The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1911-12-07

give u iot OF lnsplfatlOn 10 the IA
theirs and mothers of the district,
and you can do II through this ex-
hibition. Have one boy write an es-
say on Corn and pigs" Prof. Lew
is will send you material for the get
ting up OF such an essay II you will
send him a postal card, prof. Chas.
n. Lewis, Berea. Ky.D Have one girl
write an essay on Managing house,
hold" Mrs. Dinsmore will send you
some material for getting up such an
essay II you will only drop her
postal card. MRS. John w. Dinsmore,
Berea, Ky.) Have another boy give
an essay on "The school law of Ken
lucky" You can give him the mat
erial yourself, These three essays
will be worth the whole exhibition.
But there are two other things,
either ono Of which pays for all the
trouble that an exhibition costs. One
OF them is the speaking of pieces.
We publish this week on page six
four school pieces which ought to be
spoken in every district in Kentucky.
These not only give information but
stir the heart. Each one Of those
pieces will be a life-long inspiration
to the boy or girl who learns It, and
they will be remembered and quoted
Ly the old folks all winter.
But the biggest thing of all is to
have some real school exercises which
the old people can listen to and en-
Joy. OF course, the most popular Of
these is a spelling down. You can
not give too much time to this Iut
have the older scholars choose sides
and stand up in two rows facing each
other and you pronounce to them
words out Of the spelling book. first
to the leader on one side and then
to the leader on the other. and then
to the second one on the first side
and then to the second one on the
other side, and SO on. Whenever q
student misses a word he sits down,
and that side beats which has the
largest number standing at the end
of ten minutes. Begin with easy
words and then crowd in harder ones,
but do not take any that are not In
the spelling book, so that the two
sides will have a perfectly fair chance.
Then have class exercise in arith-
metic. Have three or four examples
on the blackboard and make up these
examples from things which will in
terest the parents. Let one boy cal
culate how many feet of lumber are
required for ceiling the schoolhouse.
Let another calculate what 1t costs
a man to use tobacco at five cents
a day, allowing compound interest
from the time he is twenty till he
dies at seventy. Let one girl calculats
how much it will cost to spend a
winter term at school, supposing that
the incidental fee is five dollars and
board and room for twelve weeks at
two dollars week, the laundry
twelve weeks at fifteen cents a week.
the cost Of postage stamps and mis-
cellanous expenses five cents week,
the cost Of going and coming a dol
lar and a half each way, and the
girl earns five cents an hour for an
hour and q half's work each day dur
ing the twelve weeks.
Then have another class exercise
either in geography or history. Get
q list of questions which you know
will interest the parents and have
the children well drilled on that list
of questions. The object Is not to
examine the pupils again on geogra-
ply or history but simply to show
the parents what geography and his
tory are for and what they are like.
Another thing which you should
do in these closing weeks Of the
school is to write out an essay Of
your own on the same subject which
gives title to Dinsmore's book,
Teaching a district school," Put In
to this essay the things which you
would tell a younger brother or sis
ter who is just getting ready to
teach a first school. 1t will do you q
great deal of good to put your
thoughts in order. Whenever yoi
have a bright thought put 1t down
and keep it, and then put these
thoughts all together in, the right or
! der with a few illustratins and ex-
amples and you will have a splen-
old paper to present next summer
at some teachers institute or associa-
ton.
And finally. study over the matter
OF your further education. You will
feel a good deal like letting down
and giving up and having big rest
when your school is finished. There
is danger that you will give way to
J this feeling of WEAKNESS and SO fail
70 mako the plans you ought to make
! for your own further Improvement
J. And in thinking about your own fur
Their improvement do not forget your
pupils. Perhaps the biggest thing