New Britain herald., 1929-09-14

ard more realizing the values. so
 cial as well as educational, for tn, : pupils, inherent in these assemD plies
 "obviously the forty old club
 devoted 10 the special interests 0
 the pupils and directed by th,
 teachers result in an attitude on tn,
 part Of the pupils which make.
 them realize thar the aim Of in.
 school is 10 help each one Geyeio4
 lis own special gifts But sec.
 ondary result also appears that i.
 valuable. l refer 10 the effect or , pupil-teacher relationship in th,
 school. The ancient teacter-as-a
 t9akmaster notion is being broken
 down and insreld ths more whole
 some idea that teacher i, 6 nor / experienced guide and friend is be-
 ing SC. up.
 One Of the mosr important assets
 of oHr school s he library. as 2
 reading and reference laboratory it las great valUa. as he hesfnuinC ot the life-lons habit ot raad1ns rS . function is still more Valuable. Drr-
 Ing t.e past year about ore hn;n-
 dred worthwhile hooks If h5oerarhv,
 fiction. etc, adapted 10 tn. 3ces Of
 our pupils wer- adde3. Tho enthrsi- asm with whjcl inc books were It. l ccivtd is fully indicated hy the cir 1 culation figures. Each hook W ~ ] withdrawn for reading by at lcas. 1 one person six different times dur, ing a period ot about ten weeks. ! Certainly this branch of our work is 1 proving its worth. I saould ba nccN- 1 gent if I did nos commend the fin, work that Miss McIltyre. our H- l rrari2n, is do!nS.
 With regard 10 ,ha subjects ct instruction; in Englisl the arnoint- mont Of Miss Bryant as director O. Junior High scA21, English is 6 dis uncJ step ahead in Jhe solution Q" q difficult prohlem Her first work will be to outline the course Of study in the three grades. then ! lrng about a coordination and slch reNsions aS may appear wise CT i I'coss.wy, All this work slorll l.. done by the Use of ii tho facilit!,s aVailable namely, frequent charN tests, teachers ludgronts ana c>- perience. and pupils reactions and achievements. The chief difficulty in this subject has been the lack of proper ad2ptatio1 cf tho work to ;he individual pupils requirements | I IAATr -,, well as panil morale in this work
 "The adoption of new history text for Grade VII 2ugers we'll for m improvement in the teaching of this subject. 1he tan ,uace difficulty has hoen real hindranca to good work, am convinced.
 "The devclopm-0t and Use Of unit tests for arithmetic in Grades VII and VIII jS going we'll These tests enable rho teacher 10 check her Itachiac results quito accurately anG give the pupil coacrete an1 irnper- scnal proof Of his learning CT hls failure.
 Each Of our three geography teachers m Grade VII has b,en in- 'luanced by the splendid work in teaching geography that IS hein- dona at Clark University. either ry attendance there or hy snaing tho methods in actual Use, Among thr improved methods are the increased tso Of special material such as maps and globes and charis, the devclor- meut of hand work and the usa of pictures.
 I've have tried to conserve the time of our hygiene teachers by es- tabIishing two large classes of about 150 pupils each in Grade VII with fairly good results. Some ingenuity is required here 10 adapt the Use Of materials and methods Of instruction to such large groups.
 The work in Physical Education for girls under Miss McGrath and Miss Noonan has had a notable de- . \elonmeNt this past year.
 consideration will have to he given to tho problem Of graduation 'Hercises in thn near future. Our June exercises saw one third of the . available seats taken up by the . graduates alone. Perhaps uso of the . new senior high school auditorium may he planned
 dI trust it may he possible to consider a few items for the school , budget next year:
 1. nraporics for our auditorium | windows, .. X new doorway in the 1 north wall of Room Io7; S. Rc-in- l stallation Of motion picture machine i for auditorium, if only for use of . safety film, with adequate curtain. !
 "I adVoeata this last Improvement because believe the films available 1 for instructional purposes is in- crcaSine sufficiently 10 make it un- wise not to uso this very efficient . means Of instruction especially ! since there are possibilities of timo economy involved that arc net to be overlooked
 "The coming year will see our seventh and eighth grade classes grouped more carefully than in the past Care has ben taken to avoid . placing pupils of high ability with pupils of low ability, always con- the factor Of school achievement
 Roughly. the basis Of division may he explained ny stating that ! each pupil will find himself in group containing those of approxj- maiely similar ability. Each group will contain some pupils who work faster than the average of that group and somo who work moro slowly. There will he no planned ability division in Grade IN. rNcop, 's occurs naturally from choice O. courses made by the pupils them, selves.
 "0n the whole tho ninth lrada work has gone on very we'll during he past year. w. are still some