Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1919-10-29
AN OPPORTUNITY ROOM
Something New to Be Installed In
North Troy School.

reorpanization is be tried out
in the North Troy school, which, 1T
Is honed., will be of great value TO
the school. This organization Will
consist of the installation OF what
will he called an Opportunity Room
Tt is a well known fact that IN
every school there are pupils who DO
NOT belong exactly in the grade IN
which thew are placed. Some are too
o,Iick for the grade and could go
ahead faster, while others are be-
hind. either from sickness, poor eye
sight. or other similar causes; In
the case of the extra bright chlld, 1t
| is a distinct hardship to keep nm
back with the grade, as often the
work is not hard enough to be IN
teresting. In addition, every year
which he can save in getting through
school means an extra year of earn
| ing ability after he gets out. Inc
retarded pupils, on the other nand,
are irving to do work which they do
not understand, because they have
| lost some of the earlier work. 1t is
| the purpose of the Opportunity Room
| to help relieve both of these cond1-
tions.
The detail of carrying out this plan
| is as follows: The rooms will be so
arranged that one of the. regular
teachers will be placed in charge OF
the Opportunity room. This can De
done by equalizing the numbers OF
nnnils in the other rooms, and in fact
will give two teachers fewer pupils
than they now have. In this way
there will be no extra expense. A
| list has been made of pupils who
would probably profit by being plac-
ed in the Opportunity room. These
pupils are of the two types mention
ed above. The brighter and more
advanced pupils will be coached up
ahead of their regular grade and as
soon as possible will be put back in
to a regular grade one year advanc-
ed The pupils who are retarded
will be given help as their cases need.
A pupil who has difficulty in seeing
will be carried along in the regular
work but the teacher will see that he
understands the little things that
pupil with good evesight would be
able to pick up for himself. A pupil
who needs to travel a little slower
than the regular grade will be al
| lowed to do so, but no one will be al
| lowed to do less than his best.
As the best work can not be done
in such room with large number
of pupils, the number in the room at
any one time Will De limited TO 70
The pupils first to go in this room
will be selected from the waiting list
by means of mental examination.
Only pupils capable of profiting by
the special work will be admitted.
This means that only pupils of super
Tor mental ability will be allowed to
attempt to skip a grade, and that
pupils who are behind simply be-
cause they are lazy will not be adj
mitted. However, it is probable that
some cases will escape our notice I'M
less called to our attention, so it is
urged that parents cooperate by
talking to the superintendent or
teacher about their children. IF your
child is one, who in our opinion can
not profit by the room we will say so
frankly, while on the other hand, if
he shows need of this work we will
place him on the waiting list Such
room can only succeed by the work
ing together of children, parents,
teacher and superintendent 1t is
urged that everyone take a personal
| interest in this room, and that sug-
gestions and criticisms be made to
those in charge.