The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-07-01

out in a field somewnN4s, - lonely spot
| with no shelter near it, There is no sens,
| in that. There is no reason why tina
building should not be alive with the ac
| tivities that concern the people in tina
community. There is no reason why i
should not be like many of the homes q
the pupils in that community. In man,
leases, If you go inside, you will find thai
there is not a single thing taught there
that has any relationship TO the life o.
the people in that community. 1t might
| just as well be located 30 miles from thai
spot, so far as there is any vital connec.
ton between the school and the hom,
| life
whether you are in the city, town oil
country, study the life of the parents an6
their activities and every time you gel
a chance, make a connection between
| what you are teaching in the school room
and the life that the people are living
| Suppose, for instance, you are teaching In
| the city, and you have problem relating
| to measurements. Suppose you find a
| room being plastered by colored mechan-
ics. Instead of spending the time on a
dead problem in a book, take your class
to that room and let them measure the
| room. Let them figure the cost of lathing
| and plastering, not in an imaginary ROOM
but in an actual room right there in the
city, and those colored mechanics will
begin to wake up and get interested in
you. Moreover, the children will have ali
interest in the problem that they never
would have had so long as they were
dealing with mere book problem
| II know that what / suggest requires
some activity on the part of the teacher
and some teachers do not like it. In the
city some teachers can sit up late al
night and go to ball, and next morning
they take their book and everything is
all right. But they do not like to sit u,
late and plan such lesson as have beer
talking about.a If they did. they wout
| find satisfaction in it and for their put
pills that they never could find in the Ole
method.
II am aware that what I am suggest
] ing relates perhaps more to the teachers
engaged in industrial training rather than
| to those engaged in purely literary work
| But l think all of you will be interested
| in some of these suggestions. Do not
| make the breach between school room
| teaching and the life OF the pupil too
great. Make the connection wherever
you can. Sometimes we get into the
habit of using expressions that we do
not know the meaning of. such as do
nestle art, manual training etc. Now,
domestic art merely means in many
cases that you can take an actual home
| and put into practice most of the lessons
household work. There are very few OF
your patrons, no matter where you live,
whether in the country or In the city,
who would not be delighted to let you use
| their house when you want to teach a
lesson in domestic art. You can take
your pupils there and let them see how
to sweep a room and make a bed, and
light a fire, cook q meal and set table
Let them learn to do these things in a
real home, instead of an artificial one
Now, do not be led astray on this uues-
ton of manual training. 1t means some
thing like this: Suppose instead of just
doing some dry, dead work. instead OF
making something that looks well and
nobody ever uses, you ask the children
to bring from their homes all the chairs
that need repairing, and have them re-
paired right there in the school room.
Now that is manual training-the best
kind of manual training. And the min
ute YOU have got the chair from that
house. and have had the children repair
it. and have had it taken back. you.have
awakened an interest in that family You
have made connection between the
school and home life that actually means
something
I'm IT all. there is chance for you to
and for you to teach almost everything
that is emphasized in the ordinary text
book. And you have the satisfaction of
knowing that you are doing not only all
that Is necessary by reason of what Is
taught in the book ordinarily, but at the
same time you are connecting the school
room with actual life In proportion as
you do that, you are going to succeed as
teachers"