Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-02-03
PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS
ASSOCIATION

Court House, at Woodbury., on Saturday,
January 20, 1898.
In the evening they had the privilege of
listening to a very excellent address on
The New Work and another on /" Penn
manship, both delivered by A. J. Demar-
est, City Superintendent of Hoboken, N. J..
/ The addresses were inspiring, stimulating
and encouraging to all who heard them.
Immediately after the noon recess the
new method of reading, known as the
Rational Method" was exemplifed by
Miss Kate Judge and her class from Hobo
ken.
The work was phenomenal, and if such
grand results can.be obtained by using the
Rational Method Of Reading" we would
cay that it should be adopted Immediately
by every Board of Education in this county
Pestalozzian Number Work was exem-
plifed by Miss G. Mount with portion Of
her class. 1t was surprise to the teachers
of Gloucester county to see the advance
ment made in Number Work by little tots
only five and six years of age. The teach
ers appreciated very highly the instruction
and encouragement given them by Supt.
Demarest, Miss Judge and Miss Mount.
For the Association having such able in
structors is due to the recent visit OF Supt
William a. Eldridge to schools in the
| Markham mart of the State
the teachers of Gloucester county went
home with new ideas, renewed vigor, and
stronger determination to do better work in
the future.
1t was said by many to have been the
most successful Association ever held in
this county.
Below is summary of the address:
Professor A. J. Demarest, made two inter-
esting addresses in the morning on Edu-
cation" and writing.
Language work, said he, should start
the first year in school The early years in
school should be a development lesson. D
Speaking of geography the speaker said he
was opposed to the old method of teaching
geography. He thought geography and
history should be SO married that divorce
proceedings would be impossible Said he
. We start geography the third year in
school. The fourth year we give the pupils
some conception of their State and country,
and during the fifth year we give them an
idea of the world as a whole.
The journey method in geography not
only teaches the pupil the situation and
environment of various States andcountries
but gives them general idea of the habits
of the people. the climate and business
avocations. This method gets pupils into
the habit of searching books, and thus they
acquire plenty of information. Every lesson
in geography is language lesson We don't
want our boys and girls to know where they
raise the biggest squashes or the smallest
potatoes, but we want to prepare them for
the reception of fund of useful inform
alton. Education in its new form aims at
the physical, mental and moral develop
ment of the child. The object of educa-
ton is to fit the child for life Life is not
jest, it is reality. Character building
is the sole aim of comprehensive education.
We want to prepare and fit the rising
generation for the conflict of life; help
them to do their duty towards humanity
The man who aims at nothing gets it A
] modern live school aims to bring the pupils
/ to the highest point on educational lines.
Our pupils should be trained to speak and
write the mother tongue correctly. Talk
should precede writing. A person must
have thorough preparation before he or she
can properly teach alesson, and convey the
information to the pupils in light that
will impress them with its value"
A PLEA FOR BETTER WRITING
In his address on penmanship he said -
II come to make plea for better writing
in our schools--a subject sadly neglected
Are we going to produce a race of scrib-
biers or race of rapid, legible, business
writers? Too many teachers are like the
Indian Chief who fled from his enemies
and escaped by climbing a tree and then
exclaimed, Alabama, meaning Here let
me rest There is no vocation or profession
for which writing is not the mouthpiece of
education. Itdevelops the mind and body
education. There is too little attention
given to this important subject; there is
great deal of solid truth in the thought
that men speak on the subject which they
know the least about, and with the same
| incoDgruity as the old maid relating the
best plan for keeping husbands at home.
The school teacher, so used to dealing with
unknown quantities, seeks to measure the
great canal
"The teacher must have conception of
the formation of the letters. All move
ment and no form will produce a class of
scribblers, and all form and no movement
will turn out laborious drawn hand, and
such pupil will only be fit for one yoca-
ton. draughtsman.
| "a live teacher is one who is not content
to survey her field of usefulness from the
around among her pupils and correct their
mistakes. The essentials of good writing
are free movement, rapidity and eligibility.
AN INNOVATION.
| The afternoon session was an innovation
on anything that has heretofore been
| feature of the Institutes. A ella of chill
dren from H0bokeD, under the care of Miss
Kate Judge. went through the exercises of
the national reading lesson, exempliiying
the exercises with blackboard illustrations,
which were exceptionally we'll executed
for pupils of one years schooling. Their
physical and vocal exercises were of
pleasing character, demonstrating the ad-
vantage of the new method of teaching the
young mind to quickly grasp and remem-
Der the knowledge impaired. The respon-
sibility Of learning the lessons is to large
degree shifted on the pupils. and the bright
ness and animation in their tender faces as
they eagerly responded to the questions Of
their instructress showed clearly the appre-
citation of the children of the chance to
display their talents before large audi
ence.
BRIDGEPORT.