The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-16
The Exceptional Child Causes and Helps,
 Is Theme Of Miss Gardener Of Troy Normal
py FLORA MILNER HARRISON

fore the parent. This will not be so diff | cult if she has previously organized her 1 patrons into community welfare club. | The question of health is the subject she asks for discussion. She gives out In material for different members to read and report on. As a reader would say. she has created her atmos- phere,' and any particular case will be more intelligently understood. First teacher must understand these matters and second she must know how to present the subject to her patrons. on. teacher now must be a power, to be suffiieent for all these things. Any teacher who has observed a case of adenolds before and after treatment could never again teach two weeks without making an effort to save child suffering with this trouble. It works as a miracle.
 .sOn the other hand a teacher must be careful that the conditions of her school room are not conducive to i'll health. Poor lighting, desks facing the wrong way improper ventilation, the bucket and dipper cleanliness of schoolroom and of dinner basket or pail, all of this she must understand and must make as nearly right as possible
 ''Children have been classed dull, who merely had defect in the eye. Glasses. fitted by specialist, might have easily corrected the matter and have made the child's school life immeasurably more successful and happy Others have been considered stupid who have really been deaf from having adenoids. Others have been nervous and inattentive and in capable of concentration of thought be- cause of poor digestion as result or bad teeth or mal-nutrition.
 q have known teacher who made her pupils so enthusiastic on the subject of canning that a large club was organized, but the subject of cleanliness had been so neglected that she was shocked. upon making a visit to one of the homes, to find every law of sanitation violated. As a result, all members of the family were i'll with sore throats, sore eyes. and sore mouths. It is the visits to the homes that make the teacher realize the futil- ity of the three 'R's' unless there be joined with them health in every phase of home and school environment.
 "The third cause for retardation is poor methods in use by the teacher. Methods are for the weak pupil. not for the strong, l for the dull and not for the bright A bright child is no credit to teacher. 1 He learns without her assistance. From data that has been gathered. re- tardation has been lessened in schools using the improved methods. especially 1 in those that have become Kindergarten I ized. When the educational value oi play is recognized and also the domi- nance of the constructive instinct in hu- man nature, when the great psychological truth that the eyes and the finger tips are the nourishing points of intellect. anc when the idea of motivation of all schoo ] activities has taken hold of school prac. tices, then retardation figures as an ac cident rather than as customary fea. i, ture It is an esta blished fact that chi l dren trained in a kindergarten make much more rapid progress when the, enter school than do those who ente 1 without it. There are so few kindergar l tens in Alabama that it is more encum | bent upon primary teachers to stud' l kindergarten methods and to try to adop some of them. The expression is of par
 amount importance-draw wing, cutting clay modelling, representing ideas on th | sand table, paper construction and sew l ing. All expression work has quicken ing effect on the mind, sharpens the wits l and stimulates the brain processes. It l a poor teacher who gives child Iron | seven to 1S years of age nothing excep a book to hold and who puts him On
 bench to dangle his feet and who then ex poets him to grow. That is fine proces of incurring arrested development. Re
 tardation can be the only outcome.
 Our knowledge of child nature am
 mind is too unscientific, it Is pitifulls
 cruelty crude Much is to be hoped fo
 in such scientific research as that give
 to the subject by ,Binet of Paris. He an
 simon. also Frenchman, have worke
 out a system of mental tests, based o
 age, by which a teacher may very accu
 rately find a childs stage of develop
 ment. and also the special point of retai
 daton. The experiments begin with tn
 three year-od child and extend throug
 the thirteenth year.
 AS an example, part of the test for
 child of six years is as follows;
 1. Hold up your right hand. Touc
 your left ear Touch your right leg
 Touch your left eye.
 9 Repeat, I saw two horses pulling
 wagon very steep road tFiftee
 syllables)
 8. You know what fork is don't you
 Well. what is a fork? A chair? A horse
 of the child state the use of material
 about which he Is asked, he is passed
 4. Do this for me. Take this key am
 place it that chair. then shut tn
 door. (ponting to the door) and brin
 me that box. CThe person giving the tes
 is to be sure that the child perceives tn
 objects mentioned in this test)
 5. How old are you? When is you birthday?
 s. Is this moshing or afternoon? Is
 the afternoon or the morning now?
 "This. it seems to me- continued Mis-
 Gardener lis approaching mental deve
 opment in very positive way. Tn
 subject is only in its infancy; but let u hope that, science is making sue
 strides in every department of life educa Il tion will receive its due share of alter
 tion and that teachers will consider a
 discoveries which appear to put teachn
 upon a scientific basis with open mind
 and serious hearts,"
 Few schoolroom activities of Troy nor
 ral have been more thoroughly enjoyed
 have had more concrete results. or hay : done more real good for those studyin pedagogy than did the geography exhibi arranged and conducted by the junio class of student-teachers
 Miss Gardener planned this work t create an interest in the study of geogra phy and to demonstrate to the students soon to be teachers, that this subjec