Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1893-05-19
BELLOWS FALLS NEWS.
County Teachers Institute.

An Interesting and Profitable Sessions
A Large AttendRnce--VRluable Papers
and Helpful Discussions.
The Windham county teachers institute
opened in the High school room Monday
morning with devotional exercises conduct
ed by DR.. Williams, principal of the Yer
mont Academy. After registration Mr..
RYDER revealed some of the discoveries
of county examiner" disclosing facts in
regard to the general information OF some
of the would-be teachers at once laughable
and pitiable. This was followed by an eX-
cellent paper upon "English," given by
Mrs. L. b. Ferguson Of Bellows Falls. In
the discussion at the close of this paper
DR.. Williams attributed the difficulties in
securing correct grammatical expression
partly to wrong methods in teaching, but
more especially to home influences, to
lack of clear, definite thought, and to
defective vocabulary.
The afternoon session began with an in
teresting paper upon GEOGRAPHY by
Miss Poland of Brattleboro, after which
Miss Gale of Brattleboro gave class eX-
ercse in geography, illustrating her meth
DDS of work. This exercise was listened
to with the closest attention, and was very
suggestive and helpful. Principal j. ID.
Horne's paper on "Juvenile literature"
aroused much enthusiasm. The exercises
of the afternoon closed with a paper by
Mr.. Ellery of Vermont Academy, who
made an earnest plea for the teaching of
elementary science in the common school.
The evening lecture was given at the OPP
era hall by Edward Conant, principal of
the Randolph normal school, upon "Our
school system; what it does and what it
ought to do" The music for the evening,
furnished by members of the High school,
was much enjoyed by those present.
The first exercise Tuesday morning was
class in mental arithmetic, conducted by
Principal Wright of the Bellows Falls
High school, and the proficiency displayed
by some of the class in rapid mental work
was quite surprising. Maj. Howard of
Vermont Academy then spoke upon
Arithmetic in the common schools" urg-
ing that this study is taken too early
in life, and that too much time is devoted
to it. State Superintendent Stone gave
some practical, helpful hints upon Meth
ods," and Superintendent |. +. Hall of
Arlington, Mass, furnished food for seri-
Gus thought in his admirable talk upon
discipline" A spelling test of 25 words,
given during the morning session, doubt
ers that pupils are not always the only
ones who make mistakes.
Tuesday afternoon Superintendent E. L.
Temple of Rutland brought home to the
minds and hearts of the teachers the fact
that they should not only have purpose,
but fullness of purpose in their work,
his subject being Purposefulness in
teaching" He was followed by Mr.. Hall
with talk on practical psycholo-
gy," after which Miss Keife of Bellows
Falls gave a paper on History" urging
that this study be taken earlier in the
school course, before children shall have
formed taste for reading of an objection
able character. They can be trained TO en-
JOY historical works if they can be reached
in season.
The institute is pronounced by many to
have been one of the best they ever attend
ed, and the teachers who were present GER
tainly ought to do better work because of
the hints and helps which it afforded The
total number in attendance was somewhat
over 100.