Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-04-16
Educational.
Points seldom Considered by school
Teachers.

Teachers.
A teachers institute was held in the
High school building in Greenfield recent
ly and one of the best of its many good
things, was an address by Charles S. Chap
in, principal of Westfeld normal school.
Subject, THE teacher in the community"
1t was full of excellent ideas, two of which
are not always thought of by the teacher,
but which may add materially to her hap
pinessand success in her trying position.
First: That she visit her scholars in
their homes, that she may learn their sur
roundings and their home influence, and
she will better know what their labor
should be in school. 1t is not always neces-
sary to do that to learn how they are
brought up at home for one accustomed
to children can readily see by their ways
in school whether they are accustomed to
kind but judicious training at home. Love
and respect for the parents will bring the
same for the teacher, If she Is worthy of 1t,
while insubordination in school, shows
clearly that it is no unusual thing at home !;
but child surrounded by poverty, ill-fed,
and half-clothed, ought not to be urged to
do the amount of work that is required of
those more pleasantly situated. AS an IL
lustration: Mr. Chaplin had in his school
bMO CulluItu WIN ulu llOb easily uO Iht
work allotted to them, and to learn the
cause, he called at their home. Without
mentioning their inability, he spoke of
other things till he learned that it was i'm
possible for their parents to get food for
them but twice day, and consequently,
they had no breakfast. This explained to
him their languid way of doing their work,
and he could not blame them Could
growing child use the brain all the fore
noon with an empty stomach? teacher
would be cruel to ask it. After that he
fitted their tasks to their condition, and
felt better satisfied with himself for doing
so.
How unlike was Mr.. Chapin's course to
that taken in a similar instance which oc-
CURED several years ago. in the case of
boy whose right hand was deformed so he
could not hold pen properly, and conse-
quently was poor writer. The superin-
tendent knew this, but while visiting the
school and looking at the writing books
remarked, 1.-THE scholars have evidently
all tried to write well but Sim King (he
boy with the withered HANDY. He writes
very poorly" This so enraged the boy
that he sat up nights and wrote till he be-
came teacher of penmanship in business
college in Worcester, Mass. That rebuke
was uttered with bad motive and reflect
ed no credit on the speaker, but proved a
benefit to the pupil, but it is unsafe to do
evil hoping good may follow.
Mr.. Chapin's second suggestion was
this: That the teacher should leave the
work of the schoolroom behind her when
she left its walls. A gentleman was once
introduced to young lady who vas teach
ing her first school. He looked at her and
said, "You do not look like a school teach
er, but you will, if you follow this work
for five years. They carry their work in
their faces"
Mr.. Chaplin said this should not be so.
The hours out of school should be spent
in games and amusements-out of doors
when possible rides, walks or social life,
and the cares only taken on again while
the session lasts. In that way one is fitted
for the coming labor; but if an anxious,
almost sleepless night has been passed, the
teacher comes back with the nervous sys-
TEN in an exhausted condition and from
what is she to draw vitality for the work
before her? AS is the teacher, so is the
school. Every teacher knows that. If the
pupil cannot find in the teacher a suf-
ficient fund of interest and impulse in
study to stimulate him, he turns to his
neighbor and draws from his fund of mis-
chief, of which there is always a supply,
and soon the teacher wonders why the pu-
pills are not engaged more in their studies,
and do not feel as anxious for themselves
as she does for them; and does not realize
that her previous hours of worry have any
thing to do with the present condition.
Therefore let her bone hours bring a
change of thoughts, cares and work, and
hence rest for the brain. Worry kills
faster than work in school as well as in 9TH
er places. Do your best and trust the
rest to God.