The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-01-27
Minutes of Teachers, Institute.

The teachers institute held In AS
sembly hall January 23rd opened at 1.3O
p. IN. with scripture reading and prayer
by Supt. Teitrick. A forenoon session
had been planned, but so few were In
attendance that the institute was not
opened until afternoon.
Prof. F. 7. Mcclure was elected
chairman and Miss Julia Kirk secretary.
The first selection OF music was a
vocal solo by Julia Kirk This was
followed by most excellent paper,
"First Year in Latin, "by Miss Sprague.
teacher in the Brookvillo high school.
The Importance OF drill on the first les
sons was emphasized, also drill on per-
sonal endings and verb stems. The
wisdom of making the study OF Latin a
constructive and reasoning process was
very clearly shown.
Instrumental solo by Miss Frances
King.
Miss Voorhees,, also of Brookville, read
an interesting paper on Geographical
Influences in History" She showed
that the location of our large cities was
inevitable /; that the great factors in
making our history are our great water
ways, our mountains as natural barriers,
sea coast harbors. mineral resources and
great forests.
Vocal duet, Florence Harris and Lii
lian Harries.
Instrumental solo, Lulu Sykes.
The FIRST address was given by Hon.
). B. Elliott, his subject being Things
that make for Righteousness In the
School Room and in Teaching" Mr..
Elliott deplored the fact that so few of
our students attend the public school
until they graduate, assigning as one
cause the length and tediousness of our
course as another the necessity OF
pupils leaving school at an early age ;
thus forming a sort OF educated aris-
tocracy. The fact that pupils well gov
erned at home are easily governed at
school was we'll proven by many ex-
amples. Parents sometimes forget to
encourage children in their school work
| and thus deprive them Of much need.
ed stimulous. Some qualifications Of g
good teacher were commented upon
Among them good health, cheerful
spirit, ability to teach, love for the
work and deep sense of justice. /,
was suggested that the teacher teach
something every day that is not in the
regular course, especially when pupils
are weary and restless, which time
comes in every school.
Vocal solo, Wallace Mitchell.
America" sung by the audience.
Mr.. Petersen, OF Summerville, gave
some good suggestions on the teaching
OF spelling. He gave a recent exper
ience of his and stated that it haG
been very satisfactory. He selected
about thousand words In common use
Ten OF these we're assigned each day
to be defined and spelled When one
hundred words had been spelled they
were reviewedin written lessons of fifty
words each. All pupils spelling the
words correctly drop out and only those
who could not spell the words must try
again. In this way the teacher can gel
right after the poor spoilers.
This was followed by discussion or
spelling in which it was shown that th,
old fashioned spelling class is very
good place to learn to spell. 1t was sug
gested by one who has had much ex
perience in school work, that II we wan
good spoilers we must spell.
Vocal duet by Misses Frances ant
Coda King.
On account of the lateness of tn,
hour Supt. Teitricks address was brief
He warned us that purposeless teachin,
does not bring results, and cited man,
cases in history and nature in proof o
this universal law. He made a stron,
plea for the teacher to draw very nea
to his pupils, that he may give then
the very best in his life. This Is tn
teachers great opportunity. He close,
with very stirring appeal to all to d
the very best possible for the child.
| Recitations were then given by Edga
Shields and Hamlin Postlethwait.
A vote of thanks was extended to al
who helped to make the institute pleas
ant and nrofitable
| A NeWspaper Corrcspondent