Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1871-11-16
EDUCATIONAL.
HINTS TO TEACIERS.-NU. III.

beginning Of ali era which may be
vastly influential in shipping the dcsti.
uicS Of men and the history Of States
and Nations. The first day Is work will
serve as kind Of precedent for the
labor Of each succeeding one Not in
the order Of the recitation, nor in the
time or the routine Of the studies, but
in tho discipline and the general bust.
ness Of the schoo'-room. You should
bcsi" work promptly, not one minute
later than nine o'clock. No matter
whether there are three pupils or thirty
+, present. Those who arc in school
should have the benefit Of the lesson
which prompt beginning affords
while the tardy ones should be made to
feel that they are late.
There is no way in which the teach
CT can do more to secure the presence
Of the pupils pnnctualy at nine o'clock
than by opening school :son time"
Teachers are directly responsible for
one-half the tar'liness Of pupils. This
is an unpleasant, but not an unwlole-
some truth.
You complain Of the children when
yousciecs arc chiefly at fault. One
minute late yourself, and you are pow
erless to enforce punctuality on the
part Of the children. Endless preach
ing will avail nothing, unless you sup.
plcmcnt it with a practice which cxhib-
its your faith in what you say. There
must be consistency-a correspondence
of word, and deed, or you will fall
Example is more potent than preccpt
We emphasize this point, because al
attendance which is punctual and reg
ular, is one of the chief conditions Of
success in your work. Irregular pupils
lose the benefit of connected and peri
odical recitation. This destroys all
emulation, and class--symmct'y and
enervates and discrepancies the whole
school. Yor need hope for no general
prosperity in school where there is
not punctual and regular attendance.
Perhaps, seating the pupils is one Of
the most important duties which requires
early attention. The practice prevails
of allowing the children to select seats.
This is productive CT bad results. 1t
adults at the outset, that the exercise
Of authority in tho school is to be divi-
ded between the teacher and the pupil.
Such an admission is fatal to good gov
c.a'mcnt.
In awarding seats, regard should be
had to general classification therefore
any arrangement at the beginning, must
be considered wholly temporary. If
you commence with such an under
standing, you will find no trouble in
making any subsequent change which
complete organization may render
necessary. You cannot complete your
classification, and arrange your pro-
gramme in one day. But you must not
keep your pupils idly waiting, until
You shall have determined just what
each one is to do. This would be to
give present license to any employ
mcnt, no matter how destructive it may
be to peace and good order.
Each pupil should be told to begin
work precisely where he left off at the
close Of the last term, and that, as soon
as possible, each will be classified &C
cordins to his skin and the degree Of
his attainment. This disposcs Of the
whole school at one stroke, and gives
you time to begin the work Of grada-
ton and classification which should be
performed at once, and as completed 7
and thoroughly as possible.
A word Of caution may be necessary
here. A plan of graduation which will
succeed admirably in village or city
school, will, most likely, fail entirely in
a rurul district. The reasons for this
arc most obvious, and scarcely need to
be meut;oocd. We will only say that
the school habits Of the two classes Of
children, are SO widely different as te
render any uniformity of classification
impossible. The teacher must be con
trollel wholly by the local condition O.
each particular school, and he must us'
a large measure of what the law de
fines, liability to teach"
> The work of organization fully com
pleted, the teacher should strive to Gre
ate an enthusiasm among the pupils
They must be made to approach tn
work Of tho school room with feclin:
something like that with which the
enter upon the pastimes of holida,
season. Such interest, and such ener
gy arc not altogether natural in school
They are creations of the teacher
scintillations Of his own mind dissemin
ated among the pupils. There must b
an exhibition Of that strong energy
and personal power of the teacher whic|
arou:cs and awskens which develop
and unfolds which swaps and direct:
and controls; which transforms tn
liliputs Of the school room, into til
giants Of business and reform. Ner
! scholarship-bo"k knowlcdge--will nc
accomplish this. 1t requires that supe
rior quality of the human mind Of which
acquisition is only an establishment
not the chief excellence or beauty
which cxalts men, even without the al
Of schools, Or the conycntiOnalitics {