Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-09-04

~ tAAOOlA4O4 4A0UA OSoSS4S S~~S 49,
stitute Adjourned in the After
noon, After a Number Of Fare
well Addresses Were Made.
The last session Of the City Institute
was held yesterday. The opening ex-
ercises consisted in singing Flow
Gently, Sweet Alton" followed by roll
call. The enrolment rose to one
hundred and sixty. There have been
numerous visitors during the week.
Among them we noticed members of
the Board of Education, principals and
teachers from neighboring towns, and
parents Of school children. who are
interested in the matter of education.
Miss Buckbee was first on the pro-
gramme. She began by saying that
she wanted to talk awhile from the
same subject that Mr.. Black has been
discoursing, Child Study
cit is the dull pupils, the slow ones,
that need our consideration. Wherev-
er we may go we shall meet them.
Now pupils may appear dull owing
to defects of some Of the senses, but
is is not of this class that we would
speak. There is another class, COM
posed of sensitive, over-self-conscious
children, who cannot do their best
under certain existing conditions. We
cannot conceive Of the effect of re-
preston upon certain natures. In the
school-room, where criticism by the
pupils is allowed, a lasting injury is
sometimes done to these children.
We all need Encouragement and Oppo-
sition to bring us to our fullest de-
velopment We owe much to those
who oppose us, but how much more
to those who encourage. How much
more the need of the little ones. We,
as teachers, often repress them by bur-
rying them. Children should be given
all the time that is needed for them
to collect their thoughts. They should
not feel that the eyes of all the pupils
are upon them for the purpose of find
ing something to criticise. Or, on the
other hand, they should not be al
them because they are not supposed
to be able to do anything. Some teach
ers repress their pupils by being cross.
Others by appearing to know it all.
We may not say directly to a pupil,
You are dull but we may infer it
by our manner, by our attention to
brighter and quicker pupils.
1--WE do wrong to discourage. No
sensitive child can do his best in such
an atmosphere. Hopefulness is the
natural gift of youth, and may it not
have been given that they may form
high ideals. No better use can be
made of time than by helping pupils
to make the best of their abilities
A short recess followed There was
more singing and then Mr.. Black
mounted the rostrum to give his final
talk upon Number Work. the SUBJ
ject under discussion being percentage.
He began by saying that we must
go over exactly the same line of
thought as in common fractions or in
decimal fractions. There is no phase
of arithmetic that should not have
it's beginning in the concrete. 1t
takes the mind away from things to
their values and relations. These re-
lations were very deity shown by
the use of blocks.
After another song Miss Chapman
gave her last drawing lesson. Geogra-
ed by the drawing of relief maps, ex-
planning the manner in which noun
tainS are represented, and what strokes
are used to represent plains, etc. Miss
Chapman emphasized the fact that the
lesson must not be a drawing of lines
only; it must mean something. A great
many people think that drawing is of
no account in the schools. But shall |
tell you manual training springs from
drawing? Have you ever thought of it?
Every article of wearing apparel, every
piece of furniture that we see, every
piece of mechanical apparatus, in fact,
every thing that We use is made from a
drawing. Give the. children construc-
tive drawing; let them first make their
patterns, then draw the appearance and
last construct the article. Aside from
the practical use, there is the aesthetic
value. 1t helps us to appreciate the
beautiful things of nature. and we can
find beauty in everything if we will only
look for it.
The afternoon session was opened by
singing THE West Virginia Hills"
Mr.. Black in his final talk choose for
his theme, "The Difference Between
Teaching School and Keeping School,"
The true teacher is not a slave to the
text book; it is his province to lead, to
moderate and to direct, not to hear
mere Rotations. In conclusion Mr..
Black expressed the pleasure that he
felt in visiting our city; was struck with
a certain quaintness that one does not
find in Chicago, and delighted by the