Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1898-11-04

Teacher and his Work" He sale
too many good things for us to mrn
ton them in this paper. Suffice 1t It
say, that Rev. Hitncr always talks t'
the point. His address was fOllow'c
by model lesson on GLOW 10 TeaCf
Beginners to Read" by Miss Lucille
Hotel. The lesson was begun b,
presenting an object before class o
little tots, then the name of that Oh
lect--the word as whole--wa'
taught from the black board, as
picture to the child's mind, the same
as the object itself. The word meth
cd is now recognized as the only
natural way of teaching beginners
In one way or another phonics II
combined with the teaching of words
The old a, b, method is meanln:
less TO the child and should not b'
/ followed. Rev Hitner, +. Nj. Frave
and Prof. Keller also advocated th'
word method. Prof Wamplcr, whC
had been accorded the privilege o
the floor, also gave an interesting
talk in favor of the word method
He stated that in his county brock
ingham) not more than 2 per cent
of the teachers used the q, b, meth
cd. In a lucid manner he showed
the advantage of this method. b!
the use of this method spelling l.
not to be taught till after about three
months of teaching, when the cnilC
has learned and become familiar witt
sound.
Hon. NJ. L. Walton was accorded
the privileges of the floor and made
ten minutes talk TO the teachers
He emphasized the importance o
the teachers work and spoke of the
teachers pay and of the relation be
tween parent and teacher. The ain
o. his remarks was to encourage the
teacher in his arduous duties.
In the afternoon Rev. J. p. Neff
presented his subject, "a Plan iol
Grading Schools" THIS he did in =
most interesting talk and by discu
sing au outline of his manner oil
grading a school through the first
eight years, which outline plan he
had placed on the blackboard. We
hope he will publish the same in the
county press for the benefit of pa
rents and IN the Virginia School
Journal for the guidance of our teach
eTs.
For lack of time, the subjects rs
signed to Profs. LuSter and Keller
could not be discussed, the text book
question coming up again during the
last hour of the Institute. DIR. ID. l..
Shaver. a member of the School
Board, was granted the privilege OF
speaking a few words in his own be-
half relative to the recent action OF
the Board in adopting school book ,
that he might justify himself in view
of certain criticisms by the Confede-
rate Camp. THIS gave occasion for
some discussion of the text books on
History and Geography. Mr.. Huff,
representative of the University
Publishing Company, had been agi'
tating in favor of reconsideration
of the Boards action in adopting
Frye's Geography. Mr.. Gray, of the
b. f. johnson Company, was repre-
senting the interests Of Lees Hlsto'
ry as against Cooper's. Mr.. HUFF
had sought to have the County Super
intendent allow him the privilege Of
discussing the merits of his Geogra'
ply before the Institute, which was
denied him, as the action of the
Poard at its meeting i'll September
is final. The Superintendent spoke
IF the condition of affairs in Rock
ingham County, whose School Board
has reconsidered the adoption OF
books and displaced Frye's Geogra-
ply, and the county now has a big
law suit on Its hands. "The cOndi.
ton of affairs in that county are
simply terrible" Shenandoah takes
warning, thanks to the frmness OF
her County Superintendent. Ac-
cording to the decision of the At
torney General, the books originally
adopted will have legal standing, and
those only.
One of the criticisms of Cooper's
"Our Country" so widely circulated,
was that it does not state low
"Stonewall" Jackson came to be so
named. This criticism was killed by
Prof. Keller, who read from pages
364 and 365.
Supt. McInturff called upon Prof.
Nef, Jones, Keller and Stemplc,
Principals of the schools at Mt. Jack
son, Woodstock, Toms Brook and
Strasburg, for their opinion Of Coop
er's History and Frye's Geography,