,this e,book was created in honour of ,distributed ,proofreaders #bjth ,anniversary4 ,,twenty ,,talks --,,to-- ,,teachers --,,by-- ,,thomas ,e4 ,,sanders ,,author ,,of 8,management and ,methods10 8,opening ,exercises for ,schools10 8,an ,outline ,guide to ,civil ,government10 8,outline of ,arithmetic10 8,the ,sanders ,report ,card0 ,,the ,,teachers ,,co-,,operative ,,company ,,nashville1 ,,tennessee ,,copyrighted1 #aijh ----,,by---- ,,thomas ,e4 ,,sanders ,,preface4 ,twenty ,talks to ,teachers is an epitome of some of the discussions used by the author in teachers' institutes4 ,it is not a profound book4 ,it was not intended to be4 ,its object is to call the attention of young teachers to some of the every day conditions and problems which they must solve for themselves4 ,the average term of service of teachers is little over three years1 hence the great mass of teachers are young in service4 ,a number of these have expressed themselves as being pleased with the discussions in institutes1 especially so because they were plain homely talks rather than learned discussions4 ,perhaps these and others may appreciate them as well in the printed form4 ,no one is expected to agree with all that is said4 ,if the topics are suggestive to young teachers1 if the book helps them over a few of the hard places1 if it sets them thinking on some topics1 if the advice that is given proves sound1 and if it should encourage a few to deeper study1 better preparation and broader reading1 it will have done well4 ,trusting that it may form the basis of profitable discussions in teachers' institutes and meetings it is submitted to the great body of young teachers whose zeal1 enthusiasm and optimism1 has done so much in the past1 is doing yet1 and will continue to do so much for our schools and out of whose work must grow in the future a worthy profession of teaching4 ,,contents ,,page ,,chapter ,i4 ,,am ,i ,,fit ,,to ,,teach8 #g ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,shall ,,teaching ,,be ,,my ,,life ,,work8 #ad ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,securing ,a ,,position #ba ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,passing ,,the ,,examination #ca ,,chapter ,v4 ,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,young ,,teacher #cf ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,grading ,a ,,school #dd ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,opening ,,exercises #ee ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,teacher #fc ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,library #gj ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,teacher ,,outside ,,the ,,schoolroom #hj ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,good ,,teaching ,,conditions #ij ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,keeping ,,good ,,conditions #if ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,what ,,makes ,a ,,good ,,school8 #aje ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,ten ,,time ,,killers #aaf ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,the ,,value ,,of ,a ,,high ,,school ,,course #abe ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,a ,,talk ,,about ,,spelling #acb ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,arithmetic ,,in ,,the ,,school #adb ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,teaching ,,literature #aec ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,vacation #aff ,,chapter ,,xx4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,view ,,of ,,life #agb ,,chapter ,i4 ,,am ,i ,,fit ,,to ,,teach8 ,the talks that follow are addressed to young teachers4 ,they treat everyday problems in a homely way4 ,i have tried to be plain and pointed4 ,i have omitted long terms4 ,i do not speak of correlation1 apperception1 spontaneity1 etc41 and ,i omit long psychological terms4 ,you get enough of these in county institutes and educational journals4 ,you are a school teacher4 ,you have taught but a short time1 and you want to make a success of the work4 ,you may not be even a professional teacher4 ,you hold neither a normal school diploma nor a life license4 ,both of these are good1 and a desire for one or both upon your part would be commendable1 but neither is all that is required to teach a successful school4 ,some of the most impractical of visionary dreamers ,i have ever known possessed the first1 and the most tiresome of moss-backs the second4 ,given a young man or a young woman of good character and fair scholarship1 desiring to teach school1 with little or no professional study or training1 yet anxious to succeed1 what may ,i say to help them8 ,what are the problems which they must face8 ,what advice and what cautions will they need1 and how may ,i say this to be most effective8 ,this is my task4 ,perhaps a little self-catechising on your part will be helpful4 ,in the daily hour of self-communion--and each teacher should have such an hour--when you turn your thoughts inward and analyse your own motives and shortcomings1 ask yourself in all seriousness3 8,am ,i fit to teach80 ,you may not be a 8born teacher40 ,very few persons are4 ,few indeed have the inborn qualities so strong that teaching and teaching alone will satisfy4 ,few are so heavenly inspired that they may teach and succeed at it in defiance of all rules or regulations or accepted laws of pedagogy4 ,there are some qualities that will help you and some qualities that you may cultivate--qualities that are essential to the person who would aspire to be leaders and models for young people4 ,what are some of these8 #a4 ,your character must be above reproach4--,whatever else you may lack1 your character must be above suspicion4 ,character1 unquestioned and unquestionable1 first4 ,other things may be essential1 but this is the one first essential4 ,if you are to be the model after which the boys and the girls--the most priceless product of the state--will both consciously and unconsciously fashion their lives1 you must be in all things a worthy model4 ,pure thoughts1 pure words1 sincerity1 honesty1 earnest and deep convictions must be habitual with you4 ,the purity of your own thought1 the sincerity of your own motives1 flashing through your eyes1 the windows of your soul1 must call out and strengthen the purity and nobility of other minds4 ,your character and your reputation1 too1 must stand the search light of the ,x-ray without showing flaw or blemish4 ,this1 and this alone1 is the character and reputation worthy the teacher1 the builder and architect of immortal minds4 ,character is what you are2 reputation is what others think you are4 ,character is essential to pure manhood and pure womanhood1 but reputation also is essential to the teacher4 ,reputation cannot exist long without character1 but if from any cause however unjust your reputation is lost even though character remain1 your best usefulness in that immediate community is gone4 ,then guard well your life if you are to teach4 ,avoid not only evil but the appearance of it4 ,be not prudish1 but keep your reputation unsullied or seek not to stand as teacher to the young4 #b4 ,a thorough knowledge of the subject taught is essential to success4--,you cannot be a successful teacher of the things you do not know4 ,clear-cut1 definite1 specific knowledge of a subject cannot be obtained in the pupils when the teacher does not have it4 ,you cannot successfully teach up to the limit of your knowledge4 ,there is a margin between your teaching limit and your knowing limit4 ,as you reach your knowing limit in class1 your questions become hazy1 indefinite1 crude4 ,you hesitate1 you stammer1 you repeat yourself1 you thresh over and over again the same thought4 ,you lack proper perspective1 and your teaching becomes dry and tiresome4 ,a thorough and systematic knowledge of the subject you teach will give you teaching power4 ,then1 too1 your teacher's knowledge of the subject must be broader and deeper and better organized than the pupil's4 ,you must see each subject in its proper relation to other subjects4 ,each chapter must be seen in its relation to the chapters which precede and follow it in the development of the subject4 ,the pupil's knowledge of a subject may end with the gathering and the understanding of facts1 but the teacher's knowledge must include this and add to it the knowledge of its deeper relations to other subjects and to mind growth4 ,to teach a subject is to learn that subject anew1 to see it in a new light1 in a deeper and richer significance4 ,you cannot as teacher reach your own highest success with but a student's knowledge and view of the subject you teach4 ,you must have a connected and logical view of the subject as a whole1 and also an intimate and accurate knowledge of the relations of the parts4 ,this deeper and broader knowledge1 properly focused and presented to pupils gives you strength as a teacher4 ,the deeper1 the broader1 the more accurate the knowledge of the subject1 the better the teaching1 provided the teacher has tact to present it properly4 ,you must focus your efforts and bring your teaching into the range of the pupil's mental capacity and in an organized form so that pupils may grasp it4 ,you must stick to the subject1 remembering that the minimum of your knowledge of the subject without review will probably be the pupil's maximum after study4 #c4 ,you must keep your knowledge fresh by study4--,growing minds alone are fit to teach4 ,stale mental stock does not create fresh mental appetites4 ,your attainments are of less importance than your mental habits4 ,to teach well you must keep growing4 ,scholarly habits are more important than ripe scholarship with sluggish habits4 ,young teachers often do the best work4 ,they are thinking1 investigating1 growing4 ,they are full of life and enthusiasm1 and the spirit is contagious with their pupils4 ,the teacher who is accurate in details without being tiresome will train pupils to accuracy1 unconsciously perhaps1 but successfully4 ,the young teacher faces the future with faith1 and hope and enthusiasm4 ,he is looking to the sunrise and not to the sunset4 ,he is winning laurels1 not resting upon laurels already won4 ,he is losing his life in his work and will find it again in the lives of his pupils4 ,should ,i choose an institution for myself or for others1 ,i should choose an institution in which a majority of the faculty were yet young men1 men making reputations rather than men who had made reputations4 ,the hope and faith1 the fire and enthusiasm1 the energy and earnestness1 which they bring to their work accomplishes more than men resting on their accomplishments can possibly accomplish4 ,you must carry on some line of study or investigation1 or systematic reading1 or else you must fossilize fast4 ,this1 when dealing with immature minds year after year1 is your only hope4 ,it may be mathematics1 it may be history1 it may be science1 sociology1 political economy1 music or art1 it matters very little what the subject is1 but it must be something1 and it must be pursued regularly1 systematically and persistently4 ,in no other way can you keep growing and not be lost in the educational ruts4 ,when you cease to grow you begin to decay4 #d4 ,you must love the work of teaching4--,if after a fair trial you do not love to teach and feel deep down in your own consciousness that you cannot learn to love it1 quit by all means and do it at once4 ,no one is fit to teach who finds the work thoroughly distasteful and who does not have a genuine love for children and young people4 ,no sadder sight was ever seen than a long-faced pessimist in the school-room4 ,it is cruelty personified to keep children in the school-room under the chilling1 blighting influence of a sour-grained pessimistic teacher1 long since dead1 else never alive to the beauty of nature and the buoyancy of childhood--firmly convinced of the total depravity of all children4 ,teachers should be full of health1 beauty and good cheer4 ,they must be able to enlist the good-will1 co-operation and sympathy of young people4 ,children should not look to teachers as masters to drive them to tasks and to exact penalties1 but as friendly companions and leaders1 with strength of character1 and force enough to inspire1 to guide1 and to direct to higher and purer and nobler things4 ,teachers must be able to see the beauties and harmonies of nature all about them1 and to lead pupils to feel and to appreciate the higher things of life1 ever looking upward1 lifting upward and pointing upward4 #e4 ,you must be sincere4--,you must love your work and believe in it4 ,you must have a burning desire to help young people1 and faith in your ability to do so4 ,gushing and lip service will not suffice4 ,the sincere teacher is always ready to serve4 ,your actions will speak louder than words4 ,you will as a rule be in no hurry to leave the building after school in the evening1 but ready and willing and anxious to consult1 to help1 to advise1 to be of service4 ,the primary teacher's success may be judged by the group of children that circle about her at recess1 or that wait to go home as she goes4 ,the sincere teacher is found at teachers' meetings and associations1 ready to help and on time4 ,if you are genuinely sincere in your profession you will own a few professional books and add to them yearly4 ,you will take and read educational journals and periodicals1 and find pleasure in the reading4 ,you will be found in the summer schools and colleges gaining help and inspiration for your work4 ,you will have faith in the profession of teaching1 and faith in yourself1 and in your ability and worthiness to be one of the leaders of the youth of our land4 #f4 ,you must possess a worthy ambition4--,you are a poor teacher if you have reached the height of your ambition1 intellectually1 professionally or successfully4 ,if you are content or satisfied with your work1 you will let things drag4 ,you should be ambitious to do the best work of any teacher in your community4 ,you ought to be ambitious enough also to desire better facilities for teaching and broader opportunities4 ,we regret the itineracy and lack of stability in the teaching profession4 ,it is one of the problems of the day4 ,but all this is better than a body of teachers thoroughly content with conditions as they are4 ,the teacher content to adjust himself to the conditions of a certain community and cloister himself there for life at a minimum salary is lacking in the ambition to do the best work for himself or others4 ,the teacher who has ambition enough to improve and who seeks to do his best because it is right and because he desires to advance in his profession will kindle higher ambitions in his pupils and build higher types of men and women4 ,a worthy ambition1 a proper rating of your worth1 pluck and stamina to stand for your rights1 but to do it decorously and properly1 is essential to your best work as a teacher4 ,ask yourself1 seriously and earnestly1 8,am ,i fit to teach80 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,shall ,,teaching ,,be ,,my ,,life ,,work8 ,shall teaching be my life work8 ,this question stares the sincere young teacher squarely in the face4 ,he must answer it sooner or later4 ,his answer means much to himself as well as to others4 ,we speak of the profession of teaching1 but in the truer sense we have none at present4 ,teaching may be 8the noblest of professions and the sorriest of trades10 but as long as our standards of entrance are so low and the number of exits so many1 teaching cannot be in its strictest sense a profession4 ,it is far behind medicine or law1 and to a large number of persons it is only a trade or a temporary occupation4 ,there are professional teachers4 ,there are persons who have spent time and money and mental energy studying the problems of the school and of education4 ,there are persons who seek earnestly to formulate the truths and to reduce teaching to a science4 ,many of these truths are as clearly worked out1 as reliable and as completely accepted as are many of the principles of law and medicine4 ,the work is yet incomplete4 ,shall ,i make it a life work and give to it my life and the best that is in me8 ,this is the question4 ,no man can answer this question for you4 ,it is personal4 ,the best that can be done1 and this is worth while1 is to weigh the good and the bad features and leave you to choose for yourself4 ,so much depends upon the individual4 ,let me say also that it is never too late to mend4 ,i am one who believes that there are thousands of good teachers1 persons who are teaching and doing it well1 persons who are leaving their impress for good upon boys and girls1 and young men and young women1 and who will not make teaching their life-work1 and have never intended to do so4 ,they are teaching now1 and they are1 for the time being1 putting their best self into the work4 ,so long as they live in the work and get life out of it nothing is lost4 ,when they begin to slight it1 turning their energy to law or medicine or business1 when their best self goes to something else while they become 8school keepers0 instead of teachers1 it is time for them to quit4 ,and what about the lady teachers8 ,are they to make it a life work too8 ,that is also a question for the individual4 ,to this large and growing class of zealous1 capable and untiring teachers the present and the future owes a debt which the world can scarcely pay4 ,there is but one more sacred place--the wife and mother's4 ,the woman who quits teaching to become the center of the home--the purest1 the noblest1 the most sacred--she does not leave the profession4 ,she is only promoted4 ,let us look at the ugly side of the profession first4 #a4 ,it is itinerate4--,the best teacher in the best school in the best county in the best state can hardly hope to live and die in the same position4 ,he cannot depend entirely upon teaching and plan and build a home1 plant his trees and feel confident he will rest beneath their shade and eat their fruit in years to come4 ,he may be ever so conscientious1 he may be ever so capable1 and in time he must change4 ,the position will outgrow him or he will outgrow the position4 ,he will spank the wrong boy or refuse to spank him--it matters not--sooner or later he will do what the powers that be at the time think is the wrong thing1 and then he must go4 ,to the real lover of the settled home1 this is a serious drawback4 ,professionally it may not be so serious as it seems4 ,if you expect to teach as a life work you must expect to change every few years either because you choose to change or because you must4 ,from the standpoint of your own professional advancement ,i should advise you to move just awhile before it becomes necessary4 ,there are always places open1 and they are often more easily secured while things are pleasant in your present position4 #b4 ,the money returns from teaching is less than in law1 medicine1 or business4--,the same amount of energy and ability used in teaching would frequently bring many times its money returns in other things4 ,the successful lawyer or physician often makes several times the amount in a year that the superintendent of his schools makes4 ,so far as ,i know the highest salaried educational position in the ,united ,states is only ten thousand a year4 ,it is a very common thing to find a physician whose income is more than that4 ,hundreds of attorneys may be found receiving many times this amount as salary1 and ten thousand a year is not now considered a large salary for the heads of business firms4 #c4 ,the energy used is great4--,probably few other positions require a greater amount of energy constantly4 ,it is the little things which sap the life of the teacher--the constant strain1 the nervous tension1 the magnetism going out continuously1 the half fear it may be that something will go wrong4 #d4 ,it is narrowing mentally4--,except in the highest college or university positions the teacher is dealing with persons less mature1 less intellectual1 and in one sense inferior4 ,this is apt to cause him to grow dictatorial1 pedantic and conceited4 ,it is often an excellent thing for the teacher to come in contact with superiors1 to run against business men in a business manner1 and learn other people's estimate of himself4 ,to have some minor occupation--something besides teaching1 interesting but not all-absorbing1 is often a boon to the teacher4 ,it keeps him from ruts and grooves and from fossilizing professionally4 ,the lawyer1 the business man and the physician are often rubbing against their equals and superiors1 and this is a thought-awakener to them which the teacher often misses4 #e4 ,teaching is for the young4--,teaching is a young man's profession4 ,with a number of notable exceptions1 the great mass of teachers are under fifty4 ,the teacher who has not made more than a local reputation before he is fifty years old will find it hard to advance if he must change4 ,hard as it may be upon the earnest1 conscientious1 hard-working teacher1 most of us if compelled to choose between a man of fifty and a man of thirty would1 if other things were equal1 choose the man of thirty4 ,the successful physician at fifty may have shorter office hours1 charge larger fees and have cases coming to him for consultation because of his age and experience4 ,the lawyer at fifty is in his prime4 ,to him his clients come to consult upon important cases4 ,minor and unimportant cases he turns over 8to the boys40 ,but it is different with the teacher at fifty4 ,every one is then trying to put him on the shelf1 and the chances are they will succeed4 ,these are the things which make against teaching as a life work1 but the picture has a brighter side--a side too often overlooked in this day of dollar chasing4 #a4 ,teaching pays at least a comfortable living from the very first4--,hundreds of persons enter it because of this fact1 and many remain for life because of their love for the work4 ,the doctor and the lawyer must go through a starvation period1 and many of them do not survive it4 ,the lawyer that pays his necessary expenses and lives comfortably from his fees during the first five years is on the high road to success4 ,the same is equally true of the physician4 ,to tide over this starvation period many take up side lines which prove fatal to their real success1 while others find subordinate salaried places in firms and incorporations4 ,the salary in teaching may be low1 but it is specific and certain1 and meets present needs4 #b4 ,teaching keeps you in close touch with the best people4--,nothing is more conducive to pure thoughts and upright conduct--not even the ministry4 ,to be looked at as a model and as a guide by the boys and girls of a community day after day--if that does not inspire to noble thoughts and actions1 what will8 ,a father and mother can see their son or daughter leave home to teach with every assurance that no other occupation will be a higher incentive to pure thinking and perfect living4 ,the best people of the community welcome them to their home1 the churches invite them to take part1 and simple1 trusting childhood in its purity1 looks to them for guidance4 ,if this does not keep them in paths of virtue they must show signs of total depravity4 ,do not overlook the fact when choosing a life work1 that for personal purity1 high ideals and constant inspiration to the highest1 the purest and the best of our natures1 teaching is unsurpassed4 #c4 ,hours are shorter than in many occupations4--,while the nerve strain is great and worry and fear often intrude1 the teacher has more time than many other occupations4 ,exercise and recreation in the open air an hour a day or more is always possible4 ,if one likes to garden1 to raise chickens1 or to tend flowers1 they can find the time1 and the recreation will be beneficial4 ,teachers complain of the long hours and hard work partly from habit and partly because they do not know the long hours and real hardships of other occupations4 ,to the person who is prepared to teach and who has the gift or power to govern and control without worrying about it1 or having to continually fight for it1 teaching is not exhaustive drudgery4 ,it is true1 lessons must be looked over and work planned outside of school1 but even then there is some time for relaxation and recreation4 #d4 ,the rewards are many4--,in a sense1 most teachers teach for the money--that is1 if they were not paid for it very few could afford to give their time to the work4 ,the laborer is worthy of his hire1 and yet may the ,lord pity the person and his pupils if he teaches for money alone4 ,the money will enable him to continue the work1 and it should be ample enough to give a comfortable living with all of the necessaries of life and a few of the luxuries4 ,it should be ample also to provide for improvement and for necessary accessories to carry on the work and to lay by enough for old age or a rainy day4 ,but the money received from teaching sinks into insignificance with the real teacher when compared with the real pleasure one can get from his work1 the good he can do1 the love and trust and confidence of his pupils4 ,these1 with the uplift and noble aspirations which he can inspire with its volumes of sunshine and gladness and progress which his teaching may bring about are infinite4 ,to have pupils group about you1 to see them cross the street sheepishly it may be but for no other purpose than to speak to 8teacher10 to share their troubles1 to increase their joys1 to lead them to see more of the beauty and the harmony all about them and to receive their letters in later life confessing their faults1 begging pardon for offenses you have long since forgotten1 telling you of successes1 sharing little secrets and asking your advice--all these are the rewards of every true teacher beside which the money received is insignificantly mean4 #e4 ,the work is intellectual4--,it keeps you in contact with books and the best minds of all ages4 ,the greatest men of all time come and converse with you4 ,a pity it is if you see nothing but drudgery and dull pupils and hard lessons and unruly boys and petty mischiefs and little annoyances in teaching4 ,if this is all you see1 quit--never teach again4 ,teaching1 if your heart is in the work1 will keep you young4 ,it will bring you into contact with the best in life4 ,it will be a constant inspiration to pure thought and right conduct4 ,it will give you the love and respect of young people whose future joys and sorrows will be your joys and sorrows1 and whose successes will bring you pleasure4 ,last and least1 but nevertheless essential1 it will remunerate you until by thrift and economy you may lay up enough to live a comfortable1 even though it be a simple1 life4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,securing ,a ,,position4 ,the problem of securing a position concerns not only the young teacher1 but often the experienced teacher as well4 ,thousands of young persons begin the work of teaching for the first time each year4 ,the securing of the first school is usually a red-letter day for most persons who are really anxious to teach4 ,most boards of education and school officials hesitate to employ a teacher who has had no experience4 ,it is one of the conditions to be met in all occupations4 ,often principals and older teachers are loudest in their demands that only the experienced be employed1 forgetting that there was a time when they themselves were without experience4 ,for a subordinate place where there is not too much executive work1 ,i should prefer the young person well prepared to the teacher who has so much experience that they feel that they know all that is needed to be known4 ,most young persons1 unless they have a good professional course to begin with1 teach first near their home4 ,the time is coming1 and let us hope coming rapidly1 when one or two years of professional study must precede any attempt at teaching4 ,it will be well for the pupils1 well for the schools and1 in the long run1 well for the teachers themselves4 ,natural ability being equal1 the young teacher who has a year or more of professional study has a decided advantage4 ,this professional study gives clearer ideas of school and higher ideals of what should be accomplished4 ,when school officials and communities insist on professional preparation and pay salaries sufficient to justify them in demanding professional preparation1 they have taken a long step in advance toward a profession of teaching4 ,communities will then be less dependent upon local teachers--the sons and daughters and nieces and nephews of local politicians and relatives of prominent families4 ,between these on the one hand and the indigent never-do-wells who have a half charitable claim on the community and are pensioned with a position in the schools there are many communities in which there is little incentive for young persons to prepare for teaching4 ,when a professional preparation is required from all applicants things will be different4 ,then those who look to teaching as a serious occupation will have the advantage4 ,it is an unfortunate thing for the schools that so few teachers can be progressive1 up-to-date1 and thoroughly alive to their own welfare and continue to teach for a life time in their own locality4 ,there are a few examples of such teachers and such teaching4 ,the person and the opportunity met1 but in many1 many cases1 in fact1 very few cases has the worthy person and the worthy position for such person come together4 ,president ,john ,w4 ,cook1 in an address a few years ago1 in commenting upon this lack of opportunity1 thought it the duty of the community to increase the salary until we could have the best teachers remaining continually at the same school or neighborhood4 ,this sounds plausible at first4 ,it would seem strange1 however1 to see a man of ,president ,cook's caliber content to continue to teach in the same district school where he began4 ,we may well wonder if it would have been the same ,president ,cook of national fame as an educator if he had done so1 or whether he had been dwarfed in the staying into a very ordinary person--perhaps a cook without the capital letter4 ,the worthy1 ambitious1 successful teacher will in more than nine cases out of ten sooner or later desire a position away from home4 ,then the problem of how to secure a position becomes a live one to them4 ,the first thing1 of course1 is to find a vacancy1 a place where a teacher is wanted1 and the second thing is to make the school officials believe you are just the person for the position4 ,a good teachers' agency can be of much service to you in finding the vacancy4 ,they serve the same purpose in locating teachers--and a legitimate purpose it is1 that a real estate agent does in buying or selling real estate4 ,the dealer in real estate brings the buyer and the seller together4 ,he serves both1 and if a man of honesty and principle1 may be of service to both and his business in every way a creditable one4 ,the real estate man usually knows who wants to sell property1 knows something of the value of property1 looks up the title and records1 and then brings the buyer and seller together1 or takes charge of the details entirely4 ,to the person who has ever been served by a good real estate agency no justification of the business is needed4 ,the same is true of a good teachers' agency4 ,a good agency spends hundreds of dollars each year seeking information of where there are to be vacancies and changes4 ,school officials learn to depend upon many of the reliable agencies to aid them in the selection of their teachers4 ,agencies also often have some weight in the matter of recommending teachers4 ,this is especially true late in the season when unexpected vacancies occur4 ,agencies are then often asked to select teachers for the positions and school boards take them upon the recommendation of the agency4 ,the greatest value of the teachers' agency to you in the early part of the season is in giving you reliable information in regard to vacancies4 ,they often know where vacancies are to occur and the particulars of them4 ,you would find it hard to collect this information--the places where there are vacancies1 salary1 qualifications desired1 nature of work1 etc4 ,the information is valuable and is worth to you the cost of the commission in that it widens your field and chances4 ,after you know these things1 you must then push your own claims to secure the place4 ,a good agency looks up your record as a student1 as a teacher1 and as a person of good character1 and if your record is not good it refuses you membership4 ,there are1 however1 many agencies that are only leeches1 depending upon membership fees for existence and caring little or nothing for the real business of locating teachers4 ,in selecting an agency as in other things1 you must use good judgment4 ,there are many agencies that do good1 honest work for its members4 ,they usually charge a membership fee of two dollars and five per cent of the first year's salary1 but they work faithfully for their members1 and will not admit to membership a teacher whose record is not good4 ,beware of the agency that guarantees you a position4 ,it cannot do it and do a legitimate business4 ,after you know there is a vacancy1 the next thing is to make the ,board of ,education believe you are the person for the place4 ,you must depend upon your own personality and ability in presenting your claims1 together with the aid of your friends4 ,applications are usually made in writing1 and often personal applications are called for before final arrangements are made4 ,your letter of application should be brief1 specific1 neatly written and well arranged4 ,school boards are often business men1 busy with other duties besides school affairs4 ,they want the facts in the case--age1 health1 weight1 education1 experience1 success in teaching and governing1 something of your personality1 etc4 ,they will want personal references also that they may write and get information about you direct1 and very often ask very pointed questions4 ,they1 in fact1 want to know the very things which you would probably want to know if you were employing a teacher4 ,these facts should be briefly told1 but well4 ,the better the language1 the more straightforward1 the more forcible1 the better it is arranged1 the stronger the impression1 and the more attention it will receive4 ,into your letter of application you must put your best self4 ,let me emphasize the matter of arrangement of the letter4 ,it goes without saying that the letter must be neatly and plainly written or type-written1 and free from misspelled words4 ,to my personal knowledge many teachers fail to arrange the form of the letter to appeal to the eye1 and this is essential4 ,paragraphing counts for much in a letter of application4 ,the long1 loose1 scrawly1 disjointed letter1 hard to follow when reading it1 with pages mixed until you must turn the sheet once or twice to tell for sure where the sentence is continued--these letters often cost the writer a position1 and it is right that they should4 ,use the standard business letter size of paper of good quality4 ,make your left-hand margin uniform4 ,write a neat1 plain hand4 ,punctuate properly1 and above all paragraph so that the eye catches at a glance each topic treated4 ,if you are a teacher and do not know the value of the margin in placing emphasis and attention upon a topic you should study it before writing letters of application4 ,do not ask a lot of questions in your letter of application--such as size of place1 cost of board1 railroad facilities1 etc4 ,it is true that these are important items to you4 ,but the secretary of a school board is too busy to answer all these points until you are seriously considered for the position4 ,you may be only one of fifty applicants4 ,with the help of a few members of the board he will in a few minutes reduce them to probably half a dozen by eliminating those whose letters do not appeal to them4 ,if your letter of application has been neat enough and strong enough to make a good impression it will be among this half dozen4 ,now comes the actual consideration of the board4 ,they weigh and study this select half dozen4 ,they may then eliminate two or three of these and investigate and consider the remaining ones for several days before coming to a conclusion4 ,keep your application before the board4 ,if your first letter is strong enough to place you among the few to be carefully considered1 these days of investigation are critical times4 ,the skill with which you keep yourself before them will count much4 ,manage to write one or two members of the board every two or three days4 ,be brief and be business like1 but do not seem to be anxious4 ,personal letters from those who know you will be worth much4 ,have them addressed to different members of the board4 ,this will impress your name and application upon each member4 ,each member will have a vote1 and you must reach a majority to win4 ,be careful also in the persons who write in your interests4 ,many good men cannot write letters of recommendation and do it gracefully4 ,they either overstate or scatter4 ,the list of references you give will mean much4 ,if you are elected to the position then comes the time and opportunity to make inquiry as to salary1 work1 expenses1 etc41 before accepting4 ,this can be done without giving offense or arousing the suspicion that you will not accept4 ,you may also accept only conditionally until you know these points4 ,after you have been offered a place1 if you have any doubts about the work1 then ask your questions4 ,be pointed and accurate1 and expect a prompt and businesslike reply4 ,if the conditions are such that you cannot accept do not keep them waiting1 but tell them that you decline the place1 and give them the reasons4 ,with your letter of application should go copies of a few good testimonials from persons who know you and your work4 ,send also a good photograph1 and a self-addressed1 government stamped envelope for reply4 ,get some good brief testimonials from those who know you best--your teachers and one or two business men4 ,if you have taught1 get testimonials from the school board and patrons testifying to the success of your work4 ,keep these original testimonials4 ,have neat type-written copies made and send a few of these with each letter of application4 ,offer to send others1 and in writing the board later it is well to enclose one or two new testimonials with each letter4 ,in addition to the testimonials1 refer them to a few reliable persons who know you and your worth4 ,ask the board to write these persons asking about you4 ,many persons have little faith in a general testimonial written to the public and for your own perusal4 ,these same persons often have much confidence in a personal1 private letter stating the same thing1 or answering definite questions about you4 ,for reference it is best to give the names of persons who have not already given you public testimonials4 ,select for such references persons who know you1 and persons who will answer promptly and specifically any questions asked about you4 ,many good men who could and would give you a good testimonial are so negligent and careless that they fail to answer a letter of inquiry until it is too late4 ,the busy business man who is accustomed to attending to his mail promptly and on time often makes a better reference than a man of more leisure4 ,the first writes promptly1 while the second may carry the letter for a week or ten days before the spirit moves him to reply4 ,this delay is considered by the board making the inquiry as a reluctance on his part to recommend you4 ,a good small photograph should go with each application4 ,good copies of large photographs are inexpensive and answer the purpose well4 ,often these photographs are not returned1 and if the copy is a good one it answers the purpose as well as a more expensive one4 ,the photograph should be plain1 but showing you at your best4 ,a front view is usually best4 ,the eyes and expression should be good4 ,it should show you neatly dressed1 but modestly and becomingly4 ,its purpose should be to emphasize your personality and not to show how pretty you can look4 ,the low-necked1 short-sleeved dramatic-posed photographs sent out by some teachers will and should defeat the applicant for a position as teacher4 ,such photographs might be all right in gay ,newport or some other fashionable resort4 ,but fortunately1 a majority of our school boards are composed of business men of common sense1 modesty1 and good judgment4 ,they are not seeking vaudeville performers1 nor stage poses1 but persons of modesty and good common sense to teach school4 ,your photograph should show these qualities in you1 else in most cases it will serve to defeat rather than to help you to a school position4 ,enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply4 ,it will pay4 ,this will bring you more replies than a loose stamp enclosed4 ,it is even better if you use the government stamped envelope which may be had at any postoffice4 ,applying for a school is a business matter1 not social1 and business forms should be used4 ,use plain white paper1 business size1 with envelopes to match1 and write on one side of paper only1 numbering pages4 ,if the position is a good one and the contest close1 the board may request a personal visit4 ,if possible1 it is best for you to go4 ,five minutes conversation may clinch a position which otherwise you would lose4 ,make it a business call1 not a social4 ,dress for business1 not for society4 ,be well groomed1 but seemingly indifferent to dress4 ,be at your best4 ,if the trip is a long one stop at a hotel and rest and dust before calling on the board4 ,excuses for personal appearance may be reasonable1 but to 8land the job0 your chances are better if no excuses are necessary4 ,it is a difficult trial to appear before a board of strange men1 an applicant for a position from them1 and yet be quiet and composed4 ,it is a test of your personality1 and if you acquit yourself well it shows strength and usually secures you the position4 ,to be composed you may have to use will power and mental effort4 ,it is possible to do this successfully4 ,in fact much of experience consists in nothing more than the ability to keep composed under trying conditions4 ,neither your life1 health1 happiness nor future success depends entirely upon the result of the interview4 ,it may be hard to believe this at the time1 but if you can make yourself realize it you have struck the keynote to success4 ,the members of the board are only men1 plain1 blunt men1 not always the strongest men4 ,they are human like yourself4 ,be frank1 be independent1 be courteous1 look them square in the eye1 talk to the point1 but do not talk too much4 ,the interview is often a contest of personalities1 your own personality1 and that of the board4 ,you must show composure and courage4 ,this will secure for you the position often over the strongest of applicants4 ,there is skill and art in one's ability to secure a position4 ,one element of advancement and success will depend upon how you master these4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,passing ,,the ,,examination4 ,the formal examination of teachers is a necessary evil4 ,it is one of the ways of eliminating the incompetent4 ,examinations are necessary4 ,on the other hand1 they sometimes license those who are utterly incompetent and cut out those who would teach good schools4 ,taking the examination1 all in all1 it is helpful4 ,by eliminating the bad features and encouraging the good they may be made better still4 ,passing the examination is an ordeal that confronts most young teachers and often older ones4 ,we all feel better after it is over4 ,many of our leaders in education1 university professors1 normal school teachers1 specialists and heads of departments along with many superintendents would hesitate to stake their reputation as a teacher or educator upon the answers to ten questions from each of ten subjects1 these subjects to be prepared and the answers graded by 8the other fellow40 ,yet this is the ordeal to be passed by most young teachers4 ,is it any wonder they dread it8 ,every thinking man will concede that the usual examination does not test the applicant's ability to teach4 ,the answers to a series of questions will not do this thoroughly4 ,a better and more sensible test would be to have the applicant prepare a list of questions to test a class that has just completed a given division of a subject4 ,if the teaching ability of some superintendents and examining boards were to be tested by the lists of questions sometimes asked of teachers they would be refused a third-grade license4 ,the lists show quite evidently that they were hurriedly made with little thought of testing the applicant's teaching ability4 ,it is also true that the examination is not even a good test of the applicant's knowledge of the subject4 ,the real intelligence shown in the answers1 the arrangement and scholarship and neatness and accuracy are the essential things4 ,nothing can be more ridiculous than a little two-by-four examiner or superintendent making a list of questions1 many of them narrow and indefinite1 and then that these same questions must be answered in certain specific words to make grades on them4 ,one examiner recently asked3 8,what did ,washington do before he crossed the ,delaware80 ,well1 he did many things4 ,but if the applicant did not state that 8he divided his army into three divisions1 etc410 he missed the question intended by the examiner1 and lost ten per cent on that question4 ,examinations based upon such questions are as much a farce as the method of holding a two weeks' institute and follow it by an examination based upon the subjects discussed during the time4 ,the whole time and energy of the teachers is spent in cramming for the examination4 ,if an examination is to be a fair and reasonable one1 the best preparation for it is an intensive study of the subject upon which you are to be examined4 ,do not study the subject with the thought of examination uppermost in your mind4 ,study it with a view to mastering and understanding it4 ,let the thought of what questions may be asked on examination go4 ,if you master the subject1 all legitimate questions asked on examination will be easily answered4 ,the hard examination to you is an examination in which you do not know how to answer the questions4 ,if you have mastered the subject you will very probably know the answers to most of the reasonable questions asked4 ,cramming for examination is usually time wasted4 ,to study and cram on question books and old lists of examination questions is time thrown away4 ,get your text-book and try to master the principles and divisions of the subjects1 and your time is well spent4 ,if possible1 be in good physical condition on the day of examination4 ,this counts for much4 ,some teachers overwork themselves preparing for examination4 ,they become nervous and do not sleep well4 ,this leaves them without reserve force and in poor physical condition when the time comes4 ,other teachers work late the night before examination and sleep little1 often getting up early to study just before going to examination4 ,i have seen them bring a book in one hand glancing at it to refresh their mind in the hall as they were passing to the examination room4 ,this anxiety saps their nerve force and leaves them in no mental state for a strenuous day's work4 ,if early in the examination they find something difficult to them they go to pieces and do not recover during the day4 ,leave off both study and review4 ,do this for at least twenty-four hours before time for examination4 ,keep your mind from dwelling upon the examination4 ,take plenty of exercise and if you find time hanging heavy1 read some good story4 ,retire at your usual time the night before examination and sleep your usual number of hours4 ,get to the place of examination in time to have a half hour or more to get familiar with the strange surroundings and to talk with teachers before the examination is called4 ,nothing relieves one's anxiety more4 ,practice writing a few minutes before the actual work begins4 ,this makes your hand steady1 and you are pleased with your first work4 ,it always pays you to be on time or ahead of time on examination day4 ,go to the examination room prepared for work4 ,have either a good fountain pen or a good easy penholder with some extra pens and a bottle of ink4 ,it may be your superintendent demands some special kind of paper or manuscript book4 ,get this before going to the examination unless the superintendent supplies them4 ,have also a blank book and pencil and a sharp knife or a pencil sharpener4 ,in other words1 go to the examination prepared for work just as you would expect your pupils to come to school on examination day4 ,work carefully and persistently1 and as rapidly as possible4 ,nothing is more detrimental to good work than to feel that you are behind with your subject4 ,do not rush1 but try to complete each subject in time to review your paper before time is called4 ,neatness1 accurate spelling1 and careful1 systematic arrangement of your work will make a good impression always1 and get the good will of the examiner4 ,slovenness and careless arrangement will unconsciously prejudice the examiner against you4 ,your thought and answers must be unusually strong if they overcome the prejudice unconsciously caused by poor writing or poor arrangement4 ,let me emphasize again the importance of systematic arrangement of work4 ,poor penmanship1 if it is uniform and legible1 may be overlooked if the work is properly arranged4 ,paragraphing1 punctuation and general arrangement count more than all else in making a neat manuscript4 ,i used to read the manuscript of an author frequently4 ,his writing1 considered by itself1 was poor--extremely poor4 ,it required practice to learn to read it1 but it was uniform4 ,it all looked alike4 ,his punctuation and paragraphing was almost perfect4 ,the general impression was good1 and when you once mastered his particular letter formation and learned to distinguish his a's1 his o's and a few others1 his manuscript was easily read4 ,the mechanical side of your examination manuscript1 will1 if properly cared for1 balance many little flaws in the answers themselves4 ,read the questions carefully4 ,hasty reading of questions will account for many mistakes4 ,after having read the question take time to think the answer4 ,then condense the answer as much as possible1 and have it complete and clear4 ,number your answers to correspond with the questions1 leaving one or two lines blank between the answers4 ,if you have doubts about the meaning of a question1 express it in writing1 and answer it according to the interpretation you think most plausible4 ,do not be long-winded or wordy in your answers4 ,be brief1 be accurate1 be neat4 ,try to complete each subject in time to go over it carefully4 ,correct any mistakes you may find before handing in your paper4 ,it will be time well spent4 ,many little mistakes1 simply little slips of the hand1 will occur when your mind is centered upon the thought to be expressed4 ,if any work or calculations are transferred from your scratch book to your manuscript be sure it is copied correctly4 ,frequently mistakes are made in copying1 but the examiner cannot know this1 and must grade you in what you place on your manuscript4 ,he grades upon the accuracy of the work as he finds it4 ,approached properly1 the examination should lose many of its terrors for young teachers4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,problems ,,of ,,the ,,young ,,teacher4 ,experience in the school-room counts for much4 ,teaching soon fastens certain personal peculiarities upon the teacher which makes him readily distinguished from other persons4 ,fifty teachers visiting ,chicago had agreed to be so discreet in their conduct that no one would judge them to be teachers4 ,much to their surprise they had not walked two blocks from the depot until a dirty-faced bootblack called out in a drawling tone3 8,first class in geography1 stan' up40 ,some of these eccentricities may be detrimental4 ,others are worth much professionally1 as they give other people confidence in your ability to teach4 ,they are recognized as ear-marks of the teacher4 ,pupils and patrons are often more critical of young teachers than of teachers who have had experience1 and have established reputations as being able to teach and to govern4 ,they are looking for signs of weakness4 ,fortunate is the young teacher who can stand this test4 ,his first and second schools will pretty well establish his standing in the community4 ,after that they will be less critical and more apt to take things for granted4 ,one of the hardest problems of the young teacher is to acquire the feeling of familiarity or composure in the school-room4 ,new clothes sometimes do not set well and new positions are the same4 ,he hesitates1 his voice does not sound familiar1 he feels and looks awkward1 he lacks confidence in himself1 and instead of children being considerate of these things they notice them and are quick to take advantage of them4 ,the rougher element of boys and the more careless of the girls may take pleasure in the teacher's discomfort4 ,such things try the mettle of the teacher4 ,if he is made of the right material and has good judgment1 he will come out all right4 ,if he is naturally a coward or if he is full of egotism and conceit the pupils may soon lead him a merry chase4 ,the more clearly he has the work planned1 the more definite his ideas of what and how and why to do1 the easier to gain composure in the school-room4 ,then1 too1 many excellent teachers are sensitive4 ,they may soon grow easy and composed in the school-room with only their pupils before them4 ,a caller or a visit from the principal or a school official completely unnerves them4 ,they are ill at ease1 they blush and blunder1 and are always at a disadvantage4 ,familiarity and composure are the fruits of experience and study and practice in the school-room4 ,composure1 a level head1 a knowledge of what you want done1 and why you want it done and faith in your own ability to have it done gives composure to the whole school4 ,restlessness1 lack of faith in self1 fear of failure1 these bring about the very conditions you are striving to avoid1 and the school becomes restless1 noisy1 hard to control4 ,the school takes its coloring from your own attitude1 and when things go wrong1 begin to seek the cause in your own actions1 disposition and manners4 ,learn to study yourself without upbraiding1 and yet with determination to find the cause of your failure4 ,confidence in yourself and courage backed by good judgment will make government easy4 ,remember the government of a school is more a matter of mind than of physical strength4 ,the clearness of your mental vision1 your insight into motives1 your ideals of school and of life and your knowledge of boy and girl nature count infinitely more than your avoirdupois4 ,in very rare cases from home training or peculiar environment wrong motives of true manhood may inspire a bully until force--mere physical force--is the proper remedy1 and a downright good threshing is the thing needed4 ,but such occasions are rare indeed1 and the young teacher should feel that there is something radically wrong in his own personality and methods of government if he must resort to such measures often4 ,a young teacher must guard his health4 ,you can't teach day and night4 ,the petty worries of the school-room must not be carried to your home or boarding place4 ,shake them from yourself when you quit the building and grounds4 ,lock them in the school-room when you leave it1 and if you sleep soundly they will have vanished into thin air before the door is opened the next day4 ,your health will react upon your work in the school-room4 ,not the work1 but the worry kills4 ,during my first three terms ,i taught school all day and dreamed school all night4 ,the dreaming was harder than the teaching4 ,my best pupils1 the ones who would not for the world do anything to cause me trouble1 were always in mischief in my dreams4 ,from the first1 force yourself to think of the pleasant things of the day as much as possible1 and forget the unpleasant or shut them from your thoughts4 ,too often you find after sleepless nights of worry about some frivolous little breach of conduct by some thoughtless boy the whole thing glides by without a ripple1 and the problem solves itself4 ,if you are blessed with a good digestion1 the world ought to look bright to you4 ,no terrors in teaching are equal to those caused by undigested beefsteak1 and a dose of pepsin is often a far greater aid in teaching than a six-foot switch4 ,eat plenty of nutritious food1 such as agrees with you1 drink plenty of pure water1 take plenty of exercise in the open air1 laugh when you can1 meet and mingle with people1 think good thoughts1 teach yourself to believe in your own ability and success without growing egotistic1 sleep not less than eight hours in each twenty-four1 and make it nine if you can sleep soundly2 keep clean1 and the world and your school will move well with you4 ,the mind is self-creative4 ,it can make a 8heaven of hell or a hell of heaven0 ,milton tell us1 and it is true4 ,but there is a close relation between its activity and mental coloring1 and the physical condition of the body4 ,teachers especially should learn to keep the body and the mind each at its best4 ,each reacts upon the other1 and your school as well as your own happiness depends upon keeping both in the best condition4 ,avoid late study1 irregular habits1 and all kinds of dissipation4 ,planning and preparation of work is necessary1 but it is not the number of hours you work1 it is the intensity of the application that counts most4 ,systematize your work and work regularly and intensely1 but do not encroach upon your hours of sleep unless you want to pay the penalty with interest4 ,let me say here parenthetically that if all teachers had a fair knowledge of shorthand1 enough to enable them to record their own thoughts and to read their own notes readily what a saving of time it would mean in the preparation of their daily work4 ,would not it be worth while for every teacher to know this much stenography8 ,then1 too1 regular habits count for so much--regular eating1 regular sleeping1 regular exercise4 ,teachers who board cannot always get just what they want1 but as a rule their accommodations are fairly good--often as good as they would get at home4 ,one can adjust themselves to the conditions if these be regular4 ,in most homes the meals are served nearly on time1 seldom varying more than half an hour1 but sleeping is often irregular4 ,regular sleep is perhaps the most important item of all--a good bed1 ventilation1 comfort1 quiet1 with little variation in retiring or rising--these are important to the teacher who must meet with plenty of reserve and nerve force the problems of the school-room next day4 ,there are various forms of dissipation4 ,in addition1 however1 to intoxicants as a beverage1 the habitual use of many patent medicines may be almost as injurious4 ,then1 too1 there are lighter beverages very injurious4 ,the coca-cola habit is little better than the beer-drinking habit1 and the same is true of many other drinks so 8refreshing to tired nerves40 ,one of the worst forms of dissipation is day-dreaming1 or simply idling away the time4 ,if you have time to idle or to day-dream1 do it in the open air and in the sunshine where the exercise will do you good or go forth on a still1 clear night and watch the movements of the heavenly bodies1 the star-decked sky1 and drink in its inspiration and beauty4 ,much of the light reading--newspaper1 magazine1 and the rag-time fiction so current--is the worst form of mental dissipation4 ,the love-sick young man and the giddy girl are too often teachers1 and the time and energy in thinking and writing to one another is more than is used in their teaching4 ,i do not speak lightly of love or criticise teachers for falling in love or in loving one another or in loving some one who is not a teacher4 ,love in its highest form and love of the individual as well as the love of humanity as a whole is essential to the development of the person4 ,nothing creates higher ambition or nobler impulses than love4 ,to love a pure-minded woman--a teacher she may be--is one of the greatest things that can happen to a young man4 ,it is equally valuable to a young woman4 ,the young man or young woman in love1 with the hope that this love is or may be mutual1 and when this loved one is idolized as made up of all that is pure and worthy and noble1 is always safe4 ,it gives new life and energy and ambition4 ,it can be seen in the flashing eye1 the elastic step and the bodily poise4 ,no tonic is so life-giving1 no beverage so invigorating1 no view of life so rich in its coloring4 ,health1 hope1 courage1 ambition1 all good things follow in its wake4 ,such love as this is not dissipation4 ,but the love-sick young man who pines for his lady love--the last one who smiled on him1 it matters little who2 the giddy girl who has two strings to each of her half a dozen beaux and is too busy pulling these strings to think of anything else--these are unfit to teach4 ,then1 too1 the young teacher must sacrifice something to public opinion4 ,public opinion may be ever so narrow1 so unreasonable1 so unjust1 but if you are to establish your reputation in that community as a reliable1 trustworthy teacher1 you cannot afford to be indifferent to it4 ,i am speaking especially of the town1 the village1 and the country where all eyes are on the teacher1 and where every man1 woman and child knows him4 ,in the towns1 villages and the country the teacher is relatively of greater importance than in the city4 ,young men teaching in these communities cannot afford to do much keeping company or going to see the girls1 and young women teachers cannot afford to have many beaux or even one regular one whose attentions are quite noticeable to the public4 ,the highest motives may prevail1 the enjoyment and pleasure may be great1 and even then the teacher1 like the minister1 must forego many things which would be unnoticed in others1 or else pay the price which is often dear enough4 ,sniggering school boys and giggling school girls for weeks will nudge one another and make remarks at your expense1 and not always complimentary4 ,rail against it if you will1 but it makes matters worse4 ,laugh about it and it often compromises your dignity4 ,punish for it1 and you stir up a hornets' nest in the neighborhood4 ,you can soon kill your influence in that neighborhood for good by a little harmless indiscretion4 ,beware6 ,just how to get the good will and respect of patrons and pupils no one can tell you4 ,it is a problem to be solved by your own good sense and personality4 ,it is easier to tell you what not to do than to tell you what to do4 ,the best advice is to be yourself1 but to be your best self4 ,do not try to show off4 ,do not try to advise on every topic that comes up4 ,do not push yourself forward in outside matters4 ,listen to those older than yourself4 ,weigh what they say1 but in school matters be your own boss4 ,talk little about your plans or your past success4 ,keep your school room troubles strictly to yourself4 ,do not criticise former teachers1 and if teaching with other teachers beware of criticising another teacher in the same school1 however much you may dislike their methods4 ,the teacher may be ever so unpopular1 and the person may invite criticism ever so much1 but it is your place to avoid it4 ,then1 too1 do not criticise or praise one pupil before another pupil or patron outside of school4 ,it is dangerous1 and a little tact will enable you to avoid it4 ,your criticism will do no good1 and your praise may cause the bitterest of jealousy4 8,miss ,jones1 don't you think ,grace is smart80 said a little girl4 8,yes1 we have many smart pupils in school10 replied ,miss ,jones1 and the girl's question was answered and no jealousy created4 ,your success and power for good in the neighborhood will be determined very largely by the esteem and confidence the pupils and the patrons place in you4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,grading ,,the ,,school4 ,the planning and making of a course of study falls to the lot of few teachers at present4 ,nearly every state has either a well-planned state course or else the county is the unit1 and the county superintendent or the county board of education plan the course4 ,while there is growth along this line in many places1 the organization of the schools is less perfect1 and the course of study is planned by the teacher in charge of the school4 ,a uniform course of study is a great strength to the school system4 ,by uniformity1 ,i do not mean dead uniformity1 but intelligent1 rational uniformity4 ,not the uniformity that takes all the life and individuality out of the teacher1 but the uniformity that sets definite1 rational ends1 and makes a proper criterion of work and attainment possible in the different schools4 ,what is needed is a course of study flexible enough to be adjusted to the varying classes and schools and uniform enough that the pupil leaving one school may be easily and properly classified when he enters another school4 ,many of our city systems have more red tape and system than any thing else1 but our country schools in most states will be improved by more system and organization4 ,many able persons and many teachers of experience will cry out against better grading of the country schools and declare it cannot be done4 ,this was the cry twenty-five years ago when my own state began in a crude way to grade the country schools4 ,it will continue in every onward step taken4 ,experienced teachers who have become used to the old way are often the first to cry out against the change1 and assert vehemently that it will never work in the country school4 ,long after it has become an accomplished fact there will be some who will refuse to see it4 ,like the stubborn father whose son had told him he could show him snow in ,june4 ,following the boy up a narrow little ravine1 the boy pointed down in the cavity of an old hollow stump and said1 8,look there father1 there is the snow40 ,the father took care to close his eyes before looking1 and replied3 8,son1 ,i don't see a bit of snow40 ,the very argument used to prove that the country school cannot be graded and follow a uniform course of study is the best argument for gradation and a uniform course of study4 ,i believe that every one who has ever studied the subject will agree that a rational uniform course of study will do the following things3 #a4 ,secure better attendance4 #b4 ,secure more regular attendance4 #c4 ,keep pupils in school longer4 ,hundreds of pupils are kept in school and do good work because of their desire and their parents' desire that they graduate4 ,the desire for a diploma may not be the highest motive for an education1 but so far all of our best institutions have found it necessary to hold to the custom4 #d4 ,secure better work on the part of both teachers and pupils4 ,the tread mill grind of going over and over the same work year after year disgusts many pupils with school life4 ,unless there is specific things set for the grade1 or in other words1 if there is not a course of study1 very few schools but will repeat the same work with the same class4 ,when a boy in the ungraded school we went over the identical work five years in succession1 the only variation was the natural variation from having three different teachers in the five years4 ,there is but one argument against the grading of the country schools4 ,that argument is that the pupils do not attend regularly4 ,grading is one of the best promoters of regular attendance4 ,if there is anything that stirs parents and makes them alive to school matters and observant of what is going on in school1 it is for their boy or girl to fail to be promoted4 ,irregular attendance is very apt to be remedied when they find that it will endanger the promotion4 ,this overcomes many a flimsy excuse which would otherwise keep the child out of school near the close of the year4 ,it makes the work of school a reality1 a business1 something to be rated along with any other kind of business instead of an entertainment or place of amusement to be attended when there is nothing else to do4 ,in my own experience ,i have never been troubled much with attendance running down near the end of the year1 although ,i have taught in different schools1 different localities1 and often as late as the middle of ,june4 ,pupils and parents knew that those who missed the last month or the last few weeks of the term must stand an examination at the opening of the next term before being promoted4 ,it may have been a false motive1 but ,i believe it was as good and as legitimate a motive as many parents have for keeping children out of school the last month or six weeks of the term as is often done4 ,pupils want to come and parents usually arrange to let them come rather than to risk an examination after the summer's vacation of three months4 ,while in common with all good teachers1 ,i have put forth an extra effort near the close of the school year to keep up school interest and a good school spirit1 ,i think the graded school course has helped me much4 ,as a boy1 ,i attended the ungraded school where any pupil took practically anything that suited him or his parents4 ,i began teaching in an ungraded school1 and am glad that at the end of two years ,i left it as well graded as many city schools4 ,the schools of that county are now well graded1 much to the advantage of education in the country4 ,two of my best teachers were bitterly opposed to the grading of the country schools4 ,they fought it in institutes1 associations and at every possible opportunity in conversation4 ,one of them taught long enough to be converted and see the error of his way1 the other never did surrender1 quit teaching fifteen years ago1 and thinks the world is badly out of joint4 ,the grading of country schools is coming1 in fact1 is here in some form except in the most primitive communities4 ,it is the common sense plan1 it is practical1 it is efficient4 ,it does not have the hide-bound red tape of the city system1 but it gives all the interest of class stimulus and definite rational accomplishment as a standard4 ,if you want to find individualism gone to seed1 if you want to find hobbies ridden hard1 and to the everlasting detriment of children1 go to the ungraded public or average private school4 ,the teacher leads off on his hobby1 and he magnifies the hobby as he goes4 ,if it is an ungraded public school1 they go to seed on arithmetic1 or history or map-drawing1 or the particular line that offers least resistance or that fits the teacher's particular whims best4 ,if it is the average ungraded primary private school1 filled with mammas' little angel darlings1 too pretty and too petted to go to the public school1 it is even worse4 ,the teacher masticates everything1 and puts it into the most charming fashion and makes believe they are really doing something4 ,she is also discovering latent geniuses every few days4 ,if the child likes to use water colors1 she is an embryo artist1 and her mother must develop this unusual talent4 ,if the child can sing 8,merry ,greeting to ,you0 she is a musician and the mother must from that day plan to keep her very exclusive and later send her to ,paris to finish4 ,a uniform course of study planned properly1 representing the accumulated experience and judgment of our best educators1 may have some flaws1 but on the other hand it saves many of the gravest mistakes with the great mass of teachers and persons unaccustomed to thinking on educational subjects4 ,the planning of a rational course of study is no small task4 ,it will vary with state and probably with the locality within the state4 ,it will vary much with the nation4 ,the danger is that each small locality may feel that their particular needs are different and must have special attention4 ,in making the course of study the knowledge of the specialist is needed1 toned down and corrected by the liberally educated man with broader views4 ,conditions must be weighed and due consideration for the worth of studies taken into account4 ,the scientist wants to magnify science1 the historian history1 the mathematician mathematics1 etc4 ,it is in this particular that the specialist in the high school or the grades must be held in check by a liberal-minded superintendent or principal4 ,unless this is done1 each will overload the student with his specialty4 ,i have had teachers who if left to themselves would have monopolized the time of the high school pupil with ,latin4 ,the student that did not know ,latin was in the estimation of that teacher a block-head1 and should quit school and go to work4 ,examine a course of study and you will find revealed much of the judgment and mental caliber of the teachers of the school4 ,it is not uncommon to find high schools proper with university curricula4 ,high-sounding names1 often1 are an attempt to hide the fact that it is an ordinary high school and many times very ordinary indeed4 ,before me is a recent catalogue of a collegiate institute--it would be more appropriate to call it a village high school1 that completes in two years ,latin1 including ,preparatory ,latin1 ,csar1 ,cicero1 ,sallust1 ,ovid and ,virgil1 and then devotes the last year to ,greek4 ,there must be either intellectual giants in those parts or else some gigantic fools4 ,to the thinking man the course of study would be a signal to give the school a wide berth4 ,we must not forget that the course of study is made for the child and not the child for the course of study4 ,it must not be too hide-bound4 ,there may be once in a while an exception to it4 ,there may be extraordinary children that will not fit into the ordinary course4 ,these should be treated as exceptions1 and considered by themselves4 ,study the cause and figure the results of such changes and then be true to the child rather than to the course of study4 ,the ungraded school goes to one extreme4 ,each child is changed and classified for any sort of whim4 ,if he does not get all of to-day's lesson he goes it alone1 thereby losing the incentive that comes from class competition4 ,on the other hand1 the course of study may become a fetich until the pupil that cannot make the uniform course is ignored4 ,the saner1 safer middle ground is best4 ,below is given a mere skeleton outline of a course of study4 ,roughly it follows what is sometimes called the nationalized course4 ,it would seem that careful adjustment would adapt it to almost any kind of school4 ,the teacher or local board could follow its guidance as to subjects and quickly allot the work in the different grades4 ,the texts used1 the local conditions and the particular classes would thus be cared for4 ,one class perhaps could do more in arithmetic than the same grade next year4 ,certain standards could be set4 ,if the class could not reach this standard they could come as near reaching it as possible1 and the remainder of the work could go over to the next year4 ,the best classes would set standards of attainment that succeeding classes might be envious of equaling or surpassing4 ,i have known teachers and classes to snooze over simple interest for month after month while if the teacher and the class had known that if they did not get a good working knowledge of simple interest in one month that the class would be considered slow or else the teaching poor1 the work would have been done and well done in one month4 ,teachers and classes accomplish most when much is expected of them4 ,that is one of the good things about a uniform course of study4 ,one school learns to compare itself with another school1 and both are benefited by it4 ,set certain definite accomplishments for the class and the grade1 do well what work you undertake1 but keep moving4 ,the outline may help you4 ,i4 ,primary ,grades4 #a4 ,first year4 #a4 ,reading4 #b4 ,writing #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,language4 #e4 ,numbers4 #f4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,singing4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,care of the body4 #d4 ,calisthenics4 #e4 ,morals and manners4 #b4 ,second year4 #a4 ,reading4 #b4 ,writing4 #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,language4 #e4 ,numbers4 #f4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,singing4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,care of the body4 #d4 ,calisthenics4 #e4 ,morals and manners4 #c4 ,third year4 #a4 ,reading4 #b4 ,writing4 #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,language4 #e4 ,primary arithmetic4 #f4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,singing4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,care of the body4 #d4 ,calisthenics4 #e4 ,nature study4 #f4 ,morals and manners4 ,,ii4 ,intermediate grades4 #a4 ,fourth year4 #a4 ,reading4 #b4 ,writing4 #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,language4 #e4 ,arithmetic4 #f4 ,geography4 #g4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,singing4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,health lessons4 #d4 ,nature study4 #e4 ,calisthenics4 #f4 ,morals and manners4 #b4 ,fifth year4 #a4 ,reading and literature4 #b4 ,writing4 #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,language4 #e4 ,arithmetic4 #f4 ,geography4 #g4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,music4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,hygiene4 #d4 ,nature or agriculture4 #e4 ,calisthenics4 #f4 ,morals and manners4 #c4 ,sixth year4 #a4 ,literature4 #b4 ,writing4 #c4 ,spelling4 #d4 ,elementary grammar4 #e4 ,arithmetic4 #f4 ,geography4 #g4 ,history4 #h4 ,general lessons4 #a4 ,music4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,hygiene4 #d4 ,nature or agriculture4 #e4 ,calisthenics4 #f4 ,morals and manners4 #g4 ,sloyd4 ,,iii4 ,advanced grades4 #a4 ,seventh year4 #a4 ,literature4 #b4 ,orthography4 #c4 ,grammar4 #d4 ,arithmetic4 #e4 ,geography4 #f4 ,history4 #g4 ,physiology4 #h4 ,general exercises4 #a4 ,music4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,nature or agriculture4 #d4 ,sloyd4 #b4 ,eighth year4 #a4 ,literature4 #b4 ,orthography4 #c4 ,grammar and composition4 #d4 ,arithmetic4 #e4 ,geography4 #f4 ,history4 #g4 ,physiology4 #h4 ,general exercises4 #a4 ,music4 #b4 ,drawing4 #c4 ,nature or agriculture4 #d4 ,sloyd or manual training4 #e4 ,literary exercises4 ,no one would expect you to have a daily lesson in all the above subjects4 ,for example1 in the first year reading1 writing1 spelling and language would be combined4 ,in the second year these subjects in the main would be combined4 ,the general lessons need not be daily lessons and often two or more years could be combined in the same instruction4 ,calisthenics could be general exercises for all the grades or the two advanced grades might be excused from these if you thought best4 ,history and geography might come on alternate days1 or history and physiology4 ,the course is to represent the lines of study that in a well-graded school are kept abreast4 ,the allotment of time and the work is left to the adjustment of the teacher or school4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,opening ,,exercises4 ,no period of the day is so important in its influence on the day's work or so rich in opportunities for good in after life as the first fifteen minutes after school is called in the morning4 ,the teacher's task is not an easy one4 ,before her are as many dispositions as there are pupils4 ,before her are the physical1 mental and moral defects of inheritance and the pernicious habits of home neglect and wrong training4 ,the rich and the poor1 the high and the low1 the proud and the humble1 the good and the bad1 a heterogeneous group all are there--and out of these the teacher is to construct the working unit1 the school4 ,the spoiled babe1 the father's favorite1 the mother's pet1 the orphan and the outcast1 all meet here on common ground4 ,the hope of a democracy is based upon this meeting and mingling4 ,the perpetuity of our institutions must stand or fall by the results of such meeting4 ,each here learns to estimate the other and the estimate is usually the par value of the pupil4 ,the banker's boy must measure brains with the bootblack and often each gets the best lesson of life in that measurement4 ,the banker's boy often finds a worthy rival in the bootblack and unconsciously rates him higher than if they had never met4 ,the bootblack may have higher hopes and ambitions kindled1 together with a better estimate of his own innate worth and this is uplifting4 ,blood tells1 but it as often tells weakness as strength1 and often the best lesson of a wealthy boy's life is when he is wallowed--wallowed physically as well as mentally--by some poor1 humble widow's son upon whom he had always looked with contempt4 ,out of this group of individuals1 the teacher is each day to construct the working unit1 the school4 ,they gather from various homes and conditions1 some gorged with indigestible dainties1 others with appetites hardly appeased with the plainest of food1 some bubbling over with fun and mischief1 and others sour and sullen1 all these are to become a unit for the day's work4 ,to focus these minds1 to draw them from the petty home incidents of the morning1 to put them into harmony with the work of the day1 the tuning of these minds is the one great purpose of the daily opening exercises of the school4 ,but in the very process of the exercise there comes numerous opportunities for the richest lessons of the school course4 ,it gives the opportunity for teaching lessons of patience1 patriotism1 duty1 love1 respect1 obedience1 gratitude and devotion4 ,kindness to animals1 appreciation of the beautiful in art and nature and literature1 higher ideals of life1 faith and hope and charity1 and greatest of all the criterion of the really educated person1 liberal-mindedness--all of these should find food in the unifying process of the school1 the opening exercise4 ,perhaps1 the one thing that will bear repetition oftenest and grow in its good results by repetition in the opening exercise is singing4 ,i discriminate between singing and a lesson in music4 ,a lesson in music may not be one whit better for unifying the minds of the pupils than a lesson in grammar or arithmetic4 ,but singing is better4 ,an angry pupil cannot sing4 ,in the singing he forgets his anger4 ,nothing so quickly recalls the wandering minds of pupils and gets them into harmony with the purpose of school1 and makes them forget petty troubles1 as a good1 soul-stirring song in which all unite4 ,patriotic songs1 devotional songs1 folk songs1 songs of the home and the heart1 nature songs--the list is long--all have their use in the opening exercise4 ,glad or sad1 as the teacher desires to stir the pupils1 so let the morning song be in opening exercise4 ,even if the teacher sings but little1 there will be found always the faithful half dozen who can and will sing4 ,the others will follow4 ,choose the songs that nearly all like and sing with enthusiasm4 ,for the opening exercises not many songs are needed4 ,if music is taught1 new songs may be learned1 and the favorite ones added to the list for morning use4 ,let me emphasize the fact that it is not the new and the difficult1 but the old1 the familiar1 the soul-stirring song that is most useful in opening exercise4 ,something that all like1 something that all can sing1 something that appeals to the emotions--these are the songs for the opening of school4 ,it is well if the teacher is leader in music1 it is well if you have an organ or piano or other good instrument1 it is well if you have song books1 but sing even if you have none of these4 ,a few pupils will be found who can lead1 and many of the best music teachers advocate that pupils should be taught to sing alone and not with the teacher4 ,the instrument is good1 but not absolutely essential4 ,song books are very valuable indeed1 and most schools can obtain them1 but if you do not have them have each pupil make a copy of the words of a song in their opening exercise note book and commit the words to memory4 ,by all means sing at the opening exercises of the day4 ,nothing will more quickly drive out the peevishness1 relieve the sullenness1 and make glad the whole school than the morning song well sung4 ,the opening exercise requires study1 planning1 and skill on the part of the teacher4 ,no lesson needs more planning and in no lesson will you get better results if you do plan wisely and well4 ,you must know in advance what you will present1 not leave it to the impulse of the moment4 ,then1 too1 there must be variety4 ,children tire of sameness4 ,if pupils know weeks in advance just what to expect at the opening exercise they will care less to be on time1 especially if this particular exercise does not happen to appeal to them4 ,if there is variety1 if they feel that something new and good may occur any morning1 they are more apt to be on time4 ,tardiness will decrease as the opening exercise increases in interest and value4 ,make the opening exercise brief1 interesting and pointed4 ,i have tried the various plans given below with success4 ,the interest in each particular exercise varied with the school1 the class and the conditions4 ,if the pupils were particularly pleased ,i continued it longer4 ,if they showed that they were not especially pleased ,i left it sooner and came back to it later1 else omitted it in the future4 ,these suggestions worked out will ,i believe give you abundant material for a year of school4 #a4 ,a cheerful song1 or two or three cheerful songs with no other exercise will often please the pupils4 ,this is especially true on days when pupils are in the mood to sing4 ,choose songs that will suit the mood of the pupils at the time4 #b4 ,a solo from some pupil or person or a duet from two pupils makes a pleasing change4 ,these will be all the more pleasing if they come as a surprise to the school4 #c4 ,a humorous or pathetic story1 either read or related1 if well done1 is always interesting and instructive4 ,do not spoil it by tacking a long moral to it4 ,pupils1 most of them1 will get their own lesson4 ,neither grown people nor children care to be preached to always4 #d4 ,reading from the ,scriptures1 and without comment1 may often please and is always in place4 ,this may be followed by a brief prayer if it come from the heart4 ,religious service in the public school must be free from sectarianism1 and it is well to guard such exercises carefully4 #e4 ,a cheerful devotional song followed by the ,lord's ,prayer given in concert by the school is good4 ,sincerity must characterize all exercises of a devotional nature1 else they should be strictly avoided4 #f4 ,a brief summary of the world's news of the week given by some pupil may be made very interesting in many schools4 ,this is a splendid exercise for broadening the views and life of the pupil4 #g4 ,review the life of any great men dying4 ,prepare the leading facts of their life carefully and pointedly so that pupils will remember the facts and gain inspiration from the life4 #h4 ,discuss in the same way the lives of great men yet living4 ,avoid over praise and still better over-criticism4 ,the natural tendency to hero worship in children is an uplifting force4 ,cultivate it4 ,the past few years has seen a tendency in muck-rake quarters to belittle men4 ,there are spots on the sun and perhaps faults in great men4 ,teach pupils to enjoy the warmth and heat without worrying about the spots4 ,teach them to look for the best in men rather than the worst4 #i4 ,discuss social questions such as strikes1 elections1 social movements1 etc4 ,be liberal in your views1 avoid partisan statements and bitter criticisms4 ,the great purpose of education is to make men think and to be charitable and liberal in their thinking of others4 #aj4 ,place a maxim or motto on the board and discuss its meaning and application with the school4 ,this is very interesting often and broadening to the views of the class4 ,many of our maxims are rich with meaning1 but pupils often fail to grasp the meaning4 #aa4 ,perform or have some pupil perform an interesting experiment in physics or chemistry1 one that explains some scientific fact or principle4 ,this will prove intensely interesting4 ,it is no trouble to select several such1 and pupils are seldom tardy if they think they may miss such an exercise4 #ab4 ,short queries are good if they are appropriate ones4 #ac4 ,information lessons on plants and animals1 illustrated when possible by objects or pictures1 will be interesting and profitable4 #ad4 ,discuss the manufacture of common articles1 such as pens1 pencils1 boots1 shoes1 buttons1 cotton and woolen goods1 etc4 ,if possible1 have pupils visit such factories and describe the processes4 ,if you cannot take the pupils1 visit the factories yourself and observe the processes carefully that you may describe them accurately and interestingly4 #ae4 ,select famous historic quotations such as 8,don't give up the ship10 8,millions for defense1 but not a cent for tribute10 and have pupils tell when1 by whom and upon what occasion they were uttered4 #af4 ,give brief descriptions of historic places and things you have seen4 ,be modest and be brief4 #ag4 ,describe the habits1 manners1 customs and life of strange people4 ,material is easily found for this4 ,do not read it to pupils1 but prepare it and tell it to them4 #ah4 ,select some interesting book and read one or two chapters each morning4 ,pupils will be anxious to follow the story and will be greatly interested4 #ai4 ,have pupils give memory gems4 ,this to me has been one of the most uniformly successful opening exercises ,i have ever tried4 ,i have never had a class that tired of it4 ,to have the minds of pupils stored with beautiful gems of poetry and prose1 little life sermons1 means much to the young persons4 ,one of my former pupils ten years later1 himself then a teacher1 told me he valued that above everything else ,i gave him4 ,it had been a source of the greatest pleasure to recall these and to add new ones at intervals4 #bj4 ,help pupils to better grasp facts by graphic illustrations of them4 ,pupils have no conception of a billion4 ,when we read in our geography that the ,united ,states raised two and a half billion bushels of corn a few years ago1 it makes no impression on the mind4 ,have pupils figure out how long a procession of wagons would be required to haul it1 counting twenty bushels to the load and twenty feet of space for the wagon and team4 ,how many times would this procession reach around the earth at the equator8 ,the result may surprise you unless you have figured on it1 and ,i am sure it will surprise your pupils4 ,at least it will help them in some little measure to grasp the enormity of the corn crop4 ,then what becomes of all this corn8 ,another fact that can be graphically illustrated is to have the class figure out how many tons of water fell upon the school building last year4 ,you can find the average rainfall for your state or locality4 ,a cubic foot of water weighs about #fb #a-b pounds4 ,then figure out the number of tons4 ,get your patrons to figure on it before you tell them the amount or they may doubt your veracity1 or else your sanity4 ,dozens of such topics may be used1 and will make the most interesting of opening exercises4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,the ,,teacher4 ,the more one studies the forces which combined make a successful school1 the more he sees that the teacher is the all-important factor4 ,buildings1 grounds1 furniture1 apparatus1 books1 all these are important--and the material equipment of a school makes much difference--but over and above these and vastly more important than these1 is the spirit of the teacher4 ,from the contact of mind with mind grows a quickened intellect4 ,mark ,hopkins on one end of a log and ,garfield on the other1 these1 ,garfield said1 would make a university4 ,the teacher whose soul is on fire with her work1 the pupil who is willing to learn1 these are the essentials of a good school4 ,the teacher1 one whose heart is in the work1 one who realizes the dignity and the importance of teaching1 one who not only knows the subject to be taught and the laws of mental development1 but has that innate tact and worth and personal magnetism that draws young people to her1 such a teacher is a priceless gem4 ,such a teacher brings order out of chaos4 ,the pupils feel the magnetism of her presence4 ,she enters into their very lives1 lifting them to higher things and leading the way4 ,it is the spirit of a teacher that governs a school4 ,in one room is disorder1 a spirit of idleness and sometimes defiance1 carelessness and contempt for all that is pure and good and noble in school life--loose paper1 marred desks1 paper wads1 marked walls--you know the signs4 ,the teacher among her personal friends and intimate acquaintances speaks always in contempt of the pupils1 calling them her 8mean kids10 8hateful little imps10 8despisable brats10 etc4 ,she longs for the monthly return of pay day and the end of the term4 ,she scolds1 frets1 punishes1 threatens1 bribes and coaxes by turns and in rapid succession1 and then expresses surprise that the pupils of her room take little interest in their work and are so 8torn down mean40 ,she is lacking in natural dignity and seriousness1 and wonders why her pupils are frivolous4 ,she makes no daily preparation of lessons and cannot understand why the children do not study4 ,she is the giddiest of the giddy in talking about her beaux1 and wonders why the school girls are so rude as to speak about their 8fellows40 ,the pupils of another room--and often the same pupils under another teacher--are quiet1 orderly1 obedient1 respectful and studious4 ,she does not gush4 ,she is not petty and has no pets4 ,she is quiet1 bright1 cheerful1 cheery1 orderly1 serious1 natural1 and has confidence in her pupils4 ,she speaks kindly and affectionately of her boys and girls1 neither thinking them faultless nor lauding them to the skies4 ,her every act is an inspiration to her pupils4 ,she plans her work1 she works to her plans1 and the pupils both consciously and unconsciously imitate her4 ,she shapes the lives and destinies of her pupils for the better4 ,the work of such a teacher is above all money value4 ,the former is dear at any price4 ,the spirit of the teacher shows itself in the intellectual attitude of the pupils4 ,the teacher should be a living fountain1 not a stagnant pool4 ,the growing mind is alone fit to teach4 ,the best1 the life-giving teaching1 which makes the pupil's soul thirst for more is not being done by men and women who have long since completed their education4 ,i pity the high school pupil whose teacher adds nothing to his intellectual growth each year4 ,were ,i seeking an institution in which to educate a boy of mine1 ,i should care very little for the religious creed of the faculty1 but ,i should prefer that there was diversity among them and ,i should want good morals4 ,i should care little for the political faith of his teachers1 but ,i should want them honest in their convictions4 ,my first and deepest concern would be the spirit of the teachers in charge of the school4 ,i should want a faculty mature enough to have lost much of its freshness1 but fresh enough to be growing still4 ,the average age should not exceed forty1 men growing in knowledge day by day1 each strong in his specialty but pushing forward to new and better things1 broad enough to grasp life and to see things from more than one angle1 men whose gaze and hope is turned to the sunrise and not to the sunset1 men who are winning laurels and making a name in their profession rather than men who have won laurels and made a name and are now resting4 ,such teachers and the spirit of such teaching would show in the intellectual attitude of the boy4 ,the spirit of the teacher will show itself in the pupil's view of life4 ,i often think of one of my favorite teachers4 ,i have forgotten most of the lessons he taught me from books4 ,much of the algebra he taught me has been relearned or else ,i do not know it4 ,i violate daily many of the rules of syntax he tried so hard to teach me1 and yet he taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life4 ,he looked on life with a broad perspective4 ,he was liberal-minded4 ,he taught us1 unconsciously perhaps1 to be generous in our judgments of others4 ,he opened our minds and our lives to the beauties and harmonies of nature all about us4 ,the sunset took a brighter tint1 the rainbow showed a deeper color1 the pansy gave a more delicate odor1 life gleamed broader and sweeter because of the unconscious inspiration of this man's life4 ,cheerfulness1 hope1 faith1 trust in the eternal triumph of right should be a part of every teacher's faith4 ,no carping1 sour-grained1 narrow-minded teacher ever did much to develop healthy1 hearty1 liberal views of life in the pupil4 ,one of the greatest misfortunes of our schools is the fact that occasionally such teachers are found in them4 ,the spirit of the teacher is shown in the attitude of the pupil in his daily work4 ,she cheers or depresses4 ,constant nagging would drag down angels4 ,if there is anything that saps the mental life of pupils1 dulls their intellectual desires1 disgusts them with school and all that pertains to it1 it is the spirit of the grumbling1 growling1 whining1 probing1 complaining teacher4 ,occasionally we meet such a teacher in the schools1 and her work is followed by the wreck of childish hopes and ambitions4 ,her very atmosphere is blighting and dwarfing4 ,have you ever met such a teacher8 ,i trust not1 and yet ,i fear you have4 ,here is a sample3 8,now1 ,george1 you may tell us about ,braddock's defeat4 ,stand up and tell us all about it4 ,you remember you had that topic yesterday and did not know it4 ,i told you to take your book home with you last night and to study all about this topic1 you remember4 ,you may stand up now and try it again4 ,stand up straight4 ,get out from the desk4 ,now1 that is better4 ,i have told you several times how ,i wanted you to stand when you recite4 ,put down that rule and take your hand out of your pocket4 ,how often am ,i to tell you about that4 8,a little louder1 ,i can't hear you4 ,i told you the other day to speak loud enough that you could be heard by any one in any part of the room4 ,you must remember what ,i tell you4 8,now1 that is better4 ,stand up straight4 ,now1 tell us all about ,braddock's defeat4 ,begin over again4 #8,braddock was a ,british general sent over to this country to help us1' well that is all right so far4 ,go on4 ,who was ,braddock8 ,who was he and what had he done8 ,tell us all about him4444 ,well1 if the book does not say1 you ought to have looked it up in some other book4 ,didn't ,i tell you ,i wanted you to read other histories and not to depend on one text-book8 8,now1 stand up and tell us all you know about ,braddock's defeat4 ,you've had that topic two days1 and surely you can tell us something4 ,you have got to study your history4 ,take your book home with you to-night and study the lesson three or four times4 ,a great big boy like you ought to know history4 ,you will want to vote sometime4 ,i would be ashamed if ,i were you4 ,study that topic so you can tell us all about it to-morrow4 ,remember this class completes history this year4 ,if you are to be promoted you will have to work4 ,we will have an examination on all of these topics1 and after we have had these lessons over and over again1 if you do not pass it is not my fault4 ,you will have to work1 young man1 or fail4 ,that is all ,i have to say about it4 8,remember1 you have got to learn this lesson next time4 ,if ,i were you1 ,i would try to use my brains1 if ,i had any4 ,it makes me tired when ,i have to tell and tell you what to do and you do not care a cent4 ,i am just doing my best to help you1 and you do not seem to appreciate it a bit4 ,i would be ashamed1 and you would be if you had the least bit of get up to you4 8,now1 we must close4 ,for to-morrow we shall review to-day's lesson and take down to the bottom of page #aje1 down to where you see the big1 black-faced letters which say1 #8,william ,pitt is made ,prime ,minister4' ,i wonder what a ,prime ,minister is1 anyhow4 ,well1 you may think about that4 ,you may get down to that topic for next time4 ,now1 study this lesson well1 so that you can recite it right off to-morrow4 ,get a good lesson next time4 ,we did not get over the lesson to-day4 ,let's do better next time4 ,class excused40 ,of course1 ,george left the recitation with a burning desire to learn all about ,braddock's defeat4 ,the inspiration was sufficient to do him for life4 ,the inspiration from the recitation in other subjects being of the same satisfying kind1 he withdrew from school two months later4 ,the spirit of a teacher sometimes kills4 ,the school1 large or small1 country or town1 blest with a teacher of broad mold1 liberal-minded1 active1 studious1 still learning1 virtuous and pure-minded1 such a school is a dynamic force for good in the neighborhood4 ,such a teacher is not worried by bad boys4 ,her energy is not sapped by keeping order4 ,she does not nervously pound the desk or the call bell for quiet4 ,her very attitude begets quiet without having to demand it4 ,she may sit down and hear a recitation4 ,composure on her part gets composure on the part of the pupils4 ,if ,john forgets himself and gets into mischief a look from her settles him4 ,she does not have to stop the recitation every few minutes to reprimand4 ,she does not nervously walk the aisle to keep order while she is hearing a recitation4 ,if a boy is devoid of principle and persists in doing annoying things she lets him come to her instead of rushing back after him4 ,her look of indignation and scorn makes him feel his insignificance1 and he does not try it often4 ,she has learned the lesson of letting the offender do the walking instead of the teacher4 ,when patrons and officials learn that it is the personality and individuality1 or the spirit of the teacher that counts in teaching1 then will they discriminate between teachers and school keepers1 and be willing to pay the former living salaries and encourage the others to try new fields of labor4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,library4 ,what do you read8 ,a look at your library will reveal much of your interest and professional zeal4 ,gypsies examine your hand or feel of your head to tell your fortune and predict your future4 ,if you want revealed the future and the fortune of a teacher examine that teacher's library and see what books they read and have read4 ,a glance at the library will tell much of the teacher's zeal1 earnestness1 and enthusiasm in the profession4 ,you can gauge them pretty accurately by the books they read4 ,one's library1 like one's dress1 oft proclaims one's character4 ,of course the teacher does not confine herself to professional books and reading alone4 ,no one would expect such a thing4 ,it would make you narrow4 ,if this had been your entire line of reading you would be narrow now4 ,the question is1 do you ever read professional books and professional literature8 ,what faith would you have in a physician who had never read medical books1 and who did not take and read the current literature of his profession8 ,would you engage a lawyer to defend your interests or to look after your business who had never read or heard of the great treatises on law8 ,would you entrust the life of your child to the former8 ,would you intrust your business to the latter8 ,would you then ask parents to entrust the education of their child to you when you have never read nor heard of the literature that bears upon teaching and education8 ,if you neither read nor care for the current literature of teaching1 educational journals1 and magazine articles of merit bearing upon your work1 do you think that you are equipped properly for the best interest and education of the child8 ,can you blame thinking men and women for criticising and often giving very little deference to the teacher's opinion of education8 ,is the mind so much less important that good judgment would reject the physician and the lawyer who have done no professional study1 and accept the teacher1 ignorant of the literature of her line of work and who had never given any study of why or how or what to teach in order to best develop the child8 ,is the mind of less importance than the body8 ,is property dearer to the parent than the child8 ,if teaching is a profession1 or is ever to become one1 teachers must read the literature of the profession4 ,if you are a professional teacher1 or if you are ever to become one1 you must read and enjoy the reading of good books on teaching and education4 ,it is not the reading alone but the keen interest and love for the reading4 ,teaching can never become a profession until teachers become acquainted with the literature of the profession1 and even before they enter the profession must show that they have made the acquaintance of this literature4 ,i have little faith in the teacher who does not care for good books1 and who does not own and read a few good books4 ,the teacher who has taught for a few terms and who has not at least the beginning of a professional library ought to quit4 ,it is an imposition upon the public to continue year after year teaching when you do not have interest enough in your work nor love enough for the profession to own a few good books bearing upon your work4 ,it is a sure sign that your interest in teaching is a mere mercenary interest4 ,you teach for the dollars only4 ,that is not so bad in itself if you want to give value received for the dollars4 ,few of us could or would teach if there were no salary attached1 but there is a deeper and broader interest that is above money value4 ,this broader interest is lacking when the teacher does not care to buy and read a few books each year upon her professional work4 ,it is not the size of the library that counts4 ,it is the reading and the study and the assimilation of the contents of the library that is of value4 ,your library should not only be well read1 but steadily growing4 ,new books should be added from year to year1 educational journals and magazine articles bearing upon the present trend of teaching and education should be found4 ,they should be read carefully and critically4 ,you need not swallow without mastication every newly-hatched theory or educational cure-all that is advocated4 ,it is the reading teacher that has ballast and is not swept away with every new-fangled notion that is sprung upon the public by the educational demagogue and sensationalist4 ,your library need not be large1 but it should be well-selected4 ,it should be bought for use and not for show4 ,there is much difference between the teacher's working library and the teacher's parlor show library4 ,it takes but a glance to recognize the difference4 ,in the working library there will be the regular text-books used in the school course4 ,these are for getting clear1 systematic1 fresh outlines of the work from day to day4 ,how often a five-minutes' glance at the author's treatment of a subject at night will clear up two or three days of work for the class4 ,it lightens your work and it enables you to organize what you give to the class4 ,there should be a few other late texts upon the subjects4 ,from these you will get side lights and little points of information to supplement the regular texts4 ,there should be a few more advanced texts upon several of the subjects from which you may occasionally get view points to keep your own knowledge from fossilizing4 ,advanced text-books and other good texts besides the regular ones used by the pupils are the every day tools of the teacher4 ,a good dictionary is very essential4 ,this dictionary need not be the largest nor latest complete dictionary4 ,such a dictionary is proper equipment for the schools1 but the best working dictionary for the teacher is often an academic or a student's dictionary4 ,you will refer to these oftener4 ,i know from experience4 ,on my study desk are three dictionaries--one is a late edition of one of the very best1 the others are academic dictionaries1 late and standard1 but books of from five to eight hundred pages4 ,i use the smaller ten times to the larger once4 ,when you buy a dictionary get one with the index4 ,if your time is worth a cent an hour it will soon repay you the extra cost4 ,then you will use it oftener because it is more quickly done4 ,you need a good1 authentic1 up-to-date encyclopedia4 ,this need not be the largest1 nor an expensive one4 ,a two or a four-volumed encyclopedia will often be of more use to you than a larger one4 ,you will use it oftener1 just as in the case of the dictionary4 ,in buying an encyclopedia1 do not be gulled by cheap reprints--something that treats everything else in the world but the things you want1 and treats these at such length that you are lost in a mass of detail before you have read half a page4 ,the young teacher makes a mistake in buying a fifty or seventy-five dollar encyclopedia when he has not twenty dollars worth of other books in his library4 ,do not be so foolish as to think an encyclopedia will give you all the knowledge that is ever wanted4 ,thinking is what gives you power1 not facts4 ,facts serve a useful purpose in thinking1 but unless they are organized you will get little out of them4 ,an encyclopedia can give you only general facts4 ,half a hundred other books would be far more useful to you than a complete encyclopedia4 ,you should have a good1 small atlas for ready reference4 ,this should be fairly authentic and up-to-date at the time you buy it4 ,look carefully at reprints and unauthentic compilations4 ,they are many and often costly4 ,you can get a very reliable small usable atlas for a dollar or two4 ,the world is changing fast4 ,an atlas soon gets out of date4 ,when you buy one get one that gives the latest census4 ,the present atlases giving the census of #aijj will soon be laid on the shelf after the census of #aiaj becomes available4 ,you should have a few good1 authentic histories1 histories of our own country as well as general histories4 ,here1 too1 good text-books will give you a bird's-eye view and an understanding of things often better than the larger histories4 ,get your general outline view first1 and then as time and opportunity offers get the deeper1 more critical view by the study of special events and topics4 ,teachers are lacking in their knowledge of history4 ,the teacher should have a well-organized epitome of the world's history clearly in mind4 ,he should see the nations come and go as he looks down the ages1 and see the mile post which each nation marked in the growth of civilization4 ,then he should have a broader1 closer knowledge of our own country1 trying in every case to see our national development and progress in the light of the world's progress rather than the events in themselves4 ,do not forget biography4 ,it is rich in interest and inspiration1 not only for the teacher as a person and an individual1 but it is even richer still in food for the teacher as a teacher4 ,the pupil is hard to find who is not or cannot be interested in biography if the teacher is full of it4 ,his history is his knowledge of the individual4 ,he is hungering for this knowledge of the individual if only the teacher will point the way and show an interest in it4 ,i may be wrong1 but ,i fear we are going to seed on myths and gods and heroes of the remote past4 ,fairy stories and myths have their place4 ,to say the child is interested in them is not always conclusive argument4 ,if the teacher would get out and help build it the child would be intensely interested in making a snow man4 ,the difference between a teacher and an ideal teacher is often the difference between the teacher that can inspire an interest in sane1 sensible1 intelligent lines and the teacher that can interest along the useless1 unimportant lines4 ,at least the teacher's library should be rich in biography4 ,no book ever read so thoroughly interested me when ,i was a boy as ,franklin's ,autobiography1 and no book ,i ever read had greater influence on my life4 ,to this day ,i find his common-sense maxims coming up before me with telling force4 ,what fiction is more enjoyable than many of the biographies of our great men8 ,read ,grant's ,memoirs1 read ,phil ,sheridan's ,life1 read the ,autobiography of the teacher and diplomat1 ,andrew ,d4 ,white4 ,can you in fiction find anything more interesting8 ,then such books as ,blaine's 8,twenty ,years in ,congress10 ,benton's 8,thirty ,years10 ,greeley's 8,american ,conflict10 ,davis's 8,rise and ,fall of the ,confederacy10 and ,nicolay and ,hay's 8,life of ,lincoln0--what teacher can begin one of them and not become thoroughly absorbed in it1 living over again the scenes they describe4 ,in mentioning the individual books1 ,i do not mean to imply there are not others just as interesting1 but these are types and valuable types1 types with which teachers should be familiar4 ,some of these should be found in the teacher's library and the teacher should know the contents4 ,then there is pure literature1 the great poems and poets1 the classics4 ,read and own ,lowell1 ,longfellow1 ,whittier1 ,emerson1 and ,holmes4 ,start with ,longfellow1 and after you have read the others mentioned and have them on your library shelves add others as you like4 ,read fiction of course4 ,begin with the better class4 ,read ,hawthorne1 ,scott1 ,dickens1 ,eliot and others4 ,read some of the later fiction but do not waste time on every piece of rag-time fiction that comes from the press4 ,teachers do not have time to do it1 and it would lead to intellectual imbecility if they did4 ,we are smothering in a deluge of light literature of the rag-time class--literally smothering beneath it4 ,teachers at least should be discriminating enough to select intelligently the things worth reading1 but are they8 ,but what about professional reading8 ,if you neglect professional reading you ignore the profession that you are striving to build up4 ,read psychology1 methods1 history of education1 and educational views and discussions1 and keep up on what is going on in administration of schools and changes in school laws4 ,this concerns you and should be of interest to you4 ,the lives of the great educational reformers of the world1 the lives of a few of our own educators like ,horace ,mann1 ,david ,page1 and others1 should be of intense interest to you4 ,books on management1 books on method1 books on the science and art of instruction1 books giving in detail the plans1 methods and devices for teaching and handling a school1 how can such things lack interest for you8 ,many of these represent the best experience of intelligent teachers for years4 ,they have pointed out to you their faults and mistakes4 ,they have shown you the way4 ,you are not to follow such books blindly4 ,but read discriminately they will become guides to you4 ,they will save you from the pitfalls of others4 ,they will save you nerve force and strength by giving you clearer notions of what to expect and how to secure it4 ,they will help you to govern bad boys and naughty girls4 ,ignore them and you start in to re-discover all the pitfalls of the teacher4 ,then read the plans and devices that add spice and interest4 ,they represent successful experience4 ,then the deeper educational works1 those which point out principles1 the books that are for laying the foundation for a real science of education and to prepare the way for a profession of teaching1 shall teachers neither read1 own1 nor care for such books and yet call themselves teachers1 professional teachers8 ,before leaving the subject of the teacher's library1 ,i want to caution against some mistakes4 ,i have seen the libraries of many teachers4 ,i think ,i can make pretty accurate predictions from looking at the library of the teacher's judgment1 standing1 and teaching ability4 ,it is lamentable that so many young teachers are gulled into buying sets of books--a set of ,shakespeare1 a set of ,irving1 a set of ,dickens1 a set of ,scott1 a set of the library of history1 or a set of the world's literature1 etc4 ,mark you1 ,i do not throw stones at any particular collection of books4 ,i have every respect for the agent and the publishers of such books4 ,in fact1 ,i always feel like taking my hat off to the book agent when ,i meet one4 ,as an orphan boy ,i was reared in a home where there were more than ten acres of land for each book in the home4 ,the few that were there had been sold by enterprising book agents1 who made them think their future prosperity and soul's salvation depended very largely upon whether they bought the book or not4 ,if he succeeded in making them believe this and would knock off fifty cents and board out half the balance they would sometimes buy the book4 ,one of these books touched me and gave me some aspirations that have influenced my life4 ,blessings be upon the agent that sold it1 if he is living4 ,if he is dead1 may his soul rest in peace and prosperity attend his posterity4 ,it is not the particular set of books1 nor the publisher1 nor the agent1 but the foolish spending of money for what will not do the good for you that half of it well spent would do4 ,it is a reflection upon a teacher's judgment when he allows himself to be talked into buying a large set of books1 uniform in price and binding1 and much alike4 ,what does the average young teacher want with a whole set of ,shakespeare1 or a whole set of ,scott1 or of ,dickens4 ,life is too short to read all the works of very many authors4 ,you want to be familiar1 genuinely familiar1 with five or six of ,shakespeare's best plays4 ,you want to know well three or four of ,scott's best novels4 ,you want to be familiar--to have read1 re-read and lived over again and again with the author ,dickens' ,david ,copperfield1 his ,tale of ,two ,cities1 ,little ,nell1 and perhaps one or two others4 ,but you do not have time to read all of ,dickens1 and if you had the time you could better spend it in reading one or two of the best of some other author rather than wading through the worst of ,dickens4 ,no author1 not even ,shakespeare1 can always be at his best4 ,the teacher who knows thoroughly the three or four best of an author's writings may well afford to be ignorant of the others1 and use the time in growing familiar with the best of some other author4 ,select your library4 ,put some good volumes of history1 biography1 travel1 fiction1 and great poems in it4 ,do not neglect your professional books4 ,if you have taught ten years and do not have at least twenty-five professional books1 you have very little professional spirit1 and ought to quit teaching or begin reading4 ,let your library be a working library4 ,do not get all your books the same size1 shape and binding4 ,nothing is a greater give away on one's library4 ,working libraries are not that way4 ,libraries bought in bulk1 bought for show1 bought not because you need them or want them1 but because some firm or agent is pushing their sale1 these are in large sets4 ,such is an infallible sign that your library was not built up as a working1 usable library--a growth1 and not a full-grown product at one time4 ,your library will be a fair index of your professional standing1 and the practiced eye can readily paint you after examining your library4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,teacher ,,outside ,,the ,,school-,,room4 ,teaching has two sides4 ,there is the school-room side and the public or community side4 ,each is important4 ,you cannot be a successful teacher without mastering the first4 ,you can't hold your job long unless you have some skill in the second4 ,your success in a community is often measured more by the second than the first4 ,in fact1 the good you do1 the influence you exert on the lives of the pupils1 the net results of your work1 is often a reflex of your skill and ability to get along with the people1 to get their respect1 good will and hearty co-operation4 ,you must know how to meet and mingle with people4 ,you must understand your patrons and many of their peculiar neighborhood whims4 ,you must know enough of human nature to get along with people1 to be diplomatic without being weak1 and to get your way without stirring up determined opposition4 ,confidence in yourself1 freedom from excessive or offensive egotism1 a knowledge of the home life and surroundings of your patrons1 and that rarest of accomplishments1 the ability to listen and say little1 these will help you4 ,it will often happen also that you must teach your patrons1 and this requires more skill than to teach pupils4 ,you must teach them as if you taught them not4 ,you must use diplomacy without deceit or sham or show of weakness4 ,there will be certain local standards that you should respect if you can do so conscientiously4 ,i have taught in neighborhoods where dancing and card-playing were considered long steps toward everlasting perdition4 ,the teacher who had gone to a public ball or dared dance at a private home in the community would have been met with a storm of opposition4 ,in fact1 it would have been almost as bad as if she had gotten drunk4 ,in such communities a teacher would do well to avoid such amusements1 and if she is skillful she need not commit herself upon the matter4 ,leave the people to guess her real sentiment on these things4 ,on the other hand1 if the teacher has been taught to regard dancing1 card-playing and kindred amusements as wrong1 and then teaches in a community where such things are common she need not indulge in them4 ,with an ordinary share of discretion she need not give offense in declining invitations to such amusements should they come4 ,she cannot as a stranger do much in one or two terms toward changing the sentiment of the community either for or against such things4 ,after long acquaintance she can build up her circle of friends where other amusements take the place of these that are under ban4 ,even in time she might create a tolerance for such indulgences1 but it is likely to cost more than it will come to4 ,more real good can be done by looking pleasant1 and taking no real active partisan part in either way4 ,for my own part ,i can see no sin in a quiet1 civil game of cards4 ,but my mother's puritanical views forbade such as if it were satan's certain snare4 ,out of respect to my mother's memory ,i have never learned the names of the different cards in a deck1 and unless ,i simply applied my own judgment of the meaning of words could not tell one card from another4 ,i lost pleasant evenings occasionally during my university course because of this 8narrowness0 as many called it4 ,occasionally now1 ,i must decline an evening out or else be a drag to the entertainment feature4 ,i have never offended any one so far as ,i know1 nor lost their respect and good will by refusing to take part in a game4 ,the sacred memory of my angel mother who died when ,i was a child has far more than compensated me for all the pleasure ,i have lost4 ,for the other person1 ,i can see no harm in a quiet game of cards2 for me to break my boyhood promise and later resolution would not only rob it of all pleasure but would be a positive personal loss4 ,there are other indulgences also that the teacher must forego for the sake of public opinion4 ,many a young man has lost a splendid opportunity to make a reputation of being a good teacher in a community by being indiscreet in keeping company4 ,however unobjectionable the girl1 and however much he may be interested1 he must remember that much of the world dislikes a lover if that lover be the school teacher of the neighborhood4 ,people that think or care very little what the young man in the store or the postoffice do1 will resent too much company keeping for the teacher4 ,the young woman teaching should be even more careful about keeping company4 ,it is not good policy to do it1 and it will be more pleasure in the long run to be with young people1 but do very little keeping of young men's company4 ,with your patrons you may be more free4 ,strict etiquette might dictate that you wait until they have called on you4 ,if you wait you will know few of them and meet these after trouble has come up and they call on you to make complaint4 ,the teacher1 like the preacher1 if there is strong personality and good address1 can ignore many little formalities1 and no one will question it4 ,make the acquaintance of as many of your patrons early in the term as you can4 ,be cordial1 be pleasant1 be brief4 ,do not fawn4 ,do not gush nor bubble over4 ,do not find fault4 ,do not tell all your plans for the year or make glowing promises4 ,be yourself1 but be your best self4 ,do not talk shop all the time4 ,do not talk ,shakespeare1 politics1 religion or the higher criticism4 ,you might soon interest them in the second and third1 but a discussion would probably do you no good4 ,the first and last they probably know little about and care less4 ,your ability to make friends and to mix with people is limited often by your ability to talk to the other person about something in which he is interested4 ,the hardest clam will open if you know how and where to touch it4 ,learn how to shake hands4 ,you are often judged by the handshake4 ,the hand1 the eye1 the voice--these if used properly quickly overcome prejudice and barriers of opposition and build up forces in your favor4 ,if you can shake hands with a firm1 hearty grasp1 meet the eye with frankness and composure1 and speak in a pleasing1 even1 well-modulated1 quieting voice1 you have the strength of ,gibraltar at your back4 ,if you have knowledge and skill and personality and character to back the first impression made by such a combination1 you should be invincible4 ,if your handshake1 however1 is loose and passive1 ,uriah ,heep-like1 if your eyes wander1 and your voice is screechy or faltering1 you should begin at once to overcome these obstacles4 ,they lie in your road to success as a teacher1 and you should lose no time in trying to overcome them4 ,many teachers lack poise4 ,if you prefer1 you may think of it as personality or force of character4 ,whatever term you may use to name it1 it remains true that many teachers lack the ability to command attention and respect1 and to mingle readily among the best business and professional men of the community4 ,it is sometimes want of experience1 it is sometimes want of knowledge1 and breadth of vision4 ,teachers are too often narrow4 ,they do not have the world view of things they should have4 ,it is sometimes bookishness and lack of contact with the practical business side of the world4 ,i am sorry to think that it is sometimes caused by the feeling that the fact you are a teacher is something to be apologized for4 ,teachers are so often inclined to whimper and whine1 to seek to be pitied and petted4 ,they brood over their imaginary troubles4 ,they conclude the world does not properly appreciate their efforts4 ,they want the public to grant them special favors and attentions instead of commanding the respect and attention of the community by weight of their own strength and personality4 ,the teacher should strive first to be a man or a woman in the best sense of the term1 strong mentally1 morally and physically1 with personality and independence1 but without rudeness4 ,he should command respect as a thinking person1 avoid eccentricities and partisan measures1 have opinions of his own1 but without flaunting them in the face of others to provoke combat or opposition4 ,then to the respect due him as a man will come1 if his teaching justifies1 the additional respect due him as a teacher4 ,the teacher should ever be the apostle of education and high thinking1 a living example of the best product of the school and its worth4 ,to be a consistent preacher of right living1 high thinking1 and the power of education in the progress and development of the state1 he himself should be a worthy example4 ,of all persons the teacher should be the champion and the defender of the school and the cause of education4 ,he should be a high example of the best product of the schools and education4 ,his power1 his carriage1 his character1 his thrift1 his independence1 his zeal in good works1 should bear testimony and be the strongest argument for the schools4 ,a genuinely good teacher1 who has the intellectual and moral force to be a man among men1 such a teacher in a few years will create a public sentiment that will demand good schools1 buildings1 equipment and teachers of the best1 in the community in which he teaches4 ,his influence will bear fruit for generations4 ,as long as the teacher is a weakling1 a figure-head1 a crank1 an upstart1 a person whose opinion--if he has one--on business or on the questions of the day would be hooted or laughed at by every level-headed business man of the community1 there is little sentiment for schools or education developed4 ,if the whole energy of the teacher is exhausted in keeping the problems solved in advance of his class1 if his personal appearance1 his carriage1 his address1 his thrift1 and his thoughts are below the average business man of the community1 many of whom have little or no education or school training1 it places the school on the defensive4 ,the hard-headed1 but sober-minded1 man of affairs will look upon the teacher as a fair sample and typical product of the schools1 and will not regret that he lost such opportunities when he was young1 or perhaps he will thank his stars that he did not have such things forced upon him4 ,my contention is that the teacher should be a man or woman of strong personality1 a worthy product of the school1 a person whose judgment and opinion of schools1 of business1 of the questions and the issues of the day would be such that it would be respected by the best people of the community4 ,his opinions should have weight4 ,he should have all the elements that go to make up a successful business career4 ,he should be a man of force and character1 whose influence would be felt in any line he should take up4 ,with such teachers the schools will become what they should be4 ,such teachers will get results--results of the teaching act and results in the material equipment of the schools4 ,buildings will improve1 conditions will improve1 furniture and proper apparatus will be forthcoming4 ,the community will soon begin to look upon the schools as safe investments1 every dollar of which yields golden dividends2 then the community will be generous4 ,when teachers possess the strength1 the force1 the poise1 the diplomacy they should1 good things will follow4 ,some of the criticism and carping about the schools will be changed4 ,it makes my ,scotch-,irish blood to tingle when ,i hear a few of these questions discussed4 ,if it is not the teacher's business to defend the school whose is it8 ,one of these things that should arouse a teacher is the insinuation still met in a few localities and among a few people--the would-be blue-bloods1 with more inheritance of money than brains--that the public schools are pauper schools2 or at least schools for poor people only4 ,such sentiment in free ,america seems to me born of ignorance or treason4 ,i first heard it advocated by a physician1 a native of ,new ,york1 a graduate of a church endowed school and a product of it4 ,his alma mater was supported by the contribution box passed at regular intervals in his church to which many a poor washerwoman contributed a far greater percentage of her earnings each time than the same physician did in a twelve months4 ,yet this good hypocritically pious1 but deluded man1 ridiculed the thought of the state supporting a university at public expense4 ,he kept private tutors to teach his children that they might not have to attend the public school to mix with all 8the rabble10 as he declared4 ,there could not be a better indictment of his own education4 ,he had failed to grasp the spirit of ,american liberty and ,american institutions4 ,his ideas were those of effete aristocracy and wealth4 ,the best lesson his boy may ever learn will be when some son of a washerwoman1 or some poor paper boy or news seller meets him in competition in after life1 and he goes down ignominiously in the contest4 ,the chances are if the contest comes1 and it will come in the present generation or in a near generation1 the sturdy bootblack will win4 ,this same physician did not think himself a partaker of charity by getting his mail at a government postoffice1 by drinking from a public fountain or having his house and lot protected from the lake by ,uncle ,sam's break water4 ,it is the duty of the state to educate4 ,this is not the rich nor the poor1 but all4 ,the state's schools are maintained as a public necessity1 and for the whole people4 ,the patron whose child attends the public school is no more an object of charity or a pauper for that reason than he is for patronizing the postoffice1 using the city paved streets or using the street lamps at night4 ,there are many things the public can do and do much more efficiently than they can be done otherwise4 ,education is one of these things4 ,every man1 woman and child is benefited by good public schools1 the bachelor and the childless family as well as the family of a dozen children4 ,another fallacy often advocated is that the people are not able to support good schools4 ,nothing can have a less foundation in fact4 ,let us think about it4 ,it is a principle that is almost axiomatic that no people can be pauperized by local taxes applied to local purposes4 ,now1 very little of the school taxes ever leaves the immediate community4 ,the teacher is often one of the community1 and many times of the immediate neighborhood4 ,if the teacher is from a distance he usually boards in the neighborhood and spends much of his earnings in the neighborhood4 ,the percentage of his salary that leaves the community is not large4 ,the expense of wood1 repairs1 and supplies are usually spent in the immediate community4 ,the money that leaves the community is1 as a rule1 not as much as the state pays toward the maintenance of the school4 ,no people can be pauperized by the money properly spent on their schools4 ,it is only a short time until the increased earning capacity of the more intelligent citizenship soon begins to pay good dividends on the investment1 even though part of the money should find its way out of the community4 ,when the cry came to us from ,cuba in #ahih1 no one claimed that we were too poor to help4 ,when later disturbances occurred1 we sent our soldiers to maintain peace1 and our secretary of war and assistant secretary of state were sent to restore order4 ,no one said it cost too much4 ,count the cost of our war with ,spain and place against it the money spent in the same time for schools and in fighting ignorance and then say if we are able to have good schools4 ,spend the money to train our young people to future usefulness which is spent in defense against imaginary foreign enemies and the world could not stand against us in a generation4 ,few ,americans but point with pride to our growing navy1 now world famous and we hope effective4 ,the launching of each new war ship is a thrilling event to the nation4 ,the daily papers for weeks tell of its progress and every trifling event is carefully chronicled4 ,count how long the cost of one of these vessels would support one of our state universities4 ,the mission of the university is to build up1 to increase human intelligence and happiness4 ,the mission of the war vessel is to destroy life and property and to make desolate4 ,figure on these things1 and then say whether or not we are too poor to have the best of schools4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,good ,,teaching ,,conditions4 ,the life of the school is the teacher4 ,there is less difference in pupils than in teachers4 ,under a weak teacher pupils will take every advantage they can4 ,under a strong teacher the pupils will behave as well as they can4 ,the difference in rooms is usually a difference in teachers4 ,if the equipment of rooms are the same or practically the same1 and the teacher is not over burdened with pupils1 the spirit and condition of the room will be determined by3 #a4 ,the teacher's ideal of what constitutes good conditions4 #b4 ,the teacher's strength and personality in getting results in conduct and work4 #c4 ,the former training and efficiency of the class4 ,this will be seen more in the matter of attainment than in conduct4 ,i have seen the worst of classes in conduct transformed into a class of good behaviour in three months by a change of teachers4 ,the teacher's ideal of what constitutes good conditions counts for much4 ,this ideal is a composite product1 a result of all the former experiences of the teacher with her natural gifts4 ,training in good schools1 teaching under good conditions1 professional study1 and natural high ideals in life count in one's ideal of school4 ,if the teacher is satisfied with dirty desks and scraps of paper on the floor she will get these conditions4 ,if sloven1 half-executed work suits her she will get it4 ,if disrespect1 sullenness and angry retorts will pass with her she will get them4 ,if she is willing for the boys to whittle on the desks1 they will whittle4 ,to the practiced eye a five-minutes' glance at a school-room will show pretty well the spirit of the teacher and her ability to get results4 ,high ideals of school work coupled with common sense and executive ability will get results4 ,high ideals will prevent you from being satisfied with low standards in conduct or work4 ,common sense will guide you over rough places1 and executive ability will have nerve force4 ,common sense will keep you from attempting the impossible and then worrying because you cannot accomplish it4 ,it will keep you out of difficulties in the school-room and in the community4 ,so many teachers are lacking in this great characteristic of the plain1 honest1 thinking citizen4 ,in a fit of anger they set a punishment impossible to be inflicted and then compromise themselves by withdrawing it4 ,arbitrary rules with no reason behind them often get teachers into trouble4 ,sensible rules1 common sense rules1 rules that would stand the test of good judgment1 judiciously applied1 bring good fruit4 ,setting a specific punishment for all pupils who for any cause go outside the school ground1 locking the doors at a certain time regardless of the weather1 forbidding any pupil from leaving the room1 etc41 the list of arbitrary1 unreasonable rules are many4 ,now we shall agree that a healthy pupil should not have to leave the room once in three months4 ,restrict it1 be positive in the matter1 but do not forbid it1 and then be compelled to vary the rule or do worse4 ,most of the trouble in the school-room comes either from lack of action on the teacher's part or action that is hasty and hence injudicious4 ,the teacher of experience and one who has profited by experience could give numerous cautions to young teachers1 all of which summed up might be the advice to use common sense4 ,among these cautions and suggestions those of most importance might be named as follows3 #a4 ,remember that order in the school-room does not mean deathlike stillness4--,there is the noise of work--a noise pleasing to the ear of the successful teacher1 and the noise of idleness and confusion4 ,the first is as inspiring to a good teacher as the second is discouraging4 ,the stillness that comes through fear of punishment may be the worst of conditions4 ,under routine drill to quietness under the eagle eye of a so-called disciplinarian1 the pupils are often on the borderland of anarchy4 ,they have never learned the lesson of self-control nor the reasons for good behaviour4 ,order means opportunity for effective work4 ,the mind of the pupil and the mind of the teacher in perfect contact2 this is order4 ,when a pupil is preparing his lesson the author or text becomes the teacher1 and there must be perfect unity between his mind and the thought of the text4 ,order1 good order1 permits this4 ,anything that disturbs this contact is detrimental to the school and is that far poor order4 ,the criterion1 then1 for the teacher as to what constitutes good order is how nearly are conditions perfect for proper contact of the minds of the pupil and the teacher4 #b4 ,do not lose your head4--,composure counts for more perhaps in the school-room than elsewhere4 ,a nervous teacher makes a nervous school4 ,teachers sometimes pace the floor like a wild animal in a cage4 ,learn the art of sitting to hear a recitation without becoming lazy4 ,stand with composure when you stand4 ,if you cannot govern yourself you will find it hard to govern others4 ,too many teachers are afraid there will be disorder4 ,they can neither sit nor stand with composure during a recitation4 ,they fidget and make the pupils fidgety4 ,they watch the bad boy suspiciously4 ,they walk back to his desk repeatedly to see if he is in mischief instead of waiting with composure1 and if he does get into mischief punishing him for it4 ,if you show that you expect a boy to be bad he will seldom disappoint you4 8,look for goodness1 look for gladness1 ,you will find them all the while40 ,many1 many times have ,i heard teachers say to pupils1 8,sit down and be still10 when ,i wanted to say to them1 8,go and do the same thing40 #c4 ,in the long run pupils will give you the respect you deserve4--,if you think you have the meanest pupils in the world they will not disappoint you4 ,if you treat the pupils with firmness1 and courtesy and respect they usually return to you in kind4 ,when after a few months the majority of your pupils do not respect you1 and have confidence in you1 begin to examine yourself4 ,in changing teachers1 especially if your predecessor has been popular1 you may for a few weeks feel that the pupils are not in sympathy with you4 ,tact and good judgment will win them if you have wearing qualities4 ,do not resent their feeling of respect for the former teacher4 ,try to be worthy their respect1 and when you leave they will regret your leaving just as much4 #d4 ,the teacher who has ceased to learn becomes a phonograph1 and can do nothing but repeat4--,when you have something fresh1 something new to you1 something worth while to bring to the recitation1 do you know how anxious you are for the time to come4 ,the very gleam of the eye tells to pupils that you have a message for them4 ,you cannot have the enthusiasm that appeals to childhood and continue to depend upon an old stock of goods4 #e4 ,you will find the school-room a good barometer4--,when ,i began teaching1 bad days came and ,i worried about it4 ,things went wrong1 lessons were not well prepared1 boys got into trouble on the playground1 and girls were idle4 ,i was often in despair4 ,but perhaps the very next day was a delightful one4 ,everything went so well that ,i disliked for night to come4 ,it took me several terms before ,i found out the relation of the weather to conduct1 but it exists4 ,the weather barometer that hangs on your wall is little better in its predictions of change than are the careful observations of the conduct of the pupils4 ,ask a dozen teachers at night how the day passed1 and see what a majority will vote the same way4 ,a bright morning1 clouds gather and thicken--a bad day4 ,clearing weather--good work in the school-room4 ,observe if it is true4 #f4 ,a pleasing voice1 freshness and vivacity in the teacher1 quickens and inspires the class4--,her questions come as if she were really seeking information4 ,they are crisp and to the point4 ,the answers are cheery as if they were meant to impart information and not simply to tell something already known4 ,her face beams at a good answer1 making the pupil believe he has done his teacher a favor by imparting the information4 ,a cheery smile and a quick question that in its answer shows the error in the first follows a wrong reply4 ,discussions are bright and animated1 and full of life1 but always respectful and courteous4 ,she is in strong contrast to the teacher that talks and talks in a monotonous tone until half the class are sleepy and the others thinking about everything else save the subject she is trying to explain4 ,one draws out information and stimulates thought4 ,the other pours in second-hand information and deadens thought4 ,one sharpens intellect4 ,the other dulls it4 #g4 ,proper seating and grouping pupils1 the calling of classes1 the distribution of wraps1 the collection of papers1 the passing of classes1 the dismission of school at recess and at night1 the answering of questions1 the passing of pupils from the room or across the floor--all these do much to make or mar the school4--,a well-arranged program that indicates not only the time and order of the recitation but of the study period as well will help4 ,teachers make woeful failures often from no other cause but that they fail to plan carefully in advance just what to do1 how to do it and when to do it4 #h4 ,the afternoon dismission to the careful observer is a fair index not only of the day but the teacher's grasp of her school4--,teachers often hurry to dismiss the children1 anxious to be rid of the responsibility4 ,the pupils rush from the door with a jump and a shout as boisterous as a wild group of ,comanche ,indians4 ,of all the periods of the day1 the one just before dismission is the one when the teacher should show most composure and deliberation4 ,of all the periods of the day1 the pupils are most at the teacher's mercy4 ,let them understand that quiet and decorum precede dismission4 ,if it requires one minute1 ten minutes or half an hour1 let them know that no lines pass until all is quiet and orderly4 ,then at the customary signals1 the lines pass quietly1 orderly1 respectfully4 #i4 ,running1 jumping1 or boisterous conduct in the school-room is never in place4--,the school-room should be looked upon as a pleasant workshop1 not a skating rink or vaudeville theater4 ,best results always come where pupils are decorous in the room at all times4 ,quiet1 homelike conversation is in place1 but no rude or boisterous conduct at any time unless you expect to pay the penalty with interest in days to come4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,keeping ,,good ,,conditions4 ,your school began in ,september4 ,your pupils returned to school1 most of them glad vacation was over4 ,they entered with high resolves to make this year of work the best they had ever done4 ,if you made a good beginning1 the first few weeks of school strengthened these resolutions in many of your pupils4 ,if you planned your work well each week1 if your program was thoughtfully prepared1 if you assigned lessons carefully1 and if by your every act you showed without stating it that you were master of the situation and that you knew what you wanted to do1 how you wanted it done1 and why you wanted it done1 the first few weeks of the term passed pleasantly1 and well begun may not be half done1 as the adage goes1 but it counts for much4 ,october's frost has now painted the landscape a myriad hue1 and ,november's hazy days are fast approaching4 ,the novelty of school is beginning to dull4 ,pupils have grown used to the new teacher and stand no longer in such awe4 ,the truth is that for both teacher and pupils1 school has settled down to the real thing4 ,some of the high resolves of the opening of the term are beginning to weaken under the regular routine of school work4 ,dropping nuts have overcome the good resolution of a few1 and they have missed a day or two to lay up the winter's stock4 ,missing will be much easier now for these pupils the rest of the year4 ,some of the larger boys who remained at home to sow the wheat and help gather the corn are now entering4 ,in the main they are good boys1 worthy boys1 boys whose greatest ambition is to work faithfully in school as well as on the farm1 but their entrance has broken into the class organization and unity4 ,the teacher and the pupils from now on recognize the school as a genuine business4 ,the real problem of government begins to face the teacher4 ,then1 too1 school interest must not begin to drag1 or else the holiday spirit will overbalance school spirit4 ,unless there is genuine interest some1 often many1 may become so infatuated with ,santa ,claus that they cannot study1 and begin holiday vacation early4 ,lost time is hard to recover1 and lost interest at the middle of a term is seldom completely restored4 ,let us trust that your beginning was good4 ,it is far easier to form than to reform4 ,definite standards of conduct1 order and system1 good common sense rules and regulations1 good judgment1 a knowledge of boys and girls1 insight into the spirit and motives that prompt actions in young people1 frankness and honesty with pupils1 and above all the saving grace in the teacher of a sense of humor and the knowledge of the purifying and vivifying power of a hearty laugh--if you have understood these and exercised them from the first day1 reforms will not be necessary4 ,still followed faithfully1 they serve as correctives and prevent the necessity of reforms later4 ,how then may the teacher keep conditions good8 ,what are the things to guard against in order to keep the school atmosphere wholesome1 the interest good1 and the conduct up to the standard8 ,there are a few cautions which every teacher of experience would give the young teacher4 ,these watched well and the teacher will grow in the power to govern and instruct4 ,they will be found the key to a good school4 ,while they do not cover all points1 no teacher ever succeeded thoroughly and yet neglected many of them1 and no teacher is a complete failure if many of them are in every way successful4 ,perhaps in naming some of these ,i may restate a few things mentioned in the chapter just preceding4 #a4 ,you must have good order4--,not simply quiet but intelligent quietness4 ,children are controlled by internal and external motives4 ,appeal to the former always1 but be ready to use the latter should the former fail4 ,you must govern your pupils else they will run away with you4 ,if you are weak they will take every advantage of you they think they dare to take4 ,do not blame the children if your room is littered1 desks marked and marred and scratched--they will soon learn to do it if you are a negative quantity4 ,they will never do it if you are the positive force you should be4 ,can you leave your room for ten minutes or half an hour and return to find things moving on with proper decorum and orderly manner8 ,if you cannot do this1 why not8 ,the best teachers can do it4 ,a class whose former record had been bad1 in two weeks' time under another teacher were entirely trustworthy1 and during a ten months' term were never known to do a disorderly act1 though the teacher was frequently out of the room4 ,where the power8 ,where the fault8 ,it can be done4 ,good order implies that each pupil is able to do his best work at any or all times without annoyance or external disturbance from others4 ,some pupils may be idle1 but their idleness must not be catching4 ,it must not disturb those who want to work4 ,this is to be your criterion4 ,make it a constant study how this and the other may affect the proper work of your pupils4 ,this will answer as well as it can be answered what you may permit and what you cannot permit in your school4 ,good order in the recitation demands that the mind of the teacher and the pupils' minds must focus upon the same thought4 ,this is the basis of all school rules4 ,how does it affect the unity of mind of the teacher and the class8 ,if it tends to unity it is good4 ,if it tends to destroy unity1 it is bad1 and should not be allowed4 ,if it is incompatible with unity it should at once be forbidden4 ,let the young teacher learn to measure conduct by this standard1 and she will soon solve the various perplexing questions1 little in themselves but big to her4 8,shall ,i permit whispering80 8,shall ,i permit a child to get a drink during school hours80 8,shall ,i stop a recitation to reprimand a bad boy80 ,the best answer is found in the criterion--do that which will result in the closest possible contact between the mind of the teacher and the mind of the pupils in class4 ,of course1 in the application of the above principle we must often choose between two evils4 ,but the criterion is a good guide4 ,if the conduct of the pupil will disturb the mental unity of the class and teacher more during the recitation than the reprimand1 by all means stop the recitation and give the reprimand4 ,be sure1 however1 that you give the reprimand so effectively that it will seldom or never have to be repeated while the pupil comes to school to you4 #b4 ,guard well your recess4--,it is a critical time for the teacher4 ,often it may be even detrimental to the school4 ,it is in many ways the test of the teacher's power to govern4 ,if she has quick insight into child nature she may get some of the deepest glances at the real nature of the pupils--the best and the worst traits of character--at this period4 ,much of the disorder of the school-room has its origin at recess4 ,the playground and the open-air are the places for games and sports4 ,the school-room may be a place for relaxation and reasonable conversation and jest1 but if you value peace of mind and good conditions for school work1 never1 never let it become a place for games1 boisterous conduct1 or running and jumping at recess4 ,pupils should from the first day enter the school room as though it were sacred ground1 dedicated to cheerful1 pleasant1 profitable work4 ,i do not mean that there should be a long face and a woebegone expression upon entering the school-room1 but the feeling of frivolity and boisterousness must be laid aside4 ,running and jumping and boisterous conduct in the room at recess makes the pupils familiar with such conduct until it is no longer shocking to them when repeated after recess4 ,there should be a feeling of impressiveness but cheerfulness upon entering the school-room which is conducive to study and right conduct4 ,much of the sacredness1 the calm1 restful sweetness which comes to us upon entering the church would be lost if all kinds of noisy games and boisterous carousals were indulged in before the opening of the church service4 ,the teachers should be at school at least half an hour before the time for opening school4 ,if the teacher is habitually late she should reform or resign4 ,the noisy disorder and pandemonium that so often reigns in the school-room when the teacher is late is detrimental to school during the day and often for days4 ,some of the worst disturbances of the school will be prevented if the teacher is first to reach the building in the morning4 ,if pupils bring lunch and remain at school during the noon hour the teacher should remain also4 ,one teacher at least should remain during the noon hour4 ,the extra work and tax on the teacher during this time is far less than the nerve force required to set things right that will happen during the year if she is absent4 ,proper decorum must be insisted upon when pupils enter the room after intermissions4 ,all racing and shouting and games should stop at the first tap of the bell4 ,the pupils then prepare to enter the room4 ,this will depend upon the size1 location and entrance of the building4 ,in cities and larger towns where hundreds of pupils must be handled1 the regular march may be necessary4 ,in smaller schools1 falling into line without regard to grade may be all that is necessary4 ,in schools of middle size pupils may fall into line by grades4 ,at a second signal1 after all is quiet1 the lines pass to the rooms in good order1 the boys removing their hats at the door as if they were entering the home or a church4 ,no pushing1 shoving or racing is permitted4 ,the teacher who tries and is persistent and uniform about it1 can by her kindness and conduct1 readily secure this order and decorum without seeming to force it4 #c4 ,be systematic and orderly in calling and dismissing classes4--,no teacher can long maintain order and decorum in the school-room without some system in calling and dismissing classes4 ,one of the most signal failures ,i ever knew--a normal school and university graduate too--could be traced largely to his lack of system in calling and dismissing classes4 ,as one class was dismissed the next started to the recitation seat and without signal4 ,they raced1 and scrambled and rushed for certain favorite positions4 ,they came pell-mell1 hurry-scurry1 each trying to get there first1 and it never seemed to dawn upon the teacher that there was a better way or that the disorder bred here hung about the work of the school like a millstone4 ,each pupil should have a definite position for the recitation4 ,if the room is arranged so that there are separate recitation seats the pupil's position in class will be determined by3 #a4 ,the location of the pupil's desk and his natural place in the line as the class passes to recitation4 #b4 ,the kind of classmate with which he will be thrown at recitation4 ,some pupils are so congenial that if thrown near each other in the recitation1 neither seem to be able to behave4 ,two boys1 reasonably good when separated1 may not be able to sit near one another without kicking1 pinching and whispering4 ,be sure that they are separated in recitation4 ,good order in the recitation1 like good order in the study period1 is often influenced by the teacher's good judgment in seating pupils4 ,there should be a definite signal for calling classes4 ,it may be a gentle tap of the bell1 a rap of the pencil1 or by calling 8,one0 by the teacher4 ,i have always preferred the latter4 ,the teacher may then call the class from any position in the room4 ,at the signal the pupils begin to get ready to rise1 if the class is to pass to the recitation seat4 ,if the recitation is to be in the study seat1 all books1 papers1 pencils1 etc41 not needed in the recitation are laid aside at this signal4 ,the second signal1 8,two0 is given1 and each pupil stands quietly by his desk1 each knowing in which aisle he is to stand4 ,after all have risen1 a third signal1 8,three0 is given1 and each passes quietly to his place in class1 and at a gentle nod of the head of the teacher or a fourth signal all are quietly seated4 ,if the recitation is to be at the study desks all books1 pencils and papers not needed in the recitation must be laid aside4 ,these are always disorder breeders1 and serve only to distract attention4 ,flowers in the springtime may often become a nuisance1 as they come too often between the pupil's mind and the lesson4 ,the same is true of perfumed cards and numerous other innocent looking little things4 ,the same plan of calling a class may be used in dismissing it4 ,after the class is seated1 give ample time for them to get all necessary books and papers for preparing the next lesson before calling the next class4 ,never seem to be in a hurry4 ,have your classes follow directions promptly1 but haste is waste of time4 #d4 ,train yourself to pleasant tones of voice and composure4--,perhaps the teacher's voice is one of the strongest elements that go to make up that which we call personality4 ,even tones quiet and soothe4 ,guttural tones1 harsh1 rasping1 high-keyed tones grate upon the ear and get disorder4 ,your command should be gentle1 but none the less firm4 ,believe in your own ability to govern4 ,unless you can do this you are apt to fail4 ,give every command in pleasing tones1 courteously1 firmly1 never letting the voice show doubt or fear that it will not be obeyed4 ,a sharp1 rasping command with the faintest lack of self-confidence breeds contempt and leads to a trial of strength4 ,if teachers could hear themselves for a day1 repeated with the exact inflection by the phonograph1 many of them would cease to wonder why their rooms are noisy4 ,composure in actions1 along with firmness of voice1 gentle tones and decision of character makes the teacher master of the situation4 ,they make or mar the teacher's record4 ,given these with enthusiasm and you should have no serious trouble in keeping conditions good in your school after you have made a good start4 ,your term is usually pretty well established by the time it is half over4 ,your success is determined by that time4 ,the first good resolutions have been strengthened and become well fixed4 ,you have shown your ability or lack of it in keeping conditions good1 and the rest of the year should1 if this is good1 pass without much to discourage4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 ,,what ,,makes ,a ,,good ,,school8 ,in an institute of something over a hundred teachers1 nearly all of them comparatively young in the work1 ,i was once asked to give a ten-minutes' talk on what makes a good school4 ,i am glad that ,i was1 not because anything which ,i said was so helpful to the young teachers1 but because it set me thinking by what things ,i judge teachers and the school4 ,my notes show the following points1 although ,i am not sure of the exact wording of the talk3 #a4 ,the teachers and the pupils of a good school should be happy4--,a good digestion1 a clear conscience1 and reasonable success are three things that should make any man or woman happy4 ,a healthy child has the first and second1 and their ideas and hopes and ambitions of success are and should be at school age very largely wrapped up in the successes of the school and the home4 ,if the teacher is unhappy the school becomes unhappy4 ,a low nervous state1 indigestion1 worry either about school or other things1 trouble in the home1 sorrow over friends or family1 uneasiness about financial matters or anything that saps the energy or spoils the sleep of the teacher1 is detrimental to the school4 ,anything that disturbs the majority or even a considerable minority of pupils interferes with the school4 ,if the teacher is thoroughly discouraged over school work or if a very large percentage of the pupils are displeased with the teacher after the first month1 there can be no whole-souled1 happy work and conditions in the school4 ,if you or any considerable number of your pupils are unhappy1 try if possible to remove the cause4 ,your results in teaching will be infinitely better1 the work will be less taxing to you1 you and the pupils will get more out of life at the time and more out of life in the future if all are happy in the school-room4 ,to the practiced eye five minutes will tell whether the work is a work of pleasure to teacher and pupils or whether it is a task to both4 #b4 ,the whole atmosphere of the school must be conducive to good work4--,while the teacher and the pupils are happy it should be that quiet happiness that makes for good work4 ,children may be boisterously happy4 ,the idea of a good time with many boys is the loudest noise they can make4 ,it is the quiet1 composed happiness springing from interesting work well done that gives the best atmosphere of the school4 ,it is the spirit1 the atmosphere1 the social or psychological conditions growing out of the relations existing in the school that gives life to the school and that educates in the broadest sense4 ,this is intangible and invisible1 but it is easily discerned1 and to the discriminating principal or superintendent it will form very largely his basis for judging the teacher and the school4 ,in associations with visiting principals in my own school and in visiting other principals1 a frank estimate has often been given of the relative success of teachers4 ,it is surprising often how the visiting principal can in five minutes rate a teacher1 and this rating will in the main agree with the regular principal4 ,the practiced eye of the principal should1 like the practiced eye of the physician1 see more in a minute than the unskilled would in a month4 ,for my own part ,i trust very largely to the spirit and atmosphere existing in a room1 the social echo of the school1 and it is only occasionally that ,i am far wrong4 #c4 ,the personality of the teacher and its influence on the school4--,does she know what to do1 does she know how to do it1 does she have the dignity to get this done promptly and well without it ever entering the mind of a pupil to question its propriety or her ability to get it done8 ,your personality should be strong enough that it is rare indeed that any pupil dare to dispute your authority and then you should have weight of character enough to prevent open rebellion4 ,the personality of the teacher1 like the atmosphere of the school1 is intangible4 ,someone has said that personality is 8cultured individuality40 ,it is individuality with the corners ground off and polished4 ,it is the individuality that gets results without fighting for it4 ,it does not offend in taste1 in physique1 or personal bearing4 ,it is the personality that pleases and yet makes the pupil1 the parent1 or the public to hesitate before it dares express a criticism4 ,the personality of the teacher reaches the outward as well as the inward4 ,it is read in the teacher's dress and bearing4 ,no teacher can afford to neglect her dress and personal appearance4 ,dress need not be costly1 but it should be in taste4 ,to the lady teacher1 a becoming dress1 a spotless collar1 an appropriate ribbon1 hair neatly brushed1 teeth white as pearl1 nails immaculate as ivory--these are potent influences and will win over thoughtless boys and careless girls when all the switches in a mile square1 and other means of punishment known to the modern school1 would fail4 ,spotless attire is essential to the lady teacher1 but a man will find it of scarcely less importance4 ,there must be no suggestion of the dude and the dandy1 but clean linen1 well kept hands and nails1 clean teeth1 uncontaminated breath1 clothing that fits and is free from dandruff and dust--everything of the gentleman but nothing of the dude--these will count in your personality and go to determine the worth of your school4 #d4 ,the good school has interest and enthusiasm1 but it must not be of the soap-bubble variety4--,if you have the first insight into human nature1 if you know the first thing about swaying pupils in mass1 you know that it is easy to waste energy1 get up steam and chase fleeting phantoms in school1 make a tempest in a teapot1 and be no farther along at the end of the year educationally than at the beginning4 ,the faddist in the school-room1 the teacher that periodically discovers the coveted panacea that will relieve the pupils from all good1 old-fashioned1 hard work1 is as dangerous as the demagogue in politics4 ,interest and enthusiasm should be well directed4 ,sanity should guide it4 ,it should drive toward a worthy goal1 it should be tempered by rationality and common sense4 ,the interest should as soon as possible be transferred to self interest4 ,one of the most enthusiastic teachers ,i ever knew was of the hypnotic1 spellbinding kind4 ,pupils waved their hands1 snapped their fingers1 and jumped up and down in their eagerness to tell what they knew of a topic4 ,strange to many--not strange to the man who knew something of good teaching--very1 very few of the pupils of this teacher either continued school after the graded school course or took much interest in self-directed study or reading in after life4 #e4 ,in a good school the teacher loves the work4--,we have much unrest in teaching4 ,for years teachers have been inviting dissatisfaction4 ,they have brooded over fancied evils1 poor salaries1 and lack of tenure of position1 until the great mass of them have become infected4 ,in teaching as in other things1 if you look up the stars will guide you1 if you look down the sewer may beckon4 ,the young teacher often does the best work because she is happy and contented with her lot in the first school4 ,when she begins to tire with teaching1 when she begins to look forward to the time when she can get more congenial work--in the store1 in the office1 or possibly in the home--she grows more and more dissatisfied with school1 she grumbles more and more about low salaries1 an unappreciative public and bad children4 ,in a good school the teacher is in love with her work and feels that for the time being nothing would tempt her to leave it4 #f4 ,a good school will have a well-arranged program giving not only the recitation periods but the study periods as well4--,systematic study is essential4 ,as a university student ,i found my time planned until at certain times each day ,i found myself wanting to take up certain studies4 ,just as one may become hungry at their usual time of eating1 so should one come to desire to do work at certain times4 ,too much variation of a program weakens it in the minds of the children4 ,this program should be prepared with thought and care4 ,there should be a proper balance of study4 ,here is where good judgment in the relative value of studies is shown4 ,i visited a sixth grade once where as much time was used each day on spelling as upon any other study4 ,now ,i believe in spelling4 ,i believe we are neglecting spelling1 but ,i cannot think it is worth as much and is justified in having as much time in the sixth year as any other study of the school course1 surely not if the proper amount of attention to spelling has been given in the first five years4 #g4 ,in a good school the modern studies--music1 drawing1 manual training and domestic science--will be recognized4--,the two last will be needed worse in some schools than others4 ,the old-fashioned home life is fast disappearing4 ,whether this is better or worse is not ours to discuss4 ,the fact is that under the modern trend pupils are not taught to do the homely and valuable tasks that was so common forty years ago4 ,then the boy made his sled1 his wagon1 his hobby horse1 and his ball bat4 ,now he buys them and loses the greatest good of all1 the skill and the development in making them4 ,he got his manual training then in his home life1 now1 except on the farm1 he gets scarcely any of such training1 and must depend upon the initiative of the school1 else go forever without it4 ,the girl then was busy with helping her mother in the house work4 ,she learned to cook1 to sew1 to make quilts1 to wash1 iron1 and scrub4 ,in other words1 she got a complete and efficient training in domestic science in her own home1 and often had not only the practice in doing it but had an intense liking for it4 ,much is changed now4 ,the school must come to the demands and needs of the time and give the girl some touch with1 respect for1 and knowledge of this essential work or she never gets it4 ,music is more an intellectual and cultural subject4 ,it needs no defense4 ,the time is coming1 and let us hope before many generations1 when as nearly all the people can sing ordinary music as can read the ordinary book4 ,drawing1 not necessarily the decorative art which so often is called drawing1 needs no justification4 ,it leads to closer observation1 it is needed in the practical affairs of life1 it develops so many of the powers of the mind that as a cultural study it needs no defense4 ,a good school will recognize these modern studies4 ,in the country1 the manual training may go more to the farmer's needs1 it may be more closely allied to agriculture than in the cities4 ,school gardening is far more essential to the city child1 however1 than to the country4 ,in the crowded districts of the city1 it is a rest and recreation together with intense interest in a new and valuable line of thought to tend the small school vegetable garden4 ,in the country1 or in the city district1 where each pupil has a vegetable garden at home1 and where the father often is skilled in the work of furnishing vegetables for the market1 the school garden is not worth the time and energy put upon it4 ,like fashions in hats and dress the teacher who feels that she must be up-to-date1 must follow the fads and fashions of ,new ,york1 ,chicago1 ,washington and other places regardless of the difference in conditions1 will have pupils spend an hour a day in tending a vegetable garden when they had better be sent home to help their parents to tend the family garden4 ,the modern studies1 however1 must be kept in their legitimate place4 ,when manual training has for its avowed purpose the making of a carpenter or a mechanic1 when the study becomes strictly practical instead of educational1 it is out of the proper province of the common school4 ,even the high school is not to make doctors1 lawyers1 clerks1 mechanics1 but to make thinking men and women1 who then can with time and direction soon develop into these others4 ,the very purpose of the school is to give in a large measure those things that have very little connection with the later life of the individual4 ,the increased power to think1 to analyze1 to understand1 the higher ideals of life1 the hopes1 the aspirations1 the ability to see the world in a broader light and from a wider horizon--these are the essential things after all4 ,to save the boy from his dwarfing environment1 to kindle in him ambitions and desires1 to give him broader views of life without making him unreasonably discontent with his own lot is the great purpose of the school4 ,his life will be narrow enough in his little niche without making his school training narrow him still more4 ,the most impractical of the so-called practical men often want every lesson in school to be a lesson to save the time of apprenticeship instead of a lesson to develop higher thinking power4 #h4 ,in a good school the teacher or teachers will be professional4--,they will have studied the problems of the school and have high ideas and ideals of what it should be and of its place in the development of the life of the child4 ,they will look on the purpose of the school1 and hold to these essentials even at risk of the criticism of faddists4 ,a thorough educator refused a principalship at a better salary4 ,when asked why1 he replied that the qualities the board were looking for must be found in a carpenter1 a football coach1 and a peanut vender1 and as he did not desire a position along either of these lines1 it would not be worth while to accept a position requiring special qualifications along all of these lines4 ,eight hours a week was to be devoted to manual training4 ,he could use say a plane and a hammer very well1 but he had never had any desire to become a carpenter1 else he would have taken it up4 ,he was expected to take charge of the boys' athletics1 having daily drills and preparing them for the annual festivities4 ,he cared little for sport1 and believed the playground should be distinctly the place for self-initiative of pupils1 feeling that the greatest lessons of school life came from the fact that pupils here were left free from the direction of teachers so that they might have some chance at self-direction4 ,the third requirement was that he should be able to drill vaudeville school plays1 sell popcorn1 peanuts1 lemonade and other similar things to procure funds for decorating the school1 improving the grounds and furnishing money for athletic sports4 ,if he was to take up commercial life as a serious matter1 he preferred to go into business4 ,these three lines absorbing most of his time and sapping his energies made him prefer to remain where the thought and energy of the principal was directed to the development of mind and character4 ,in many schools the demand is for the carpenter1 the football coach1 and the peanut vender combined for principal rather than the man who sees the deeper problems of mental development4 #i4 ,the teacher or teachers should be loyal to their school4--,the teacher who teaches in a district or school where she from any cause dislikes the place1 will not teach her best school4 ,in cities some teachers teach in certain districts only under protest1 and never do their best work4 ,i should not seek to hold a teacher in my school when ,i knew she was deeply dissatisfied with me or the school4 ,her work would be forced1 and she would unconsciously put less enthusiasm into it4 ,just as the pupils should love their school and their teacher and feel that they would not exchange it for any other school1 so should the teacher feel that her lot is well cast4 ,the patrons should be as loyal to the school and the teacher as the teacher is to the school4 ,loyalty of teacher1 pupils and patrons1 will make a prosperous and successful school4 #aj4 ,a good school is properly heated1 lighted1 ventilated and carefully looked after by a trusty janitor4--,thousands of eyes are ruined yearly by poor light1 pupils are injured in health by poor heating and ventilation4 ,the care of the building counts for so much4 ,proper janitor work is as necessary as any other work4 ,it is hard to keep clean and live in a hog pen4 ,it is hard to think elevating thoughts and live in dirt and dust and cobwebs4 ,the schools1 the churches and the hotels are the best advertising agents of any neighborhood4 ,a good school near by often increases the market value of a farm from ten to twenty dollars an acre4 ,the same is true of a church4 ,the best class of emigrants1 the best citizens who want to buy a farm to live on and to cultivate do not care to go to localities where there is not a majority1 a strong1 working1 active majority of the people interested1 vitally interested1 in such things4 ,environment makes the price of property4 ,the neighborhood of good schools and good churches is worth more per square rod than the neighborhood which is content to let its children be educated in a building fit only for a sheep shed or to attend a dilapidated church4 #aa4 ,the good school has decorations for its walls4--,these silent but effective teachers grow into the lives of the pupils4 ,simplicity1 plainness1 but good taste should be the test of the school decorations4 ,get good pictures--not necessarily costly ones--get good1 plain1 but artistic frames1 select pictures that appeal to children1 and yet are artistic1 and let them be hung in good taste on the wall4 ,do not overcrowd1 study the simple and the artistic in arrangement4 ,in selecting1 do not forget the value of the portrait as a school picture4 ,washington1 the father of his country2 ,lincoln1 true and noble1 a man of the common people2 ,longfellow1 poet beloved by all2 the list is a long one--these features looking down daily grow into the lives of the pupils4 ,then landscape views1 ,landseer's animals1 pictures of homes and famous paintings1 the list is almost endless4 ,to these may be added a few good statues4 ,good taste in the selection and the funds to buy with will make any school-room what it should be as to decorations4 ,these are some of the first things that ,i should look for in judging a school4 ,buildings and grounds and numerous other things cannot be touched upon4 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,ten ,,time ,,killers4 ,school time is precious4 ,each minute should count4 ,the formation of correct habits is the greatest end of school work4 ,surely then the proper use of time is essential to a successful school4 ,we lose time in so many ways4 ,it often looks as if teachers tried to waste time purposely4 ,we cultivate lazy habits in pupils by letting things drag4 ,they learn to snooze over their lessons1 to grope about mentally1 to allow their minds to wander to irrelevant things1 to put off until the last minute what should be done promptly and well4 ,the teacher should not seem to hurry4 ,the intense nervous tension sometimes found is detrimental4 ,but the school-room should be a workshop in which pupils are intelligently and profitably busy4 ,they should be happy in their work1 but they should be working4 ,the work should be done well1 this brings even to little children the feeling of satisfaction1 the feeling that it is worth while in school4 ,the work should be intelligent1 educative work4 ,in the modern school the strength and worth of the teacher and the principal is shown in the intelligence and breadth of view with which the school work is selected4 ,we are going wild on busy work4 ,interest is an essential to profitable work1 but all work in which the teacher may get up interest and enthusiasm may not be profitable work4 ,to say that because pupils are easily interested in raffia weaving1 sewing1 manual training1 etc41 does not necessarily prove that these subjects are essential to the best development4 ,the child's interest is usually a borrowed interest1 at least is often a borrowed interest4 ,you could get up just as much interest in building a snow man1 in jumping the rope1 in rolling rocks down a hill or splashing water in the brook as in the raffia work or domestic science4 ,it requires more than the fact that children may be made to like a subject to justify its use in school4 ,the pupils should be busy and busy at intelligent1 educative work4 ,they should be happy in that work4 ,happiness usually comes from the feeling of doing something1 and doing this thing well4 ,but let us notice some of the time killers4 ,they are numerous4 ,the ten mentioned below are probably the most common among young teachers1 although it is not assumed that the list is complete4 #a4 ,lack of definite plans for the day4--,for the teacher who has never made definite plans for her daily work1 it is hard for her to understand the loss of time and energy--time and energy on the part of the pupils and even more so1 time and energy on the part of the teacher4 ,you should1 from the course of study1 know what is expected of the grade in a term4 ,divide this by the number of months you have to teach4 ,look over the work carefully1 examine the text-book1 note what supplementary work you think the text will need4 ,then at the beginning of each month write out briefly1 but specifically1 what you want the class to do each week of the month4 ,with this general outline before you1 work out in advance each day's program for the first week4 ,at the end of the week prepare in the same way each day's program for the second week1 etc4 ,it will take but a few minutes1 and it will be profitable minutes to you and to the class4 ,if you find that you cannot do the work planned for the month1 do not worry about it1 but do well as much of it as you can and pass the rest over to the next month4 ,if you find you can complete the work of the month well1 and have extra time1 do not by any means keep the class marking time and waiting4 ,take up the work of the next month4 ,the important thing is that you set yourself and your class a certain task--,i do not mean to imply that it is an unpleasant task--for each month1 each week and each day of the week4 ,this lesson plan made at times of leisure or when the mind is free to consider the work as a unit will be a criterion for judging your own progress with the class and will be a valuable guide in planning how best to present the subjects to the class4 ,it will save you much time and energy and worry at the recitation periods when everything must be centered on the work before you4 #b4 ,by allowing slovenly work4--,i believe that from one to two hours a week are lost in the fifth1 sixth1 seventh and eighth years1 in the subject of arithmetic alone1 because the pupils in the first four years are not properly drilled in the four fundamental processes of addition1 subtraction1 multiplication and division4 ,there should be snap and vim and hustle in the early number work4 ,the tables should be learned and learned thoroughly4 ,pupils should be drilled in rapid combinations4 ,it may be well to know how to develop the multiplication table1 but knowing how to develop it will never take the place of knowing it4 ,time is wasted in developing in early number work when it should be used in knowing1 in thorough committing to memory4 ,when asked how many seven times seven1 the child should answer forty-nine as quickly and with as little hesitation as if asked his own name4 ,the drill should be so perfect the mental response is instantaneous4 #c4 ,by rusty machinery4--,there are many things about the school that must be looked upon as the machinery of the school4 ,order and decorum are great time savers1 but red-tape for its own sake is to be avoided4 ,keep your thoughts centered on what you want done and how this can be done with least loss of time4 ,i was at the opening of a famous normal school a few years ago4 ,the freshman class was to be divided into three sections4 ,two teachers1 normal teachers too--teachers whose very methods are supposed to be worthy models--spent over forty minutes in making the division4 ,it was tiresome to the class and tiresome to me to observe4 ,in less than ten minutes ,i should have passed about pointing to each student numbering as ,i pointed1 8first10 8second10 8third10 8first10 8second10 8third10 etc4 ,then ,i should have asked all those numbered 8first0 to take one part of the assembly room4 ,all numbered 8second0 to take another4 ,all those numbered 8third0 to take another4 ,then in ten minutes more by passing slips of paper ,i should have had the names and addresses of each and the class could have been dismissed4 ,time is wasted in the passing of classes1 the distribution of wraps1 collecting of papers and necessary school movements4 ,teachers often lose from two to five minutes by a clumsy method of collecting or distributing papers4 ,i saw a good part of a recitation period lost recently by a teacher in a city school where ,i was visiting4 ,she wanted the composition papers collected and redistributed4 ,there seemed to be no system or forethought either in collecting or redistributing1 several pupils getting their own papers back for correction4 ,some such plan as follows would have saved time1 energy and discipline3 8,time40 ,all pupils stop work and sit in easy1 graceful positions4 8,papers to the right40 ,each places the paper to the right side of the desk where the monitors can reach it easily4 8,collect40 ,pupils in back row of seats acting as monitors quickly and quietly collect the papers in regular order to the front4 8,exchange40 ,monitors exchange papers in some regular order4 8,redistribute40 ,monitors pass back to their seat1 placing a paper on each pupil's desk as they pass4 ,with these five simple directions the compositions could have been collected and redistributed for correction4 ,no time is lost4 ,there is no noise or confusion4 ,the very matter of collecting helps in order and decorum4 ,oil up the machinery of your school-room and see if you cannot gain from ten to twenty minutes each day and at the same time get better results4 #d4 ,lack of scholarship4--,if a teacher has ballast and good judgment1 no amount of well-organized knowledge will hurt her4 ,narrow vision1 poor judgment as to what is essential and what is not1 gets clouded explanations4 ,this leads to lack of interest and loss of time4 ,clear-cut1 definite knowledge on the part of the teacher will put life and vim in the teaching4 #e4 ,grinding over and over again things already known well4--,nothing is more detrimental to mental growth4 ,teachers too often fail to discriminate between thoroughness and mere mechanical repetition4 ,be thorough1 but be alive4 ,there is much drill work to be done4 ,there is no substitute for it4 ,we fail often in the newer education because we neglect drill and review1 but there should be life in the work1 not mere marking of time and perfunctory repetition4 ,nowhere is drill more necessary than in number work1 and yet this drill need never drag or become uninteresting4 ,one of my fourth grade teachers had done good work in the mechanical part of number work4 ,her class had been accurate and rapid1 and ,i had allowed them upon several occasions to challenge other rooms4 ,in fact they had done well the foundation work in numbers so essential to good work in arithmetic in the upper grades4 ,to test them ,i asked the class to vote upon which they would prefer1 a fourth of a day picnic out on the lake front or to spend the same time ciphering against some other room4 ,they voted almost as a unit to cipher against the other room4 ,they had been doing the grinding process1 it is true1 but do you think it had been marking time with them8 ,every minute had been a pleasure to them because each had been pitted against some other4 ,this had made the work a contest and a pleasure instead of a grind4 ,it is the grind without the pleasure and over something well known that kills4 #f4 ,assigning lessons without any thought on the teacher's part of their contents4--,many teachers would find it hard to solve the problems which they assign to the class in the same time the class has for preparation4 ,the result is that they do not get over the lesson next day4 ,this leaving off part of the lesson day after day soon gets a habit in the class to prepare only the first of the lesson1 feeling confident that they will never get down to the last of it4 ,teachers should know the contents of the lesson they ask the class to prepare4 ,they should assign only what the class can do well in the time4 ,then each member should feel that he is held strictly accountable for an honest effort to get the whole lesson4 #g4 ,not teaching pupils how to prepare lessons4--,the greatest service a teacher can do for a class is to teach them how to study4 ,pupils waste hour after hour in honest effort with little accomplished and much discouragement by not knowing how to apply themselves to the work before them4 ,one of my boyhood spelling books has marks to show that ,i had studied the lesson more than sixty times4 ,i wanted to be faithful1 ,i thought ,i was doing the right thing4 ,but ,i was not4 ,i should have learned the lesson by heart so that ,i could have spelled it from beginning to end in less than sixty times study if ,i had really studied4 ,what a saving of time if my teacher had taught me how to study my spelling1 to think each word over slowly and carefully as ,i spelled it to myself1 to center my best efforts on the words in the list which ,i was not sure of knowing1 instead of studying all alike4 ,then if ,i had been taught to study ,i should never have kept careful account as to how many times ,i studied the lesson4 ,my thought was to satisfy myself and my teacher that ,i had tried1 instead of getting the lesson4 ,frequently spend a recitation with pupils until you feel sure they know how to study and apply themselves4 ,one of the greatest compliments a former pupil ever paid me was when he said that ,i taught him how to apply himself and how to study4 #h4 ,talking too much4--,the greatest fault of all1 the greatest loss of time perhaps1 when teachers as a body are considered1 is the fault of constant and often useless talking4 ,teachers repeat over and over again4 ,they scold and keep it up and keep it up4 ,they explain and explain and keep it up and keep it up4 8,full many a teacher you may know1 ,along life's slippery pathway walking1 ,who left off thinking years ago1 ,but kept on talking40 ,to spend time in further explanation and elucidation of any point after it has dawned clearly on the pupil's consciousness is a waste of time to the pupil and has a tendency to destroy interest in the subject4 ,to explain a thing to them and then to explain it 8in other words0 and 8in other words0 and then again 8in other words10 as many teachers do1 is deadening to mental growth4 ,i am not speaking of repetition of knowledge in review to deepen and impress it firmly on the mind4 ,i am speaking of new knowledge4 ,when the teacher has explained a point briefly1 definitely1 understandingly1 he catches the gleam of recognition in the pupil's eye1 showing that the explanation is understood4 ,further talk and explanation is useless and even detrimental4 #i4 ,answering useless questions4--,if the teacher is weak1 there will be a growing habit in many pupils to ask useless questions as well as to ask over and over again for repetitions4 ,i have known pupils who would1 unless restrained1 ask for the repetition of half the words in a spelling lesson4 ,speak distinctly1 and teach pupils to listen attentively4 ,it is the part of the pupil's duty to listen attentively to every word of the teacher that is addressed to him or his class4 ,another habit of many teachers is after a question has been properly answered by some pupil1 to again state the answer herself4 ,nothing is more deadening either to the pupil who first gave the answer or to the interest of the class4 ,if a pupil answers a question accurately1 no further comment is necessary4 ,for the teacher to repeat the answer is worse than a waste of time4 ,then there is the telltale pupil1 who is always ready to run to the teacher with little troubles1 always being imposed upon by others4 ,every teacher of experience knows such pupils4 ,discourage tattling1 but make sure the child is not being imposed upon4 ,a little ,italian girl kept coming to me and to her teacher with all sorts of imaginary grievances1 until she came in one day with her tale of woe when ,i had weightier matters to attend to4 ,rather more vigorous than polite1 ,i told her if she came to me with such hatched-up troubles again ,i should punish her4 ,it had the desired effect4 ,show pupils who have all kinds of imaginary troubles how it becomes a duty for them to put themselves in harmony with other pupils and to live agreeably with the school family4 ,then with a careful lookout that they are not being imposed upon deny them the right of coming to you with tales of woe1 else you may use much time every day chasing phantoms4 #aj4 ,failing to keep the room ventilated4--,no one can work vigorously in contaminated air4 ,it will be a great day when every school-room will have proper heating and ventilation4 ,for some years ,i have worked where there were adequate provision for forcing pure1 warm1 filtered air into every room in abundance1 while the foul1 impure1 dusty air was being constantly forced out4 ,the value of pure air and ventilation can readily be seen when one compares such conditions and contrasts them with many school-rooms4 ,no school can do proper work without proper ventilation and heating4 ,do not neglect this important matter in your school4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,the ,,value ,,of ,a ,,high ,,school ,,course4 ,these talks are directed especially to young teachers4 ,it is presumed that most of these are teachers in the grades or elementary schools4 ,your highest success and greatest usefulness must be measured by the lasting impressions you leave on your pupils4 ,the worthy pupil who catches fire and ambition from you to be something and to do something1 who years after can truthfully say it was from you that he got his aspiration for a high-school course1 these pupils are to be the reward to you that is above all money value4 ,i feel that ,i am justly proud of the percentage of my grade pupils who have gone to high school1 and of my high school graduates that have taken a college or university course4 ,yale1 ,columbia1 ,vanderbilt1 ,tulane1 ,purdue1 ,chicago ,university1 four ,state ,universities1 a number of normal schools and smaller colleges have had my high school students later in life4 ,most of them have made good4 ,many of them have done well1 and in life are doing something for themselves4 ,whether ,i have contributed anything to these young men and women can hardly be told4 ,but ,i rejoice in their success4 ,occasional letters from many of them1 and greetings ,i get when we meet by accident1 are some of the rewards which come to the earnest teacher--rewards above any money value4 ,i believe in education4 ,i believe that right education will increase the value of the man4 ,it will not make him do less work1 but more4 ,it may change his line of work1 but if the necessity comes he can with all the energy and good cheer of the ignorant man do work no matter how humble and often more of it for his education4 ,not only that1 but the boy of courage1 and with a desire strong enough1 if he have health1 and no one depending upon him for support1 can earn his way through the best high school or college4 ,it is the measure of the grit of the boy4 ,the world turns aside to let the man pass that knows where he is going4 ,to kindle the fire of ambition in a capable boy1 to call out the latent force and set it in the right direction1 that is the highest office of the teacher4 ,twenty-five years ago1 when a boy of fourteen1 in a country school1 ,i had as teacher a young man to whom ,i owe much4 ,it was his first term of school4 ,some patrons1 in fact many1 would not have voted the term a success1 but he reached many of the boys1 and myself among them4 ,from him ,i received my first desire to be a teacher4 ,from him dates my first desire for an education1 and the faith in myself that ,i could secure it4 ,measured by the world's standards he has not been a great success1 but to me his teaching was of the inspirational kind4 ,it helped me to get my bearings1 it created worthy desires and ambitions4 ,later1 ,i have told him of the results of his teaching upon my own life and ambitions4 ,with a modesty that is unassumed he begs me not to mention it1 and thinks that it was simply a matter of chance4 ,a few years ago a father wrote asking me why he should send his son to high school4 ,i wrote him my reasons for doing so4 ,perhaps these reasons may serve some young teacher for urging some other boy to go4 ,they were at the time the best ,i could summon1 and are yet as good as ,i could state in the limits of a personal letter4 #a4 ,if your boy is worth a bag of shucks1 it will make a far more able man of him1 mentally1 morally and physically4--,there are exceptions1 it is true1 but the exceptions only prove the rule4 #b4 ,high school teachers should be1 and1 if the high school is a good one1 are1 broad gauge1 scholarly men and women1 educated in our best colleges1 normal schools and universities4--,for a boy to come in close contact with such manly men and womanly women as should and do form the faculty of good high schools is above all money value to the boy4 ,the magic mental touch that comes to the boy in contact with scholarly men and women of character1 lifts him out of the hum-drum of life and makes a thinking man of him4 #c4 ,it will increase your boy's money-making capacity4--,the best statistics available show that the illiterate man in the ,united ,states earns less than #cjj a year4 ,the man with a common school education earns #djj a year4 ,the graduate of the high school earns over #fjj a year4 ,suppose your boy works from the time he is twenty until he is sixty years old--an earning period of forty years--figure the increased earning capacity the high school education will give him1 and then answer if you think it will pay4 ,there are some exceptions1 of course4 ,i take it that your boy is an average boy1 as bright or brighter than his father was at his age4 ,if he is an average boy1 this will represent his chances4 ,fools and dudes are exceptions to all rules4 #d4 ,a good high school course will give a broader field of activity to your boy4--,in every walk of life the demands are more and more for men and women with more than a common school education4 ,firm after firm announces that their employees must have at least a good high school education4 ,the mental discipline and self-control given by a good high school course will give self-direction and grasp of conditions to your boy long after the ,latin endings and algebraic formulae which gave the discipline have been forgotten4 ,it is discipline for life's duties that is the real worth of the high school to the boy4 #e4 ,the more thorough the education of your boy the larger will be his adaptability to different kinds of work4--,blessed is the man whose resources and intelligence are such that he can readily--if circumstances demand it--find a dozen ways to make an honest living for himself and family4 ,here it is that the great superiority of the culture-giving1 broad-gauge high school course is shown over the trade-fitting1 quick-time1 short-cut1 get-ready-in-a-hurry trade or business school4 #f4 ,the high school course will prepare your boy for the deeper and broader training of the university4--,if he is made of the right material he will get the university training for himself1 or urge you to help him to secure it4 ,if he does not go to the university the high school course will fit him to become a successful leader in business or lay the foundation for a professional course or career4 #g4 ,the discipline and training of a high school course will not only increase the earning capacity of your boy1 but it will increase his living capacity4--,he will see more beauty in the evening sunset1 ,god's wonderful watch care in the stars overhead1 and more and sweeter fragrance in the pansy at his feet4 ,it will develop character and manhood1 give him thoughts and ideas of his own1 make him broader in his views of life1 and raise him to a higher standard of manhood4 #h4 ,the high school course should1 and the chances are that it will1 discover the boy to himself4--,this is the greatest discovery any man can make--his own dignity1 and worth1 and capacity1 and inclination--these things discovered and the man has a stronger power of his own to make life a success4 ,if the high school discovers the boy to himself it has been of infinite value to him4 #i4 ,the high school course will increase your boy's chances for distinction in his life work4--,a high authority1 after much study of census returns and biographical dictionaries1 reaches the following conclusions3 7#a7 ,that an uneducated child has but one chance out of #aej1jjj to gain distinction as a factor in the progress of the age4 7#b7 ,that a common school education increases his chances four times4 7#c7 ,that a high school education will increase the chances over the common school twenty-three times1 or make his chances for distinction eighty-seven times as great as if he were without education4 #aj4 ,a high school education will make your boy a more positive force in his community1 his state1 and the nation1 socially1 economically1 and politically4--,with many noted exceptions1 in the future as in the past1 our real constructive men1 men whose monuments are their work1 will be men trained and disciplined in the best schools of the country4 ,if your boy will work in school1 if he has any desire whatever to continue in school1 if he has the requisite amount of gray matter1 or if he has the capacity of the average ,american boy1 give him the advantage of a high school course4 ,it will pay you and it will pay him4 ,make some sacrifice on your part if necessary to do it4 ,do not spoil him by giving him too much money4 ,teach him the worth of a dollar and how to earn one honestly4 ,hold him to strict account of every cent he spends1 the day and date and for what spent4 ,teach him from the very first to handle your money as he should handle the money of an employer1 accounting for his allowance each month without quaking1 quibbling or miscellaneous accounts1 and he will handle his own money better later in life4 ,keep in close touch with his teachers1 give them your loyal support1 see them frequently and make inquiries about the boy and his work4 ,for the boy's sake do not take his part against the teachers if he should be reprimanded by them for any cause4 ,do not tell his teachers too much about his excellent qualities at home1 and how smart he is4 ,they may soon know him as well as you do and maybe better4 ,if they point out some of his faults1 listen to them and do not fly off the handle--the chances are that they can see scores of faults that you have never discovered4 ,show your genuine interest in the boy1 their work and the school4 ,take at least as much interest in the trainers of your boy as you do in the trainer of that young horse of yours which you confidently hope will take first prize next fall at the county fair4 ,show your interest in the boy as much as the horse and the chances are the results will be as good4 ,understand your boy1 and expect much from him4 ,let him know you expect much from him and that you shall keep close track of his work and his conduct4 ,study his report each month4 ,if his grades are low1 question him about it1 and question to the point4 ,know the subjects he studies and who teaches each subject4 ,perhaps you know nothing in the world about the subject yourself1 but question him and let him justify the study and what he is getting out of it4 ,it will help you and do him much good4 ,it is this daily co-operation and sympathy1 this close oversight1 the constant keeping in touch with the boy and his work1 and your loyalty to the teachers and the school that will determine largely your boy's success4 ,yes1 send your boy to high school1 and these are my reasons for you doing so4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,a ,,talk ,,about ,,spelling4 ,most of the talks in this book are on the questions of school management4 ,perhaps it would not be out of place to speak of the teaching of a few subjects4 ,this and the two following chapters are devoted to the teaching side of the work4 ,spelling and arithmetic1 the teaching of these concern every teacher whatever her grade of work4 ,literature is a neglected study in many of our schools1 and yet a life-giving subject4 ,that is my reason for including that important subject4 ,the suggestions given below on spelling may help young teachers4 ,i have used them at times in my own teaching and found them useful4 ,no attempt is made to be profound4 ,if the hints are helpful1 that is enough4 ,,two ,,general ,,plans ,,of ,,the ,,recitation4 ,i4 ,the ,oral ,method4--,this is the method by which most of us learned to spell twenty-five years ago4 ,we memorized the letters of the word in correct order1 associating the sounds to some extent with the letters themselves4 ,there was a time when the method was almost universal in the schools4 ,it has some evident advantages3 #a4 ,pupils are taught to pronounce words as they learn to spell them4 #b4 ,pupils acquire facility and readiness in dividing words into syllables4 #c4 ,it is often a saving of time4 ,the method has some disadvantages also4 ,among these may be mentioned the following3 #a4 ,often pupils who spell well orally are poor spellers when writing1 and writing is the primary test of the speller4 #b4 ,the principal use of spelling is in writing4 ,to spell correctly in writing1 the muscles of the hand and arm must be trained to execute quickly and accurately the thought of the mind4 #c4 ,the number of words spelled by each pupil in oral spelling is less than in the written lesson4 ,no teacher ever accomplishes much in any subject without the hearty interest and co-operation of the class4 ,any little device or method that gives you an increased and deeper interest in the subject on the part of your pupils is helpful4 ,variations in the recitation often adds spice and interest to what otherwise might be dull routine4 ,in oral spelling ,i have found the following variations to be good3 #a4 ,the position of the class4--,as a rule1 ,i prefer the class to stand in straight line1 with arms gently folded1 while the teacher stands quietly where she can have the eye of each member of the class4 ,when a word is missed1 the pupil spelling it correctly 8passes up10 always as a mark of courtesy going behind the pupil 8turned down40 ,i have found1 however1 that occasionally for a few days to let pupils be seated during the recitation period while the teacher seated quietly before them pronounces the words1 gets interest and attention that the usual standing order does not get4 #b4 ,never pronounce the words in regular order4--,you may pronounce up the columns1 down the columns1 or across the columns1 but never let the pupils know in what order the words may be given to them4 ,they will not then be tempted to pick out and study the words which are likely to come to them4 #c4 ,it is sometimes a good drill in self-confidence and attention to ignore all mistakes in spelling at the time4--,any pupil below1 noticing the mistake1 may1 when his turn comes to spell1 spell the word which was missed1 going above all who failed to note the mistake4 ,this device gets good results4 ,try it4 #d4 ,closely related to the above is the plan of passing a word correctly spelled just as if it were misspelled4--,see if the next pupil will change the spelling with the hope of getting it right or spell it the same way with confidence4 ,this is a splendid drill in self-reliance4 #e4 ,spelling matches4--,these will never regain their former interest in school and it is well that they do not1 but they often serve a good purpose and are interesting4 ,there are many varieties4 ,let us mention five kinds4 7#a7 ,the method of choosing sides and spelling for captain4--,two pupils 8choose up40 ,these make some guess for first choice of spellers4 ,the one beating in the guess--as for example at what page ,i have opened this book or similar guess--gets first choice4 ,then each chooses alternately1 dividing the school into two sides4 ,those who 8choose up0 spell first4 ,as fast as a pupil is 8turned down0 the next choice on that side takes his place4 ,when one side is down it is best to spell through next time beginning with last to be chosen on each side4 7#b7 ,the one objection to the plan above is that the best spellers do most of the spelling4--,this may be overcome by spelling by 8tally40 ,the plan is to let the captains who 8choose up10 as in the first method1 stand in opposite corners of the room4 ,let one stand in the northeast corner of the room while the other stands in the southwest corner4 ,as each pupil is chosen he takes his place on the left of his captain4 ,when the choosing is over the pupils will stand in two opposing bodies on opposite sides of the room4 ,let all pupils on one side be called 8,number ,one0 and all on the other side be called 8,number ,two40 ,each pupil is to keep this number no matter where or in what position he may be while the spelling is going on4 ,then two reliable pupils1 one from each side1 are chosen to keep 8tally40 ,you are now ready to begin the spelling4 ,suppose you begin with the captain on side 8,number ,one40 ,he spells the word correctly and crosses the room and takes his place at the foot of side 8,number ,two40 ,as he crosses the floor he calls out in distinct tones 8,number ,one40 ,the pupils who are keeping 8tally0 give side 8,number ,one0 one credit or 8tally0 by placing a straight line in the column headed 8,number ,one40 ,the spelling then continues down side 8,number ,one40 ,if a word is missed the next below spells it and passes up the same as in the ordinary oral spelling class4 ,when the last in side 8,number ,one0 has spelled you pronounce the next word to the first or captain of side 8,number ,two40 ,he spells the word and crosses the room1 calling out distinctly as he crosses1 8,number ,two10 and side 8,number ,two0 gets a 8tally40 ,by missing words you will notice that soon the pupils from the different sides are all mixed up4 ,you see also that the best spellers will gain as they pass above those who miss4 ,the best spellers will then cross the room oftenest1 thus calling their number and giving the most credits to their side4 ,it takes but a moment to get the sides started to spelling when you have studied the plan4 ,the spelling can be continued indefinitely4 ,the side that gets the most 8tallies0 is winner4 ,pupils will take great interest in it4 ,the poorest spellers get as much practice in spelling as the best ones4 ,you will find it in every way practical just as soon as you and the pupils understand the plan well4 ,another advantage is that if you desire two persons may pronounce at the same time without confusion1 and thus double the amount of practice in spelling in the same time4 7#c7 ,let the class stand4--,pronounce a word to the first pupil1 and let the second spell a word beginning with the last letter of the word spelled by the first pupil4 ,let the third pupil spell a word beginning with the last letter of the word spelled by the second pupil1 etc4 ,if a pupil misspells a word1 fails to think of a word or spells a word previously spelled1 he must be seated4 ,this is a good drill not only in spelling but in thinking of new words and for increasing the pupil's vocabulary4 7#d7 ,let each pupil name and spell a word of one syllable4--,a word of two syllables4 ,a word of three syllables1 etc4 7#e7 ,let the class stand while the teacher gives the first pupil one of a class of words4--,the pupil spells the word1 and then pronounces another word of the same class of words to the second and so on4 ,if the pupil misses the word1 or fails to name another word of the same class1 he is seated4 ,numerous classes of words may be given1 suited to the grade1 the pupils or to the time4 ,here are a few suggestive lists4 ,the teacher can readily plan others3 #a4 ,domestic animals4 #b4 ,fruits4 #c4 ,trees4 #d4 ,flowers4 #e4 ,birds4 #f4 ,minerals4 #g4 ,furniture4 #h4 ,articles made of iron4 #i4 ,articles made of wood4 #aj4 ,names of cities4 #aa4 ,names of countries4 #ab4 ,names of persons4 ,,ii4 ,the ,written ,method4--,the written method of teaching spelling is now very largely used4 ,it has the following advantages3 #a4 ,pupils learn to spell more rapidly by sight than by sound4 #b4 ,in after life we use spelling only when writing4 #c4 ,each pupil gets to spell more words in a written recitation than in an oral recitation in spelling4 #d4 ,all pupils are kept busy during the recitation period4 #e4 ,pupils may examine their mistakes and correct them4 ,this impresses the correct form more clearly upon their minds than to simply correct them orally4 #f4 ,written spelling is a more accurate test of scholarship than oral spelling4 ,the principal objection made to the written method of the recitation in spelling is that it requires more time than the oral4 ,this can be obviated by selecting only the more difficult words for spelling in the recitation4 ,much time is wasted in the study of the spelling lesson4 ,unless taught otherwise1 pupils will spend just as much time 8studying0 the easy1 familiar words in the lesson as the more difficult ones4 ,no greater good can be done than to teach pupils how to study the lesson4 ,as soon as the pupil knows how to spell a word1 and knows that he knows how to spell it1 he should eliminate it from the lesson and center his attention upon those of which he is not sure4 ,if the teacher remembers that it is not always necessary to spell all the words in the lesson the written method will appear more rational4 ,the written method also admits of less variation in the recitation than the oral method4 ,the two methods usually used are the blackboard and the blank book method4 ,let the class pass to the blackboard4 ,when the board is clear1 the class faces the teacher1 who quickly divides them into two or more sections by pointing to the pupils rapidly and numbering1 first1 second2 first1 second2 first1 second2 etc4 ,this separates the sections and lessens the probability of copying4 ,he then pronounces the words1 naming the section and following by the word for that section at once4 ,pronounce as rapidly as the pupils can spell the words4 ,never let pupils get into the habit of snoozing over the spelling lesson either in recitation or in study4 ,he should write the word correctly the first trial4 ,no communication should be permitted4 ,when the words are spelled1 the pupils may move one space either to the right or the left and correct the work of another pupil1 marking the grade4 ,when pupils use blank books1 the words may be written in vertical columns1 and each word numbered4 ,if no special book is used it will be well to use paper just large enough to spell one lesson on a page4 ,no communication is allowed1 and when the pupil is done writing the word he quietly raises his right hand to indicate to the teacher that he is ready for the next word4 ,the teacher can then judge when to pronounce the next word from the number of hands raised4 ,unless the class is very large it is best for the teacher to do the correcting4 ,if the class is large1 the papers may be collected and redistributed4 ,wrong words are checked and grades marked4 ,keep a list of the words misspelled and drill on them from time to time4 ,have each pupil correct his mistakes daily and keep a list of the words which he has missed during the term1 neatly and correctly written4 ,one device ,i have found very successful is to select lists of common words often misspelled and words that pupils use and should by all means know how to spell4 ,place ten of these words on the board daily1 and have pupils study them carefully for a few minutes4 ,when the recitation time comes erase the words from the board and pronounce them to the class1 having pupils write them4 ,then call upon pupils separately1 having them to pass quickly and write the word on the board as he has it written on paper4 ,at the end of the recitation the list of words will be written on the board again correctly4 ,the teacher can keep marked on his original list the number of pupils who missed each word4 ,this will serve a valuable purpose in review and drill4 ,ten words are few1 and yet if each pupil learned the spelling of ten words each school day1 think what an increase in vocabulary it would mean in a few years4 ,any word having been used before may be given to the class at any subsequent lesson4 ,the class is to be held responsible for knowing thoroughly all words of former lessons4 ,a few cautions may not be out of place either in written or oral spelling4 #a4 ,as a rule give one trial in spelling a word1 and never more than two4 ,the problem is to have the word so well known that the first trial is all that is needed4 #b4 ,pronounce distinctly1 but do not1 as a rule1 pronounce the word but once4 ,there may be exceptions1 but they should be few4 #c4 ,do not mispronounce a word in order that the pupil may spell it correctly4 ,do not say sep-a-rate to make sure the pupil gets an a in the second syllable4 #d4 ,have pupils spell in natural tones4 ,if teachers could hear themselves pronounce a spelling lesson and hear their pupils spell it--if they could hear this as the outsider and disinterested person often hears it--they would soon reform and reform the pupils4 #e4 ,do not pronounce words to the class in the same order the class has used in studying them4 #f4 ,it is a good rule to have each pupil pronounce the word distinctly before he tries to spell it4 ,it insures you that the word is correctly understood and it serves to call the pupil's attention to the word1 emphasizing it4 ,if the pupil does not understand the word then is the time for the teacher to repronounce it4 #g4 ,in oral spelling the plan of having pupils pronounce each syllable correctly as it is spelled is a good one4 ,i would not1 however1 urge that he should go back and pronounce all the syllables each time he adds a new one4 ,there is some argument for it and some advantage in it1 but the plan is rather cumbersome4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,arithmetic ,,in ,,the ,,school4 ,for generations arithmetic has held a prominent place in the school curriculum4 ,should you teach any one or all of the first eight years of school work the teaching of arithmetic will be of practical interest to you4 ,even the most modern of school courses has not eliminated arithmetic nor curtailed to any great extent the proportionate share of attention given to it4 ,most teachers will admit that the subject has been over-estimated1 and that it is not of the great practical value popularly attributed to it4 ,the man in business does not use the principles of arithmetic half so often as many believe4 ,outside of the four fundamental processes and the principles of percentage1 the average merchant and trades people generally do not use much arithmetic4 ,the use of mechanical means of adding1 subtracting1 multiplying1 and dividing has become widespread4 ,few business men now depend upon adding long columns of figures mentally4 ,the adding machine is quicker and absolutely correct4 ,arithmetic has a practical value1 but it is not its so-called practical value that is its greatest worth4 ,few subjects in our school course develop the mind in so many ways4 ,unless many of our newer subjects prove their worth even beyond the fondest hopes of many of their advocates1 arithmetic must yet hold a prominent place in the school4 ,it is the teacher's duty to teach it so as to make the best out of it for the child4 ,i believe most teachers will agree that at present and in the past much time has been wasted in arithmetic4 ,the results achieved do not justify the time spent4 ,whether these teachers will agree with me as to the reasons for this ,i am doubtful4 ,to get teachers to question themselves on this point1 and if possible to gain some time in this subject1 else get better results for the time spent1 is the purpose of this little talk4 #a4 ,our pupils lack intensity in the study4--,i believe this is one of our greatest faults4 ,we allow the pupils to get into bad mental habits4 ,they snooze over the work4 ,they put in too much time4 ,their thoughts are allowed to go wool-gathering4 ,they grow into time-killers instead of learning clear1 sharp business methods4 #b4 ,much time is lost in dry formalism4--,we hold to the form and neglect the content4 ,we seek the husks rather than the ear4 ,some formalism may be helpful1 but to hold to it in all things is not only a waste of time but it weakens the thought power4 ,i knew a graduate of a township high school1 a bright boy and a boy in no way slow to grasp things1 that had been so thoroughly drilled in the formal analyses of problems1 following the dictum1 8always teach your pupils to reason from many to one1 and then from one to many10 that after more than a year in a store he told me he was never certain of an account until he had written it out in formal fashion3 #a4 ,if twelve eggs are worth #ah cents4 #b4 ,one egg is worth #a-ab of #ah cents1 which is #ah-ab1 or #a #a-b cent4 #c4 ,and #af eggs is worth #af times as much as one egg or #af times #a #a-b cents1 which is #bd cents4 #d4 ,if eggs are #ah cents a dozen1 #af eggs are worth #bd cents4 ,it may have been logical reasoning1 some of it may have been useful1 but to grind formalism into a boy for a twelve year's course of study1 by never allowing anything to pass that was not 8analyzed0 was a loss of time and mental discipline4 #c4 ,pupils are not trained to read and grasp the conditions of problems4--,fifteen years' experience with high school pupils leads me to believe that their ability to understand ,english causes a loss of time and results in arithmetic4 ,practice your pupils on problems without figures until they look for conditions rather than figures4 ,make numerous problems and let pupils tell you how to solve them4 ,for example1 8,if you have the length and the breadth of a rectangular field stated in yards1 how will you find the number of acres it will contain80 ,if teachers would give all through the grades more attention to problems without figures1 pupils would accomplish more when they come to using problems with figures because they could grasp the conditions better4 #d4 ,teachers neglect the four fundamental processes4--,it is not an uncommon thing for pupils in the advance grades or even in high school to be unable to add1 subtract1 multiply or divide with anything like rapidity and accuracy4 ,i am told the superiority of the ,german schools in arithmetic comes very largely in the thorough and accurate manner in which pupils are held to a mastery of the four fundamental operations in the first four years4 ,when the advanced work is reached pupils are not handicapped by inaccurate results4 #e4 ,pupils are not taught to grasp each new subject and its purpose1 how it is like and how it differs from the subject that precedes it4--,before beginning the new subject they should take an inventory of what they already know of the new subject and then the teacher can make clear to them the new things to learn4 ,when the subject is complete they have a grasp of it as a whole4 ,many of our newer and most popular text-books in arithmetic are weak--unpardonably weak--because of too close a devotion to the spiral and other methods that try to teach each process and division of the subject just so far and then return to it on the next trip around the auger in just such a time4 ,the best results more frequently come from the teachers and the texts that teach one thing at a time4 ,then if the problems are well graded there is a growing power on the part of the pupil to master the text for himself4 ,when a boy in my 'teens1 ,i bought a book and solved the problems in an advanced arithmetic1 getting from the effort more growth than any teacher could have gotten by using a text where the child must be led all the way or else is lost in a maze of uncertainties4 ,do not teach arithmetic in scraps and fragments if you want the pupils to understand it4 ,connect each new subject with those that precede1 and give them the feeling of unity of the subject4 #f4 ,teachers neglect mental arithmetic4--,there was once a special time1 set aside in the program for such study1 now there is a tendency to neglect it even in connection with the written work in arithmetic4 ,nothing paves the way better for good work in written arithmetic than mental arithmetic4 ,the teacher states the problem orally1 the pupil states the conditions carefully1 gives a good logical solution1 and the result or conclusion4 ,the long problems solved without the use of figures is not so important as the clear statement of conditions4 ,to multiply #gdfbcd by #bgh without making any figures is not half so valuable in mental arithmetic as to tell how to solve a problem1 giving the reason for each step1 without giving the numerical result4 ,these1 it seems to me1 are the chief reasons why our results in the study of arithmetic are not richer4 ,now there should be three chief aims in teaching arithmetic4 ,if these are accomplished1 the pupil has not only the highest practical value of arithmetic1 but the best and richest of the cultural value also4 ,the first aim should be accuracy4--,this accuracy should include not only accuracy in result1 numerical result1 but accuracy in reasoning process1 and accuracy in expression also4 ,mathematics is an exact science4 ,its great cultural value lies in its training in exact reasoning4 ,the arithmetic that does not give exact numerical results is poor--extremely poor4 ,in fact1 much of our work in arithmetic drills to poor standards4 ,the boy who gets nine problems out of ten--even in routine drill work--is graded high4 ,suppose the boy goes into the store or the bank and makes one mistake in ten computations--how long would he hold his job8 ,he would pass1 but it would be off the pay roll4 ,do we not make a mistake unless we hold up to pupils in all drill work a standard of absolute accuracy8 ,after the pupil has mastered the mechanical processes until he is accurate1 make sure that he is accurate in reasoning process4 ,teachers often err here by confusing numerical results with proper thought results4 ,if a field is #dj rods wide and #hj rods long1 how many acres does it contain8 ,after the pupil is accurate in the fundamental processes1 the real food in this problem for the pupil is what is given1 what is required1 and how the results required may be obtained from what is given4 ,it is the steps in the process1 why and how they may be obtained--and not the numerical result that is wanted4 ,after these steps are fully in mind1 as a drill in the fundamental processes he may solve the problems and give you the answer in figures4 ,the second aim of arithmetic is rapidity4--,this is the age of electricity4 ,speed counts4 ,time is money4 ,we have no time for frills4 ,the clearest1 quickest1 most direct processes are the best4 ,get the correct results and get them quickly4 ,the person who can do this is at a premium1 the person who cannot do it is at a discount4 ,teach pupils to concentrate the attention upon the problem1 shutting out all thought of irrelevant things4 ,this is discipline as well as training for good results4 ,strive to keep your pupils from slothful habits in written or mental arithmetic4 ,the habit grows and lessens results as well as wastes time4 ,the third aim of arithmetic is neatness4--,this is less important than the other two1 but it is important and should not be neglected4 ,it was made a shibboleth by teachers in the past4 ,the form and neatness counted for more than the thought4 ,manuscripts were carefully bound to show the beauty and neatness of the work4 ,not long ago in a private school ,i saw exhibited with pride the work of pupils in the class in arithmetic1 the chief merit of which was the faultless neatness of which it was placed on the paper4 ,ignorant people and those who are untrained in judging good work in school give credit for the form4 ,those who judge intelligently look for the content as well as the form4 ,teach pupils to orderly arrangement of work4 ,the visitor in the school-room1 if familiar with the processes of arithmetic1 should have no trouble in following a solution on the blackboard or paper4 ,i cannot in the limits of this chapter go into detail of how particular subjects are taught4 ,your teaching should center about these three aims4 ,any method or device that helps any one of these is helpful4 ,center your energies upon the essential things4 ,train pupils to careful1 accurate1 rapid work4 ,see that principles and processes are made clear1 but do not waste time trying to develop the processes down in the grades where the children are and should be interested in the memory work4 ,do not fool away time on the process of developing the multiplication table and let pupils leave the subject without being able to give the multiplication table4 ,it may be useful to the child to know how to find how many six times seven are by using chalk marks or counters4 ,the one thing that must not be neglected is to make sure that the child knows that six times seven are forty-two4 ,the results are the practical things4 ,the first four years in school should make the pupils able to add1 subtract1 multiply and divide1 and it should enable them to do this quickly and accurately4 ,if ,i could get a class proficient in these--up to my standard of proficiency--at the end of the fourth year1 ,i should give them a thorough knowledge of the practical arithmetic by the end of the seventh year and they would have the eighth year for algebra or commercial arithmetic4 ,a principal of one of the most thorough and reliable business colleges of which ,i know told me that his greatest trouble in a commercial course was to hold the students down to a regular systematic drill in the fundamental processes of arithmetic4 ,the trouble was that they could not add accurately and quickly4 ,their results could not be relied upon4 ,many of them he kept two periods of thirty minutes each daily on rapid calculations in fundamental processes4 ,see that your pupils get correct ideas of number4 ,children think figures instead of number4 ,two dollars to many is a figure two with a dollar mark to the left4 ,two feet is a figure two with ft4 to the right4 ,see that they think number rather than figure4 ,this comes often by having them make figures before they can use numbers4 ,teach ideas instead of words4 ,one-half does not mean a fraction to many pupils--it means the figure one above the figure two with a line between4 ,do not confuse a fraction with the manner in which a fraction is expressed4 ,principles should precede rules and pupils should comprehend these principles4 ,i am even old-fashioned enough to believe that often1 very often1 pupils should be asked to commit the definitions and principles and rules as given in the book1 but the language and purpose of these same definitions1 principles and rules should be understood4 ,the fault of the old plan was not that pupils were to commit definitions but that the pupils failed to comprehend the language and meaning of the definitions4 ,see that each new subject is properly related in the child's mind with the subject that preceded it4 ,it will then become one step of the ladder1 something specific and definite in the child's mind4 ,when they study decimals they should be able to recall and use any principles learned when studying common fractions4 ,when they learn percentage there is little new to learn if they apply their knowledge of decimals4 ,if percentage is well learned there is little else to learn in interest4 ,these principles applied carefully will make your teaching of arithmetic more fruitful4 ,it will save you time to do the more important work4 ,many teachers tell me it is hard for them to keep children interested in the drill and abstract work4 ,they find it hard to keep pupils interested in addition until they become accurate and rapid in results4 ,i have never found it so4 ,in fact1 ,i have always found the abstract drill problems to be the most fascinating work4 ,the only thing necessary is to call into play the spirit of contest or rivalry4 ,take an excellent test for reviewing and drilling on the tables4 ,suppose pupils have learned all the combinations up to #ajj4 ,suppose they have been drilled on adding by endings and the thing the class needs is practice4 ,some such device as this will make splendid practice4 ,draw a circle on the blackboard4 ,on the circumference of the circle write the numbers #f1 #i1 #e1 #g1 #h1 #aa1 #i1 #d1 #e4 ,then in the center of the circle write some number1 let us say #g4 ,to show what is to be done with the numbers write a plus mark before the seven4 ,that will show that seven is to be added to each of the numbers on the circumference in rapid succession1 the pupil calling the result4 ,john is given a pointer to pass to the board and call the result4 ,he will point to each of the numbers written above calling the result after adding #g to it1 as #ac1 #af1 #ab1 #ad1 #ae1 #ah1 #af1 #aa1 #ab4 ,time ,john in giving the answers4 ,then send ,mary to the board and see if she cannot beat him4 ,the rivalry will be intense4 ,interest will be at fever heat and drill will become a game and a pleasure4 ,place a sign of multiplication before the seven and you have the whole drill changed in a moment from addition to multiplication4 ,in the same way it can be changed to subtraction or to division4 ,change your numbers as soon as the pupils begin to repeat the results from memory of position4 ,baseball terms and other things may add spice and awaken some of the sleepy boys that have never taken an interest4 ,if he makes a mistake it may be called a foul1 if he does not get far without a mistake he is out on first1 etc4 ,in the same way you may have an automobile race4 ,the circles may well be thought of as the automobile and try which can beat giving the results4 ,should some one fail to give the correct results his automobile breaks down4 ,a little ingenuity of the teacher will keep the drill work on abstract number and the learning of the tables a fascinating game instead of a continuous grind4 ,the spirit of the contest can be profitably used in all subjects of arithmetic by means of the ciphering match4 ,perhaps all teachers have used the ciphering match as a stimulus to two of the great aims in teaching arithmetic1 accuracy and rapidity4 ,nothing will excel it in this4 ,to those who have not tried a ciphering match the following directions will make it clear as to method4 ,the more you use it and study the results on the arithmetic work of your school the more you will come to value it4 ,the ciphering match may be between members of the same class or between different classes1 or the whole school may be divided into two classes by choosing up1 or the teacher may call on pupils on any order he chooses4 ,you may state in advance what subjects may be used in the match at a given time4 ,to begin with it is well to limit to addition4 ,later it may be any one of the four fundamental processes4 ,then it makes a splendid review test when the class has completed any particular subject or group of subjects4 ,then to encourage them to keep well up on all subjects completed it is a good plan to allow them to choose from any subject over which the class have passed during the year4 ,short problems make the best drill for the ciphering match4 ,send the two 8captains10 if the school has chosen up1 to the board4 ,read them a problem4 ,the first to call the answer turns the other one down4 ,make calling of the answer the test1 as it relieves you of watching them so closely4 ,it is best to have another arithmetic or a list of problems so that you will not lack for problems4 ,as the next pupil passes to the board he has the right of choice of subject and calls this as he passes to the board4 ,he may choose a subject in which the first pupil is known to be weak or one perhaps in which he himself is considered strong4 ,the choosing of subjects is a fine stimulus to keeping up in review all subjects previously gone over4 ,do not give long1 involved1 complex problems4 ,the purpose of the ciphering match is drill on fundamentals and accuracy and quickness in getting results4 ,long problems kill interest4 ,if one class is pitted against another or if the school is divided into two parts it is easy to determine the victor4 ,the individual who turns the most down is the victor in one sense and then keeping a score of which side turns the most down is often a good plan4 ,the best results of the ciphering match is the voluntary work and drill you get from the pupils in preparation4 ,they will time themselves4 ,they will practice to see who can solve the most problems in a given time1 they will solve problems at home or meet other pupils at a neighbor's house and get as much enjoyment out of it as they would at card-playing and more profit4 ,i have seen scores of boys quickened and interested permanently in arithmetic from the ciphering match4 ,pupils quit snoozing over their work and try to go direct for results4 ,try a ciphering match a few times this year--often enough to get the pupils thoroughly acquainted with the plan and see if you and they do not both feel that it is profitable4 ,,chapter ,,xviii4 ,,teaching ,,literature4 ,literature1 ,history1 ,algebra1 ,civil ,government--these have been favorite subjects of mine4 ,the teaching of each has brought me pleasure4 ,perhaps literature in many schools is most neglected4 ,i wish that ,i might say something which would call the attention of teachers to this subject4 ,let us discuss briefly the principles that should be made clear to the class and then apply these to that beautiful poem of ,lowell's3 8,the ,vision of ,sir ,launfal40 ,this poem has been reprinted in numerous cheap editions1 and no teacher but can afford a copy and secure a copy for each of his class4 ,the successful teacher of literature must believe in his subject4 ,he must believe with his whole heart that to lead a pupil to the proper appreciation of a piece of pure literature is to place that pupil on a higher spiritual plane2 that it will lift that pupil above much that is low and groveling and vicious1 and give to him a constant companion and monitor1 which1 like ,copperfield's ,agnes1 always points upward4 ,the teacher of literature must have read critically much of the best literature4 ,he must be especially familiar with the particular selections he is to teach4 ,he must know the selection in its bearings4 ,he must have studied it earnestly and critically1 and in addition he must have planned how he can best present it to his class so that they may get most out of it4 ,less than this is apt to make the study of literature in the school a mere farce4 ,but what is pure literature8 ,by what criterion do we draw the line between literature and other forms of writing8 ,what distinguishes pure literature from the news article8 ,what distinguishes literature from the statements of history or of scientific truths8 ,i should reply that the constructive energy of pure literature is 8universal1 ideal1 emotional life40 ,pure literature must be universal4--,lowell tells us that a literary man cannot air his private liver complaint to the public4 ,he also gives us his conception of literature in another place4 8,literature that loses its meaning1 or the best part of it1 when it gets beyond the parish steeple1 is not what ,i understand by literature4 ,to tell you when you cannot fully taste a book that it is because it is too thoroughly national1 is to condemn the book4 ,to say it of a poem is even worse1 for it is to say that what should be true of the whole compass of human nature is true only to some north-and-by-half-east point of it4 ,i can understand the nationality of ,firdusa when1 looking sadly back to the former glories of his country1 he tells us that #8the nightingale still sings old ,persian4' ,i can understand the nationality of ,burns when he turns his plow aside to spare the rough burr thistle1 and hopes he may sing a song or two for dear old ,scotie's sake4 ,that sort of nationality belongs to a country of which we are all citizens--that country of the heart that has no boundaries laid down on the map40 ,literature must be ideal4--,the lessons it brings are the ideals of the soul's possibilities4 ,it quickens in the individual soul the inspirations that are universal4 ,the beautiful friendship of ,damon and ,pythias is above our selfishness--an ideal lifting us above ourselves1 creating in us higher aspirations and showing us our own possibilities4 ,there are1 it is true1 various degrees of idealizations4 ,heroism may be idealized and uplifting and yet not be to the degree of idealization in ,enoch ,arden4 ,the strength and beauty of women's devotion may be worthy of emulation and yet not reach the standard of ,evangeline4 ,literature must be emotional4--,it deals more with the heart than with the head4 ,the emotions of literature are of various kinds1 but these may be all summed up in the emotions of spiritual freedom4 ,the soul is constantly struggling to free itself from bondage1 and every time a limitation is removed the soul leaps with joy4 ,in this lies much of the educative power of literature4 ,the all-inclusive pleasure of literature is the soul's joy in its hopes and its possibilities of freedom4 ,the reader1 if he really reads1 is forced to live for the time being at least the ideal life pictured in the literature1 and thus from day to day his soul attains to higher levels4 ,,the ,,vision ,,of ,,sir ,,launfal4 ,let us now discuss 8,the ,vision of ,sir ,launfal40 ,this is a work of literary art1 a gem from a master1 beautiful in conception1 beautiful in execution1 and beautiful in its inspiration to higher life4 ,the teacher who secures the proper conception of this poem by the pupil rings a rising bell in the dormitory of that child's soul4 ,methods of teaching may vary with the personality of the teacher4 ,the best method of one teacher may or may not be the best method of another4 ,it is hoped the following suggestions may be helpful to some1 and if so1 they were not written in vain4 ,the following general suggestions may pave the way for a closer study3 #a4 ,study the legend of the 8,holy ,grail0 carefully4 #b4 ,in connection with the study of 8,the ,vision of ,sir ,launfal0 read ,tennyson's 8,holy ,grail0 and 8,idylls of the ,king10 noting likeness and difference4 #c4 ,have pupils read through the poem carefully until they catch the movement and the rhythm4 ,it is as great a mistake to set a class to criticising a poem or picking to pieces and analyzing the first paragraph of a selection of literature before they have read it as a whole as it would be to have them criticise a monument by having them examine one or two of the blocks of granite at the quarry4 #d4 ,keep closely before the student the standard and tests of pure literature4 ,the first step then in the study of 8,the ,vision of ,sir ,launfal0--and the same would be true of any selection of literature--is to find the author's theme4 ,the second step is to test this theme by the questions3 #a4 ,is it universal8 #b4 ,is it ideal8 #c4 ,is it emotional8 ,these tests will determine the class of literature to which it belongs4 ,the theme of literature is its soul or purpose1 but this soul must have a body4 ,the writer of literature does not speak in abstract terms4 ,he embodies the forms in concrete1 visible forms4 ,the ideal image is presented in the real1 the universal in the individual1 and these objective or concrete particulars become types or symbols of the abstract or universal4 ,thus ,hester in 8,the ,scarlet ,letter0 and ,jean ,valjean in 8,les ,misrables0 are realizations of universal principles in human nature4 ,the building and the launching of the ship with ,longfellow is typical of national life4 ,he who reads ,evangeline and sees but ,evangeline the individual loses most of the poem4 ,evangeline is the concrete individual form or embodiment of the abstract and the universal--woman's devotion4 ,to see the universal symbolized by the particular1 to see ,evangeline no longer as an individual1 but as a type--an ideal to which our souls may aspire--gives life to the study of literature and makes it a monitor to our own soul4 ,language is the medium which carries the theme through the embodiment to the reader4 ,in other forms of art1 as in sculpture and painting1 the embodiment stands alone and the reader must make out of it what he can4 ,literature1 however1 is more plastic4 ,it may represent the change1 the rate of progress or development4 ,language brings a vivid image before the mind1 and may give the meaning of the image in terms of life4 ,literary language must be beautiful4 ,its interpretation must yield aesthetic pleasure2 not only aesthetic pleasure1 but sensuous pleasure also4 ,it must caress the ear4 ,these pleasing qualities give rise to euphony1 harmony1 rhythm1 and rhyme in all its pleasing forms4 ,it includes also alliteration and the balanced sentence4 ,language has both a form side and a sense side4 ,it is the incarnation of thought1 and the soul is indispensable to the body4 ,language also awakens sensuous pleasure by stimulating the imagination and the judgment4 ,the connotation of language is often of more importance than the denotation4 ,now let us apply these principles more in detail to 8,the ,vision of ,sir ,launfal40 ,,the ,,theme4 ,the theme of the poem is charity4 ,the foundation of charity is our feeling of kinship4 ,blood kinship is a strong bond and has been in all of man's history4 ,the recognition of spiritual kinship has grown out of blood kinship4 ,the prejudice of the ,greeks against the barbarian came from the denial of blood kinship1 while they failed to recognize the higher spiritual kinship4 ,for the same reason the ,gentile and the ,jew were enemies4 ,monotheism--one ,god1 one ,father of all--lies at the foundation of all true charity4 ,no wonder the greatest of virtues is charity4 ,it is 8,that thread of the all-sustaining beauty1 ,which runs through all and doth all unite40 ,the theme of the poem is not apparent at first4 ,the poet1 like the organist1 begins 8doubtfully and far away40 ,this stanza is typical of the universal method of thought4 ,we approach the definite through the vague and the indefinite4 ,the stanza has no connection with the theme of the poem4 ,it is simply a prelude1 and serves to prepare the mood of the reader for what follows4 ,in the second stanza the theme is the unconscious rising to higher life through the uplifting influences of nature about us--the winds1 the mountains1 the woods1 and the sea4 ,the theme of the third stanza is the cost of earthly things contrasted with ,god's gifts4 ,earth gets its price2 it is only heaven can be had for the asking4 ,the theme of the next stanza is the power of a ,june day unto righteousness4 ,the general purpose of this beautiful description of a ,june day is to bring the reader to a realization of the uplifting influences about him4 ,the particular purpose is to furnish the immediate connection with ,sir ,launfal1 in whom from this time the theme is to be embodied4 ,mark the highly idealized upward impulse of a ,june day4 ,even the clod climbs upward to a soul in the grass and flowers4 ,the theme in ,part ,i41 except the last stanza1 is selfishness--unconscious selfishness under the guise of a noble deed4 ,the theme of the preceding is continued1 and shows strongly by contrast the uncharitable element in ,sir ,launfal's character4 ,his own life was so bright his heart could not be opened to the leper4 ,sorrow and reverses must touch him and melt his selfishness4 ,unlike the bird1 there is no song of sympathy in the heart of ,launfal1 and like the castle he rebuffed the sunshine and gloomed apart4 ,everything up to this point is unified in the one idea of selfishness4 ,the leper states this definitely4 ,heaven may be had for the asking1 but we rebuff the gifts of heaven as the castle does the sunshine4 ,sir ,launfal gives alms only2 the gifts of true charity must come from the heart4 ,the knight rode to do a noble deed1 but he could have found the ,holy ,grail at his own castle gate had his heart gone with his gift4 ,he was seeking the husk instead of the grain4 ,the crusaders sought ,christ by going to ,jerusalem1 and many yet seek ,him in the mere external ceremonies of the church4 ,notice how the leper contrasts this false charity with the real3 8,but he who gives but a slender mite1 ,and gives to that which is out of sight1 ,that thread of the all-sustaining beauty1 ,which runs through all and doth all unite1 ,the hand cannot clasp the whole of his alms1 ,the heart outstretches its eager palms1 ,for a god goes with it and makes it store ,to the soul that was starving in darkness before40 ,sir ,launfal has realized the false charity2 he is now to grow into the true2 and that is the problem to be worked out in the life of each individual4 ,it is the unceasing conflict between egoism and altruism1 between the individual and the universal self4 ,in this conflict there is a failure to recognize the self where the true self is found4 ,failing to see the divinity in things we fail to see ourselves in them4 ,in the prelude to ,part ,,ii4 we have the inner beauty of life set over against the external form4 ,it requires the chilling influences of winter to awaken the soul of ,sir ,launfal to the realities of life1 to enable him to recognize his kinship to the leper4 ,his act was a small one2 little in the eyes of the world4 ,he gave but a mouldy crust and a drink of water1 but 8,the ,holy ,supper is kept indeed ,in whatso we share with another's need2 ,not what we give but what we share1 ,for the gift without the giver is bare2 ,who gives himself with his alms feeds three-- ,himself1 his hungering neighbor1 and ,me40 ,if the pupils do not realize the theme1 if they do not see it as universal in time and place--as good to-day as in time of knighthood1 and as applicable to one individual as another--they have lost the best1 in fact all1 of the good of the poem4 ,if they really read the poem they must live for the time being decidedly above the ordinary level of charitable feeling4 ,,the ,,embodiment4 ,the theme is embodied in a person4 ,sir ,launfal is not simply ,sir ,launfal the individual1 but ,sir ,launfal the universal4 ,he is the potential of what you and ,i may become4 ,we know nothing and care nothing about the ordinary events of his life4 ,even the most matter-of-fact person cares nothing about when or where he was born4 ,age and clime do not concern us4 ,we are interested only in his growth in charity4 ,the embodiment is not ,sir ,launfal only1 but ,sir ,launfal with all his accessories1 the castle1 the leper1 summer1 winter1 etc4 ,sir ,launfal before the castle gate1 confronted by the leper1 stands boldly out in the foreground of the picture in the beginning1 and the scene must be shifted until he stands confronted by the leper again--from ,june to ,december of life--and ,sir ,launfal1 and not the leper1 must change4 ,the heavenly influences must bring knight and leper together so that each shall recognize their spiritual kinship1 and in the beginning they are the extremes of human life4 ,the only ideal charity is the kind which has power to bring together the extremes of life1 to show how the kinship in a person in the most abject and offensive condition of life4 ,sir ,launfal is a knight1 and the sworn duty of a knight is to do good to others and to protect and defend the weak4 ,here is the opportunity to do good to one who needs help1 but he fails utterly4 ,he makes no sacrifice in giving gold2 he does not share his life2 he gives the gold in scorn4 ,sir ,launfal1 the proud1 selfish knight1 can never realize his kinship to the leper until his selfishness is overcome1 until his heart is changed4 ,he is uncharitable to an ideal degree1 and this is still more idealized when we consider that the ,june day which inspired ,launfal to the keeping of his vow was a free gift4 ,the poet describes the ,june day until the reader feels its power unto higher living4 ,the physical and the spiritual are blended1 and to such a degree is the spiritual idealized that the reader consciously feels the uplifting impulse4 ,the class that does not feel this uplifting impulse does not really read the poem4 ,the ,june day is called a perfect day4 ,it is a time when earth is in tune with higher life4 ,every clod feels a stir of might1 and such an idealized effect on the clod makes the reader reach and tower to a higher life4 ,but ,sir ,launfal's selfishness makes him out of harmony with nature all about him4 ,the little bird1 deluged with summer1 sings to the world3 8,his mate feels the eggs beneath her wings1 ,and the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings10 but ,sir ,launfal's heart sings only to the wide world1 if it sings at all4 ,he does not respond to the quiet duty before him4 ,everything but ,sir ,launfal is upward striving2 selfishness like a lodestone1 is holding him down4 ,at first it seems the poem lacks unity1 but a careful study shows that the preludes have the closest relation to the theme4 ,the uplifting influences of the free ,june day makes the selfishness of ,sir ,launfal all the greater4 ,the castle is the embodiment of ,launfal and selfishness4 ,it1 too1 was besieged by the summer1 but 8lay like an outpost of winter1 dull and gray40 ,the drawbridge dropped with a surly clang as the knight dashed forth1 but the sunshine went out of his soul with a thrill as he beheld the leper4 ,this picture is the embodiment of the emptiness of the outward forms of charity--the mere almsgiving4 ,the picture of true charity is quite different4 ,sir ,launfal and the leper meet again before the same castle wall and again the leper begs an alms4 ,the chilling influences of life and the reverses of fortune have wrought a change in ,sir ,launfal1 and he now listens to the 8grewsome thing40 ,he recognizes in him not only a kinship1 but sees in him the image of ,christ--the real ,christ--while his life has been spent in seeking only the shadow of ,christ4 ,the external contrast is as great as the spiritual contrast4 ,sir ,launfal is now an old1 bent man4 ,there is no sign of ,knighthood--he is 8shelterless1 shelterless1 shelterless40 ,the description of the little brook is1 if possible1 more delightful than that of the ,june day1 and is the embodiment of ,sir ,launfal's present life4 ,the reader feels the joy of the fullness of inner life independent of external circumstances4 ,the warmth and comfort inside the castle is a striking contrast with the cold outside1 and this expresses the condition of ,sir ,launfal4 ,the inner life is now triumphant over the outer4 ,contrast the picture of ,sir ,launfal leaving the castle1 and ,sir ,launfal returning to the castle4 ,in the first the outward life is triumphant over the inner4 ,the external world is light with warmth and cheer4 ,in the second it is cold and bleak and gloomy1 while the ruddy glow comes from within4 ,this growth is typical of the progress of the soul from the pride of youth and inexperience to the joy of the inner spiritual life of old age4 ,it suggests also the historical movement from external splendor of chivalrous deeds to inner ,christlike charity2 the growth from symbolism to the thing symbolized4 ,the class should study the embodiment until they feel3 #a4 ,that the picture is accurate1 vivid and full4 #b4 ,that it makes its appeal to the inner life of sympathy and love4 #c4 ,that there is perfect harmony between the real as presented in the picture and the ideal as potential in human nature4 ,,the ,,language4 ,the pupils should scan the poem to catch the music of the verse4 ,notice the external mechanism1 the language and its power to awaken aesthetic pleasure4 ,note the freedom and variety of the structure4 ,there is no monotonous jingle4 ,rhythm is the primary element in poetic form1 and a return to it4 ,there must be no fixed regularity in the departure and the return4 ,notice the flexibility in the rhyme1 as 8knowing0 8growing10 8ear0 8near10 8flowing10 8sky0 8by10 8back0 8lack10 8chanticleer0 8year10 8crowing40 ,the measure is as free and as playful as the rhyme4 ,the iambic is the characteristic foot1 but there is frequently variations by the use of the anapest4 ,the trochaic foot is used occasionally at the beginning of the line4 ,notice the variations running through the poem and the variations in the length and structure of the stanzas4 ,the more complex the movement of a poem1 provided there is unity in it1 the more music there is in it4 ,stanzas cut by the same form and pattern are artificial and mechanical4 ,the form of poetry1 however1 cannot be considered separate from the thought and sentiment expressed4 ,alliteration1 unless it fit the form to the idea1 is mere affectation4 ,when the sentiment rises and falls or moves with varying rapidity1 the form of the stanza must vary4 ,the class should study the poem to see3 #a4 ,if there is any conflict between the form and meaning4 #b4 ,if the variation in form comes naturally with the variation of the sentiment expressed4 ,suggestion and allusion are well employed in the selections4 ,the author utilizes the reader's knowledge of ,wordsworth's 8,intimations of ,immortality10 the ,bible story of ,moses and ,sinai1 ,druid religion1 and ,tennyson's 8,idylls of the ,king10 and he does it skillfully4 ,he does not thrust it at the reader1 but assumes the reader's intelligence1 and the compliment is pleasing4 ,the poems are few where we find the objects presented so completely and transformed into spiritual types so perfectly4 ,even the clod climbs to a soul4 ,note the suggestiveness1 the connotation1 in 8reaches0 and 8towers10 8groping blindly0 and 8climbing40 ,all of them suggestive of the human soul's ascent to higher things4 ,the poem is a unit4 ,it is 8universal1 ideal1 emotional40 ,there is complete fusion of form and content1 a rounded fullness1 completeness and beauty which makes it a work of fine art4 ,do not let your class leave it until they have stored their minds with beautiful quotations--gems of thought and sentiment1 jewels of expression--which will bless and brighten and uplift them in after years4 ,,chapter ,,xix4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,vacation4 ,your school term has closed4 ,vacation is here4 ,how shall you spend it8 ,that is the question4 ,rest4 ,that is the proper thing to do4 ,rest does not mean idleness1 however4 ,why are you tired8 ,the merchant works twelve months in the year1 six days in the week and more hours in a day than you do8 ,the farmer1 the mechanic and others do the same4 ,they are glad to get a week off once a year1 and many of them do not get that4 ,why are teachers so completely worn out at the close of the term8 ,why are they so pale1 so nervous8 ,why do they so often count the weeks1 then the days1 and at last the hours before the term ends8 ,is there a teacher of five years' experience who has not at some time been guilty of such counting8 ,is it the hard work8 ,is it the lack of agreeable surroundings8 ,is it want of pure air and exercise1 or is it worry8 ,freed from anxiety1 and to the lover of the work1 teaching is neither dull nor exhausting4 ,the actual mental energy spent in teaching by most teachers is not great4 ,it is seldom that they give long continued mental effort to one subject during school hours4 ,in fact1 the worst drawback to teaching to one who seeks to be a scholar in the best sense of the term1 is that his attention is continually divided4 ,he cannot concentrate his mind on one subject long enough4 ,he must divide his time between government and the teaching process4 ,for this reason1 those who wish to be scholars rather than teachers seek to teach in the universities rather than in the primary or secondary schools4 ,here they may specialize4 ,here their class work is free from government proper4 ,their students are mature4 ,the mature thought of the student stimulates the teacher and the investigator4 ,they are growing into ripe scholarship instead of directing younger pupils in the elements of subjects4 ,we may safely say it is not the unusual amount of thought devoted to teaching that gives pallor to the cheek of so many teachers at the close of the year1 nor do we believe it is altogether due to unpleasant surroundings4 ,school houses are in many places far from inviting4 ,two or three churches with stained glass windows and pretty homes of comfort and refinement are often found near the most dilapidated old tumbled-down school house1 and a shame it is4 ,but the teacher who is master of the situation and a leader of children1 can do much to overcome this4 ,clean buildings and grounds with some good walks and a few trees and flowers will follow as a result of a good teacher after a few years in almost any school4 ,the teacher1 too1 usually secures room and board with a good family where they may have comforts equal or superior to their own home4 ,teachers are always welcome to the best society--it may not be the low-necked1 high-heeled variety--but the best and most substantial4 ,the best homes welcome them as guests and the biggest fat apples are laid--an honest and worthy tribute--on the teacher's desk4 ,churches and societies in rural and village schools always welcome the teacher with pleasure1 and the teacher is lacking in mixing qualities who does not get access to all the comforts and pleasures the community affords4 ,their standards may not be your standards1 but their honesty and unconventionality will make up for much4 ,one of the inexpressible pleasures of teaching comes when you can lose your own selfishness in your own quiet devotion to duty in the community4 ,the worn-out condition of the teacher1 if she has the ability to adapt herself to reasonable conditions1 does not come from lack of congenial surroundings4 ,lack of fresh air and exercise may count for much4 ,many school-rooms are poorly ventilated4 ,teachers standing breathe more impurities than pupils seated4 ,the windows should be slightly lowered at the top and the room frequently flushed with fresh air for the benefit of both teachers and pupils4 ,then most teachers do not take enough exercise4 ,do you play at recess8 ,whether it is advisable to play with your pupils or not depends upon your own power4 ,can you play with pupils without sacrificing or compromising your dignity8 ,some persons can1 and others cannot4 ,some gain the good will of pupils by playing with them1 others lose it4 ,you must know your own ability4 ,games in which you can excel usually count in your favor4 ,games in which the pupils can greatly excel you1 are not apt to add to your standing or reputation among pupils4 ,but whether you play or do not play you should spend an hour or two each day in exercise in the open air4 ,a brisk walk to the postoffice1 an hour of work in the garden or with flowers1 or the care of chickens or anything which gives you exercise in the open air and calls your thoughts from the work of the day is beneficial4 ,the work must be congenial1 but the labor must not be so strenuous as to sap your vitality4 ,it should be of everyday occurrence1 and yet so that in extremely bad weather the time may be shortened4 ,an hour of work in the open air in something in which you have a genuine interest will put life and vigor into your school work4 ,worry kills4 ,relieved of all worry1 the teaching profession would be ideal1 and yet worry springs almost all together from the imagination4 ,the teacher goes to school in the morning scared for fear of trouble4 ,a feeling of dread that something is going to go wrong1 that some calamity is about to befall1 hangs over the teacher4 ,she fears to look out of the window or to step out on the playground for dread she will see something wrong4 ,it is this dread1 this feeling that something awful is going to happen1 this worry which causes the pale face and the nervous condition of the teacher at the close of school4 ,then so many teachers never get the confidence of their school4 ,they are looking for open defiance or open rebellion at any minute4 ,they prowl about to find something going wrong4 ,they tip-toe and sneak on the pupils1 confident always that pupils are plotting against them4 ,it is no wonder that pupils delight in annoying such a teacher4 ,they stop the recitation time after time to reprimand ,johnnie in the back part of the room4 ,they pace the floor like a hyena in a cage1 looking for trouble4 ,let me suggest that if ,johnnie is disturbing the recitation to such an extent that something must be done that you let ,johnnie do the walking instead of yourself1 and let your rebuke or punishment be severe enough1 and sincere enough1 and complete enough1 and yet reasonable enough1 that you will never have to stop the recitation again to reprimand him4 ,good common sense and self-control should be brought to bear on your duties1 and as an aid in making steady your nerves4 ,as responsible as the school-room is1 pupils are not going to run off with the building4 ,neither are they going to do anything unpardonably bad4 ,their youthful faults and follies will be forgotten by you1 and the neighborhood too1 in a few years4 ,so what is the use of wasting the nervous force and energy which ought to be directed towards the teaching process in needless worry for fear something will happen4 ,you ask1 8,how can ,i help it80 ,you can help it3 #a4 ,use your will to control your mind4--,you have read of the soldier who found his knees trembling4 ,stopping short and looking at them he said3 8,if you knew where ,i was going to take you you would shake worse than that40 ,by centering his mind upon other things he gained control of his shaking knees4 ,you1 by exerting your will1 may learn to calm your fears4 #b4 ,a large part of your nervousness comes from feeling that you are not well prepared for the work4--,you fear that something will come up which you do not understand4 ,you are not right sure whether you can answer the questions you are going to ask the class in to-day's lesson4 ,you feel that the problems and questions of the school-room are going to come to you as a surprise4 ,the best remedy for this is to study and plan and organize your knowledge of the subject2 to read carefully and critically but with discrimination the plans1 methods1 devices and experiences of other teachers4 ,these may be found in journals and books on methods and plans of teaching4 #c4 ,your vacation1 while they should be free from worry and unnecessary work1 may be seeding time for storing up many helpful things which will prevent worry in the future4--,read a few good thoughtful professional books4 ,question the plans and methods mentioned4 ,make clippings of those things which will help you in the future1 and keep them in scrap-books1 classifying these that you may readily turn to any topic wanted4 ,what stores of knowledge1 what amount of worry may thus be avoided by planning for the future4 ,not only this1 the planning itself will give pleasure as its own reward at the time1 with compound interest in the future4 ,think over and plan and systematize your work4 ,yes1 ,i hear you say that you cannot plan then so that you can use it the next year4 ,you must revise your plans1 it is true4 ,a plan is much more easily revised than constructed anew4 ,no teacher can use a plan over and over without revision or adaptation to the individual class4 ,but during vacation is the time to make collections of material1 storehouses as it were1 to interest your class for next year4 #d4 ,do not neglect the rest and recreation and inspiration that comes from a week at the county institute or a few weeks at a good summer school4--,the acquaintances made1 the inspiration received1 the thought-producing ideas gained1 and the feeling of professional fellowship engendered is worth many times its cost4 ,with a vacation rightly used you may come out of your next school term with more energy and more physical strength4 ,it is the worry of the school-room that kills4 ,teachers must overcome the worrying habit or succumb to its baneful influence4 ,,chapter ,,xx4 ,,the ,,teacher',s ,,view ,,of ,,life4 ,of all the things that indirectly affect your teaching1 as well as your own personal happiness1 nothing is of such importance as your view of life4 ,it gives coloring to your every act4 ,it is a background from which other things must take their tint4 ,it shapes your views and determines your actions unconsciously upon hundreds of the less important things of life4 ,it makes you a long-faced pessimist1 sour and grouchy1 or it makes you an optimist1 bright and cheery4 ,one's view of life is not always entirely his own choosing4 ,health1 family1 friends1 success1 may affect your view of life and in turn be affected by this same view of life1 but your view of life can be consciously cultivated4 ,you are what you are from three sources4 ,first1 your inheritance4 ,color1 race1 nationality1 physical features1 natural talent1 etc41 are not of our own choosing4 ,these are for us or against us4 ,we are bound by these fetters and yet we cannot be held morally accountable for them4 ,they determine in a greater or lesser degree our future in many things4 ,our moral responsibility would make it our duty to accept without pride or regret1 without boasting or apology1 without compliment or complaint1 our ,god-given1 parent-inherited possibilities4 ,from these we are to make the best we can4 ,second1 ,you are what you are from your environment4 ,in no marked measure are we responsible for our environment in early life4 ,while it leaves its indelible traces on us1 it is not of our own choosing4 ,no man is individually responsible for his own birthplace nor boyhood home4 ,whether in the busy marts of trade or the seclusion of a frontier farm1 whether in primitive ,patagonia or gay ,paris--it may affect his life and ideas and attainments1 but for this there is little credit due him as an individual because it was not of his own choosing4 ,the potent influence of environment and opportunity on the individual is the hope of the teacher and the reformer4 ,to improve this the state spends its millions upon schools1 education1 good roads1 mail service1 sanitation1 etc4 ,the great reformers of the ages have been true to their highest ideals because of their faith in their ability to improve the conditions of the masses of mankind4 ,our schools and reformatories are based upon the same faith4 ,we can improve the race by improving the environment of the young4 ,a careful study and contemplation of the effects of improved environment upon the life of the individual should nerve any teacher to the highest effort4 ,third4 ,you are what you are largely by your own efforts4 ,the mature man should be self-directive4 ,circumstances1 inheritance and environment may limit him1 but he grows in strength and courage in fighting and overcoming this environment4 ,the ripened fruit of education is intelligent individual self-direction4 ,it is the aim and end of a liberal education4 ,it is the goal to which all else in education should direct4 ,we believe1 then1 that it is possible for the individual--the thinking1 liberal-minded individual1 the teacher trained to see not only the highest ideals of education but to understand the principles and laws of mental growth to attain such ideals--we believe that it is possible for such a person to shape in a very large measure his view of life4 ,upon the way he looks at life depends largely his health1 happiness and success4 8,as a man thinketh1 so is he40 ,this has been the thought of the great religious reformers of the ages4 ,buddha and ,christ1 and all that go between1 agree in this one particular4 ,they differ in what to believe1 but all agree that one's innermost belief shapes and determines his life and final reward4 ,with ,milton1 ,i believe that 8mind can make a hell of heaven or a heaven of hell40 ,with these statements let us see if we can make more clear how one's view of life will enter the practical affairs of the teacher and make for them of teaching either a paradise or purgatory4 ,contrast these views of farming--the first a farmer only2 the second a man on a farm4 ,the one is narrowed in his view of life to his cabin and forty acres4 ,each day is a ceaseless grind4 ,the old statement that there is nothing new under the sun is true so far as he is concerned4 ,his soul and life are dwarfed and swiveled4 ,he ekes out a miserable pittance day by day4 ,growling and miserly and grudgingly he makes his simple exchanges at the country store4 ,he haggles1 and frets and stews over prices1 seeking a low and sinister motive in every man's transaction but his own4 ,of all men he thinks himself the most besought and hard pressed4 ,day after day he spends in absolute idleness because he can find nothing worth doing4 ,his cattle1 his corn and his surplus supplies are so many cents saved for the winter's clothing4 ,the weeds grow up to his front door1 his fences are unkept1 his stables are falling down1 and from the broken window panes hang 8the signal rags of shiftlessness40 ,life holds for him no hope save the sordid things of life4 ,narrowed and dwarfed and ignorant he goes his ceaseless round4 ,no beauty for him in the sky overhead or in the flower at his feet4 ,the storm cloud appeals only as it may break the drouth or blow down the crops4 ,his thoughts and his vocabulary are bounded by his daily ceaseless round of small economies4 ,healthy1 hearty1 his view of life is so narrow that what ,god intended for a man is little more than a thing4 ,his neighbor measures all by its market value4 ,the money it will bring--this to him would measure anything less than a soul and would tempt him to sell his soul4 ,he buys land to raise corn to feed hogs to buy more land to raise more corn to feed more hogs2 to buy more land to raise more corn to feed more hogs to buy more land and thus the endless possession goes until he is gathered to his fathers and his children have a chance to spend his earnings often in riotous living4 ,his view of life is broader than the first4 ,he learns that there is a difference in the quality of corn and hogs4 ,to produce continuous crops he must protect and build up the land4 ,the stock of hogs and the care they get make a difference in the profits4 ,his view of life is bounded by the almighty dollar4 ,he is not hopeless1 as he has interests outside himself4 ,contrast these with the man of liberal mold on the farm4 ,the farm is to him his apportioned part of ,god's green earth1 a place to live and to be happy4 ,an ever-changing scene and view makes life on the farm to him a continuous panorama of beauty4 ,the blueness of the sky1 the brightness of the stars1 the balmy breezes1 the landscape view1 even the heat of summer and the cold of winter add zest to his living4 ,he is ever thankful for sunshine or showers1 pure air and fresh water1 health and exercise--thankful that his is an environment of taste and beauty4 ,he is busy and he is happy4 ,his mind is centered on other things but the dollars1 and the comforts come as a side line and without worry or fretting on his part4 ,he rises with the lark to give another touch here and there that will add to the growing of the crops or the beauty of the home4 ,he feels that by his labor he is not only keeping his wife and family but helping to feed the hungry millions of mankind4 ,what a difference in the spirit of the man who feels that he is feeding the hungry millions of the earth1 helping in ,god's great plan of civilization and enlightenment and the miserable miser who seeks but shade and shelter6 ,your view of life changes the complexion of the things about you4 ,it puts spirit and energy into the most humdrum tasks4 ,a necessary work is an honorable work4 ,do that which your ability and your environment makes necessary4 ,do it with cheerfulness and a will4 ,envy no man his success until you are willing to pay for it what he has paid4 ,by paying the price you can win success for yourself4 ,but success is not always measured in dollars and cents4 ,teach yourself to view life and labor in its broader light1 and you will have found the philosopher's stone that dignifies labor well done1 and draws pleasure from any honorable occupation4 ,to deify your own work is the way to get pleasure and growth out of it4 ,forget as far as possible the daily wage4 ,let the carpenter see himself helping to build and improve the homes of mankind and he is ashamed of shoddy work4 ,the street sweeper should glow with civic pride4 ,his work is as essential as that of any man4 ,when he realizes this1 his work is then not drudgery4 ,he feels the worth of his work4 ,he feels that he is making his city the cleanest1 the brightest1 the healthiest and the most beautiful in the world4 ,when he turns at the end of his beat to see behind him a street immaculate1 there swells in him a worthy pride of his work and his worth1 a thrill as pardonable and as justifiable as that in the mayor's breast as he reviews his uniformed police4 ,the teamster with his load of coal1 dirty and begrimed though he may be1 should forget his toil and drudgery in the conviction that he is helping humanity to keep warm while in turn he is earning an honest living and the comforts of home for himself and family4 ,let the washerwoman1 bending over her tub1 feel that her work is not only honorable1 but necessary4 ,except for her1 or others doing her work1 humanity in a few months time would be in a pitiful plight1 and our present civilization could not long exist4 ,dignify your own little niche in life4 ,see in all things the hand of an infinite power1 shaping and directing the destiny of man and then no work will be drudgery to you4 ,you get out of life what you put into it4 ,measure and it is measured back to you4 ,joy1 sunshine1 cheerfulness1 obedience1 these are reflections of yourself4 ,the brightest colors1 the most beautiful harmonies1 are self-created products of your own mind4 ,we see what we look for1 we hear what we listen for1 we get what we give4 ,we must lose our life in our work if we are to find it again renewed and more fruitful in the lives of our pupils4 ,love our pupils and they will love us in return4 ,see good in everybody and the goodness in them will rise up then to greet the goodness in us4 ,have beauty in our own life and we shall see beauty in the life about us--the rainbow1 the storm cloud1 the landscape1 the sparrow's song1 the brooklet's ripple1 will all find an inspiring response in our natures4 ,grouch and the world is grouchy4 ,fault-find and others will find fault4 ,distrust and others will not have confidence in us4 ,the world and all things about us is one huge mirror from which our own image is being reflected back to us4 ,if we want to change the image begin to consciously build up in ourselves a bigger1 brighter1 better view of life and we shall begin to see bigger1 brighter1 better images reflected back to us4 ,as a teacher learn to look on life with a healthy optimism4 ,get a world view of humanity in its progress4 ,recognize yourself as a force--infinitely small perhaps1 but a necessary force in the triumphant march4 ,dollars and cents are necessary to you to fill to perfection this place--but over and above all money1 sweeter and more lasting1 is the lives you can reach1 the good you can do1 the pleasure you can inspire1 the kindlier feelings you can cultivate in your pupils4 ,cheered1 upheld1 inspired by such thoughts as these1 no community will be uninteresting1 no school will be unworthy your best efforts1 no healthy1 hearty1 happy child but will stand before you an instrument of infinite possibilities4 ,knowing what notes to strike you can place it in harmony with ,god and the universe4 ,to see life in its larger views1 to live life on a higher plane1 to lift others to this larger life is the opportunity of the true teacher4 ,think you that teaching is dull8 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,the text from the original publication from which this e,book was derived has been retained as published specifically where3 the text appears to be missing a number of articles and prepositions in several instances1 subject and verb are not in agreement some apostrophes for ownership are missing inconsistencies appear between chapter headings and the body text there are anomalies in punctuation ,fractions on pages #fc and #adc have also been retained as printed in the original publication1 i4e4 #fb #a-b1 #a-ab1 #ah-ab and #a #a-b4 ,the following changes have been made3 ,page #hg ignominously in the contest changed to ignominiously in the contest ,page #ie as a pleasant workship changed to as a pleasant workshop ,page #abh will be his adaptibility changed to will be his adaptability ,page #ace a word is missed the the next below changed to a word is missed the next below ,page #aci ,no communicaton is allowed changed to ,no communication is allowed ,pages #aef and #afd ,idyls of the ,king changed to ,idylls of the ,king ,page #aef ,jean ,valjean in 8,les ,miserables0 changed to ,jean ,valjean in 8,les ,misrables0 ,page #aeg and the soul is indispensible changed to and the soul is indispensable