River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-01-31
BY w. II. Payne, A. NJ, Prof of Peda-
gogics, Ann Arbor, Mich.

BY w. II. Payne, A. NJ, Prof of Peda-
gogics, Ann Arbor, Mich.
l. School management comprehends
all those means that are needed to make
school truly efficient; and the elements
of this art may be discussed under the
three following heads: ID organization,
81 government, (3) instruction. A school
must be organized in order that it may be
instructed; and it must then be govern
ed in order that the organization may be
preserved.
2 A factor of first importance is the
condition of the house and furniture;
they should be so ordered as TO secure
the comfort, health and happiness of
both pupils and teachers. The house
and all its appurtenances, TO begin with,
should be made scrupulously clean, and
then should be kept in proper order. In
winter the house should be geneI 9usly,
though carefully warmed. Pupils should
be protected from impure air and from
drafts. School rooms should be made
attractive by means of pictures, house
plants, curtains, etc. Seats and desks
should be made as comfortable as posi-
BILE.
3. At the earliest possible moment pu-
pills should find some assigned work to
do. The opening should be informal as
possible. The older pupils should have
some definite lessons to learn, and the
Younger should be called forward to read,
spell, etc. At the close of tbs first day
the teacher should have an enrolment
list showing the name and age of each
| pupil, and should know the membership
of each class. On the second morning
he should have at least a provisional
| program, and should assign a short but
definite lesson to each class. There
should be as few classes as possible.
There should be but one textbook on
given subject of a given grade; and
classes in the same subject, though of
different grades, should be consolidated
whenever possible.
4. As early as possible there should be
a definite program, showing the order Of
recitatons and the duration of each. No
specific rules can be given for determin-
| ing the order of recitatlons, though the
following partial rules are well founded:
| The younger pupils should be first called
to recite, so that the older may prepare
| their lessons: the lessons that require the
greater concentration of effort should be
| learned and recited early in the day, or
early in each session. The duration OF
recitations can be calculated from the
| following data: The entire time that can
be devoted to rotations; the whole
number of Rotations The quotient of
| the first divided by the second will show
the average length of each recitation.
The Rotations of the youngest pupils
| should be short and frequent.
| 5. The evolutions of the school should
be regulated by signals The tap Of a
pencil on the table or on bell is all that
need be desired for ordinary signals.
| The slighter the sound, if it be distinct,
the better. Prompt obedience to signals
should be required. Something like
military precision should be impressed
on the evolutions of a school. Through
a skillful use of signals the movements OF
a school may be made almost automatic;
so that in case of need, as in danger from
fire, one will may govern the whole mass
of pupils.
6. The keeping of proper records, and
the making of required reports are essen
tial parts of good school management.
From the teachers register it should be
easy to calculate the following items: Abb
solute enrolment; average number be-
longing; per cent. of attendance; aver
age number of months of attendance.
The records of a graded school should fur
nish the following additional items: Az
erage cost per capita for supervision, for
instruction, for incidentals; total cost per
capita.