Daily Kennebec journal., 1877-11-16
EducatiOnnI Mesttna,

The educational meeting ut Damatiscotta,
opened at the Congregational ve.'ry, on Monday,
Nov 18th. There were between fifty and one
hundred school officers and teachers present
The forenoon was mainly occupied in setting
firth some of the methods Of teaching the com
m IN branches in our town schools. Hon. W. j.
Corthell opened the meeting, after which Prof
G.. c. Rounds Of the W0st Normal School, spoke
at some length la the afternoon Mr.. Rounds
spoke substantially as follows. lie thought that
| the subject of reading should hold a prominent
place in our schools but at the present time, it
is of TOO little value, and that 1t would be better
classified than by the books. lie should not con-
fine the scholar TO his book, but should have BIN
read from the newspapers, magazines, and other
good books; that by this means the attention of
the scholar would be got and held, as he would
be interested in what was being read; that the
pupil should so read the lesson that he would un-
derstand what was being read, and If there was
no means by which this could be be expected, he
would have the scholar write his reading lesson
out, and that after doing TINS the scholar should
read from his writing. BY doing this the scholar
would learn to write, to spell and to think. lie
knew that child, properly trained, would be a
sourse of pleasure to his parents at home that a
child should not be called good reader until he
had mastered mechanical reading; after this
would come the logical and asthetlcal. III the
pupil cannot understand the piece after thorough
study, then the teacher should take 1t in hand.
The next topic was spelling. He said we should
not lose sight OF the fact that reading comes be-
fore spelling that the scholar should spell all
those words that come within the limits of every
day conversation. The child can readily learn to
spell by writing and printing words. Giving out
| the spelling lessons should he made a practical
| thing, aud there should be more thoroughness in
spelling.
The next topic was writing. lie was very sor-
ry to say that in this We sadly deficient and
lew teachers take the interest they should IN the
| matter. He thought it shoud be practiced every
day that geography should be taught by maps
and drawings, and that the lessons should be
taught by topics.
Mr.. Corthell said that curiosity in us unlocked
the doors of knowledge; that the teacher should
never tell the scholar anything which he is able to
study out for himself that pencils and paper
should be furnished the little ones, 10 keep them
busy. Happy is the man woman who has the
gift of talking to the little folks. lie would teach
reading on the system of method those IN the
primary arithmetic should be taught to construct
tables of their own. lie would have German oc-
cupy minor place in our common schools, COM
pared with some of the other studies.
In the evening, Mr.. Corthell gave lectures in
the Baptist church, where a large audience had
assembled TO near. The speaker showed that
there were too many poor teachers in the State,
and that means should be taken TO bring about an
lmpi ovemen,. A board of three persons might
be created IN each county, who should have power
to call meetings for the purpose Of examining
teachers. lie also showed that the district sys-
TEN had been injurious to our educational inter
ests.