RACINE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE.

PROGRAMME: HIGH SCHOOL ROOM, 9 A. M.

HISTORY OF EDUCATION.

Painter's History of Education, edited by W.

First Grade teachers-Second ward building, Room 4Prin. J. C. Necollins, Conductor.

Second Grade teachers-Second ward building, Room 9Prin. E. J. Christie, Conductor.

Third Grade Teachers-Second ward building, Room 5Prin. M L. Smith, Conductor.

Fourth Grade teachers-Second ward building, Room 6Prin. M. C. Gray, Conductor.

Fifth Grade teachers-Miss Kelley's room-Prin. A. B. Augustine, Conductor.

Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Grade teachers-H. S. RoomPrin. Geo. F. Bell, Conductor.

Let all teachers heartily co-operate with the conductors of their several grades to make these meetings of the highest possible advantage and intensely practical. Send to your conductor questions bearing upon your particular grade of work; or make suggestions as to what topics you would like to have discussed and illustrated. Assume cheerfully any part in this work that may be assigned to you, and put your best efforts into it, and we shall make these meetings the most interesting and useful of the year. Bring note books.

I would suggest that the subject, "How to teach Geography," be discussed, as the principal topic, in those grades where that subject is taught; and that study which takes the place of Geography in the other grades.

I would also suggest that in these meetings the "class exercise" method be used largely, the teachers present assuming the role of pupils.

Boone's Education in U. S., edited by W. T. Harris, published by Appleton & Co., $1.50. Essays on Educational Reforms, R. H. Quick, published by Appleton by Appleton & Co., $1.50. Browning's History of Education, Teachers Publishing Co., 6 Clinton Place, N. Y., $ .50. William's History of Education, C. M. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y.

SCIENCE OF EDUCATION.

Education as a Science, edited by Alex. Bain, published by Appleton & Co., $1.50. Rosenkranz Philosophy of Education, edited by W. T. Harris, published by Appleton & Co., $1.50. Payne's Science of Education, American Book Co., 260 Wabash Av., Chicago, Ill., $1.25.

ART OF EDUCATION.

Practical Hints for Teachers of Public Schools, Howland; $1.00. Primer of Pedagogy, Prof. Putnam, published by H. R. Pattingill, Lansing, Mich., 25c. Swett's Methods of Teaching, American Book Co., $1.00. White's Pedagogy, Teachers Publishing Co., $1.25.

1,000 Composition Subjects, C. M. Barnes, 77 Wabash Av., Chicago, Ill., 25c. Sixteenth Century Educators: Roger Asham, Francis Bacon.

Seventeenth Century Educators: John A. Comenius, John Locke.

Eighteenth Century Educators: Thomas Arnold, Andrew Bell, J. H. Pestalozzi, JeanJacques Rousseau.

Nineteenth Century Educators: Frederick Froebel, Horace Mann, Herbert Spencer. O. C. SEELYE, Supt. of Schools.

Madison Teachers' Meeting-October. 1. Teachers of the first grade will meet with Miss Williams on Tuesday, Sept. 26th at 3:30 P. M. Subject: Reading and Language. (a) How to teach new words; how to train pupils in oral and written expression, Miss Williams, with class. (b) Some of the difficulties attending language work and how they may be overcome, Miss Culligan. (c) How written work may be examined and corrected, suggestions by Miss Ella Larkin and Miss Byrne.

2. Teachers of the third grade will meet with Miss Hyland on Thursday, Sept. 28th, at 3:30 P. M. Subject: Language (a) Class Exercise, Miss Hyland. ercise, Miss Hyland. (b) The need and importance of language work in our schools, Miss Champer. (c) Faults in our methods of teaching

language, Miss Glanville.

(d) Suggestions as to best methods in written work, Miss Hickok. 3. Teachers of the fifth grade will meet with Miss Feeney on Monday, Oct. 2d, at 3:30 P. M. Subject: Language. (a) Class exercise, Miss Feeney. (b) Language as a test of culture, Miss Baker. (c) Value of language as a disciplinary study, Miss Billings. (d) Suggestions as to methods of instruction in language, Miss Bodenstein and Miss Jones.

4. Teachers of the seventh grade will meet with Miss Edgar on Thursday, October 5th, at 3:30 P. M. Subject: Language. (a) Class Exercise, Miss Edgar. (b) Ends to be sought in grammar work, Miss Shinnick. (c) Some of the means which may be used in attaining these ends, Miss Mayers. (d) Examples of some of the common mistakes in English made by pupils and teachers.

5. A General Teachers' Meeting will be held in the Assembly Room, High School Building, on Saturday, Oct. 7th, at 9 A. M.

PROGRAM:

I. Extract from the "Harvard Report" on English in the Secondary Schools, J. F. Doherty.

II. Relation between clear expression and clear thinking, J. H. Hutchison. III. The importance of language work in the public schools, Miss Moseley. IV. Peculiar difficulties attending language work in the schools, Miss Bailey.

V. Ends to be sought in language work, Miss Shinnick.

VI. Some of the means used to attain these ends, Miss Mayers.

VII. Correction of sentences from leading A few permissible expressions

authors.

usually forbidden. Teachers named in the program will please give short talks or papers on the topics assigned. R. B. DUDGEON, Supt.

PLANS FOR THE STUDY OF CHildren. DEAR DR. STEARNS:-Yours of last month was duly received. I hope I am not tiring you with my thought of pushing aside of pedagogy that has come to interest me so deeply since the beginnging of my year with you at Madison. I feel that home is in Wis. though I am so far away from it. I see that you have our story of Johny-look-in-the-air, and that you got but a part of the facts in the case from the Pacific Educational Journal. I send you the copy of the syllabus just as we sent it out. In the first place the story is a translation from the German, and was used not for anything

there is in the way of moral but with the belief than there is a starting point in drawing as in all other things peculiar to children, and that that point is not well determined. Using the drawings the children made of the story as read to them we tried to see what generalizations we could draw from them. An article in the November Popular Science Monthly for the present month discusses the study of children from the point of view I have in mind. page 63 it says, "We shall use the children's elements, and discover upon what they work with interest and independence, how they work, what will best call out their activities and enable them to teach themselves, and by what means they can express their ideas best."

On

I send you my copies of some other syllabi with the thought that you will find something worth publishing amongst them. I will send a short article in December, since it seems to me now that these syllabi will be of more interest to you than anything of my own. Yours truly, J. A. HANCOCK, Clark University, Worcester, Mass., Nov. 10, 1893.

STUDY ON CHILDREN'S PLAYS.

By play is meant all the pleasurable, selfimposed activities of the child, spontaneous or acquired, from balancing on one foot to base ball.

STUDY ON A YOUNG CHILD.

Give the name and age of the child.

I. Note in detail the most common plays of the child at present.

2. Note new plays as they are added from time to time. 3. What seems to have suggested each play, or its special features? Was the child shown or told how to play it? Could you see how the play was suggested by occupations going on about the child, or by other environment?

4. How long does a child play one play continuously? How long before he lays it aside for good?

5. At what time in the day is the child most playful? 6. Does the child repeat his plays exactly or with variations?

7. Has the child playfellows? Pets? Of what playthings is he especially fond?

8. It would be of great interest if one could trace in outline the growth of some complex play, for instance, playing with dolls, noting the first interest in the subject, and the gradual adding of details, such as doll-dressmaking, dollhousekeeping, etc. Playing school or keeping store would be equally good.

9. The record of a child's life, for a whole day, showing the kind, succession, and duration of its free activities would also be of great value. Single hours would also be valuable.

STUDY ON SCHOOL CHILDREN.

Many of the suggestions under the last heading will apply here; in addition one may note:

Seasons of the year when certain plays are in favor; evidences of self-glorification and selfishness; evidences of helpfulness and generosity; rhythmical movements and songs; what is fair and not fair; what authorities are invoked in disputes; how disputes are settled; what plays boys and girls play together; what plays are especially

attractive to boys, to girls; what kind of children lead in plays; mental characteristics of children who do not care for play; change in rage of play activities at the period of puberty; the incentives that urge a child to excel in play; good qualities developed in plays; bad qualities developed in plays; effect of introducing an adult into a play; how work becomes play; appearance of the dramatic instinct in plays; dangerous plays; immoral plays; etc.

EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS.

To be of any value, answers to these questions should be based on data collected by observation.

1. Into what groups can you classify your pupils according to their plays?

2. Should boys and girls ever be allowed to play together at school?

3. How far should training in good manners be allowed to interfere with freedom in the play ground.

4. Is it best for the teacher to play freely with the children in the play ground?

5. At what point should the teacher interfere in school ground disputes?

6. Should recess be given? If so, what should be the character of the recess?

7. How can natural qualities shown in the play ground, such as leadership or inventiveness, be made use of in the school room?

Some of the best studies on the subject of children's plays are: W. W. Newell's "Games and Songs of American Children," Harper Bros., 1883; John Johnson's "Rudimentary Society Among Boys," Overland Monthly, October, 1883, and later expanded in Johns Hopkins' "University Studies" in Historical and Political Science, Vol. 2; G. Stanley Hall's "Story of a Sand Pile," in Scribner's Magazine, June, 1888; Jean Paul Richter's "Levana," Chapter 3, and the writings of Froebel.

The papers are to be handed in on Friday, September 15, and they will be discussed the following morning.

Submitted by EARL BARNES.

have no talk to introduce the matter, answer no questions, give no suggestions whatever, and avoid emphasizing any particular part of the story as you read. Then bring in all the pictures drawn, good, bad and indifferent. The worst are often the most instructive, and this is, in no sense, a test of the children's ability to draw. Please write the time taken for the drawing. It would be interesting to read the poem to the class at some later period and have them write it out as a reproduction

WISCONSIN FARMERS' INSTITUTES. Dec. 5-6, Ahnapee, Bloomington, St. Croix Falls, Durand. Dec. 7-8, Sturgeon Bay, Monfort, New Richmond Maiden Rock.

Dec. 12-13, Stiles, Platteville, Ellsworth, West Salem. Dec. 14-15, Kewaunee, Darlington, Wilson, Fountain City.

Dec. 19-20 Manawa, Bloomer, Chetck, Alma Center. Dec. 21-22, Shiocton, Elroy, Prairie Farm, Blain. Jan. 2-3, Monticello, Hortonville, Westbend, Melrose. Jan. 4-5, Monroe, Neenah, Palmyra. Ettrick. Jan. 9-10, Omro, Pewaukee, Calumetville, Westby. Jan. 11-12, Waupun, Eagle, Stockbridge, Wilton. Jan. 16-17, Oakfield, East Troy, Manitowoc, Almond. Jan. 18-19, Watertown, Waterford, Sheboygan Falls, Hancock.

Jan. 23-24, Glenwood, Walworth, Franklin, Friendship. Jan. 25-26, Thorp, Union Grove, Saukville, Wyocena. Jan. 30-31, Greenwood, Orfordville, Grand Rapids, Mt. Sterling.

Feb. 1-2, Weyauwega, Oregon, New Lisbon, Viola.
Feb. 20-21, Avoca, Mayville. Mt. Moreb, Morrisonville.
Feb. 22-23, Spring Green, Hartford, Verona, Briggsville.
Feb. 27-28, and Mar. 1, Menomonie.

THE SCHOOL ROOM.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS.

-There are seven results, called school virtues, which are attained in every good school. These are (1) regularity, (2) punctuality, (3) neatness, (4) accuracy, (5) industry, (6) silence, (7) obedience.-Dr. E. E. White.

-If possible, have singing in your schools. We say this alike to teachers and school directors. The Messenger is right when it says: "Teach the child a song. Encourage the little ones to sing. Music lessens care and heartache. Often and often the words of a

song, the sweet melody, linger in the heart after the voice is silent, and keep alive the courage which had almost died; anxiety and heart pain cause heart disease, and after that quickly comes death. Song sweetens toil, and it is imperative that parents and teachers should aim to increase this means of happiness for the children, if for no other reason than to strengthen their minds and hearts for the labors to be borne in mature years."

Is your school like this? A friend writes me, concerning a new school she has taken:

"My children don't understand gentleness. They are perfectly amazed at being treated courteously. All the beautiful, in matter and spirit seem to have been left out of their lives. Their manner of work suggests wheels and pulleys like other machines." Is it possible that another teacher might feel this same influence in your school, if you were to drop out to-day? "The letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive."-Primary Ed.

-The methods of the New Education are travestied in two ways: First, by the superficial enthusiast, who adopts devices, thinking he has methods, and runs them ad nauseam, until it takes an uprising of the populace to convince him that "fads" are not wanted; second, by the indifferent teacher, who receives them from supervising officers and follows the letter instead of the spirit. It is hard to say which does the most harm. A certain school which developed some years ago some very bright exercises in language for its lower grades has lost all the brightness and spontaneity from these exercises, and, by successive changes, has reduced them to a system of mechanical drill in technical grammar for all grades, down to the first year. This is the work of the principal, who takes no trouble to study child mind, but entertains himself with more "scholarly" subjects. The difference between drill and teaching can never be appreciated by any but the sympathetic and conscientious teacher. -School Fournal.

DRILL IN MULTIPLICATION TABLE.

The circle formed, "perfectly round," Mrs. F. says. The little hands are raised: "Mrs. F., please let me take the honor place?" passes from lip to lip.

But Mrs. F. smiles and says: "Jennie may take the place of honor." And the little girl we had noticed, who seemed too modest to ask for the coveted place, now steps in the center, and every child becomes a quiet, attentive listener, with ear intently bent toward his or her classmate, now in the center.

Mrs. F. commences: "Two times two are how many?"

"Four," quickly answered Jennie. "Three times two?" "Six." "Three times five?" "Fifteen." "Four times four?" "Sixteen." "Nine times three?" "Twenty-one," from Jennie. "Twenty-seven -twenty-seven twentyseven," from the circle.

The one who gave the correct answer first now takes his place in the center.

The exercises continued in this way; the first to correct always taking the "place of honor," until a bright boy took the place, and he seemed determined not to relinquish it by an incorrect answer.

Sure enough, in vain did Mrs. F. ask the most puzzling questions, never going higher than the "Four table." Always came the correct answer promptly, from the little hero.

Finally Mrs. F. said: "Well, George, you may have the privilege of choosing some one in your place." And George, whom all seemed to look upon as a hero, for that time at least, proudly exchanged places with one of his classmates. Primary Teacher.

NOTE: The multiplication table is not taught by this drill, but an admirable exercise in quickly recalling it is afforded.

THE GREAT NEED OF THE SCHOOLS.

What our schools need, beyond appropriations, beyond good teachers, beyond capable supervisors, beyond an energetic school board and a capable superintendent, is the cordial support of the people at large. In the pressure of the duties of life upon all people the school is one of the things taken for granted. With the churches unable to exercise a strong and central influence over the morals of child

hood, with family care constantly being deteriorated by the pressure of business and society, the public school is continually being loaded down with duties and demands which weigh down upon conscientious teachers, especially the large-minded and large-hearted women, who are the soul and strength of our public schools, and it is increasingly difficult to educate young people up to the proper standard in the knowledge of what they ought to know, and up to a proper appreciation of the relation of conduct to life. This is where our public school teachers cannot be too earnestly or too warmly supported by those who put children in their hands. It may be too much to ask busy men and women who believe in the public schools to take an hour now and then to visit the school-rooms and show

by their presence that they stand by this or that teacher; but wherever this is done,—and in many places it is done-the results far more than compensate for all the trouble which they compel. If there is any one class of unappreciated people in the community-unappreciated and yet deserving of the highest honor -it is the men and women who are faithful servants in the public schools. -Boston Herald.

NUMBER PROBLEMS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES.

Grandma Brown had all her grand-children to Thanksgiving dinner. She cut her mince pies into 4 pieces each. It took 4 pies to go around. How many grand-children had she? Mamma was baking cookies. In one pan were three rows with 4 cookies in a row. In another pan were 9 cookies. She gave each of 7 children one each. How many had she left?

Harry and all the family went to eat Thanksgiving dinner at grandpa's. Harry saw 12 pumpkin pies in his grandma's cupboard. After dinner there were only of them in the cupboard. How many pies were there left?

Four little Brownies went to look for Thanksgiving turkeys. They found some asleep on a long limb. They cut off the limb and carried it home, and found that they had just two turkeys apiece. How many turkeys had they?

Arthur measured the edge of his desk with his foot rule. It went once across and 7 inches more. How long was his desk?

At the World's Fair Mabel saw six camels and four more donkeys than camels. many in all?

How

A street car conductor collected 5 fares. He dropped one fare down a crack in the floor. How many cents had he left?

A man bought 4 yards of rope at 2 cents a foot. How much did he pay?

Fred spent two weeks and three days at the seaside last summer. How many days was he there?

Helen dug twelve holes in the sand, and the tide coming in filled one-third of them; how many left?

How many claws has a cat on both forefeet? -Primary Education.

THE MISSING DAY.

Boston Globe: A question which has often been asked, but rarely answered satisfactorily, is, how far one would have to go around the earth, moving east or west, and supposing no time lost in transition, before one would reach.

the point where to-day changes into yesterday or to-morrow. Evidently there must be such a point somewhere, for an hour is lost every 15 degrees one goes to the east, and an hour gained every 15 degrees one goes to the west.

To put the question in another way, suppose it is one minute past midnight in Paris on the morning of Oct. 1, what day is it at that same moment at the antipodes of Paris? Is it Oct. 1 or Sept. 30?

Apparently one can prove that it is either of these days by making an instantaneous journey half way around the earth, either to the east or to the west.

Going east, at the moment the Paris clocks point to a minute past midnight, it is approximately 1 o'clock in the morning of Oct. I at Vienna, 2 o'clock of the same day at Sebastopol, 3 o'clock at Astrachan, 4 o'clock at Bokhara, 7 o'clock at Saigon, 9 o'clock at Yokohama; II o'clock at Pine Island and noon at Fortune Island-the 1st of October at every point.

On the other hand, going westward one finds that it is 10 o'clock in the evening of September 30th at the Azores Islands, 8 o'clock in the evening at Buenos Ayres, 7 o'clock at New York; 6 o'clock at New Orleans, 3:15 at Mexico City, I o'clock in the afternoon near the Aleutian Islands, and noon at Fortune Islands Thus one has demonstrated that it is noon of --the date being September 30th in each case. October 1st and noon of September 30th at the same place and at the same time.

This would certainly be embarrassing to the good people of Fortune Islands, and in order to avoid such complications and relieve wellmeaning islanders in the Pacific from mixing up their Saturdays and Sundays in hopeless fashion, an arbitrary line separating to-day from yesterday or to-morrow has been agreed upon by the navigators of civilized nations.

This line has been drawn to avoid touching land. No one can be exactly sure of the moment of passing it, but the line runs just east of the New Hebrides and the New Caledonian groups and passes near the Marion Islands and the Caroline Islands. Captains of vessels, judging by the positions of the islands mentioned, can fix the date within a few minutes.

Vessels sailing from west to east, on passing this imaginary line, simply repeat the day before on their log books, which consequently show two days bearing the same date. On the other hand ships going in the opposite direction skip the to-morrow and lose a day entirely. In the first case the sailors get an extra day's pay; in the second place they lose a day's pay.