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WISCONSIN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

HO! FOR THE MOUNTAINS

MEETING National Educational Association at Denver, July 5-9

OF THE

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Saturday

July 3

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Write for 10 page Circular giving further details to

W. N. PARKER, Editor, MADISON, WISCONSIN

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JOURNAL OF EDUCATION

THE OFFICIAL SCHOOL PAPER OF THE STATE

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HAND-WORK SUPPLIES

Raffia, Reeds, Yarns, Leathers, Papers, Art Textiles, Materials and Tools for Metal Work, and Crafts and Construction Work Supplies of every description. Completest line in the country. Send for lists and samples before placing your order.

GARDEN CITY EDUCATIONAL CO.,

169 WABASH AVE.,

THE

CHICAGO.

COSTUMES FOR SCHOOL PLAYS

We furnish costumes, wigs, etc., for all plays, guarantee satisfaction and make lowest rates for rental. All inquiries receive prompt attention.

L. HAGEMANN & CO.,

111 Madison Steet

TEACHERS' AGENCIES

CHICACO, ILL.

PARKER THE Agency for Wisconsin, Northern Mich

igan and the West. Write for full details of "The Parker Way" of placing teachers and dealing with school boards. The most liberal MADISON WISCONSIN contract of any Agency in the country.

Teachers' Agency

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DEMAND FOR TEACHERS.

WHAT OUR MEMBERS SAY ABOUT THE THURSTON TEACHERS' AGENCY. "You are certainly a revelation-I never knew of any agency finding the openings that you do. I am constrained to again express my gratitude. You secured for me a fine position when all others failed." Direct calls from school officials. We PERSONALLY RECOMMEND YOU. Send for circulars-free registration for a limited time. Enroll now. Address ANNA M. THURSTON, Mgr., 378 Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill.

"ONE FIFTH OF A CENTURY"

THE CLARK TEACHERS' AGENCY

Steinway Hall, Chicago

225 Peyton Block, Spokane, Wash.

The Manager, B. F. Clark, has had over twenty years' experience in finding the right teachers for the right placesrom the UNIVERSITY to the GRADES. Send for "Our Platform" (64 pages) giving over 500 letters from teachers.

WESTERN POSITIONS FOR TEACHERS. — OUR TERRITORY:--Colo. Wyo. Mont. Idaho, Wash. Oregon, Calif. Ariz Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Nebr. N. Dak. S. Dak. Iowa, Mo. For college positions the entire country.

OUR SCOPE:-Grades, Rural, Principal, Superintendent, High School, Academy, Boarding School, Charitable Institutions, College, University, Liberal Arts, Mining, Agricultural, Engineering, Music, Art, Normal, Tutor, Private, Athletics, Business College, Manual Training. A PLACING AGENCY FOR TEACAERS:--We write up the person we select for recommendation in a special bound report, covering a number of pages. We do the work of placing. Send for catalogue. COME OUT WEST WHERE IT PAYS TO TEACH

BUSINESS MEN'S CLEARING HOUSE CO. (Inc.) 303-311 Century Building

THE BREWER

DENVER, COLORADO

TEACHERS'
AGENCY

1302 AUDITORIUM BUILDING, CHICAGO

THE ALBERT TEACHERS' AGENCY

C. J. ALBERT, Manager

378 Wabash Avenue

Chicago, Illinois

In correspondence with 8000 Scnools and Colleges. Over 7000 teachers located. The best schools are our clients. Service prompt, effective and helpful. Address the Chicago Manager.

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A NEGLECTED PHASE OF TEACHING.

The writer recently inspected a western high school in which he found a room devoted exclusively to the use of the women teachers while off duty. It is attractively though simply furnished, and it suggests rest and relaxation. When the teachers have a free period they go there if they choose; and it is very popular. The teachers say they can teach more enthusiastically the latter part of the day if they can be at ease for a half hour sometime during the session. The purpose in mentioning the matter here is to commend the rest-room plan to the school authorities of the state. On a strictly economical basis, it would pay to have such a room in every graded and high school. Teachers are human; and the human machine is so constructed that periods of high tension must be followed by periods of low tension, if the machine is to work most effectively. When the teacher is before his class every faculty should be alert; he should be dynamic, and at the same time self-controlled and well-poised. But when the class is dismissed, he should at times be able to slip away from the class environment so that he can let down. It is better for students and teachers that they should be apart some portion of every day. The rest-room affords the teacher a bit of club life, of a mild sort of course, during the day, and his work is made fresher and more vital for it. He is more likely to be interesting, and less likely to be "cranky" and irritable as the day's work draws to a close.

THE DRUDGERY OF TEACHING.

We have inherited the notion that teaching is a very serious, austere business, and while on duty teachers ought not to relax. This notion is not well-defined, it is true, and many who really believe it will not acknowledge it when it is plainly

No. 6

stated, as above. A certain superintendent of schools in this state of ours furnishes an illustration of the point in question. The rest-room idea was mentioned to him, and he did not warm up to it in the least. He offered some high-sounding opinions on the general subject of the attitude of the teacher toward his work; and the sum of his remarks was that a teacher who had the right spirit would wish to remain in his class-room when he had a free period, and look over papers, and prepare himself for coming events. Being led on, he said he thought a teacher ought not to attend a party of any sort, except on Friday or Saturday evening; and one a week was a liberal allowance. Now, to our way of thinking this is taking too stern a view of the teaching business. This superintendent is a thoroughly honest, sincere man, who is anxious to do the very best he knows how by the children of his city; but he is not as keen a student of human nature as he might be. He places more emphasis than he should on mere work on the part of the teacher. He does not value freshness and bouyancy in the class room as highly as they merit. Moreover, he does not understand the conditions of economy and efficiency in mental effort, for if he did he would see that more work can be accomplished if periods of relaxation follow periods of application quite frequently. This matter has been carefully and extensively studied as it concerns pupils in the school room; and the principles established apply to teachers as well as to students.

THE TEACHER'S READING.

A teacher's rest-room would not only serve the purpose of relaxation; it might be made a means of professional growth. There should be in this room a reading table upon which a teacher could find copies of the best educational papers. Reading is usually a rest from the work of the class

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room; and to spend a free period during the day in a review of fresh, stimulating professional literature would often enliven and invigorate a teacher. More important still, it would keep him growing in professional knowledge and efficiency; and surely most teachers need every inducement to keep growing. As a result of some recent inquiries among high-school teachers, the writer astonished to find how few of them were familiar with current thought on any phase of educational work. They had been reading nothing of a professional nature; and the only occasions when they reflected at all upon the ideals and processes of their business were when they attended educational conventions, and these were infrequent. How can one keep up with educational progress if he does not know what is going on outside his town in educational thought and experiment?

MORE INFORMATION WANTED.

A few months ago we asked our readers to send us information regarding the results of certain modes of teaching spelling frequently seen in the schools of Wisconsin. The response to this request encourages us to seek light in respect to the methods of presenting one or two other subjects. We have had under observation for some time a fourth-grade class studying geography. For a number of months the work has comprised mainly learning by name (1) the capitals of all the states of the Union; (2) the five largest cities in each state; (3) the three largest rivers flowing through each state; (4) all the counties in Wisconsin; (5) the fifteen largest cities of the state; and (6) all the cities, towns, and villages in the particular county in which this school is situated. The attitude of the pupils toward this task is significant. From beginning to end their aim has been to acquire mere names by ceaseless repetition, in the hope to fix them in a vocal series, so that, for example, when the word Massachusetts would be mentioned it would automatically call up other words, as Boston, Lowell, Lawrence, Springfield, Worcester, and the names of three rivers. The pupils as a whole do not have the slightest conception of why the particular five cities mentioned have become the largest in any state, or why the rivers take the special course they do through the state. The work has employed only the verbat memory, and the pupils have found it a very laborious task.

The teacher, in defending her method, has said that even if her pupils do not at present know anything vital concerning the cities and rivers, the names of which they are memorizing, they will sometime hear facts regarding them, and it will then prove of advantage to the children to have fixed the names firmly in memory now. To us this seems very unsound doctrine; it is mere formalism; it makes teaching in this special subject a dull and wasteful business. If before learning the name of any city in Wisconsin, pupils had been made familiar with the general climatic and physical cor ditions of the state, the fertility of its soil in different regions, the natural drainage courses, the occupations of the people in various sections determined by the physical conditions; and if in the light of these facts they had then been led to discover about where cities would be apt to develop, then names would acquire some meaning for them. Each name of a city or river would be a symbol to which could be attached a body of real and vital knowl

edge, which could not fail to interest even chil dren, and which is the only sort of knowledge that

will be of service to them in after life. For ourselves, we believe that pupils who are required to memorize geographical names disassociated from vital content develop a vicious habit of mind which later tends to make them satisfied with mere

names.

If any reader of the Journal thinks he can justi

fy the prevailing practice in many schools of having pupils learn by heart lists of names of states, capitals, cities, rivers, capes, bays, lakes, mountains, products, etc., before there is developed in his mind some conception of the earth as the home of man, and its physical and climatic conditions as determining where men will live in largest numbers, and how they will expend their energies, and how they will communicate with one another,—if any one can vindicate the mnemonic method of

teaching geography he will be given in this Journal a prominent place in which to defend his views.

CONCERNING MUSICAL INSTRUCTION.

While we are on this topic of inefficient methods of teaching, we may, perhaps, unburden ourselves in respect to the teaching of another subject. And to start with a concrete instance again. Recently a lesson in music was observed in the second grade of a public school in this state. The pupils had

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