It cannot be said that any institution is perfect, and the training class movement has its weak points, but on the whole we have only words of praise and congratulation. TEACHERS' INSTITUTES. The plan pursued during the year 1907 in regard to teachers' institutes has been a continuation of that inaugurated in the preceding year. The counties adjoining those in which State normal schools are located were united with said normal schools for an institute to be continued during the summer session of six weeks. More than three thousand teachers were enrolled in the four normal schools for this special institute work. In many cases they requested and received credit on regular normal school courses for the work done. In other cases they received credit only for institute instruction. These summer sessions together with the special session of the county normal training classes afforded an opportunity for special training and instruction to nearly five thousand teachers. It is probable that no single plan of conducting teachers' institutes would secure the best results for all, but experience up to date shows that the plan of having these summer sessions, followed during the year by short institutes in the several counties, is productive of most excellent results. It is safe to say that we are nearer the solution of the teachers' institute problem in Michigan today than we have ever been before, and that they are being conducted so as to produce the greatest possible good to the greatest possible number of teachers. For the work in the summer sessions and for the short institutes to be held during the year a special list of persons was selected by the State Superintendent, and these persons were supplied with full instructions in regard to the work expected, such instructions being incorporated in bulletins Nos. 1, 17 and 18. The persons so selected were requested to give special attention to the suggestions of the Department and to carry out as far as possible a uniform policy in the matter of instruction and management of teachers' institutes. TEACHERS' EXAMINATIONS. Reports to this office show that the number of persons who take teachers' examinations has been steadily diminishing during the past fifteen years. At the same time the character of the personnel of the teaching force has been steadily improving. As the Department is authorized to fix the list of subjects in which teachers shall be examined, and prepare examination questions, the plan has been adopted of announcing in advance special subjects for the study of the teachers as a preparation for the examinations. This plan seems to be working well, and in order that the work of the past year may become a matter of permanent record, I give herewith an outline of the special work that has been pursued by the teachers. The first statement gives a list of selections that have been studied by the teachers in preparation for the examination in reading, followed by a list of special subjects for the eighth grade examinations. The Department has been very much pleased with the results secured along literary lines as an outgrowth of this plan of making a special study of literary selections. As a result we have increased the knowledge of the teachers of literary subjects, increased their liking for literature and their power to interest children in it, and have greatly improved the quality of the instruction in the subject of reading in the public schools. October, 1903 A Rill from the Town Pump. Hawthorne. 1904 Canto V, Lady of the Lake. Scott. March, June, 1904 Cotter's Saturday Night. Burns. August, 1904 Act III, Julius Caesar. Shakespeare. March, 1905. Silas Marner. Eliot. June, 1905 Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Irving. August, 1905 Elegy. Gray. October, 1905 Oration at Laying the Corner Stone of the Bunker Hill Monument. Webster. June, 1906 Act III, Hamlet. Shakespeare. August, 1906 Intimations of Immortality. Wordsworth. October, 1906 Gray Champion. Hawthorne. June, 1907 Speech on Conciliation of American Colonies. Burke. August, 1907 Princess. Tennyson. October, 1907 Ode to a Skylark. Shelley. MASTERPIECES FOR EIGHTH GRADE EXAMINATIONS. 1901 Concord Hymn. Emerson. February, 1902 Snow-Bound. Whittier. May, BULLETIN NO. 16. STATE OF MICHIGAN, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. To Commissioners, Examiners and Teachers: LANSING, January 2, 1907. The commissioners present at the annual meeting at Battle Creek expressed their approval of the plan pursued last year for conducting teachers' examinations. I therefore submit the plan and special subjects for 1907. Attention is called to the change in rule 9 governing two trials for second and first grade certificates. Applicants must write all the third grade subjects for all certificates at one examination. The special topics given herewith apply to third grade only. Commissioners should see that these circulars are sent to all teachers, prospective teachers and graduating classes. June. DATES. June 20-21. ARITHMETIC. Percentage with its various applications. Mensuration: surfaces, solids, square root, cube root. Mental analysis; commercial forms. August. Fractions, common and decimal; denominate numbers; short methods of multiplying and dividing integers and fractions. Mental analysis. Business arithmetic including commercial forms and business problems. October. Fundamental processes; factoring and its applications; analysis of difficult problems in fractions and percentage; proportion; occupations. Adverbs, comparison, and all forms and uses. Verbs and all their modifications. Sentence study; syntax and analysis. ·Infinitives, participles, gerunds. August. Pronouns and their inflections. Adjectives, comparison, and all forms and uses. Infinitives, participles, gerunds. Construction of words. October. Paragraphing and punctuation. June. Verbs and their modifications. Construction of words. Idiomatic constructions. GEOGRAPHY. Mathematical geography-circles, zones, latitudes, longitude causes of seasons day and night, etc. Physical features-mountains, plains, plateaus, divides. Europe-divisions, physiography, resources, transportation, cities, commerce, education, forms of government, mining. United States-same as Europe. August. World's drainage systems. Asia-same as Europe. Similar study of all continental and oceanic islands. Canada-same as Europe. October. Climate and distribution of life. General study of continents, formation and physiography. Africa-same as Europe. August. The executive and judicial branches of national government. October. State government. Officers duties and powers. School system. June. UNITED STATES HISTORY. A study of the Declaration of Independence and its effects. A study of the Monroe Doctrine and its effects. The establishment of banks, and the subsequent history of banking. Features of present progress. Michigan history. August. The Revolution and the Critical Period. The Civil War and reconstruction. The Spanish-American War, its causes and results. The Mexican War and its results. War of 1812. Michigan history. October. The colonial period. a. Old world conditions. b. Discovery and settlement. c. Governments. d. The wars of this period. Current events, including: a. Biographies of present day statesmen. b. Problems of the nation. c. Investigations and their effects. d. National projects. e. Other events. *Michigan history, including: a. French occupancy. b. Jesuits in Michigan. c. Conspiracy of Pontiac. d. Michigan under four flags: French, English, Spanish, United States. e. Territorial government. f. Toledo war. g. Biographies of Cadillac, Mason, Pingree, Alger, Chandler, Blair, Pierce Marquette, La Salle, Peter White. h. Location of the capital. i. The "Soo" and its importance. j. Michigan as a part of northwest territory. k. Ordinance of 1787. KINDERGARTEN, MUSIC AND DRAWING CERTIFI CATES. The subjects of music, drawing and kindergarten instruction have become recognized parts of the course of study of nearly all our graded and city schools. The first of these to be introduced was the kindergarten, the law authorizing it being passed in 1891. In 1901 the legislature provided the means for recognizing kindergarten, music, and drawing teachers and granting certificates to the same. The statute placed this power in the hands of the State Superintendent, and he is also given power to approve institutions where special courses are given in these subjects. During the year 1907 the State Superintendent has issued 71 kindergarten cerCertificates tificates, 59 music certificates and 49 drawing certificates. These certificates are based upon the completion of the required course of study as provided in the statute and upon the approval of the State Superintendent of the institutions where the instruction was secured, and they qualify the holders to teach these subjects for life in the public schools of the State. For the information of superintendents and teachers I give herewith a list of the institutions whose courses of study have been approved by the State Superintendent and whose graduates are recognized in Michigan. The following is the lists: issued. KINDERGARTEN. Alma College. Benton Harbor College. Buffalo Free Kindergarten Association. California State Normal School (Los Angeles). Chicago Free Kindergarten School. Chicago Froebel Kindergarten. Chicago Kindergarten College. Cleveland Kindergarten Training School. Detroit Kindergarten Normal School. Ferris Institute. Grand Rapids Kindergarten Training School. Indiana Kindergarten and Primary Normal School. Indianapolis Kindergarten Training School. Keble Kindergarten School (Syracuse, N. Y.). Lucy Webb Hayes National Training School (Washington, D. C.). Milwaukee Mission Kindergarten School. Milwaukee State Normal School. Minneapolis Kindergarten Association. Northern Indiana Normal School (Valparaiso, Ind.). Northern State Normal School (Marquette). |