Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

11. Programs by outside talent.

(1) Violin solo by violin instructor.

(2) Talks by noted educators who visit the schools.

(3) Talk by the principal—A comparison of our school with those of Jefferson County.

(4) Educational talk by woman legislator of Alabama.

12. Miscellaneous programs.

(1) Assembly hour used for practice for some definite program.

(2) Stunts by physical education department:

Blind boxing.

Mounted wrestle.

Elephant walk.

Cart wheel.

Back flip.

Wheelbarrow race.

Folk dances of different nations.
Stunts by all redheads.

(3) Group singing or chorus practice for programs. (4) Patriotic assemblies.

(a) "Patriotic Scenes--Old and New," featuring Columbia, Liberty, Uncle Sam, Betsy Ross, Boys of '76, the Red Cross Nurse, the Boy Scout.

(b) Presentation of new flag to the school and the burning of the old flag. (Transferred to campus.)

(c) Pianologues-Our Washington and Flanders Field.

(5) Valentine program-songs, drills, folk dances.

(6) Boy Scouts demonstrate first-aid work.

(7) New Year's reception--All the months are represented by pupils, who perform stunts appropriate to the month.

(8) Christmas assembly. One class is hostess to the school. The members of the class select their own play, pageant, or tableaux, and look after the general management of the Christmas festivities.

(9) Celebration of the birthdays of great men.

(10) Library programs-The system is explained and pupils are sent to look for books.

(11) Organization assembly-The hour is used for organizing clubs, literary societies, scouts, etc.

(12) School-planning program-A representative from each room discusses ways and means by which the room can help the school or the school can help the room.

(13) The yell assembly-New yells are learned and practiced.

(14) "The Family Album "-Pupils in costume take the pose of old-fashioned tintype pictures, while a reader explains each picture.

(15) Good health program-Pupils in the first grade were dressed to represent Mother Goose characters; Fresh air, for example, was Little Bo Peep. They dramatized good-health activities. The second grade gave a program in which a pupil acted as doctor and administered fresh air, wholesome food, and drink to his patients. They concluded by singing This is the Way We Brush Our Teeth.

(16) Songs of other nations. Pupils in costume, representative of the nation, sing the following songs:

In Old Madrid (Spanish).

Bagdad is a Town in Turkey (Turkish).

On the Road to Mandalay (Indian).

Oo Long-So Long (Japanese).

O Du Lieber Augustin (German).

Coming Through the Rye (Scottish).

Where the River Shannon Flows (Irish).

(17) A transportation program-All truck drivers, captains, and flagmen sit on the stage. The principal tells the student body of the duties and responsibilities of each person before them and urges cooperation on the part of the pupils with the transportation force.

(18) Truck songs-Each truck composes its own song. A prize is given to the truck that sings the best at assembly.

(19) The hat show-Old styles down to the present were shown. Hats were placed on a table. Boys and girls marched in and each put on the

hat nearest to him. All sang The Hat of Other Days.

(20) Living cartoons-Pupils dressed like Mutt and Jeff, Happy, Toots and Casper, Slim Jim, Maggie and Jiggs, Polly and Pa Perkins. Each group dramatized a scene from the life of the funny people.

(21) The Bachelor's Reverie. A series of pictures in the life of a bachelor. (22) The symposium-All members of the high school take part. Ten questions testing general information on current events are made out. The names of all pupils are put in a hat. Ten pupils are chosen for captains. Each captain draws a name from the hat until all are drawn. There are then 10 groups of pupils, each with a captain. The questions are written on slips of paper numbered from 1 to 10. The captain of each group draws a question which the group tries to answer in three minutes. When the time is up a bell is rung, and the captain of each group runs to the next group with his question. This continues until all questions have been carried to the different groups. The group

which answers the highest number of questions is given a basket of fruit or a box of candy.

(23) A Halloween assembly-Ghosts of famous characters, such as Caesar, Louis XIV, Shakespeare, Henry VIII, and Washington, pass across the stage.

(24) Living advertisements-Pupils dress in keeping with ads and dramatize the action. Good choices for such a program are the following: Old Dutch Cleanser, Campbell Soup Kids, Cream of Wheat, Fairy Soap, Palmolive Soap, and Gold Dust Twins.

(25) The Whizzer-A book of clean, wholesome jokes, many of them local, read by a pupil who enters into the spirit of the occasion. (26) The guessing contest in music-Familiar and instrumental pieces are played on the piano, and pupils are asked to write the names of them on paper. A prize is given to the one who guesses the highest number. (27) The faculty operation-One pupil acts as doctor, one as nurse, one as surgeon, a screen is provided. Saws, hatchets, hammers, augers, and other tools are used as instruments. A jug of water serves as ether. Each member of the faculty is put to sleep and his peculiarities are removed. Red tape may be taken from the principal's head; punctuation marks from the English teacher's throat; dates from the history teacher; corns from the toes of the athletic director.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Choruses and Songs. Willis Music Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Family Album. Walter H. Baker Co., New York City.

Patriotic Scenes-Old and New. Walter H. Baker & Co., New York City.
The Bachelor's Reverie. Walter H. Baker & Co., New York City.

It is to Laugh. Doran Co., New York City.

Ice Breakers. Doran Co., New York City.

One-Act Plays (by Cohen). Harcourt, Brace & Co., New York City.

Phunology. Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn.

One-Act Plays. Samuel French & Co., New York City.

Sifter Drill. Laidlaw Brothers, New York City.

ADDITIONAL COPIES

OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON, D. C.
AT

5 CENTS PER COPY

rur

Rural School Leaflet No. 35.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

BUREAU OF EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, D. C.

December, 1924.

IMPROVEMENT IN TEACHING READING IN RURAL SCHOOLS

By MAUD C. NEWBURY

Formerly Assistant in Rural Education, Bureau of Education

IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING READING

Reading is a key subject. It unlocks the door to knowledge and to preparation for intelligent participation in the duties of citizenship. Until children master the ability to get thought from the printed page, they are handicapped in their efforts to gain information from history, geography, civics, and hygiene; they find the solution of problems either in arithmetic or in the content subjects extremely difficult. Style in written composition is influenced by the literature that children read. This relation of reading to other subjects makes it desirable for the supervisor to center attention upon efforts to improve methods of instruction in reading.

Conditions that make skilled teaching possible must precede or accompany attempts to improve methods of teaching subject matter, else much of the supervisor's energy will be wasted. Physical welfare of children, proper grading, teaching periods adequate in length, an adequate supply of reading material, and the cooperation of school patrons are factors that materially affect the results secured in teaching reading. The supervisor eager to help teachers improve instruction can not afford to ignore means which will help her even indirectly in attaining results.

WHY COUNTRY PUPILS ARE POOR IN READING

Recent investigations, school surveys, and measurement of teaching results by standardized tests in rural schools show that rural children are on the average below grade in reading ability. Among the causes of this condition are the following:

1. Overemphasis upon oral reading.

2. Emphasis placed upon word getting instead of thought getting. 3. Failure to lead children to form the habit of scanning phrases. 4. Neglect of phonics.

5. Use of only one reading text during the year.

20645°-24

« ÎnapoiContinuă »