The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-14
lNSTRUCTING THE
COUNTY TEACHERS
Given New Ideas with Regard to I'm
parting Instruction to the Young.
TWO MEETINGS IN THE MORNING
Grammar Teachers Met in One Place
and Primary and intermediate
Teachers in Another. Talks by
Prof. Redway, DR.. HOlbrOOk and
superintendent Coushlin in the
AfternOon..The Entertainment in
the Evening.

the Evening.
A good deal Of earnest work was
done at the county institute yesterday.
In the morning the teachers divided,
those in the grammar grades holding
one meeting and those in the primary
and intermediate grades another. This
was done to more equally tit the N
struction to the work the teachers are
engaged in.
The morning session opened with
music led by Professor H. L. CogSwell,
who afterwards again emphasized the
great need of considering the thought
in words that expression and feenng
may be the chief factors in song. Then
the division of the teachers took place.
Pr,>Aassor N. r. Houser, superintendent
of the Dunmore schools, led the gram
mar teachers into one of the parlors
where he presided over their meeting.
A paper was read by Parke Richards
on why Should We Educate" which
drew forth a spirited discussion, par
ticipated in by f. L. Thompson, OF
Dalton, Superintendent Houser and
Miss Mary j. McEale, Of Olyphant.
Teacher or Text Book-Which?" was
Mary C. Barrett, of Carbondale. A
talk by DR.. Mara L. Pratt on United
States History" closed the session.
Teachers in the primary and inter-
mediate grades remained in Young
Mems Christian Association hall,
where Superintendent Coughlin. of the
Wilkes Barre schools, spoke to them
about language study. He favored
phonetic study for the young child
that it may acquire an accurate and
clear articulation which will be of
great service in obtaining a vocabu-
larry. Expression in reading should be
carefully taught, as 1t Is the best
means of enabling the pupil to state u
fact clearly, accurately and distinct
ly. The first step in the study of Ian
guage should be to make the pupil
comprehend fact in all Of its phases
and in its entire significance. and he
advised that the first lessons be in the
nature of talks leading the child step
by step to express his ideas in a clear.
straightforward way. Following this
the child should be directed to describe
things in an orderly, systematic way.
which Is necessary to make descrip-
ton clear and interesting.
GRADUAL PROGRESS.
Step by step the pupil can be led
along this path during the first year
at school and in the second year he ad-
vised the policy Of having the child
make an accurate copy from the print
ed page. Nothing should be done with
out q purpose. and the compositions
and copying of the children should be
treated as though they We're of i'm
portance. For instance. when the
child has copied something or written
a composition they should not be asked
to wipe 1t out and re-write 1t. for the
teacher will not be long able to obtain
the best effort Of the child by offering
such discouragements. The next step
should be the correction of the vocabu-
larry of the child. To further stimulate
the child he would have them recall
thoughts from the written exercise. He
would have the children write in sim
pie sentences. The children should he
early taught to use their own language
and not the language of the books.
The teachers sang "Oh Fair Little
Pansy Blossom" under the direction of
Professor COgswell. and Professor Red
way then addressed the teachers on
''BeginninG Geography" He Is firm
advocate of throwing earncstness and
interest into teaching and said the
teacher should look at geography as
the description of the abiding place of
man. So long as only the shell Of
geography is considered by the teacher
his work is waste of time and labor.
.htiNt tiiV Stuuy bllllS uoiIle
its application to the pupil. and YOU
will make real progress and awaken
an interest in the study Of geography
which you never dreamed Of "We
must" he said. "crowd economic
geography into the lessons and discuss
the earth as the habitation of man;
the place where all mans wants are
provided for
All Of the teachers again met in the
on Pedagogy" by X. Reber Holbrook,
Phi. D.. professor Of pedagogy in Clari-
on State Normal school. The mind the
teacher has to deal with. he said, is a
germ of the divine in process of con-
scious growth, whose unfolding and
development will be largely Influenced
by the character OF the teacher and
the nature of the instruction impaired.
The mind is not only conscious
growth, but n self-active growth. Some
teachers go on the theory that chill
dren's minds are not active and that
they must furnish the activity Tney
should keep hands off. Nature is all
right. and human nature is all right.
The heart of man is naturally right: it
is growth and 1t grows in the right
direction. According to its nature it
is a working God, and it Is not the
province of the teacher to improve
upon the work of God, but to work
with God. There is power working
outside of the teacher which the teach
er should work with.
IN THE AFTERNOON.
The teachers met at o'clock in the
afternoon and after singing listened
to talk by Professor Redway on The
Use of the Recitation" which he pre-
faced by answering a number of tues
tions that had been asked him during
the noon recess. The recitation Pro-
fessor Redway believes, should be used
as a means Of assisting the pupil to
study. The questions and answers can
not all be remembered nor should they
be as they are only the means to an
end. The quiz exercise Is very excellent
and very useful because 1t freshens the
recollection, but that is not the main
point of the recitation. The object
should be to have the scholar grasp
the meat of the subject under consider
, alton and be able to demonstrate his
knowledge of the questions put to him.
Teachers cannot get good results un-
less they organize the subject i'm their
own minds and know exactly what they
are driving at. BY pursuing such
! course they enforce the lesson they are
| teaching on the pupil. 1t is not so
| much your purpose to find out if the
| scholar has read the printed page of
the text book as to learn If he has
assimilated the knowledge it contains.
Professor Redway believes in conduct
ing recitations with open books IL in
that way the idea of the lesson can be
best impressed on the pupils mind.
Dr. Holbrook was the next instructor.
| and he again spoke on Pedagogy" He
| is an entertaining speaker. and sue
ceeds in making a very dry subject
decidedly interesting. He does not be-
lieve in worrying because pupils fail to
| remember all they are taught. They