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THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCA

TIONAL METHOD

One of the most significant events of the Atlantic City meeting of the Department of Superintendents was the founding of a "permanent society for the study and promulgation of educational method." The founders of this organization were careful to avoid the assumption that "any particular concepts of method now current may suffice for a complete synthesis"; but they maintained "that on the laws of learning and the principles of democratic group life all educational procedure should be based, both in teaching and in the supervision of teaching."

The organization of this conference is timely. There is great need just now for an adequate exchange of ideas and criticisms with reference to methods of teaching. Educational method is exceedingly complex. At the very center of the problem of method is the human factor, making solutions difficult and perplexing. Perfection of technique in teaching has been accomplished from time to time, but the human factor has never been properly utilized. Method has in the past been controlled largely by educational dogma.

Numerous examples might be cited by way of illustration. After two centuries of effort, pedagogues in the seventeenth century finally succeeded in perfecting a method of instruction and of curriculum organization designed for linguistic mastery and literary erudition. As a matter of history no greater success was ever achieved in the perfection of class-room technique and curriculum organization. Yet because of the practical demands of life in the seventeenth century, this narrow, humanistic system of education did not meet the needs commonly felt.

John Locke is another example in kind. He holds the inconsistent position of having written the first educational treatise dealing directly with the child and yet of having exceeded all other authorities in perpetuating the doctrine of formal discip

line. Locke's theories of psychology are not in accord with his theories of education. In this respect he is typical of many educators of the present generation whose philosophical and psychological views are very different from their tenets in educational practice.

Herbart, the great technician, one of the most influential of educational thinkers of the past, unfortunately put forth his most masterly effort in directing educational practice into the channels of formalism, thus shifting the emphasis in teaching from the child to class-room routine.

The great outstanding fact is that many teachers have mastered so thoroughly the psychological steps included in Herbart's technique of teaching that they follow them almost automatically while at their work, forgetting both the child who receives the instruction, and the subjectmatter in its relation to practical needs. The problem of method today is that of focusing the attention of teachers upon the growing child. In the school the child is the supreme and dominating interest. He is the embodiment of humanNeither ity-past, present, and future. scholarship, nor technique of teaching, nor skill is of consequence as an end in itself, but only the child as a growing, developing personality.

It has been only during the past decade or two that developments in the social sciences and in psychology have made it possible to utilize in an educative. way the energy and interests of children. Many of the attempts that are being made in an experimental way to develop new procedures are exceedingly crude and unsatisfactory. Any organization which attempts therefore to work out the problem of method in a sympathetic and discriminating way will undoubtedly be of great service.

The newly organized conference on educational method is preparing to issue a Journal of Educational Method edited by Dr. James F. Hosic, of the Chicago Teachers' College.

C. C. C.

AND ACTIVITIES

A LIBRARY PROJECT

JENNIE B. SMITH Chandler School

When I went into the B third work this semester, there were not many books available for our use. I mean books that the children were not more or less familiar with. In a casual way I remarked that I wished we might have a great many new books for our reading. The children immediately took this suggestion and the following plans were offered:

1. If we had a library near the school, we could use library books.

2. We might send two or three children to the library each week to get books for our room.

3. Why not have a library in our room? This was accepted with enthusiasm and the books began to come in. The children brought several from home; some were given to us by friends; some taken from our school library. At present we have seventy-five of the best books. The boys brought boards from home, built shelves in one corner of the room, and our library was started. Then we elected a librarian. This election was by ballot, the children carrying it through with success and enthusiasm. A little girl, eight years old, was elected. She appointed a library committee of three. During the first recess after the election, our librarian and committee retired to a corner in the recess yard, and the following rules were drawn up:

1. Do not take books without saying anything about it.

2. Do not come to the desk without cards. Do not steele books.

3.

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4. Use your books carefully.

5. Read quietly.

We named our library. Several names were suggested, and after a week's time we voted on the following:

"Happy Hour,"

"Story Time,"

"Golden Hours,"

"Our Lady of Sorrows,"

"The Gold Library,"

The "Gold Library" was accepted with an overwhelming majority.

Some interesting things have occurred. Our little librarian went to the Public Library to study their methods. Her mother told me that this child stayed there almost three hours. She came to school the next day and reported to us as follows:

"If you keep a book too long you have to pay a fine.

"If you tear or lose a book, you have to pay the cost.

"If you talk in the library, you are asked to go home.

"The librarian always reads the new books first."

From this time, she read every book before she allowed any child to draw it out. I have heard her comment on different books and suggest stories for each child to read.

And now for the work itself. I believe a new interest in reading has developed in my room. The children select their own books for class work. Three or four will have a copy of the same book. They get together in a little group, select a story, help each other with the unfamiliar words, and come to me only as a last resort. Some of these little folks brought dictionaries from home, and have grown quite proficient in using them. Some days we have ten or fifteen little groups working at one time.

At another period we have the oral work. Each individual or group chooses the method by which the story is to be presented to us, that is, whether by each one telling a certain part. or through dramatization, the only requirement being that each child must do a definite amount of actual work each day.

I had some trouble at first in selecting the members for each group. The leaders naturally chose the best for their own groups. This left the slow and timid ones in a group without a

The work of the League is apportioned among five committees. These are:

1. The Sanitary Committee,

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leader. After using a great deal of tact and careful planning, I finally succeeded in having these slow ones chosen into the very group from which the most help might be secured. the result has been marvelous. I have seen comprehension, enunciation, expression, force, interest, and enthusiasm developed by these little groups in a greater degree than I could ever have secured under the old-time method of teaching reading.

Other things have been accomplished. Last September only one child in the room had a Public Library card. Now thirty-one out of thirty-nine have cards. Not a day passes but some new book is brought in from the Public Library. If the child wishes to do so, he uses this book for his reading in class. We have had an abundance of material for our geography work-the children finding, selecting, and presenting their contributions to the class. About threefourths of the room have become quite adept in using the index of a book.

THE ALGER SENIOR CIVICS LEAGUE

EFFIE M. BARTLETT Alger School

The Alger Senior Civics League was organized in 1918 by Miss Alice McAdam, principal of the Alger School, and Miss Sarah Whitley, teacher of civics in that school.

The purpose of the organization has been to prepare boys and girls for loyal and effective service in city, state, and nation, by means of practical lessons in the elements of good citizenship. These lessons have stressed the relation of the pupil to his family, his school, and his community, and have thus made him realize that what affects him, as an individual, affects the whole social fabric.

Practical problems relating to the home, the school, and the community have been presented to the League for solution. These have afforded something tangible upon which to base constructive social work. The discussion of these problems has not only stimulated thought and feeling regarding the welfare of the community, but has also given to the members of the League a worldwide vision of true patriotic service and the glory of it.

Membership in the League is restricted to the A eighth class. The officers a president, a vicepresident, a secretary, and a treasurer are elected by ballot, a majority of votes being necessary to a choice.

The Committee on the Rights of Property. The activities of these committees are manifold. They include:

1. The supervision of the personal cleanliness of the pupils;

2. The inspection of the streets, alleys, and garbage cans of the neighborhood;

3. The removal of waste paper and other rubbish from the school grounds and from adjoining vacant property;

4. The protective care of birds, homeless cats and dogs, and ill-treated horses;

5. The safe-guarding of little children in coming to and going from school;

6. The preservation of school buildings and everything belonging to them from defacement and injury;

7. The maintenance of order in the corridors of the school and on the school playgrounds.

At the regular weekly meeting of the League, the chairmen of the several committees present reports of the work accomplished, and recommend such measures as they deem necessary for the furtherance of that work. Reports are also received from the presidents of the Junior Civics Leagues of the school, who attend the meetings, take part in the discussion, and report the proceedings of their respective Leagues.

The hearty co-operation of parents and city officials in the work of the League has been most gratifying to its members. This co-operation has been secured by personal, interviews, personal letters, and circulars, one of which is herewith submitted:

A. S. C. L.
Slogan "Always Ready"

To Our Neighbors:

The Alger Senior Civics League is composed of members of the graduating class of the Alger School. Its aim is to make this neighborhood and our city a better, cleaner, safer, and more beautiful place.

In order to have these results accomplished, we need your help and you need ours. Your part is to keep your premises free from papers, broken glass, tin cans, and rubbish of every kind; to throw your garbage into the garbage pail-not at it; to be kind to dumb animals; to keep the children off the roadways; in short, to obey the laws of the city.

Our Club consists of five committees:

The Sanitary Committee,

The Humane Committee,
The Safety First Committee.
The Public Health Committee,
The Rights of Property Committee,

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One of the most delightful features of this cooperative work has been a number of addresses delivered at the meetings of the League by public-spirited citizens. The following is a partial list of the names of these speakers and of the subjects upon which they have spoken:

Mr. James F. Wright, of the Pathfinders' Club -"Crime: Its Cause and Cure."

Dr. Mary Stevens, Commissioner of the House of Correction-"Humane Treatment of Prisoners."

Mr. Arthur Curtis, State Officer of the Animal Welfare Association-"Our Dumb Animals."

Lieutenant William Rutledge and Sergeant Frank McCormack, police officers-"Safety First." Captain Gypsy Pat Smith-"Armistice Day on the Firing Line."

No account of the work of the Alger Senior Civics League would be complete without honorable mention of its most powerful auxiliary:

THE ALGER JUVENILE COURT This court, organized and officered by the pupils of the eighth grade, takes cognizance of all misdemeanors arising under the rules of the school, the rules of the Board of Education, and the ordinances of the city, and imposes suitable penalties for the violation of these rules and ordinances.

The Alger Senior Civics League and the Alger Juvenile Court, acting in co-operation, are solving many perplexing problems of the home, the school, and the community, and are helping boys and girls to live in accordance with the principles embodied in the mottoes of the League:

"We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public's sense of civil duty."

"I believe that a man should be proud of the city in which he lives, and so live that the city will be proud that he lives in it."

A NOTABLE ELECTION

a by-product of training that one profoundly hopes may be transferred in some degree, however slight, to their post-election undertakings. They questioned statements that seemed to them unsound, or not properly supported; they investigated the facts over night, and corrected errors in their assembly rooms next day. One of the election chairmen declared that most pupils voted a straight ticket, because they felt that a oneparty power would serve the best interests of the country by working harmoniously. The pupils In were eager to vote, and they voted quickly. Precinct Five only one pupil came to the polls undecided as to his choice.

Pupil officers are justly proud of the business-like precision that marked the day's work. A boy informed us that the 8:20 bell was a signal for voters to besiege the polls. But they were taken care of expeditiously and quietly, and each voted at his appointed hour. The voter was first put into the hands of an inspector, who investigated his registration. Then he proceeded to the next officer, who provided him with the "official" ballot. The ballot was turned over to a third official, whose duty it was to sort and count the votes. The returns were in at noon, and checking proved the pupils' work accurate.

The seriousness that was so evident during the days of registration continued unabated until the last vote was cast. A house-president announced that his house had held four conventions. Upon inquiry, he elucidated, "Oh, conventions like the ones at Chicago and San Francisco!" He added that it had been "so wonderful" to vote. "But," he said, "the only trouble is that most of us will get just this one chance, for we'll be out of high school when it is time to vote again." A boy who had been absent on registration day made frantic efforts to do something so that he need not lose his vote. As several seniors put it: "If these Nordstrum pupils exhibit the same earnestness of spirit when they become of age, West Detroit will have some citizens of whom they may be proud."

THE DETROIT ENGLISH CLUB

VINA G. KNOWLES Nordstrum High School

Careful study of election issues and businesslike methods of voting characterized the political activities at Nordstrum in early November. Record periods were devoted to discussions of party platforms and candidates for office. The pupils developed a high regard for accuracy

I. THE DISCUSSION CONTEST IN INTERMEDIATE GRADES

MABEL LEVENS

Condon Junior High School

Interest in the Discussion Contest in intermediate grades (7), (8), and (9), has already made itself manifest by the organization in several schools of English clubs, to give practice in informal speaking. This socializing of class groups

will prove of great advantage in the development of poise and personality in the young informal speakers.

That the children will find oral composition in other fields than narration difficult and that their early efforts will be crude, we know; but if we believe with Dr. John Dewey that language is not merely a medium for the expression of thought, but fundamentally "a condition and tool for the thinking process itself," we shall have faith that the child's endeavor will result in clearer thinking, accompanied by precise and accurate expression.

To aid classes in their discussion work, a list of subjects was published in the December number of this Journal. With one exception the topics listed under the several subjects have no logical sequence. They are merely suggestions of different phases which may be discussed in one to three-minute talks. Teachers and pupils actually at work in class will undoubtedly be able to formulate more interesting topics than those listed.

The subjects to be used in the final contest before the English Club the first Monday in May are: 1. Recreation and Play-grounds, 2. · Detroit as an Ocean Port, 3. How Detroit Can be Improved. The inter-class contests may now be arranged for determining the class representatives, who in turn will contest in semi-finals for the honor of representing the school before the English Club.

II. SENIOR DISCUSSION CONTEST

JULIA E. GETTEMY Northwestern High School

A discussion contest for senior high schools was inaugurated in Detroit, January 10, 1921. A discussion contest is exactly what the name implies a contest in which various subjects of common and general interest are informally discussed by the contestants, whose work is then judged and ranked by a board of judges.

The idea of such a contest was conceived by the executive committee of the Detroit English Club, during the summer of 1920, and it was made a part of the work of the Club for the following winter, and a feature of Better Speech Week.

The contest was very broad and out-reaching, for it touched in its effects about sixteen thousand members of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades of the city. Early in September a committee was appointed which consisted of one member from each senior high school in the city. This committee met and selected a group of

fifteen subjects for discussion and formulated a set of regulations for the preliminary and final contests. These rules and the names of the committee were noted in the last issue of this magazine.

In most of the high schools entering the contest, the work was commenced early in October, when the list of fifteen subjects was presented to all the English sections. Each pupil was encouraged to offer in class, before his fellows, an informal discussion of some one or more of the topics. Then elimination contests took place until one pupil was selected from each course of English from (3) to (8) inclusive. When this was done these six contestants entered into a local school or semi-final contest, by which one member was elected to go to the final contest at Northern High School on the afternoon of January 10th.

In several of the schools these finals were festive occasions, at which the patrons of the school and members of the Board of Education were present. The final contest at Northern High School, January 10th, before the Detroit English Club, while being the culmination of all the work in discussion, was really of secondary importance. The real value of the plan lay in the interest aroused in, and the practice secured by, the sixteen thousand or so who did not go to the finals. At those schools where the complete plan of elimination was carried out, there was a genuine interest in oral expression engendered that surprised even the most enthusiastic supporters of the idea.

In some of the schools, where circumstances forbade the following of the plans in detail, volunteers were called out for a single contest, to select a contestant for the finals. In still other schools pupils were selected, who contested for the privilege of going to Northern on January tenth.

At the final event at Northern there were seven entrants:

Howard Clayson (Northern)—Lessons of fair play learned in school life prepare for the seriousness of the greater game of life itself.

Gilbert Thorne (Northwestern)—Why should public playgrounds be supervised?

Frank Jones (Centra!)—Fair play between employer and employee is one solution of the labor question.

Willard Pryor (Western)-Fair play is of as much value in work as in sport.

Donald Parker (Cass)-Athletics are a means of education in fair play.

Margaret Stiffler (School of Commerce) -Do the public schools pay sufficient attention to teaching children how to care for their health?

Herbert Path (Nordstrum)—Thrift should be

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