The Portland daily press., 1880-01-01

Maine State Educational Association.
Agoodly number of the most prominent
teachers of the state assembled at the Acade-
my building at Gardiner Tuesday afternoon
and listened to an address Of welcome by May
or Palmer.
In the evening President Chamberlain Of
Brunswick delivered a lecture on Education
in France which, like all this gentleman's
literary efforts, was an able and scholarly
presentation of the subject
The Association met WednesdaWforenoon
and the first paper was by Mr.. Robbins of
Deering
Miss Sarah NJ Haskell Of Gardiner read q
| paper on School Discipline. She thought that
| good discipline may best be attained by en-
| ploying the child's mind That teacher
should always be.self- possessed, never scold or
be annoyed if pupil was trying to make a
teacher angry. Most difficulties are the fault
of the teacher as well as the pupil.
It was short but to the point and was re-
ceived with marked approval. A discussion
ensued in which Mr.. W. o. Fletcher OF Bid
deford said he thought that the matter of dis
cipline was second to instruction and that the
aim and object OF the teacher should be to Sc
| cure VIC iabtOI, SNCl lIC pcu6C Va INV
| former.
| Mr.. Luce of Freedom spoke very facetiously
and caused much merriment by narrating his
early experience in dsobeyng arbitrary rules
intended to govern too rigidly
| Mr.. fash of Portland thought much harm
resulted from the hasty promises of punish
ment made to pupils by teachers who forget to
carry them out or else did worse by performing
what they promised.
| Mr.. Jordan of Lewiston thought that the
! discipline of each pupil should be matter of
personal study by the teacher. That the mo-
| tives for violation of school law should ba as
certained if possible, in order to arrive at a
| correct understanding of tile case and to adj
| minister exact justice.
| Mr.. T. 7. Bailey of Boston gave some very
| admirable illustrations of good and bad dis
| cipline, stating his experience in visiting diff
| ferent schools in New England. He thought
| that pills should be put on ''their honor" and
that this method pursued By teachers of any
executive ability could not but prove sue
| cess.
Mr.. Hanson Of Waterville thought that dis
| cipline was an a i'm in itself, and the CHEZ
thing to be secured.
Mr.. Chase of Portland read paper of Miss
| Mary J. Pennell of Portland on First Lessons
| in Primary Reading the principal points of
| which were that the 'letters" should not be
taught first but that the ",eords" themselves
as representatives of ideas. This last, in COM
| binoaou with the sounds Of the letters consti-
| tutea what is commonly called the "Phonic
| Word .Hetbod,' and is the one most generally
used the alphabet method being used only
| in the interior or rural neighborhoods and is
fast going out Of use
| Mr. fash discussed the paper at considerable
| length, endorsing the method and advocating
| its adoption.
| This was by far the most interesting paper
of the day and one that ought to be printed in
| full for general circulation.
| Mr. Sheldon of Boston cautioned teachers
| against using the word method; thought there
was danger i'll relying npon any markings to
| indicate pronunciation. He rdiculed the
| idea that the Quincy method so called, was
| anything original. Said that the same
methods practically were in use in the Sheaf
| street schools of Boston more than twenty
| years ago
Mr.. Rounds of Pennington thought that too
| much stress was placed upon what We're called
ne,c methods. He said that all good method
| were naturM ones and that many of those had
| been known for years