Omaha daily bee., 1899-11-26

part Of the teachers; no one was required to
contribute or to attend. Those who did not
enter the classes did not contribute The
fact that about 1926 out OF something less than
400 teachers in the schools paid their money
into the fund and from $50 to more than 300
were present at each OF the lessons given
speaks as unmistakably as anything could
of the interest and professional spirit exist
ing among Omaha teachers.
Some New Features.
Among the various new plans tried during
the year In the different schools, two have
aroused widespread interest and inquiry. A
visit by the principal OF the Kellom school
two years ago to the gill" School City, in
the city OF New York, and talk with Mr..
Gill, the president, suggested trial of the
plan in Omaha Mr.. Gills idea is that by
definite organization along the lines OF the
local government under which they live
children will be enabled to get both knowl-
edge and practice OF the duties which will
fall to them in later years as voters and
oiiceholders. A Kellom School City was or
ganized in the fall of 1897. The operations
OF this school city we're confined to the up
per grammar grades-the sixth, seventh and
eighth-and the organization conformed in
It's outline to the municipal government of
Omaha. At first elections were held once a
month; later they were made less frequent
and held only once in two months The off,
cials elected were mayor, city clerk, police
Judge and members OF city council.
In Mr.. Gill's opinion, and the same view
was taken in the experiment In Kellom
school, 1t would be undesirable for the chill
dren to be divided into political parties
along the same lines as their fathers, but IL
was necessary to provide some method of
making nominations, so that a choice might
be offered between two or more candidates
So two artificial parties were created, the
Rights and the Let's" and committees
were appointed to take the place Of primary
elections or delegate conventions in nom
mating candidates. An effort was made to
have each child vote for the candidate he
considered the BEST regardless OF party.
The plan is certainly useful for the end
sought in it's use in the Kelom school, that
and details of government under which the
children live It has not been made self
government plan"
The second of these plans lis known
among the teachers Of the corps as the Lin
coin school spelling because the plan was
worked out in the Lincoln school of this
city, Miss Jennie Redfeld. principal. The
plan and it's results have awakened much
interest among the teachers. and it has
been adopted in whole or in part in many
Of the schools. According to 1t, the lesson
is prepared one day and rected the next,
the pupils writing it on slips of paper from
the teachers dictation. These papers are
collected and marked by the teacher. Those
which are correct are placed on file. while
those containing errors are laid aside for
correction. Immediately after the papers
are collected, preparation for the next days
lesson is begun. The teacher assigns the
lesson and one class is sent to the black
board with the books. These pupils copy
the lesson, numbering the words carefully
They explain all new words by drawing
pictures to illustrate the meaning. 1t is
interesting to note the ingenuity used by
the children in illustrating words with alb
stract meaning, such as truth, inspiration,
ETC., and it is amusing to see the variety of
ideas they possess. They delight in this
picture work and forget they are learning
thereby.
During this time the members Of the class
in the seats give oral sentences containing
the development of the words Of the lesson
in course Of preparation. These sentences
must tell exact truths and the children
are encouraged to tell those things that
are both interesting and instructive. They
are obliged to use the exact form of the
word given in the lesson. This impresses
on the mind, incidentally, the use Of the
auxiliary verbs, the agreement of the subject
with the predicate and tense. If any word
be difficult of comprehension or unusual
the sentence containing it may be read from
the book The members Of the class at
the blackboard return to their seats and
the errors in their work are marked. The |
members Of the other class then go to the
board and the sentence work is done by
hose who have just returned to their seats. |
The plan reaches far beyond mere SPELL
ing lesson. 1t is more study of word |
analysis, an exercise in the use of reference |
books, and practice in telling exact truth. |
are used by all pupils above |
he third grade.