State council will select four, who, with the secretary of the county board of examiners, will constitute the county board. Two of these members will hold office for two years and the other two for one year, subject to the provisions of section 4, in general regulations. As soon as possible this board will organize by the election of a president, a secretary and a treasurer. In

case the secretary of the county board of examiners neglects or refuses to apply for an organization, any ten teachers of the county may join in an application to the State Council, and may nominate candidates for the board.

2. Membership. The payment of an annual fee of fifty cents entitles any teacher to all the privileges of the State Reading Circle.

3. Course of Study.-FIRST YEAR:

a. Professional: Page's Theory and Practice of Teaching.

b. History: Barnes's General History to p. 312.

c. Literature: Swinton's Studies in English Literature, with supplementary reading.

SECOND YEAR:

a. Professional: Putnam's Outlines of Theory and Art of Teaching. b. History: Barnes's General History, completed.

c. Literature: Swinton's Studies in English Literature, completed.

THIRD YEAR:

a. Professional: Bain's Education as a Science.

b. Psychology: Sully's Pyschology.

c. History of Education: Compayre's History of Pedagogy.

Laurie's Life of Comenius is adopted as supplementary reading in any part of the course where there may be leisure for it.

These prices do not include postage or express charges.

$2.00

$1.40

175

1.20

2.00

1.50

150

1.00

1 25

90

1.50

1 20

5. State Depository.-All books needed by the State Reading Circle will be supplied from the State Depository in Lansing, in charge of Mr. Wesley Emery. Readers should give their orders for books to the secretary of the county board, who will obtain them in quantities from the State agent. 6. Membership and Fees.-It should be remembered that the payment of the annual fee (50 cents) is necessary to constitute membership in the State reading circle. None but actual members are entitled to the privilege of buying the authorized text books at the reduced rates, and no others will be commended to the county examiners for credits on account of work done in the circles.

Hereafter, memberships will be regulated according to the following rules: a. All memberships will terminate on the 31st of December in each year. b. When teachers become members of the circle after June 30 in any year, the fee will be 25 cents; but those memberships will terminate as in rule a.

c. The fee for renewal of memberships will in all cases be 50 cents.

7. Certificates of Membership.-The county board shall give to each person paying the required fee a certificate of membership (blank 7) which shall entitle the holder to the privilege of buying text books at reduced rates, and of receiving credits for work done.

8. Teachers who are pursuing this work should form groups for review and discussion. Some chapter should be assigned for review, and each member should be asked to present one of the topics contained in it.

VI.

SCHOOL LAW.*

PURPOSE.

To make teachers intelligent in respect to their own legal (1) duties, (2) responsibilities. and (3) rights. (The references are to paragraphs of the school laws of 1885.)

I. DUTIES.

1. To make thorough preparation for their work. This duty is both legal and moral. Examinations are based upon this assumption.

2. To secure legal certificates before commencing to teach. (§§38, 40.)

3. To pay for such certificates an annual institute fee. (§155.)

4. To have written contracts with the proper officers before commencing to teach. ($40.)

5. To keep required records, and to make report to director. (§40.)

6. To teach four weeks of five days in each week for a month, unless the contracts provide otherwise. ($40.)

7. To use in school such text books only, and to teach such studies as the school board shall direct. (§42.)

8. In the management of a school to obey and enforce such rules and regulations as the school board may adopt. ($44.)

9. Not to act as agents for books, apparatus, furniture, etc. ($147.)

II. RESPONSIBILITIES.+

1. The proper care of the school-house, furniture, apparatus, etc.

2. Proper care for the health and comfort of pupils by attention to the warming, ventilation, etc., of the school rooms.

3. Proper order and discipline in the school; proper methods of correction, and proper care in respect to the intercourse of pupils.

4. The best methods of teaching, illustrating and explaining branches of study.

5. Right habits, good manners, correct speech, and proper control of the temper.

*NOTE.-No extended outlines of this topic are deemed necessary. Copies of the school laws are furnished to conductors of institutes, and other topics can be presented whenever circumstances make their presentation necessary.

NOTE.-Teachers are liable to forfeit their certificates and contracts for doing or neglecting to do certain things. Such forfeiture is a legal penalty. They are, therefore, legally responsible, by common law or usage, for anything which may cause such forfeiture. Special provisions of statute law are not necessary in relation to such matters.

III.-RIGHTS.

1. To have a copy of the contract. (§40.)

2. To expect the school-house and appendages to be kept in good condition by the proper officer. (§48.)

3. To have the usual holidays. (Page 67.)

4. To close school to attend institutes without loss of wages. (§158.)

5. To wages while a school is closed by the board on account of contagious diseases. (Page 68.)

6. To inflict necessary and reasonable punishment. (Usage, necessity.)

7. To be free, while in school, from disturbance by any person. (§44.) 8. To expect from the school board prompt and efficient support in dealing with pupils guilty of "persistent disobedience." (§44.)

VII.

PRIMARY READING.

I. PURPOSE.

The purpose of instruction in primary reading is to assist the child in making the easiest transition from spoken to written language.

The problem of primary reading may be stated in these terms: (1) To teach the child a small vocabulary of printed words; and (2) to give him power to name new words for himself.

1. When the child enters school he has a vocabulary of four or five hundred spoken words. By means of these symbols he gains knowledge through the sense of hearing. The purpose of instruction in primary reading is to give the pupil a new set of symbols, the counterparts of the old, so that he may gain knowledge through the sense of sight.

2. Of the four or five hundred words in the child's spoken vocabulary, one hundred (say) are in very common use, and the first part of this problem consists in teaching the child, on simple authority, one hundred printed forms which are the mental equivalents of the spoken words in most common use The second part of the problem consists in drawing from this small printed Vocabulary the elements of power that will enable the pupil to determine the names of new words for himself.

III. TO TEACH THE SMALL VOCABULARY.

To the sense of sight words are things, and their names are to be taught by exciting an interest in the form (word), and then associating with this form its peculiar name.

1. The words selected should be those which are in most common use, such as cat, hat, good, bad, runs, sees, etc.; and whenever possible the pupil's interest should be excited in the thing whose symbol is to be learned.

2. These words, one, two or three at a lesson, should be printed on the board, or pointed out on the chart, and they should be considered learned