F. Self-control: 1, self-possession of your intellectual forces; 2, impatience must be repressed; 3, anger must be crushed; 4, allow no antagonisms between yourself and pupils and parents. G. Personal influence: 1, bring moral, social, and intellectual worth to your support; 2, maintain cheerfulness; 3, withhold nothing in your power. H. Culture: 1, refinement in manners; 2, pleasant tones of voice; 3, avoid affectation; 4, consideration of the wants and comforts of all. A. System. Is it thorough, judicious, and well understood? C. Evolutions: 1, school as a whole; 2, classes; 3, going out and coming in. D. Requests. E. Management of outer apparel. III. POSITION AND ATTITUDE. A. Of teacher. B. Of pupil. IV. THE MATTER OF THE LESSON. A. Is the teacher familiar therewith? B. Is he deeply interested? C. Are the pupils interested? D. Do they comprehend it? E. Is the matter suitable in kind and amount? V. THE MANNER OF THE LESSON. A. Is the teacher confident, earnest and cheerful? B. Are his thoughts and language clear? C. Is the order of development good? Is the teacher working in the light of true didactic principles? VI. QUESTIONS. A. Are they true in form? B. Is there a tendency to use the leading question? The informing question? The "Is it not" question? C. Does the teacher repeat the answer of the pupil? VII. THE PUPILS. A. Are they putting forth a memoriter process only? C. Does the work seem to drag, or is it lively? VIII. BLACKBOARD WORK. A. Does the whole work present a systematic appearance? B. Is the writing well formed? C. Are the spaces between the pupils equal? The fitting of our teachers for country schools has been improved very much by the training secured in the normal institutes. An additional means of preparing this class of teachers might be secured by granting boards of directors in country districts the privilege to send one or more scholars to a graded school in the vicinity, and to pay out of the district treasury the tuition of such scholar or scholars. At the present time, it is often the case that one or two advanced scholars in a country school require an advanced teacher, who is very apt to spend too much time with such advanced scholars to the detriment of the large majority of smaller scholars. The extra pay given for the more advanced teachers would, in many cases, more than pay the tuition charged in a graded school. GRADED AND HIGH SCHOOLS. The graded schools of our State, as of other States, have made almost constant progress; they are generally in the hands of the best professional teachers in the land, who are seconded by professional men as directors having an interest in the education of the children of the community, and the ability to manage school work. It is with pleasure that we can state that these educators of experience and ability have always been willing to aid the efforts put forward by those who have the more immediate charge of the elementary or country schools Many of the principals and city superintendents are engaged as instructors and conductors of institutes, and they co-operate in nearly all cases with the county superintendents in all the efforts needed to elevate the educational interests of the county. Fortunately for our State, the question of sustaining a high school is left entirely to the people of each locality. Under section 1726, the board of directors may establish graded or union schools wherever they may be necessary, and may select a person who shall have the general supervision of the schools in their district, subject to the rules and regulations of the board. This section applies to country districts also, but is more especially made use of by city districts. The general tendency to diffuse and to enlarge beyond the financial ability and the necessities of the case, has provoked some antagonism to the high school system, which we hope will not destroy the schools, but lead them to their legitimate sphere. A town should not attempt to support a course which terminates with a single scholar, or two or three. Full classes are needed both for securing interest and for financial support. COUNTRY SCHOOLS. We have improved our school-houses, we have better furniture and apparatus, we have better trained teachers, and still the progress made in our country schools is not such as the friends of the system desire. So long as a teacher is employed for only one term, without hope of ever acting as teacher for that school again, he will have but little ambition and encouragement to introduce improved methods, and will prefer to follow the beaten path to get along with the least amount of friction. A greater permanency of our country teachers in the vocation and in the district is absolutely necessary for improvement. Another very serious drawback is the tendency to divide and subdivide the district until many of our schools are so small that they lack interest and have not the financial ability to pay living salaries. The minimum number of persons of school age required to establish a subdistrict or to build a school-house, should be changed for all our older counties from fifteen to twenty-five or thirty. In our new counties this number is, perhaps, large enough. There is a great lack of uniformity in the work of our country schools; to avoid this and thus improve the schools, county superintendents have worked for the last year or more to secure a course of study for ungraded schools. This course I have thought best to incorporate in this report to make it accessible to all superintendents, and others desirous of using the same. To make this course effective, each teacher should have a record for the use of his successor, in which the degree of advancement of each scholar should be stated, so that the work may be continuous although the teacher changes. |