The Ladysmith news and Ingram news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1905-1906, 1905-08-12
The INSTITUTE CLOSES
The Two Weeks Session Closed
Yesterday Grand
Success.

The teachers institute closed yester-
day after two weeks Of hard and earn
est work upon the part Of the fifty
eight people in attendance.
The instructors, Profs. Cheever and
Birkbeck and Supt. Mackin, have done
much good for the schools Of the coun-
ty during these two weeks of extremely
warm weather and the young people
who have braved summer heat to at
tend this institute should have full
credit with the school boards of the
county. The instruction was able and
developed multitude Of good thoughts,
all designed for the betterment Of
system in school work.
All the teachers have followed tactics
and policies calculated TO inspire inter-
est in school work, while in SO doing
they have also done much in increasing
the. general and technical knowledge
o. the attending teachers. Speaking
Of the work one of the teachers said:
In the language work much work
has been given in story telling and its
application to the different grades Of
work in the school. There seems to
be lack of oral language work. So
much written work is required that
the pupil gets dislike for the work.
Our aim is to make the work so at
tractive that the pupil will not have
to be driven to it but will take pleasure
in the language work.
Picture study has had prominent
place in the institute. From those we
have had oral language lessons and
also sorne written work.
The kinds of composition such as
narration, description, exposition and
argument, were taken up and their
comparative value gone over.
Throughout the work our aim has
been to give the pupil the ability to
use language correctly.
The work in geography was taken
up so as to show the relation Of man to
the earth's surface and mans reaction
against his environments, and to show
his interdependence. We aimed also
to cultivate the powers of perception,
memory, Imagination, judgment and
reasoning.
An outline for the study of England
was taken up as type for the study
of other countries. In this we showed
the relations of position, surface drain
age, soil, production, occupation, area,
population. Took London as trade
center. The fact that the library can
be used in the study of geography was
never lost sight of. Teachers were
urged to use the library for references.
The work in arithmetic was mainly
review work, covering the important
subjects such as the writing and read
ing of numbers, common fractions,
percentage, interest, mensuration,
lumber and wood measure. The me-
trio system was also taken up and
it's advantages shown over the English
system.
Work of practical nature was our
aim throughout the course.
The aim in the class in agriculture
has not been to tell the teachers that
they should go to their districts to show
the farmers how to farm, but that they
must present to the pupils the scientific
truths of the subject, especially the
newly made discoveries that are sent
out from the agricultural experiment
stations Of the states and Of the nation
al government. Great underlying prin-
ciples have been drilled into the minds
of teachers, and it is hoped that they
can work in harmony with the people
in the communities to which they go.
It is also hoped that we will be able to
arouse a thoughtful interest in the
farm that has not existed before.