Daily Kennebec journal., 1895-08-31
Gully Yeamehee 9uurnal.
City and County.
: INSTITUTE WORK.
State Supt. Of Schools Stetson Send
ing Out Circulars to Teachers.
Topics to be Discussed Questions to be
Answered.

state Superintendent of Schools Stet-
son. is sending out to the officers of the
teachers associations Of the various
counties OF the State the following letter
regarding institute work:
Educational Department.
State of Maine
Dear Sir:
hope that you are making arrange
menus Tor meeting of the teachers of
your county during the present school
year II you will write me, at as early
date as you can. what dates will be
most satisfactory to your association for
your next meeting, 1 will write you at
once II my engagements will permit me
to be present. If they will not, / will
name the nearest date when / can be in
attendance.
am anxious that certain changes be
made IN these meetings, by the introduce
tion of some things that / think will be
of material advantage to the teachers and
to the schools
think it is of the first Importance
I that the patrons of the schools be invited
| and to reasonable extent. be urged to
| attend the meetings.
L trust that in arranging your pro-
gramme you will have at least one speaker
who is not directly connected with school
work, but who looks at the matters in
which they and we are interested, from
the standpoint of an outsider. 1 think
that this can be easily done, if little
thought is given the matter.
wish that special effort might be
| made to induce all of the teachers in the
county to attend especially those teachers
who are teaching In schools where they
can get but very little help from others.
A little extra advertising and urging.
md, SO far as possible personal appeal
Will do very much toward securing this
most desirable result.
hope that your programme will also
include a query box and class exercise.
Permit NE to suggest that think it is
of moment that the programme and no.
tices of the meeting be printed in all of
the papers that circulate in your county,
and that more than one insertion is often
of service.
Below you will find some topics which
four programme.
4NubolC tOuuQICo. tdt Ndluc vi. (DJ
What to study. (c) How to teach them.
Supplementary Work in History: (a)
Extent and character. (b) Best books
for. (c) How to use them.
Supplementary Reading: (a) Value
of. (b) Best books for. (o) How to
use them
Reviews: (a) Value of. % When
and how often. (c) How to conduct.
Supplementary Work in Geography:
(a) What. OBJ Best books for. (o)
How to use them.
How much and when should mental
arithmetic be taught? How can we in
crease the vocabularies of our pupils? What
should we teach besides textbooks?
What preparation should teacher make
for her work? Why do teachers need
teachers meetings? The value of physical
culture in rural schools? What should
eacher do outside of her school work
Penmanship in the lower grades. Should
we have written examinations in rural
schools? How can the study of history
and geography be combined? The value
of silent reading, and how to interest
children in the same. Do We need a
course of study for our rural schools? Is
IL desirable that our rural schools be
graded? How can we best combine small
schools? What are the advantages of such
combination? What are the disadvan-
tagesY How can teacher interest her
pupils in the best literature? How can a
teacher interest her pupils in works of
art? How can teacher help her pupils
to continue to be students after they leave
school? How can we interest parents in
he work of the school?
would like to suggest that 1 have
found that those meetings are most in
teresting and profitable where there are
quite number of short papers or talks,
instead of few long papers or talks.
If l can he of any further service to you
in preparing your programme for the
next meeting of your society, shall be
very glad to hear from you, and will rem
der whatever assistance can.
Very sincerely,
W. W. STETSON,