The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1908-11-07
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.

/
of Ascension parish convened in the
auditorium of the local high school
! building at $50 O'Clock Monday fore
noon and remained in session through
out the week. Flfty-three teachers
answered to their names at roll call,
the only absentees being Miss Idle o.
Barman of the Dutchtown school and
Miss Clara Price of the Oak Grove
school, who were unavoidably de.
| tained at home. Parish Superintend-
ent G.. J. Brown, conductor of the in
stitute, called the assem- blage to or
der and introduced Attorney Walter
Lomann, who delivered an address of
welcome on behalf of Hon. E. n. Pugh.
/ president of the Ascension school
| board. Responses to Mr.. Lemann's
cordial address of welcome were made
/ by each member Of the faculty of the
institute, to-wit: Prof. j. L. Rus "a,
principal of Donaldsonville high
school; DR.. r. B. Powers, associate
professor of education at the Louisi-
ana State University, and Miss Mary
B. Grub, supervisor of industrial
work ard drawing in the Baton
Rouge public schools. Prof. Rusca
| then made an interesting talk On Lies
sons of the First Day of School, f" after
which recess was taken for dinner.
AT the afternoon session of the in
stitue Miss Grub discussed Les
sors in Industrial Schools, 2 and was
! followed by DR.. Pc gers, who handled
/ in most able and interesting manner
| the subject Of Ideal Schools" The
/ session was brought to a close with a
talk by Supt. Brown on school I'm
provement Associations. =
| The institute closed its weeks work
at l O'Clock yesterday afternoon, in
time to allow the teachers to reach
their schools the same day. It is the
general sentiment that the session was
as valuable as any similar one in the
history Of the parish, and accom-
plished a deal Of good
The work in Industrial drawing and
art, in charge Of Miss Gcubb, seemed
to meet with the greatest appreciation.
Miss Grubb handled the sui j ct in
such a simple ana natural manner
that the teacl ecs managed to get COM
plete mastery of the ideas and pur-
poses controlling this manual work.
They were inspired to undertake much
along this line in connection with
their school work.
1t became clear to them that by this
means they did not increase their
labors and add a greater burden to
what is now required of the children,
but were offered splendid opportunity
to Leep the smaller children occupied
when not reciting% with something of
high educational value, and also to
reinforce and strengthen much of the
other work of the school.
The subject of geographical in
faences on American history and thatl
OF dynamic factors in education, il
charge Of Prof. Powers, were reyela=
tions TO the teachers in showing the
science that undeclies the best Of ed
ucational praetice.
In The former subject Prof. Powers
showed how the history of this conn-
try has been Influenced by geograph-
zeal conditions; how the barrier OF. the
Appalachian mountains confined the
settlements of the first hundred wears
and more TO the Atlantic coast; how
the lakes and waterways have gath |
cred their gre ater proportion OF the |
Inhabitants, leaving The less aecessi-
bic and 1855 fertile parts of our coun-I
try sparsely settled; all these and |
many other thoughts along the same /
line.
In dynamic factors in education the
teachers lGarred that the. younger I
chlidren are almost entirely physical, |
responding TO every suggestion ii a /
muscular rather than an in5e Ilectual |
way; that the child must iumD and
run, and climb and wiggle and twist.
and swing his feet aud arms, and keepI
up almost. a Constant physical activity
because IN curly youth his Intellect had
not developed enough to react. max
ing II recess airy for this reaction to
Prof. Rusca gave some excellent
lessons on the morning exercise, the
teaehing OF arithmetic and spelling.
Ihey were practical ard based on ed.
ucational principles Muctfsof the sue
cess Of the Institute is due to Prof. +
Rusea for his efficiency Ia the locallI
N agement.
Topics on ating school grounds. I
the successful teacher and soho,1 60,
1ens, by SuB6, Brown, apparently 4
mat with much favor. He stated that
each teacher should set up as a stan.
. arc, u AXE the sehoolhouse and
schooi grounds the most attractive
place ~ the community Ia appear.
2ce' anu gave many helpful sug-
gestlons as tn bow to do this.
The school garden work could he
1ooe IN connection with other work
ana shoa 10 consist Of examination of
MS, testing of fertility Of seeds, the
OF gerlninatiCn and growth.
slmp5 e experiments with
ara gfattipg, and many other
'tua4es sp9Wlng tho science under
ylng plant growth and culture.
Inc teachers OF the parish decided 3
o nave The following as their chief
'urpasas during this session:
l. increased average attendance.
Enrolment OF more of the larger
.1ildreB.
Spread the gospel Of consolida-
ION and transportation.
Make provision for the physical j
ofthe child by Introducing Z
ard work. - !
;, Work for higher professional {