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The Exeter Times-Advocate, 1926-10-21, Page 9THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1D26 THE EXETER TIMES -ADVOCATE SUPPLEMENT WEST HURON TEACHERS' CONVENTION The forty-ninth annual convention of West Huron Teachers was held at Goderich October 14th and 15th. One .hundred and thirty-five teach- ers were present. Inspector Tom, the president, ocoupied the chair. Rev, Mr. Clark, of North Street United church conducted the open- ing exercises. The minutes of last year's final session were read and confirmed. ()wing to the removal of Auditor, Mr. H. Cranson from the inspectorate Mr. M, C. Milliken was appointed. The first paper was taken by Miss Ella Sowerby, of Westfield, on "Tine Ttt1?1 Economy for Rural Schools." ', well arranged and carefully fo owed timetable proves a great time saver for the busy teacher. Combining classes, . where at all possible and especially- the Junior 'and Senior •sections of the same grades economizes time. Again in. rural schools arranging the sub- jects in such a way that the Junior classes are busy while the teacher's assistance is& being given to the Senior pupil and vice versa. In- spector Tom' stressed the combining of classes for certain subjects. Miss Grace Lochart, of S. S. 12, West Wawanosh introduced the subject of "Black Board Work." This should be a model of neatness; not only because it tells for the teacher, but serves as an example to the pupils. "Like teacher, like pupils." Borders and decorative de- signs should be on the black board and these changed as the seasons come and go. Review work, outlines of maps, spelling Les- sons, etc., should be placed on the black board. Full boards tells for a busy teacher. All writing placed thereon should show correctly form- ed letters with all "i's" 'dotted, "t's" crossed, etc. Tho paper was well received. Inspector 'Tom threw out some splendid hints regarding the full sol- utions of problems in arithmetic, in- stead of a collection of meaningless figures. The subject of spelling for second classes was next taken by Miss M. Ellis, of Hensall. . This subject should be built upon the "Phonic" method and certain rules should be given as are to be found in the text book. Frequent reviews of words already learned should be taken and in every instance the pupils should be able to pronounce and know the meaning ofthe words before ,at- tempting to spell them. Errors should be kept by the pupils and these should be reviewed frequently. Spelling matches, both oral and written, creates a desire to excel. The paper was full of interest and profit. ': The matte 'of the teachers' lib- rary, which'is at present in Exeter school, was then discussed. These books, though valuable to the teachers, are not being read. To make it more convenient for the teachersto get them it was decided to leave them in lots at each public library in the inspectorate and have them moved in cycle order from 1 sine to titje.' The fee'for joining the association was lowered from fifty cents to twenty-five cents and each teacher was given a reduction of fifty cents on all "Teachers' Magazines" sub- scribed for, no one to receive more than two deductions to the amount of one dollar. Mr. George M'awson, of Exeter, then discussed the changes in the 1926 Course of Study and showed by comparsion with the old, that, in some instances, the amount of work is materially lessened in certain grades, while in others more has been added and especially is this noticeable in the supplemental read- ing. Each subject on the course was taken and the alterations noted. The entrance examination papers of 1926 were discussed by the par- ties who examined the same and sug- gestions were thrown out whereby improvements might be made in the answers both as to quality and method. Mr. J. E. Tom took arith- metic and spelling and Mr. G. S. Howard grammar, history and liter- ature. If all teachers followed the suggestions given, next year's pap- ers will be easiermarked. Afternoon Session The minutes of the morning ses- sion were read and confirmed. Inspector Tom spoke on 'Reports' He strongly urged, as in former years, the necessity of teachers being prompt and accurate with all re- sts to him, as he has 16 be with his toa department. Mr. W. Hofferd, M. A., of Lon- don Nrmai, an old Huron Boy, took up the .subject "The Dalton plan of teaching introdueed-' by Miss Helen Parkh"ur'st, of Dalton, Mass:, and has so incre ed in favor that it is now being u in America and Europe. The dif arence between the teaching p ss and. the learning process was ined. ' Pupils should be taught t o their own 'work under the te- chers' supervision Teachers should ask themselves, "What are my aims in teaching?" and "What is there about it that I do not like?" The Rotary System has its uteri s and defects. By it, the teacher giv- es instruction to all classes in the same subject .e g. A certain teacher takes arithmetic, another grammar, another history, etc. In some schools the pupils move from room to room, while in others the teacher goes to the different classes. Each teacher, by this method, be- comes a specialist in his or her fav- orite subject. By it too, co-opera- tion can be worked out among the teachers, for example, the composi- tion teacher may use the material used by the teacher of history. Re- sults ars recorded by units ofwork done and the chart is kept• on the black board so that at a glance the teacher may see the progress. Mr. ,MCKay, of Hensall, took the chair during the Round Table Con- ference and led in discussing the merit and defects of our present text books. An interesting discus- sion was given on. our present spel- ler. Some condemned it while oth. ers were loud in its praise. Miss Lettie Guenther, introduced the subject of the use of the History Readers with third classes. These should be read in class and the sub- ject matter used as material for composition. On Thursday evening the teachers were entertained at a banquet given by the School and Home Club in North Street United church. This indeed, was a treat to the teachers and broke the monotany of the day sessions. Toasts were proposed to "Our Country," "The Superanuated ;•TNachers," "The Local Clergy" and ,theme.."School and Home Club." The music, vocal and instrumental, fur- nished blocal talent and the ad- ty dresses' given were of high order. Mr. J. r. Tom acted as toast master. ' , Friday Forenoon The ,.opening exercises were taken by Mr MacKay. After reading of the m nutes of the previous session, the ei;ion of officers followed re- sulting as follows: President, Miss M. A. Ellis, Hensall; Vice -President, Mr. P. B. Moffat, Dashwood; See'y- Treas., G. S. Howard, Exeter; Coun- cillors, Miss N. Medd, Exeter; Miss L. McCullough, Winchelsea; Audit- ors, Mr. D. McRae, Miss A. Gaiser; Resolution Committee, Messrs. W. MacKay, G. Mawson, R. Stonehouse, Misses V. Watson, M. Horton and E. Wiggins; Delegates to O.E.A., Mr. P. B. Moffat. The auditors' report showed a good balance to the credit of the association. Miss Grace Hamilton, of Goderich, gave a paper on Primary Reading. In this the phonic method should be used and frequent drills in word and sentence building taken from the tablets and on the black board. Miss Lulu Fulton, of Exeter, fol- lowed with "Seatwork for Primary Pupils." She suggested frequent changes of work and a new device each day. The building of pictures and work in numbers furnishes splendid material. Miss Margaret Grieve, of S. S. No. 7, Stanley, took Arithmetic for the same grade. She would use con- crete material such as buttons, blocks, took picks, etc., to teach number work. The pupils should use the B B and daily drills, as re- views should be taken. Flash -cards of numbers as:. 3x3—?, 3-1—?, 2x2—?, 6 divided by 2—?, prove helpful. The subject was further discussed by Inspector Tom who spoke of some methods—good and poor—seen in his tours of inspec- tion. Mr. Hofferd, M.A., took his second subject "The 34w Achievement Tests." In this he, showed the dif- ference of marking papers. Some Leachers mark too leniently, while others too severely. Teachers should sot guess. This system requires great care in marking and by it the scoring or marking is easily and quickly done. The R. W. S. formula is usually applied in scoring. The speaker applied the tests as follows: 1. Recall Type, (a) Brief Answer Test; (b) Completion Test; (c) En- umeration Test. 2. Recognition Type (a) True and False Tests (b) Mul- tiple Choice Test; (c) Association Test; (d) Best Answer Test. Teach- ers desiring full description of this topic will fad it fully didcussed in the January, February and March numbers of the. School, 1926. The New Achievement Tests are found to be more reliable, more objective, more comprehensive and more econ- omical of time and labor than the essay type of testing which we use so much. Mr. Roy Stonehouse gave a splen- . did ,paper on Auxiliary Class Work, the gleanings from a summer course he took last vacation, "What Should be Done With the Backward Pupil," is a question being looked into by the Department under Dr. Silcox; The solution of the problem is to fit such pupils that they may earn their own way. A standard test is used in such cases in the class. The American. Magazine of October has thrown some light on the subject. November issue is to continue the work. The teachers showed great interest in. the subject but owing to lack of time it had to be cut short. Teachers desiring full knowledge will find the subject fully discussed in the magazines. The Resolution Committee submit- ted the following: Resolved, 1. That there be a definite course of Can- adian History set for third classes. 2. That the public school arithmetic should contain more practical prob- lems. 3. That a prescribed course in English Literature be arranged for ' entrance classes. 4. That, in connection with the Normal training a course be arranged to train teach- ers so as to enab a them to do the work which hithe ,o has been done by school nurses. 5. That the teach- ers of West Huron Association ex- press their appreciation of the Gov- ernment's special grants toward salaries. 6. That the thanks of the Association be- extended to Mr. G. W. Hofferd, M.A for his interesting papers given, tq the Goderich School Board for the use of the school, to the retiring executive for their ser- vices during the year, to the com- mittee, who provided the evening entertainment, to all teachers who contributed items on the program and to all citizens of Goderich who so kindly entertained the visiting teachers.