L B UC-NRLF in *B 3D1 30^ 00 wi vri TEACHER TRAINING DEPARTMENTS IN MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOLS BY LOTUS D. COFFMAN ,+ ., i -- - - - - GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 61 Broadway New York 1920 < Copyright, 1920, by GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD 1 1 PUBLICATIONS OF THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD REPORTS: THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD: AN ACCOUNT OF ITS ACTIV- ITIES, I902-I914. CLOTH, 24O PAGES, WITH 33 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS AND 3 I MAPS. ANNUAL REPORTS: 1914-1915; 1916-1917; 1918-1919 1915-1916; 1917-1918; STUDIES: PUBLIC EDUCATION IN MARYLAND, BY ABRAHAM FLEXNER AND FRANK P. BACHMAN. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN DELAWARE. PRIVATE ENDOWMENT AND PUBLIC EDUCATION — A REPORT ON THE USE OF THE HANDLEY FUND, WINCHESTER, VA. TEACHER TRAINING DEPARTMENTS IN MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOLS, BY LOTUS D. COFFMAN. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FINANCE, BY TREVOR ARNETT.* THE SURVEY OF THE GARY SCHOOLS: THE GARY SCHOOLS: A GENERAL ACCOUNT, BY ABRAHAM FLEXNER AND FRANK P. BACHMAN. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION, BY GEORGE D. STRAYER AND FRANK P. BACHMAN. COSTS, BY FRANK P. BACHMAN AND RALPH BOWMAN. INDUSTRIAL WORK, BY CHARLES R. RICHARDS. HOUSEHOLD ARTS, BY EVA W. WHITE. PHYSICAL TRAINING AND PLAY, BY LEE F. HANMER. SCIENCE TEACHING, BY OTIS W. CALDWELL. MEASUREMENT OF CLASSROOM PRODUCTS, BY STUART A. COURTIS. OCCASIONAL PAPERS: 1. THE COUNTRY SCHOOL OF TO-MORROW, BY FREDERICK T. GATES. 2. CHANGES NEEDED IN AMERICAN SECONDARY EDUCATION, BY CHARLES W. ELIOT. 3. A MODERN SCHOOL, BY ABRAHAM FLEXNER. 4. THE FUNCTION AND NEEDS OF SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION IN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES, BY EDWIN A. ALDERMAN. 5. LATIN AND THE A.B. DEGREE, BY CHARLES W. ELIOT. 6. THE WORTH OF ANCIENT LITERATURE TO THE MODERN WORLD, BY VISCOUNT BRYCE. *In Preparation The REPORTS issued by the Board are official accounts of its ac- tivities and expenditures. The STUDIES represent work in the field of educational investigation and research which the Board has made possible by appropriations defraying all or part of the expense involved. The OCCASIONAL PAPERS are essays on matters of current edu- cational discussion, presenting topics of immediate interest from vari- ous points of view. In issuing the STUDIES and OCCASIONAL PAPERS, the Board acts simply as publisher, assuming no responsibil- ity for the opinions of the authors. Any publication of the Board may be obtained on request. 416783 CONTENTS Frontispiece: Map page Introduction vii I. The History of the Movement . . 3 II. The Teachers of the Training Departments 12 III. The Students in High School Training De- partments . 23 IV. The Curriculum 26 V. Instruction 37 VI. Administration . -54 VII. Finances 60 VIII. What Minnesota Superintendents Think of the Training Departments .... 65 IX. Concluding Statement 75 Appendices 80 Bibliography 92 F EONTISPIECE ] m Albert Lea Alexandria Annan dale Anoka Apple ton Austin Bag ley Bemidji Benson Blue Earth Bralnerd Cambridge Conby Cannon Falls Ch&tfleld Chieljola croquet Cokato Crookston Das s el Dawson Detroit Dodge Center 1 Elbow Lake Elk ?.ivor Ely Ereleth MAP SHOWING LOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF TEACHER TRAINING DEPARTMENTS, MINNESOTA Fairfax Fairmont Faribault Farmington Fergus Falls Pulda Gilbert Glencoe Glenwooi Grand Rapids Granite Falls Bastings Hector Henderson Hibbing Hinckley Houston Howard Lake Hutchinso* - Jaokeon Kenyon Lake Benton Lake City Lambert on Le3ueur LeSueur Center Litchfield Little Fells Long Prairie Luveme Ho Into ah Madolla Madiaon Mahnomen Milaca Minneapolis "onte-vtldeo MontloellO Mora Uorrie New Hiohl^nd Now Fin Rorthfleld Norwood Olivia Osakle Owatanna Park Rapids Pine City Pipestone Preston Princeton Bed Lako Falls Red Ting Redwood Falls Renville Ho chaster Rush City Rnehford St.' Paul St. Pater Sauk Center Slayton Sleepy Eye So. St. Paul S tap lee 8tlllwater Thief Hiver Falls Traoy Virginia Wabaeha Wadena Talker Warren Wells West Concorc" wheaton fflllmar Windcm Winthrop Worth lngt on Znzibrota INTRODUCTION This report is based upon information secured by con- ference, personal visits to training departments and questionnaires submitted to teachers, students and super- intendents. Fifty teachers and superintendents were in- terviewed concerning the work of training departments; forty-five different teachers were visited. In round num- bers five hundred recitations were observed, and ques- tionnaire information was secured from every teacher in the training departments, from nearly every student, from every county superintendent and from many of the city superintendents. In the preparation of this report I en- joyed the assistance of Thomas J. Smart, Ellsworth Lowry and Julius Boraas. Mr. Smart was a teacher of experience, a student in the College of Agriculture and the College of Education, working for his master's de- gree. He is at present engaged in extension work in agriculture in the University of Kansas. Mr. Lowry was also an experienced teacher, held a master's degree from Teachers College, had been pro- fessor of education in Upper Iowa University and was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, work- ing for his doctor's degree. He is at present supervisor of the training department in the State Normal School at Winona. Mr. Boraas had been a county superintendent in Min- nesota, had his master's degree from the University of • • Vll viii INTRODUCTION Minnesota and was working for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education which he attained at the close of the year 1917. Since then he has been professor of education in St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. With a few exceptions which will be clear to the reader, the materials in this report are descriptive of the situation that existed in the training departments of Minnesota during the years of 1915-16 and 1916-17. Since then there has been a gradual improvement in the personnel of the teaching staff, practice teaching has been standardized, regulations governing the nature and fre- quency of observation work have been issued, lesson planning has been more carefully developed, and follow- up and extension work have been more closely super- vised. Perhaps the most important single influence at work is the increase in the amount of aid granted the de- partments by the recent legislature. Aid was increased from $1200 to $1600 for one-teacher departments and from $2000 to $2400 for two-teacher departments. This has made it possible to equip the departments more ade- quately and to give the teachers an average increase of $200 in their annual salaries. Acknowledgment is also made to Miss Frances More- house of the University High School of the University of Minnesota for her invaluable assistance in the writing of the report. L. D. COFFMAN. TEACHER TRAINING DEPARTMENTS IN MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOLS BY LOTUS D. COFFMAN : :• .% ;• . Teacher Training Departments in Minnesota High Schools I. THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT BEGINNINGS It is impossible to say just when the idea of using high schools for the training of country school teachers first appeared in Minnesota. In 1894-95, when the legislature first took notice of the movement, there were a number of schools offering training courses in the common branches. There were no separate departments then, the regular high school teachers simply giving review courses in arithmetic, geography, history and grammar for the benefit of those students who expected to take teachers' examinations. Mr. George B. Aiton, who was at that time high school inspector, in his first report (1894) urged that high schools undertake the work of training young teachers for the rural schools in their vicinity as a part of their community service, since they owed some- thing to the country of which the towns formed the busi- ness center. He urged moreover that such courses should not be mere cramming devices hastily inserted in the curriculum just before examinations, but that they should include some instruction in method and be con- ducted from a teaching point of view. In the session of 1894-95, the state legislature made an appropriation of $500 a year to such high schools as of- 4 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA fered "systematic work in senior common branches." Twenty-two schools were aided that year, but in most of them the work still smacked strongly of the character of a "cram course" for examinations. For a period of about ten years, many schools offered review courses in the common branches, while some superintendents re- fused to introduce the new scheme because they consid- ered such courses unworthy of high school credit and belonging properly to the sphere of normal school in- struction. Sometimes they yielded to the demand for them under protest, took no real interest in the work, and dropped the courses as soon as public interest in them lagged or the immediate demand ceased. The in- spector reported that the work as usually done did not conform to standards, often being relegated to teachers without proper training and with no deep interest in the country schools or their needs. On the whole the results attained were far from satisfactory. In 1903, however, the legislature was induced to in- crease the appropriation to $750 per year to "each high school having a four-year course and organized classes in each of the four grades therein, which shall provide for special normal instruction in the common branches." This made actual teacher-training departments financially possible, but as there was no one able to give enough time to the matter to organize them, the work continued on an unsatisfactory basis for several years. In his report for 1906 the state high school inspector said: "From the first, the departments have been attended by high school students intending to teach in district schools. A large number of well prepared teachers have been sent out into the counties around these schools. In this respect the act has borne excellent fruit. On the other hand, the enrollment of rural cadets has been dis- THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT 5 tressingly small, and has demonstrated pretty thoroughly that the rural girl who can get a third grade certificate has little desire for anything better. So far as reaching the non-resident teachers is concerned, the movement is a failure. Then, too, the enrollment of high school stu- dents runs out. The number of high school students who can turn aside properly from academic work to fit themselves for rural positions is necessarily small. After two or three years of existence the departments fail for want of students." A PERIOD OF STRUGGLE There now ensued several years during which those interested in the better training of country school teachers strove to solve a difficult problem. It was then deemed impracticable to increase the number and equipment of normal schools in the state to the point at which they could furnish training for the many new country school teachers needed yearly. There were no models after which the high school departments might be moulded, and no state or local supervisors who could give the necessary time to the work. Many city superintendents were sceptical of the value or practicability of such training in high schools. But in spite of all obstacles, a beginning was made, and in 1907-08 ten departments were reported, with an attendance increasing from 182 at the beginning of the year to 233 at the end. "Work in these departments shows no new tendencies/' wrote the high school inspector in 1908, "and unless there is a radical change there is little hope that they will mul- tiply and supply rural teachers for the state at large." In 1908-09 the number of departments was reduced to seven, and there was much discussion of the advisability of establishing county training schools, which might per- 6 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA haps prove more successful than the city departments. In 1909-10, however, the stimulus needed for growth and popularity was furnished by State Superintendent C. G. Schulz, who ruled that those who completed courses of training in high school departments should be exempt from teachers' examinations. The effect was immediate and notable. In 1909-10 twenty-eight schools maintained departments, enrolling 498 students, and in the following year fifty-six depart- ments enrolled 740 students. From that time the growth was steady and rapid, until at the present time (1918) there are no departments, maintaining forty-two reg- ular demonstration schools. In 1913 growth was further stimulated by a legislative grant of $1,000 per year to each school, which was again increased in 191 5 to $1,200. DIFFERENTIATION From the beginning there had been much discussion between those who believed in training through practice and those who did not. The state inspector succeeded in 191 1 in establishing the practice method, which en- tailed a schedule of classes for the cadets, different from that of other high school students. Therefore the stu- dents in the training class came to work separately, and the training department began to assume a professional aspect and to have an atmosphere of its own. Because of the necessity of being near the demonstration classes, the training department was often located in a graded or ungraded room of the local school; and although this practice has since been found to have serious faults, in the beginning it did serve to differentiate the departments from the rest of the high schools and to give them at least some semblance of professionalism: THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT 7 PERIOD OF GROWTH The following table indicates the growth since 1905 : Comparative Enrollment. 1905 to 1906 1909 to 1910 1910 to 1911 1912 to 1913 1913 to 1914 1914 to 1915 1915 to 1916 I9l6 to 1917 1917 to I9I8 Number of departments . Total enrollment Students recommended for first grade certifi- 13 229 28 489 56 740 384 136 80 797 714 145 106 1.256 969 160 119 I.4I7 1,132 186 120 1,667 1,410 149 121 1,515 1,441 no 1,202 1,441 Students recommended for second grade cer- tificates Mr. Aiton retired from the high school inspectorship in the summer of 1914. Up to this time the directing of the rural training departments had been part of the duties of this position, but it was now made a separate super- visorship and Miss Mabel Carney was appointed to the work. Miss Carney took hold of the situation with a firm hand and with definite policies, which included spe- cial training in college or normal school for the directors, uniform and definite courses for the departments, and practice teaching in rural schools. This latter policy has not only improved the efficiency of the teaching, but it has also taken departments out of the grade buildings of the local schools, where some of them had been located, and replaced them in the high school buildings, so that training school students find themselves again in close relation to other departments of their high schools. In 191 5, with an increased grant of $1,200 for depart- ments employing one teacher, the legislature provided for the establishment of two-teacher and three-teacher de- partments receiving $2,000 and $2,800 respectively. At present the aid given is $1,600, $2,400. and $3,000, re- 8 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA spectively, for one, two and three-teacher schools. This action has done much to advance the work. PROSPECT In the fall of 191 7 Miss Carney terminated the term of her service as supervisor, having greatly improved the departments in respect to the teaching of high ideals and to the attainment of practical skill in rural teaching. Dur- ing 1917-18 no one supervisor had charge of the depart- ments, but their care was divided among the different supervisors sent out from the capital to supervise the schools of the state. With the beginning of 1918-19, Mr. H. E. Flynn became the supervisor. To the 1 10 depart- ments in operation at the beginning of the current school year Mr. Flynn has issued the following circular, which clearly explains his proposed program: TEACHER TRAINING DEPARTMENTS PLANS FOR 1918-19 The work outlined in this circular will be largely a repetition of the plans of the previous year. The purpose in issuing this circular is to acquaint inexperienced training teachers with the purpose and or- ganization of the training department work in Minnesota, pending the publication of the manual, that there may be no waste of time and energy, and to invite the atten- tion of all training teachers to the following phases of the work of the year which merit consideration: We face in the educational field the same emergency that confronts all other fields of endeavor ; war activities have enrolled our teachers, industrial and commercial opportunities have taken prospective normal training students. The situation is such that it does not seem either feasi- ble or advisable to undertake new lines of work for the present year. Our great problem in the training depart- THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT 9 nients is a problem of the public school work in general, that is, a maintenance of standards during this unsettled period. It would seem this is an opportune time and that the work of the year could be spent most profitably in fur- ther investigation of and more definite conclusions with reference to certain educational problems of interest to the departments, which have been under investigation and experimentation by the departments for the past two years. STATE COURSE OF STUDY There is need for making the State Course of Study a special feature of the year's work. The course merits careful study by normal students and study and interpre- tation by training teachers, if young teachers are to real- ize its effectiveness in rural schools. CONTENT OF THE COMMON BRANCHES A suggested outline of the subject matter of the com- mon branches for rural schools, based on the State Course of Study, has been prepared by a committee of institute workers. This outline will be submitted for your consideration in the near future. (It is understood that all courses in the common branches should include instruction in both subject matter and methods of teach- ing-) COURSES EMPHASIZED Much emphasis will be placed this year upon Nature Study; Library Methods; Minnesota History; Pedagogy and Rural School Management. Attention is directed to the suggestive outline course in science, already in your hands, which purposes to unify the work in nature study, agriculture and hygiene. EXTENSION ACTIVITIES Definite plans for following up and assisting gradu- ates should be emphasized this year, also a complete card index system for alumni records should be installed. io TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA TEACHERS INSTITUTES Training teachers are encouraged to have a large part in institute work. Normal students should be urged to be in attendance at teachers' institutes. DEMONSTRATION SCHOOLS While rural demonstration schools cannot be urged this year owing to the uncertainty as to state aid, their maintenance is encouraging as a means of establishing ideals, raising standards, vitalizing and ruralizing the training work and demonstrating the possibilities in rural teaching. All training departments in the state should ultimately maintain at least one rural demonstration school. WAR WORK Training departments will leave undone no effort which will aid in the prosecution of the war. Training teachers can be relied upon to cooperate fully in promoting, under the guidance of proper authority, garden and canning club work, Red Cross activities, thrift work clubs, conservation measures and any other line of war emergency work. One caution seems pertinent : war emergency work should not interrupt nor be substituted for regular school and class work. The war has brought a great motive for education which should be utilized. It has brought new life to formal courses; it has furnished new projects for illustrating educational principles ; it has sounded the call of duty and sacrifice. An increased amount of war work can and should be demanded but much of the pro- ductive war work of the department should be done in addition to the regular work. It must not be forgotten also that normal students need training in and prepara- tion for those activities in which the pupils of the rural school can most effectively participate. THE HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT n GROWTH AND INITIATIVE Every training teacher is requested to give special con- sideration to one of the progressive activities or experi- ments listed in the manual and to embody her conclusions in the special annual report of the training departments. It is planned to acquaint training teachers with these conclusions. EXTENSION ACTIVITIES The supervision or "follow-up" graduate work is an activity essential to the success of normal departments. Every normal teacher should take at least one day each month for visiting former graduates of the department and other rural teachers. This inspection of the high school product serves both as an excellent check on the class room instructor of the normal teacher and as an inspiration to the teacher in the field. The following are other suggestive activities for supervision and assisting normal training graduates. i. The organization of alumni associations of normal training graduates and the holding of meetings of this group. 2. The carrying of "first aid" to the rural teacher through monthly circular letters. 3. Frequent conferences of alumni and rural teach- ers, such conferences to be held on Saturdays. 4. The setting aside of definite office hours on Satur- day for personal conferences with rural teachers and graduates of normal departments. II. THE TEACHERS OF THE TRAINING DEPARTMENTS The teachers in charge of these training departments are on the whole well prepared, so far as their personal experience and interests are concerned, for the work they attempt to do. More than half of them have themselves attended rural schools, while almost all have grown up either upon farms or in small towns or cities * More- over their education has in most cases been well directed toward just such work as they are now engaged in. Eighty-nine per cent of them are high school graduates, ninety-three per cent are graduates of normal schools. These women are therefore as well prepared as the average of the best teachers in the grade schools of the largest cities of the state. A smaller percentage, 33%, are college graduates. And the demand for higher scholastic qualifications for department positions is steady and persistent. Where successful experience was once sufficient to secure one a position, there must now be added to it a definite amount of training, the minimum * Familiarity with rural life and rural conditions is shown by the following table: Born and reared in the country 50% Born and reared in town 35% Born and reared in country and town 17% Now living in the country 19% Now living in town 78% Now living in country and town 3% Spend vacations in the country 34% Spend vacations in town 51% Spend vacations in country and town 15% 12 TEACHERS OF TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 13 requirement of the state department being now normal school graduation. MATURITY In point of maturity the department teachers stand far ahead of teachers in general. Their age, experience and education contribute to their spirit of professionalism. Seventy-five per cent of them are over thirty years of age; the median age is thirty- four. This means that they average ten years older than the typical American teacher.* And this maturity is not without its compen- sations. The training department teachers are not young girls teaching young girls how to teach ; they are women of maturity and good judgment. EXPERIENCE It is not, however, entirely for their maturity and judg- ment that the heads of departments are selected ; success- ful experience also is taken into consideration. Like the great majority of American teachers they began to teach at eighteen or twenty years of age, but they were rarely chosen to direct training work until after they had had from ten to twelve years' experience. During this time they showed exceptional skill as teachers and unusual ability as community leaders. They do not, therefore, represent a random sampling of the state's teaching force ; they are a selected group. PROGRESS Facts secured from the teachers themselves, show that there were three definite steps or levels in their experi- m * The youngest training teacher in Minnesota is twenty-four; the oldest, sixty years of age. In other words, the youngest person in charge of a training department in this state is as old as the average American teacher. 14 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA ence. They began as rural teachers, were later advanced to grade positions in some small town or city, and were finally selected as department teachers. Less than one- fourth of them have had experience in high schools. Ad- vancement from level to level was rapid, and changes at each level frequent. Sixty-three per cent of the training teachers have been in their present positions two years or less. Insecurity and shortness of tenure have militated against the success of the departments from the first. Early inspectors protested, and more recent supervisors have sought to correct these conditions, as yet largely in vain. COMPARED WITH HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS A comparison of the education of department teachers with that of the high school teachers with whom they are associated shows the following interesting set of facts: Dept. Teachers H. S. Teachers Graduates of normal schools 83% 13% Graduates of college 23% 74% That the education of the department teachers is less liberal and more narrowly professional than that of the typical high school teacher is also shown by the fact that approximately seventy per cent of the department teach- ers have emphasized professional subjects such as history of education, psychology, school management, technique of teaching, practice teaching, and courses in rural life, wherever election was possible in their student careers ; whereas the average high school teacher has had no more than the required minimum of these subjects. Not content with the professional preparation received in normal school or college, most department teachers attend summer school — no group of Minnesota teachers TEACHERS OF TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 15 sending so large a contingent in proportion to their num- bers. From two-thirds to three-fourths of them are vol- untarily in summer school every year. Much of this diligence is due to the inspectors, who have constantly emphasized the desirability of improved scholarship. READING Although the task of managing a department can leave little time for reading, during the last two years each teacher read an average of six or seven books on teaching. This is far better than teachers in general do, as surveys (notably that of Illinois) have shown. No department teacher read less than one book; and only four did as little as that. A few read as many as forty books in two years. The books reported include a fair representation of the standard professional literature of the day, with a noticeable preference for practical books, and books on special method. Few if any books on psy- chology as such were included, and none of the older standard theoretical treatises on education. PERIODICALS A surprisingly long list of periodicals is read regularly, the median number reported being seven. About seventy- five per cent of the teachers consult from five to eleven journals or magazines. An analysis of the lists submitted shows that these teachers read two classes of magazines — reviews, dealing mainly with current events, of which not one of any prominence was omitted ; and professional journals. But it is disappointing to find that few if any of these teachers read regularly the standard literary magazines ; their titles are uniformly missing from the lists. Considering the crowded daily lives of these teach- ers, it is at least charitable to attribute this to lack of 16 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA time rather than to lack of interest. Certainly much credit is due the teachers for finding time in which to "keep up" with the world's great events and the current problems of their own profession. RECREATION An inquiry as to recreations revealed some surprising conditions. Of all the teachers, only nine declared that they had sufficient time for the recreation needed to keep them in good physical condition. Forty-three said they had little or no time, and the rest did not even reply. The kinds of recreation enjoyed by the teachers showed great divergence of taste and habit. Almost half gave walking as their chief diversion; perhaps also this was included in the thoughts of those who vaguely reported "outdoor sports" as their favorite recreation. A large proportion — over a third — said that reading formed their chief means of relaxation from work. Nearly as many reported social functions, and about a fifth gave music. Only a few could indulge in riding, boating, or games. A small number named the theater (usually "movies"), or sewing, or study, or "nature" — the study of nature, one presumes. One teacher spent her spare time in paint- ing china, another in coaching school plays, one in kodak work, one in manual training, and one in housework. Some of these "recreations" sound to the layman much like work. A MENACE TO HEALTH The generalization suggested by these answers is that the teachers have not nearly the time they should have for rest and change. A man finds it difficult to conceive of professional and informational reading and study as TEACHERS OF TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 17 recreations for one whose work directs the attention to books all day long. Considering the total number of teachers (113), the limited mention of the usual forms of recreation can mean nothing but that these women have too much work and too little recreation. Another evidence of this fact is found in the replies to a question as to what these teachers regard as the weakest feature of the departments as now organized. By far the most general answer was that the overcrowding of the cur- riculum, the impossibility of doing all the work outlined in a single year or by one teacher, constitutes the great- est present difficulty. A THINKING BODY Another inquiry was so worded as to test the attitude of the teachers toward the possible problems of their work. The answers showed that they are not only fully aware of these problems, but that they do real thinking about them. By far the greatest number regarded prac- tice teaching as the greatest problem ; while many others found the methods course, the means of awakening inter- est in rural life, the follow-up work with graduates, and the demonstration school management matters which de- mand close attention and constructive thought. Many other problems were suggested : extension activities, the motivation of school work, extension work with teachers already in service, industrial courses, and study methods. SUMMARY OF TYPE If we attempt to gather the facts so far presented into compact form, we may say that the typical teacher of a normal training department is an American-born woman thirty- four years of age, who has had direct experience 18 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA with both rural and town life. She has attended both town and country elementary schools, is a graduate of high school and normal school, and has attended one or more summer schools at the state university. In the field of education she has studied history of education, psy- chology, school management, general method, practice teaching, and courses in rural life. Her experience in teaching has been varied and successful, for she has taught in rural schools about two years and in the grades in town about five years, with advances of salary in both cases. She is ambitious and strenuous in seeking self-improvement during vacations as well as during the school year. She has too little time for recreation, and is working in the midst of a rather bewildering mass of very real problems. FEMINIZATION There is one respect in which the personnel of the teaching body might be changed with advantage to the system. At present the teachers are all women. Men who otherwise might have responded to the appeals of such positions have been attracted to more remunerative kinds of work. It would seem that the desirability of having men as well as women on the teaching force which prepares teachers for country schools can scarcely be questioned ; the time has passed when either sex should monopolize any educational field except that perhaps of primary teaching. Whether this difference will continue to exist depends upon a number of forces and conditions, over many of which we have little control. But there are several things that can be done that will hasten the day when a few men at least will prepare themselves for work in this particular field. TEACHERS OF TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 19 COMPENSATION In the first place, teaching in such positions can he made financially attractive enough to compete, for in- stance, with teaching in small towns as principal. At present the salaries — $1,000 to $1,200 — paid teachers of training departments have attracted competent women but not competent men. The subsidies paid by the state are fixed by legislative action and can not easily be changed, while the local authorities are loath to raise sal- aries by the imposition of higher taxes. Then there are certain administrative difficulties which complicate the situation. It must be remembered that these departments are maintained in the local high school buildings and that the training teachers, although to a certain extent administratively separated, actually associate with the high school teachers. It must also be remembered that high school teachers have had on the average, at least two years more of academic training than the department teachers; and that they receive smaller salaries in many schools. The training school teacher is rarely considered competent to offer instruction in regular high school classes; but her pay is higher than that of women who can and do. All of which means that the local super- intendent whose conventional judgment favors academic training is not likely to recommend or to start a prop- aganda in favor of increasing the salaries of department teachers. And yet these salaries as well as those of the high school teachers must be increased if present stand- ards are to be maintained and advanced. CHANGE OF LOCATION Changes in salaries do not furnish the only possible solution of the difficulty. The number of training depart- 20 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA ment teachers can be decreased and the qualifications raised through location in consolidated country schools. This movement has begun in Minnesota, which has already 223 consolidated districts with about fifty others to be added shortly. A consolidated school is a more natural center for a training department than a town or city sys- tem because it is more directly and intimately associated with country life. If these schools were more utilized the constantly recurring criticism of county superintendents, that the departments are remote from rural life, would be obviated. As a matter of fact this criticism scarcely applies now to the increasing number of departments which have rural demonstration schools, or to those which require more than the minimum of two weeks of country school practice work. THE COMFORTS OF HOME A fourth factor which would be of incalculable value in improving the general situation would be the building and maintaining of teacherages at such consolidated schools. A few communities in the state have done this already. The teacherage gives permanence and dignity to the position of rural school teacher which otherwise it could not have. The factors and conditions just discussed are of funda- mental importance. There are at least two other condi- tions which must be changed before an ideal situation can be approached. The first is the reduction of the mul- tiplicity of duties in the departments. In addition to con- ducting reviews in the common branches, the training teacher is expected to teach physiology, school manage- ment, rural sociology, both special and general method ; to organize and supervise practice teaching, either in the grades or in a demonstration school a few miles away; TEACHERS OF TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 21 to give her students an insight into rural life and its needs, and to inspire them with enthusiasm for teaching in the country ; to visit former graduates and confer with them on their work; and to conduct an information bureau for the rural teachers for miles around. She is also expected to participate in the affairs of the school in which the de- partment is located, write papers for the country teachers' institute, speak at farmers' clubs, and attend rural life conferences. It is obvious that the specialization of effort and attainment which characterizes well organized and well conducted training institutions is impossible, and that few men with an eye to a career care to scatter their mental resources by serving in such a situation. ATTEMPTING THE IMPOSSIBLE * Ideal conditions for the training of teachers can not exist where the training teacher must perforce do the work in a superficial way. Scholarship can not be fos- tered when teachers are driven from one task to another. Although a very commendable spirit characterizes the teacher-training group, that institutionality which char- acterizes a truly professional school is not and can not be present. Every essential condition except the spirit and willingness of the teaching force is absent. The curriculum is only one year long; it consists of many subjects ; the students are not actually segregated from the high school students whose ideals and aims are very foreign to those of teachers ; and the teacher is bur- dened with endless tasks and responsibilities. TENURE The second condition which needs changing is that of tenure of office. If the value of the departments is to be fully realized in their supervisory relation to graduates 22 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA who teach in the rural schools, it is clear that department heads must stay longer in one place than has hitherto been the case. In a number of instances it was found that scarcely any relation with teachers in the field, of a positively helpful kind, existed because the teacher in charge did not know the graduates of the previous year. In one case it appeared that the teacher kept up a cor- respondence with the graduates of her former depart- ment in another part of the state, but had not been able to meet the graduates of the school in which she then taught. If heads of departments are really to be held responsible for results, as city boards of education hold a superintendent responsible for results, then it seems obvious that these heads should be given a contract hold- ing for several years, providing for an adequate salary and offering incentives for really constructive work which would result in systematic improvement in the sur- rounding country schools. III. THE STUDENTS IN HIGH SCHOOL TRAINING DEPARTMENTS THEY ARE GIRLS' SCHOOLS A few years ago there was a small proportion — about 4% — of boys among the students of the training depart- ments, but they have now almost entirely ceased to attend. Of the 8% of men teachers in the rural schools just be- fore the war, very few had received their training in this way. AGE The girls who compose the student body are of a fairly uniform type. Immature as they are, they are older now than their predecessors a few years back, when students commonly entered at sixteen. About a quarter are seven- teen years old; fully 40% are eighteen, and the rest are nineteen or twenty, with an occasional student — usually one who has had one year's teaching experience — who is twenty-one or over. In 191 7- 18, only 26 out of 1,147 students were under eighteen years of age. ABILITY These girls are of about average ability. All of them have finished three years of high school work, and some are high school graduates. The entrance requirements now weed out a class of students formerly received for the purpose of bringing up the number of students to that required for receiving state aid. These poor stu- 23 24 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA dents absorbed so much of the time and energy of the teachers that really good students could not receive their proper share of attention. BACKGROUND Rather more than half the girls come from farm homes ; the rest are daughters of business men, railroad men or occasionally of professional men. Most of the farmers' daughters have attended country schools until ready for high school ; but the town-bred girls have rarely even visited a country school and have never attended one. Probably it is their imitation of their town teachers, as much as any omission of rural school method in their training, which leads to the frequent and banal criticism that these girls when they become teachers use town methods in their work. NATIONALITY A large proportion of the students are of Scandinavian or of German parentage ; very few French and very few Scotch names appear in the lists. In an average group of ten girls four are Swedish or Danish, two German, and one each American, Irish and English; one is of mixed parentage. Considering the proportion of the various elements in the population of the state, the Eng- lish, Irish and Scandinavian appear to contribute more than their share to this service. The foreign character of the attendance, together with the proportion from farm homes, leads one familiar with Minnesota rural life to hope that the girls of the second and third generation of foreign settlers in the state are using these training schools not only to better their own condition, but also to take back American ideals into their own communities. The English composition and grammar assume new im- STUDENTS IN TRAINING DEPARTMENTS 25 portance in the light of this largely foreign attendance, destined for service in communities also largely foreign; while American history and the teaching of our national songs, traditions, and civic ideals become an important part of the necessary work. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS Ninety-eight per cent of the girls are members of some church, although a very large proportion of the people of Minnesota are not church members. Although 66 per cent of the students are either German or Scandinavian, only 34 per cent are Lutherans. Over a fifth are Meth- odists, about a sixth are Roman Catholics, and smaller numbers are Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Evangelicals, or adherents of other smaller denomina- tions. Evidently the field of rural teaching appeals to an earnest, conservative, and religiously minded class of girls. WAR CONDITIONS AND STANDARDS Although it has been the hope of the supervisors to raise entrance standards steadily, the peculiar conditions brought on by the war have made it necessary in 191 7-18 and 1918-19 to waive even those rules which had been already put into force. As a result, although certain minimum requirements are still enforced, there are just now rather a larger number of inadequately prepared students in the departments than for the last two or three years. Each of these students has had, however, three years of high school English, two of mathematics, one of science, one of history, and one of domestic science. Upon the return of normal conditions the entrance re- quirements are to be brought up to at least the equivalent of three full years of high school work. IV. THE CURRICULUM In the beginning there was no standard curriculum; each teacher taught the subjects which she thought were needed, or which her individual abilities enabled her to teach. It came gradually to be understood that the course should include some professional study as well as the review of the common branches which at first formed the core of the curriculum. Practice teaching was introduced as a part of this professional study early in the history of the movement, but as late as 1913-14 over half of the departments had little practice material except the sub- normal pupils of the ungraded room of the city system, which was commonly granted to the departments for ex- perimentation. But in that year thirty-five departments used real rural schools for practice teaching; and this plan has now been adopted in all the departments, in many cases with well-controlled demonstration schools. STANDARDIZATION BEGUN As Miss Carney was a specialist in rural school method and rural life, the professional work under her guidance was specialized as far as possible to meet the peculiar needs of the country. In the years 1914- 191 7 the widely varying courses became fairly well uni- fied, with a total of 15,300 recitation minutes allowed for the study of the common branches, and 4,800 for psy- 26 THE CURRICULUM 27 chology and school management.* The following table shows the proportionate time allotment for the seven studies which were in 1918 provided for by law: Number of Clock Hours Subjects Devoted to Recitation American history 40 Arithmetic 40 Civics 20 Geography 40 Grammar 40 Physiology 20 Reading 40 This makes a total of 240 clock hours required during the last few years in the common branches, which is three times as much time as is required for strictly professional studies. Besides the required courses, many others have been offered in the departments, although the freedom allowed the director in this respect is dwindling under the standardization of the state department. Among the courses offered in different schools until recently were these : 1. English composition 12. Calisthenics 2. Spelling 13. Phonics 3. Agriculture 14. Story- telling 4. Drawing 15. Play 5. Domestic science 16. Art 6. Manual Training 17. Scrap-book making 7. Construction 18. School law 8. Children's literature 19. Dramatization 9. Sewing 20. Community clubs 10. Seat work 21. Gardening 11. Chart making THE PRESENT REQUIREMENTS The requirements for 1917-18, which hold also for the present year, are outlined in the plans sent out by the * Appendix 5 shows the comparative time allotment for study of the common branches in the training departments of fifteen states, taken from the thesis, Analysis of the Curriculums of Teacher-Training Departments in the High Schools of Eleven States and of the County Training Schools of Three States, by Thomas J. Smart, University of Minnesota, 1918. 28 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA present inspector. Special emphasis is placed upon na- ture study, library methods, the history of Minnesota, and methods and management of rural schools. An outline course for unified work in nature study, agriculture and hygiene has been prepared and sent out to the department heads. The uniform course for all departments utilizes a combination term arrangement, common branches being given in semester courses and professional and industrial subjects in terms of twelve weeks each. The recitation periods are all forty minutes in length. The following table shows the scheme clearly: Two-Term Subjects 1st Semester (18 Weeks) Observation and Teaching Geography Arithmetic Reading (>£ Period) General Exercises-(20 Minutes) 2nd Semester (18 Weeks) Teaching Language Methods and Gram- mar History (12 Weeks), Civics (3 Weeks), and Minnesota His- tory (3 Weeks) Reading ( y A Period) General Exercises (20 Minutes) 12 Weeks First Pedagogy Nature Study {yi) Industrial Arts Primary Hand- work {%) Three-Term Subjects 12 Weeks Second Rural School Management Hygiene (}4) Industrial Arts Hot Lunch (J4) Primary Hand- work 12 Weeks Third Country Life {}/2 Period) Nature Study \% Period) Industrial"Arts Drawing (}4) Intermediate Hand- work (}4) From two to three hours of outside preparation are expected of each student each day ; but the practice teach- ing often makes it necessary to extend this allowance. An average of forty minutes of teaching per day through- out the year is required ; but as the teaching does not begin at once, the actual time given in practice days is much greater. THE CURRICULUM 29 THE MINOR SUBJECTS A special schedule for general exercises is sent out to the teachers, as follows: Music (36 lessons — once per week) ; Current Events (36 lessons — once per week) ; Library Methods (36 lessons — once per week or con- secutively) ; Reports on professional books and articles (36 lessons — once per week) ; and Penmanship (36 les- sons — once per week or consecutively). It will be seen that the general exercise time is so economically used as to leave little time for incidental recreation or entertain- ment. Certainly the subjects treated in this daily twenty- minute period are important ones, and provision made in this way insures at least an introduction to them in a badly crowded program. DAILY PROGRAM A suggested daily program, planned for a one-teacher department with one practice group, begins the day's work at nine o'clock with the general exercise period. Four forty-minute periods then follow, devoted respec- tively to arithmetic, geography, pedagogy and nature study (or primary handwork). An hour and a half is allowed for the noon intermission, after which comes the twenty-minute half-period of reading which goes through the whole year. Forty minutes of teaching prac- tice follow this, and after that a half-hour is allowed for conference on the teaching. The day closes at 3:30 or 4 p. m., with from thirty to sixty minutes of supervised study, preferably in preparation for teaching. When there are two practice groups, that is, when the enroll- ment exceeds ten, a modification is made to admit of one teaching period in the morning and one in the after- noon. 30 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA PRACTICE TEACHING The practice work itself requires the most careful plan- ning. An effort is now being made to make this work fairly uniform throughout the state, the suggestions being based upon the experiences of the last few years. Two weeks at the beginning are spent in observation, both in town and rural schools ; the remaining sixteen weeks of the first semester in group practice. These groups are made by subdividing whole grade classes in town schools, each student teaching a group after writing individual plans. The various types of lessons are to be clearly dif- ferentiated at this time, and especial emphasis put first on the drill lesson and later on the development lesson. It is suggested that a month each be given to arithmetic, reading, language and phonics, and geography; but of course this plan must often be modified to suit local con- ditions. In the second semester room teaching is begun, and continues for eight weeks. The students now have charge of entire classes in grade rooms, sometimes teach- ing two elates of twenty minutes each per day. The lesson plai*^ -which at first were required to be written out completely, are now made in outline. The suggested subjects are language and grammar for one month and history, geography or reading for the second. The eight weeks in the town grades are followed by two weeks of rural school practice, either in a special demonstration school or in an ordinary country school selected for this purpose. Then there follow eight weeks given to inten- sive primary work with a class of beginners, and such miscellaneous practice as the director may see fit to as- sign. The scheme aims to give a graded and varied prac- tice work, such as should fit the students to do any type of teaching required in their schools with at least some THE CURRICULUM 31 degree of the confidence which comes with experience. In an investigation carried on in 1917-18, it was found that sixty-six of eighty-one department directors report- ing kept Saturday office hours, on from one to four Sat- urdays per month. Any rural teacher might come and present her problems for consideration and advice. The teachers seem to have availed themselves of this oppor- tunity, for 2,200 separate cases considered are on record. These included perplexities of discipline or management, problems of community life, questions of school improve- ment, sanitation and equipment, but by far the largest number (64%) dealt with actual teaching problems, in- cluding questions on professional reading. Although climatic conditions make it very difficult in the northern part of the state, practically every teacher visits country schools for purposes of supervision and helpful criticism. This is done sometimes with the coun- ty superintendent, sometimes with a state inspector, often with students in the departments, sometimes alone ; and in one case at least, with a school board. There is clearly little uniformity in the norms used for judging teaching, for practically every standard of judgment appears in the details sent in by the teachers. Most of them state that they look for interest in the pupils, good discipline, good questioning, good housekeeping on the teacher's part, and skillful assignments. The teacher's attitude, the pro- gram, the school organization, and the teacher's person- ality and preparation receive attention, as well as a long list of other points, to be found in the list of tests used by supervisors everywhere. No standard blanks are used for the purpose, and considerable initiative and much good sense appear in the reports. Constructive criticism, given on the spot and adapted to the concrete situation 32 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA actually observed, must help greatly to raise the standard of school work in the state. Not only do the teachers bring their knowledge di- rectly to bear upon the instruction and management of the schools visited, but they check up also the attitude of the teachers in community work. In 19 18-19, for instance, it was found that twenty-six teachers had taken an active part in farmers' clubs, that twenty had arranged com- munity programs, that eight had visited every home in the district ; and while these figures do not sound impos- ing when the size and population of Minnesota is consid- ered, they show that a beginning is being made in the practical training of teachers for community service. But six teachers were reported as apparently indifferent to the appreciation of community needs. It is difficult to classify or to appraise the social activi- ties carried on by the teachers, because of their great variety and the overlapping of features. Entertainments are engineered for children, teachers, parents, and whole communities. Social life, often either lacking or danger- ous in country districts, is stimulated or guided, and co- operation urged and fostered. The alumnae of the de- partments are held together by correspondence and by reunions, and warmth of personal interest infused into a service which has too often been formal, mechanical and dissociated from friendship and social intercourse. The state department has a list of such activities, which is suggestive and helpful ; but in no phase of the work is there more variety and initiative, nor more of adapta- tion to local needs. This is in brief the curriculum prescribed by the state for the training departments. In addition to what is out- lined, some teachers either themselves present certain fa- vorite subjects, or secure the services of special teachers THE CURRICULUM 33 in their high schools to teach agriculture, household science or shop work. The forthcoming complete cur- riculum gives in more detail the plans to be followed in the coming year. A COMPARISON WITH OTHER STATES In 1917-18, Mr. Thomas J. Smart made a careful comparative study * of the curriculum in fourteen states which have established local training schools for rural teachers. Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Ne- braska, New York, Vermont, Oklahoma, Oregon and Virginia maintain these schools in connection with city systems as does Minnesota; Michigan, Ohio, and Wis- consin use a system of county training schools. In these schools a total of forty-five separate listed subjects are taught, although probably some of these subjects sep- arately listed are practically the same, — as for instance, the "Teaching Process" listed in Oregon, the "Theory of Teaching" in Wisconsin, the "Science of Teaching" in Oklahoma, and plain old-fashioned pedagogy still taught in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Nebraska. The amount of required recitation varies widely, from Ver- mont which prescribes only 19,400 minutes per year spent in recitation to Virginia which prescribes 103,670. This means that in a thirty-six weeks year, Vermont prescribes less than two clock hours per day, whereas Virginia has an iron-clad schedule of about nine and a half hours daily. Kansas, which prescribes 91,174 recitation min- utes, comes nearest to Virginia. THE USUAL SUBJECTS In the selection of studies there is the greatest diver- sity, but eleven studies appear in the curriculums of half On file at the University of Minnesota. 34 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA or more of the states. These eleven studies, in the order of the time allotted to them in the state requirement, are : American history, agriculture, psychology, domestic science, grammar, arithmetic, civics, school management, reading, geography, and physiology. It will be noted that psychology, physiology and domestic science alone of this list do not appear in the Minnesota requirements ; and they are probably included to some extent in the pedagogy, hygiene and hot lunch demonstrations given in this state. Eight states — New York, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin — require more time spent in common branches than Min- nesota; Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia have about equal requirements, while Oregon and Vermont fall be- low. Some states require the study of other subjects in the common branches ; these include drawing, mental arithmetic, music, penmanship and spelling. DIFFERENTIATION FROM HIGH SCHOOL The training departments in many states are little dif- ferentiated from ordinary high schools, to judge from the subjects listed in their curriculums — subjects such as algebra, economics, English, foreign language, geometry, European history, and physics. In Minnesota the entire program is planned with one end in view — to train the students directly for country school teaching. The courses in country school management and in country life problems (note the motivation implied in the words used) are examples of the concrete way in which the specific needs of rural education have been realized and answered. SPELLING Of the courses in the common branches, Minnesota includes in some way every study which is given in other THE CURRICULUM 35 states, except spelling, which is "incidentally" taught. For some reason this is omitted. Minnesota is not alone in its omission ; the five states that do include it are Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin. Of these states New York alone recognizes spelling in its syllabus, and gives hints as to problems and methods of teaching. PRECEPT AND PRACTICE The Minnesota curriculum as actually presented fails to realize the professional character which is ascribed to it in the directions of the state supervisor. Perhaps in no state has the attitude of the state authorities been made clearer on this matter.* Unlike Virginia, which says to its training teachers, "No special attention should be paid to method," Minnesota says, "Method should be empha- sized and all instruction given from the teaching point of view." The teachers are expected to present the subject- matter of the common branches in such a way as con- stantly to teach method in an incidental but definite way. Both by example and by precept they are expected to combine the special method appropriate to country school work with actual instruction in arithmetic, history, or grammar. But observers agree that frequently very little method and very little rural adaptation ac- tually enter into the teaching of the common branches, which are often pursued in the most formal and text- bound way. This subject is referred to again in the chapter on instruction. PRACTICE TEACHING The nature of the observation and practice teaching required in Minnesota is another matter in which effec- * Smart, T. J., Analysis of the Curriculums of Teacher-Training De- partments, etc. 36 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA tive adaptation to rural conditions is at least stressed in the supervisor's directions ; and observation shows that in this respect practice is in fair accord with precept. Both subjects seem to be adapted to a specific training for rural teaching better in Minnesota than in other states. Nebraska is the only other state that nominally requires observation in rural schools, although Iowa and Missouri have recommended it. In practice teaching, which is not even required in Kansas, Missouri and Ne- braska, Minnesota stands alone in having made definite provision for actual practice in real rural schools, and in requiring such practice of every student. V. INSTRUCTION I. The Problem The content of the curriculum used throughout the state has been shown. As now organized, it is a notable example of concentrated inclusion, embracing a remark- able array of subjects and training processes so arranged as to be covered in a short time. Only the ablest teach- ing can avail to realize the objects of such a curriculum, designed to furnish in one year the essential parts of a two or three year normal school course. THE TASK The curriculum which is to be covered in the space of one school year, includes a study, ostensibly a review, of the eight subjects which are commonly taught in rural schools in Minnesota. As the students are often very ill prepared in these subjects, the review becomes often a strenuous presentation of practically new material, espe- cially in the elementary content studies — arithmetic, grammar, history, and geography. The versatile train- ing teacher must be sufficiently prepared in these subjects to give normal school instruction in them ; for after the subject matter is mastered the method of teaching is also to be imparted.* * The High School Board, the duties of which since 1918 are included with those of the new State Board of Education, requires that after a thor- ough review of the essentials, the students shall plan a course in each for the several grades of the country schools; that they shall then be given "definite" work in method for these several grades; and lastly, that they shall give special attention to the adaptation to rural conditions of each subject. 37 38 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA The instructor may not wait until she is assured that the students are fairly prepared in subject matter, but must carry on simultaneously a course in observation and practice teaching. The first two weeks are given to observation without practice, but after that the student must soon begin her practice teaching, for before the end of the year she must actually have taught "from 120 to 180 clock hours," which means that a minimum requirement of time for a 36- week year would be about one-eighth of the total school hours. When one considers the time of both stu- dent and teacher which must be spent upon preparation and criticism of practice lessons, it appears that the re- quirement of "from 120 to 180 clock hours" entails an amount of work which, added to the subject matter courses, is bound to keep any instructor amply employed night and day through a school year. But the tale is not yet told. Besides the content and method study of the common branches, professional stud- ies also are required. These consist of class technique, child study, laws and principles of teaching, and class management and discipline. In these professional stud- ies, strong emphasis is laid upon rural specialization, which means a far higher standard of preparation for the students than obtains in states requiring little or no effort for teachers and students, since the study of rural school problems, if effective, must be based on a mastery of general teaching principles. THE STUDENTS The girls who compose the main body of students in the schools are high school seniors, girls eighteen or nine- teen years old. Data furnished by city superintendents who have had opportunity to see and study these depart- INSTRUCTION 39 ments show that they are "very immature" in most cases, and sometimes inferior in ability. Many of them in the past have been manifestly unable to complete the regu- lar high school courses, and were allowed to enter and graduate from the training departments because of the necessity of making up the legal minimum in attendance therein. This condition now holds less than formerly, but even now the overcrowded curriculum must be taught to very immature and sometimes inferior students, thus complicating the work of the instructor. II. Nature of the Instruction AN INEVITABLE WEAKNESS Confronted by a situation so manifestly a challenge to her ability, the training teacher organizes her time and efforts in such a way as to meet the most fundamental and indispensable requirements (especially those enumerated in the High School Board rules) and then divides the little time that remains as the special needs of her group may dictate. Considering the great difficulties to be met, the quality of work done in the high school training de- partments is admirably high in most cases, and the ground covered remarkable. Necessarily, however, the work is hurried and formal. The special observation survey con- ducted by representatives of the College of Education of the University of Minnesota indicates a deplorable de- pendence on texts and a sad absence of spontaneity, special adaptation, and thoroughness in the subject matter courses. Often the specialization of content with a view to rural conditions is almost entirely neglected ; while there is little evidence of a searching test for a real un- derstanding of the terms and symbols used. When one considers the personnel of the teaching force, these short- 4 o TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA comings can not be attributed to a want of ability on the part of teachers ; they clearly are to be blamed upon the unconscionably hurried and crowded program. Formal text lessons barely approximating the content of the rural school curriculum in the common branches, then, form the basis of the year's work. It is necessary also to study the professional subjects largely by the text method, not only because the lack of time makes lecture, problem and experiment methods impracticable, but also because of the extreme youth and limited ability of the students. There is a notable sameness in the comments of a visitor passing from one to another of the training departments and observing recitations in each. Almost invariably the attention was constant and conscientious, but without marked enthusiasm and responsiveness. Personal initiative is not developed as it would be were adequate time available, or if problems rather than book tasks were assigned to the students. There are, to be sure, certain department teachers who do have vision and who do develop the personal initiative of their students. Observation The first observation work must be of an extremely simple type, since it takes place before the students have mastered any part of the theory of education or have gained an intelligently critical attitude toward teaching. The observation work of the latter part of the year is, of course, of far greater value, but at that time the pres- sure of other subjects makes the proper correction of notebooks and the full discussion of visits very difficult. The observation lessons take place in four types of schoolrooms — the grade rooms of the town system, the ungraded room of a town system, ordinarily neighboring rural schools, and the demonstration rural school, largely INSTRUCTION 41 managed, or at least much influenced, by the training teacher. Observation work in the ordinary rural school may be of much, little, or negative value, according to the skill of the teacher in charge. That in the town school grades is often of great value, although often impractica- ble for country school imitation, especially in primary grades. The attached and controlled demonstration school offers the only really satisfactory field for good observation work, as it does also for practice work. Much effort is now being made to secure such schools, since only in them can the training teacher steer clear be- tween the Scylla and Charybdis of demonstration and practice work — inapplicable town methods on the one hand, and the imitation of the teachers whom the stu- dents are being trained to succeed, on the other. III. Means of Judging Instruction A DIRECT TEST ELIMINATED There are several ways in which the quality of the in- struction in the departments may be judged. Unfortu- nately for the purposes of this study the giaduates do not take the regular teachers' examinations ; they were ex- cused from these some years ago as a means of inducing prospective students to enter these departments. If this consideration were removed the number of students might quickly dwindle to a point below the legal mini- mum, but it would also afford an opportunity, to com- pare the teachers thus prepared with those coming from other schools and those without normal training. OTHER TESTS THAT ARE AVAILABLE The evidence of county superintendents points over- whelmingly to the conclusion that the training given pro- 42 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA duces teachers far better than those without training; there is little or no comparison with normal school gradu- ates, as so few of the latter teach in the country. Four means of judging the instruction have been found espe- cially valuable : the lesson plans of the students, which show pretty clearly the content of the practice lessons and the methods which are evidently approved ; three spe- cific tests in arithmetic, grammar and composition re- spectively, which show fairly the degree of power gained in those subjects; personal inspection, as already noted; and the evidence of city and county superintendents, who were interrogated on this as on other points through a fairly searching questionnaire. IV. Quality of Instruction merits A careful study shows that the departments are strong in a number of respects. Almost without exception, the order and attention of the students are good, and their attitude is one of earnest and sincere effort. The work is conducted in an orderly and systematic manner, which cannot fail to have a good effect on the future work of the cadets. Teacher and pupils are usually business-like and industrious, although in a few cases the impression given by the teacher was one of physical strain and lassi- tude, probably due to overwork through a period of sev- eral years. A SAD LIMITATION The wholesome atmosphere produced by the good at- titudes just noted, is still further improved as a rule by an earnest and sincere attempt by both teacher and pupils to master the subject matter. The instruction goes INSTRUCTION 43 usually as far as the text used, but little farther. That is to say, the subject is organized about as it is in the text, the content of the text is fairly mastered and the at- titude of the text becomes unconsciously that of the teacher and her pupils. As the attitude of most texts is strictly informational, so the apparent goal of most of the teachers seems to be to insure a working minimum of subject mastery in their pupils, and the tests show that they are fortunate if they reach this goal. As has been said before, this is certainly not as a rule because the instructors are incompetent to generalize, motivate, and inspire ; it is because they must first build a founda- tion for this deeper and broader training, which as a rule they never reach. So they do what they can, which is to teach their demonstration lessons with enthusiasm and skill, organize and teach their own group as well as may be, and hope for the best. In the detailed technique of presenting demonstration lessons, the department teach- ers are usually good; they have been chosen for these positions because they are capable, experienced, and skillful classroom teachers. THE TEACHERS The enthusiasm of the department teachers is a notable feature of the instruction. They are sometimes effective community leaders as well as good teachers, and their socialized attitude is inevitably reflected more or less, ac- cording to the impressionability and responsiveness of their students. In the cases in which the teachers do possess a vision of the needs of the field and of the means of meeting those demands, good motivation and a sense of relative values are apparent in the work of the departments. Even when these cannot be applied in de- tail to method during the year, the students gain a gen- 44 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA eral insight and outlook which enables them later to teach every subject in the curriculum better than they other- wise would. THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT One of the commendable features of the work in most departments is their thorough cooperation with the coun- ty superintendents. When county superintendents are of the cooperating type, they are also usually well in- formed as to the needs of the rural schools under their care and can direct the allotment of emphasis so as defi- nitely to improve country school work. For obvious reasons they are usually better able to do this than are the city superintendents. In addition to other duties, the department teachers conduct extension activities in great variety. This has been done from the first by some teach- ers, but not until 191 5 was the matter put upon a sys- tematic and official basis. In that summer a committee at the University Farm School made a report which laid the foundation for regular extension work and during the following school year the teachers throughout the state experimented with the various recommendations made. In 1916-17 the rules of the State High School Board set aside one day in each month for the visiting of former training school graduates then in active service. From that time the extension work has been an important part of each director's duties. This extension work may best be considered under three heads — the advisory office work on Saturdays, the visiting and supervision of rural teachers (especially the alumnae of the training departments) and the many social activities by which it is hoped to build up community consciousness and social responsibility. It will be seen INSTRUCTION 45 that each bears strongly upon the immediate problems of the country school. OTHER GOOD POINTS Naturally the type and value of the instruction given vary greatly with the personality and preparation of the teacher or teachers in charge. In a few schools the les- son plans studied were excellent, showing insight into the teaching problem and a knowledge of teaching tech- nique. They were long enough to include every essential point that need be planned anew for each lesson taught; they were not weighted and padded with foolish and unnecessary details. Some teachers are especially good in their criticism of practice teaching, pointing out strong and weak points with acumen, and offering constructive suggestions for improvement. Many understand rural conditions so thoroughly that they can give valuable ad- vice to the town girls so soon to try themselves in those new situations. Others are an inspiration to their stu- dents because of their accomplishments or their general culture. Defects unscientific teaching The most serious shortcomings in instruction may be considered under the heads of Content, Method, and Supervision, according to the phase of the training teach- er's activity which they seem most to affect. Faulty scholarship and inaccurate terminology too often char- acterize the teaching of the common branches ; for in- stance, in one school the statement that during the Revo- lution the colonies were held together by the Articles of Confederation and the attributing of the expression, "We 46 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA have met the enemy, and they are ours," to several men in several different wars, was allowed to pass unchal- lenged. In another school some pupils habitually wrote "x feet times y feet equals z feet" and similar expressions. It is a physical impossibility for any one human being to become an expert in the technique of fourteen courses ; inevitably the result of assigning to one woman the spe- cial method of all the common branches is that some of them will be formally and inadequately, if not badly, taught. Special method experts in normal schools and college departments of education spend their lives in mas- tering and teaching their own special subjects, and find themselves hard pushed for time. The formal and text-bound nature of the instruction in the common branches has been noted. As a conse- quence, the lessons are often lacking in interest and low in motivation and have little or no connection with actual rural conditions. The latter complaint is found repeat- edly in the reports of both county and city superintend- ents, although adaptation to the rural situation is obvious- ly the chief reason-for-being of the departments. What time for local adaptation can a teacher of fourteen courses be supposed to have? A MATTER OF ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS The weakness in mastery of subject matter, a frequent cause of complaint in the graduates, should most cer- tainly not be laid at the door of the rural training depart- ments. The students often come to the departments without the fundamentals of the common branches, and in the limited time available, it is impossible thoroughly to counteract the effects of superficiality and low stand- ards in the grade work of the cadets. The blame here rests clearly upon the elementary schools, and the remedy INSTRUCTION 47 must be found in enforcing higher standards there. Ef- forts are being made to make the entrance requirements more strict, thus eliminating many who are unable to master the elementary subjects. CHIEF NEEDS The need of a thorough understanding of terms is espe- cially apparent in grammar and arithmetic, and the need of habit-forming and habit-breaking technique, in Eng- lish composition. In an arithmetic test given in 1916 to practically all training department students the problems involving fundamental operations, decimals, etc., were solved correctly; but only 61% of the solutions of a problem, involving real but not involved thinking, were correct. Such a result would be found probably in any state, and in any group of students ; nevertheless, taken in connection with the criticisms of superintendents and inspectors, it indicates a very real need in the training school work. In an English composition test the very interesting results show clearly the strong and weak points in the instruction in that subject. The highest scores were made in the test of knowledge of subject matter for rural school courses and especially in mastery of drill technique for fundamentals of structure. There was far less evidence of thorough work on oral compo- sition. Over 55% of the papers showed no conscious- ness of the existence of any technique of habit forming or habit breaking in composition, and only 11.5% gave any definite suggestion as to method. The distribution of subjects in the various grades had been more empha- sized than methods and devices for teaching, which 47% of the papers ignored completely, while only a little over 18% gave anything definite upon that subject. The per- centage of consciousness of the need of motivation and 48 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA of free expression was very fair, but few gave evidence of any definite idea how to attain them. The whole test indicated that training-department students will adapt their subject matter in composition to rural conditions very well ; that they will make some attempt to motivate the work, and that they will drill thoroughly on the struc- tural fundamentals, one of the first and most important phases of the work. They will begin the work early in the grades — usually in the third grade — and differentiate with good judgment for the several grades. But they have almost no idea of correlation with other subjects; they are weak in methods; and, most serious of all, they lack the knowledge of psychological principles that will enable them to guide the habit- forming and habit-break- ing processes of their pupils. POOR SPECIAL TEACHERS Bad examples of teaching are often found in the teach- ing of the vocational subjects, especially agriculture and manual training by the departmental instructors in those subjects. These men, even when thoroughly informed in the content of their subjects, are frequently very poor teachers, working without discoverable organization and breaking innocently the most sacred rules of the teaching craft. RURAL ADAPTATION Perhaps the most frequent criticism of superintendents is that the training teachers use and transmit methods adapted to town rather than to rural school use. A cer- tain amount of this criticism may be discounted as the result of a deeply grounded superstition that country schools do not need improved methods. Some superin- tendents cannot be persuaded that rural school boys and INSTRUCTION 49 girls deserve as good teaching as do those of the city, or that it is practicable to give it to them. Against this stultifying idea the training teachers are working bravely, and doubtless as the years pass the criticism will be heard less and less. Another factor in its elimination is the introduction of more demonstration schools of a typ- ical rural character, in which rural methods may be shown. When observation and practice work had to be done for the most part in the town system, naturally the students imitated town school methods. LACK OF INITIATIVE The widespread neglect of the study of relative values leads to a more serious weakness in the students. Be- cause they have not learned to differentiate between im- portant and non-essential elements they are all at sea if circumstances compel them to omit something from the prescribed courses. As the usual solution, they go as far as time allows, taking everything in the course as it comes rather than spend the time on the most essential elements. THEORY AND PRACTICE A very serious defect in the instruction, which appears in many different forms and instances, is the lack of cor- relation between the theory in the more purely profes- sional courses and the actual schoolroom practice in the department. An inspector happened to arrive in time to hear a very well-prepared recitation on elements of distraction during the recitation (using Betts' "The Reci- tation" as a text). The recitation was begun promptly at the beginning of the hour, although some members of the class had but just arrived from chorus practice and were still settling into their seats and arranging material 50 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA on their tables while the statements in the text were being glibly recited by others. "A number of causes were suggested, among them, the lighting of the room. The teacher talked long on the evils of front light, display- ing their handiwork in that she had covered a front window at the extreme left of the room with burlap. Now all light came from the left side. But at least half of the class faced a glaring light during the entire period. The teacher had moved her desk to the corner next the windows, and stood near it throughout the period. The light was painful to me, and I was no worse off than half the class." This may not be a typical case. The converse of the fault just noted — the discussion of practical problems in management with no reference to the principles involved — is also noted as a frequent weak- ness. One teacher had put on the board a list of eight- een typical, common, concrete rural school problems in discipline and management which she talked over freely with the class. In an extended discussion, neither teacher nor students cited a single principle. In the end, the con- clusion was simply the teacher's opinion, unsupported by the slightest reference to psychology or the principles of government. PROBLEM METHOD Although the problem and project methods have re- cently received much attention from educators, one finds very little evidence of their introduction in the training schools. Any attention to motivation is bound to bring in its train some practice of this method, whether recog- nized and named or not ; but there is so much oppor- tunity and so much need of its extensive use in rural schools that it should receive more emphasis, and more explicit explanation and illustration. INSTRUCTION 51 SUPERVISION The successful supervision of practice teaching re- quires a wide and thorough working knowledge of edu- cational theory and educational skill. Some of the de- partment teachers, especially those who have made a real study of supervision, do excellent work in evalua- tion and constructive criticism. On the other hand, some seem unable to indicate points of weakness, to suggest improved methods, and to guide the student in curing herself of faults and in building up good teaching habits. LESSON PLANS The students in the departments were asked to hand in sample lesson plans, to be chosen from among their best. These plans show little uniformity and many shortcomings. Some are so incomplete as to indicate that the writer had no conception of real lesson-planning. Of 208 plans for primary reading lessons, 104 make no mention of the children's aims, and of the 50% which did write down the words, few showed "any true under- standing of pupils' purposes, or of child nature." Most of them are merely restatements of the teacher's aim. Under the heading "procedure" all sorts of things are in- cluded — subject matter, method, special devices, aims, occasionally outcomes ; but an aim often appears without any provision for its realization, or a point in the record of procedure for which no provision has been made in the assignment. An extreme example of these incom- plete plans is one for a 2B reading lesson ; it gives, after the date and the time of recitation, about six lines on lesson procedure, in which the only statement of aim is that the pupils are to "read with expression, so that I 52 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA will know what they are reading about without looking at the book." HAZINESS AS TO TERMS In some plans in which most or all of the necessary factors are shown, there is a striking lack of proper order and organization of elements. A second grade arithmetic plan, submitted for a drill lesson, gave under "Topic" two distinct types of work; filled out the page with a long list of general and not especially relevant "aims," stated under "Procedure" that the lesson was to consist of drill on the two subjects, with a note on the ma- terials to be used — a bean bag, number perception cards and the blackboard; and closed with this sweeping in- clusive "assignment" : A. Keep on with addition, subtraction, and multiplica- tion of numbers. Another plan for second grade reading included "The Rational Method" under "Topic," the words for the word drill and the lesson story under "Procedure," and under "Assignment" noted with insouciance that another teacher assumes this responsibility. This confusion of terminology appears repeatedly, and must spring, aside from the inability of many young girls to understand and use abstract terms, from the omission of clear explanation on the part of the teacher. One paper gives directions for lesson preparation under "Presentation," and plans for the recitation procedure under "Application." Preparation and Assignment are often confused, as are Assignment and Procedure. The English in the plans is faulty, but no more so than is usual in those of normal school or even univer- sity students. Few of the plans had any mark of cor- rection on them. One, on which some comment had INSTRUCTION 53 been made, had one of five mistakes in English marked. Most of the plans follow the McMurry scheme more or less closely. Of 1027 plans, gathered from 104 schools, 16% showed some idea of a problem method, 14% were for drill lessons, and 45% detailed tasks, "largely mere drudgery," with no indication of motives. Five per cent of them were listed by the examiner as excellent plans, 34% as satisfactory, and 61% as poor. FIRST-CLASS WORK IMPOSSIBLE The development of student initiative is one of the re- sults of good supervision. Such suggestions as might be made for the improvement of instruction in the depart- ments have been implied in the foregoing criticism. Prog- ress toward any marked improvement seems always to meet the impasse of the impossible proposition upon which the department work is based — that one or two women, in one year's time, can teach fourteen content- ful courses to a class of immature and often ill-prepared girls. The one or two women are attempting to do what is done by a corps of specialists in the normal schools and college training departments. They are usually adept at several branches, but can hardly be imagined to be adept in all. From the point of view of instruction, the large nor- mal school, state-supported, seems to be the only institu- tion which can adequately meet the need for trained rural teachers. To support a corps of specialists in a town, or even in a county, is impossible ; therefore any attempt to substitute the county training school for the present system would be an inadequate and impracticable solu- tion. VI. ADMINISTRATION Certain features of the administration of the depart- ments are provided for by law or by regulation by the State Department of Education, but within these general restrictions there exist many differences, due partly to the freedom of development at first accorded to the de- partments, and partly to the very different conceptions of their nature and function in the minds of the city and county superintendents concerned with them. Miss Car- ney, finding the departments too widely apart in many respects for the most effective work, did much to stand- ardize practice and aims, and through this effort the de- partments were brought much more closely under state supervision and control than they had been previous to 1914. VARIETY OF OPINION The attitudes of superintendents vary widely. A cer- tain city superintendent, in a paper read at the 191 5 session of the Minnesota Education Association, denied emphatically that the state has any right to control the training departments, and held that their superintendence, management and methods are altogether within the sphere of duties of the city superintendents. On the other hand many superintendents think that the departments can be more expertly supervised by the state department, and they are glad to cooperate with such supervision. County superintendents, who must deal with the product and know best the needs of the rural schools, sometimes feel 54 ADMINISTRATION 55 that their wishes and suggestions receive little considera- tion from the city superintendents, who are in more im- mediate control. Considering the number of factors which under the present plan enter into the control of the departments it is surprising that there is as hearty and harmonious cooperation as is often found, between state supervisor, county superintendent, city superinten- dent, and training teacher. PRESENT PRACTICE The administrative scheme at present is, briefly, this: The state makes the departments possible by granting to them an allowance of $1,200 or more, upon their ful- filling certain requirements which are fixed entirely by the state. The inspector of the departments is an em- ployee of the state, and all the regulations for organiza- tion and conduct emanate from this inspector and the high school board under and with which he works. These regulations are now pretty thoroughly formulated, and well enforced. The state inspector (working always under the direction of the State High School Board) locates the departments, passes upon the quarters and equipment, makes sugges- tions for the library, and has the final voice in the ad- mission of students to the departments. He makes the rules for maximum and for minimum enrollment (now fixed at 8), and sets the standard of qualifications for entrance, both as to age and as to subjects prerequisite for the course. He also sets the requirements for the certification of teachers, and establishes minimum sal- aries. In the details of organization he prescribes cer- tain things, including the requirements for one, two and three teacher departments, both as to equipment and as to conduct. He plans the course of study (the forth- 56 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA coming one being compiled jointly by Miss Carney and Mr. Flynn), and formulates the program. This last function involves the allotment of relative time to the various subjects, and a designation of time requirements as to practice in rural schools, rural demonstration schools, graded and ungraded rooms in the town school, and in the spring primary class. He also fixes the amount of transportation aid given and the conditions for granting it. He supervises the extension of institute work and decides the time to be given to it. He desig- nates the number of high school credits to be earned in training work, cooperates with the state and county su- perintendents in granting teachers' certificates, and con- fers with the normal schools in the fixing of normal school credit for department work. LOCAL CONTROL It will be seen that the state inspector, with authority from the State High School Board, is the final court in all the affairs of the departments. Nevertheless much of the local and immediate administration falls to the city superintendent of whose system they form an intrinsic part. To him belong the local supervision, and the set- tling of countless points of policy or discretion that arise in everyday practice. It is he who makes application in the first place for a department, for his district or city. He provides the quarters and equipment, upon which the state director passes before they may be used ; cooperates with the training teacher in selecting the library, and rec- ommends students for the department. With the require- ments of the state department in mind, it is his duty to find a teacher for the department. He regulates the sal- aries of the rural teachers who assist in the work, and often exercises certain supervisory functions in the dem- ADMINISTRATION 57 onstration school, which may be, and often is of his se- lection. He must necessarily control the practice teach- ing in the grades, or in the ungraded room of the town system ; often he assigns the work, or passes upon that of the director. If the department teacher wishes to visit other departments, or attend conferences, she goes to him for authority to do so. He certifies to the earning of credits in the department, and recommends the re- newal of teachers' certificates. In a word, under the rules fixed by the state he has general control of the local situation. In the majority of cases the cooperation between city superintendent and state inspector is cordial and thorough. THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT To the county superintendent fall certain definite ad- ministrative functions, and many indefinite but important advisory duties. He approves the recommendations of pupils for the departments, designates the rural schools best to be used for practice work, regulates the attend- ance of teachers at institutes, signs the applications for teachers' certificates and recommends their renewal. But more important than these official duties is his cooper- ating supervision, and the advice he gives as to emphasis in the training of the students for the country schools in his county. His helpfulness in supervising the actual practice of the teachers depends, of course, upon his knowledge of the science of supervision and his re- sourcefulness as an educator — often limited enough; and even when he is well able to perform this supervision in an effective way, it is clearly impossible to visit the teachers frequently enough to be of much help. A study of the development of this system of co- operative administration shows that the balance of au- 58 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA thority has been increasingly thrown upon the state de- partment. This is a result of the present tendency in education, manifest in Minnesota as elsewhere : a ten- dency to increase the effectiveness of local administra- tion through the supervision of such experts as can be secured only by a centralized agency of adequate re- sources. The interchange of ideas and the unity of purpose which result from the visits of the state director tend immensely- to emphasize the professional quality of the departments, and react upon the rural schools in such a way as to bring them nearer to standard practice than they would otherwise be. The state supervision does much ; more of the expert guidance thus furnished would probably bring the rural schools far nearer than they are now to what it is hoped they may become. In addition to the visits of the state director, during recent years there have been organized courses in the summer session of the state university which resulted in increased motivation and specialization in the work. These courses included not only a basic one on the prob- lems of training departments required of all inexperi- enced training teachers before endorsement, but also one in nature study, which served to motivate and adapt the science teaching to rural conditions and the interests of country children ; courses in rural sociology planned to show what can be done in community work ; and a special course for teachers of rural demonstration schools. CONFERENCES Other unifying and inspirational agencies are the an- nual conferences for training teachers, held at the Uni- versity in the early autumn, and the Rural Life Con- ference held during the summer session. The plans for ADMINISTRATION 59 these vary from year to year, and since the war it has been necessary to curtail and change and in some cases to omit them entirely. COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES The departments have cooperated with the many state agencies for war work and thrift propaganda. An instance of this is the children's garden club work, which was organized in 191 7 in practically all of the cities hav- ing training departments, with summer supervision by department students. Red Cross sewing and war-time cookery are other subjects which have received their quota of attention through the special agencies having them in charge. PUBLICATION At the present time publications by the departments are out of the question, owing to war conditions, but it is hoped that if the system is continued long enough to make it desirable, bulletins may be issued showing the re- sults of experiments and setting forth clearly new and improved methods of work. A number of topics for such bulletins were suggested several years ago, on sub- jects concerning which there is as yet no helpful litera- ture ; and it is to be hoped that with the return of nor- mal conditions there may appear in printed form the conclusions of those who have been working in the fields indicated. VII. FINANCES THE SHARED EXPENSE The teacher training departments of the Minnesota high schools are maintained almost exclusively by the state. The local community furnishes suitable quarters, desks, if they are used, wall black-boards, heat and jani- tor service. The state pays the salary of the training teacher, or teachers where more than one are employed, paying for all material used — library-books, teacher's desk, and for tables for the pupils if they prefer them to the regular school-desk. As most of the departments use tables, all of the furniture is supplied by the state. THE POSSIBILITY OF EXTRAVAGANCE Formerly the only check that the state had on the ex- penditures of these departments was that the expense for a one-teacher department shall not exceed $1200 per year. In most cases, however, all expenditures were made by the normal training teacher with the city superintendent's specific consent for each item. This was a fair protec- tion against waste, but there were cases, as the following facts will show, in which a more careful accounting was much needed. Until recently the required reports in- cluded the salary of teacher, total new equipment, and total current expenses for material. In 1914-15 there was sent out a blank requiring detailed information as to how the money was being spent. But as many superin- 60 FINANCES 61 tendents were displeased that such a report should be required, the state department requested that the schools be excused from sending it in. At present, however (1918-19), itemized expense accounts conforming to cer- tain standards for expenditure are required. WHY THE TEACHERS ARE FAIRLY WELL PAID Most schools spend the entire amount of state aid, and very few spend more than that. This has one ad- vantage ; a fair salary is paid to the teacher, since that is the easiest way to spend the money. The average salary for 1914-15 was $829; for 1915-16, $865; for 1916-17, $908; for 1917-18, $926; for 1918-19, $1,005. The law provides that the schools can secure from the state only the actual expense of maintaining this department — not to exceed the amount of the state aid. Questionable ex- penses often creep in — for example (1914-15 Report): NEW USES FOR STATE MONEY Library table $30 . 00 Electric lights 1 7 . 60 Writing paper 15 .00 (8 students enrolled) 50 diplomas for Normal Department 18.00 (15 students enrolled) 25 diplomas for Normal Department 18.00 (12 students enrolled) Magazines 15 .00 (13 students enrolled) Slate black board 20 . 00 Organizing Rural Teachers' Associa- tion and maintaining the same ... 27 . 50 Freight and drayage 10.00 Construction material 56.00 (Many spend less than $10) Salary for janitor 63 . 00 (9 enrolled and lest this be too little $10 is added for good measure) Board for rural cadets 90 . 00 Fuel 34 . 00 Diplomas 23 . 75 (16 enrolled) Table 30 . 00 62 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA School periodicals $15.30 Interest and discount 49-95 Shelves 46 . 15 Nature study chart 25 . 00 Periodicals 14 . 56 Library cabinet 40 . 00 Picture 10 . 00 Diplomas and framing picture 20 . 25 Entertainment teachers 10.00 Picnic Normal Cadets 7 . 50 Kitchen tables 20 . 43 Construction material 94-17 Electric lights 12 . 50 Construction material 81 .47 10 Industrial Teachers desks 115.00 2 tables @ $20 40 . 00 Normal conference 10 . 00 Number of items listed above not allowed by State Supervisor 18 Number of schools listing items not allowed 18 Number of items reduced (partially paid by State) .... 4 Amount (total) listed not paid by State $47 1 .98 Total amount of questionable items listed above $1,080. 13 COMPARATIVE EXPENSE OF STUDENTS IN TRAINING DEPART- MENTS AND NORMAL SCHOOLS During the year 191 7-18 these departments cost the state $132,441, an average of $1204. This is a cost of $118 per certified pupil, of $110 per enrolled pupil. If to this could be added the over-head expenses that are borne by the local community it would increase this amount to something over $125 for each pupil. The cost per pupil in the five state normal schools for 1915-1916 according to figures furnished by Assistant State Superintendent G. M. Cesander was as follows: "The enrollment in the five normal schools last year was as follows : Fall term 2,230 Winter term 2,231 Spring term 2,206 Total 6,667 FINANCES 63 The average for the three terms is 2,222. The total expenditure was $385,542, and the average cost per pupil would be $173.50. But the above makes no allowance for the cost of the summer school, which is included in the total expense. Judging from the report of 191 5- 16, the last published, the summer school enrollment is about the same as that for any one term, and continues for half as long. This would mean adding % to the average yearly enrollment, or 371. This would give a total of 2,593 as tne average yearly enrollment. The cost per pupil on this basis would be $148.68. The following table gives the cost per student for each school in 191 5- 16, the last year for which specific facts are published: Cost per State Normal School Student Winona $212 . 54 Mankato 191 . 87 Moorhead 155-30 Duluth 171. 09 St. Cloud 140 . 04 Average 1 74 . 1 7 Teacher Training H. S. average 125 . 00 It will be noted that it costs about $50 more per year to train a teacher in a state normal than in a local de- partment ; but it must not be forgotten that there is also a great difference in the kind and amount of training so given, as is pointed out in the chapter on Instruction. The present cost per pupil in the Minnesota high schools cannot be ascertained, as the State Department has no record of separate expense items for grade and high school pupils, neither do they publish any statement of local taxes. But judging from the cost in nearby 64 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA states it would be somewhere between $40 and $48. In Minnesota the cost is probably nearer the latter figure. Total Expenditures of the Departments. 1917-18. Salaries $108,424 Library and equipment 14,176 Transportation 4.055 Demonstration schools 3,206 Total for all $129,861 VIII. WHAT MINNESOTA SUPERINTENDENTS THINK OF THE TRAINING DEPARTMENTS The men who see most of the product of the training departments are the county superintendents, while the city superintendents have the best opportunity for con- stant observation of their daily routine. Therefore in forming a critical judgment of the departments, the opin- ions of both county and city superintendents were asked. SOURCE OF INFORMATION The questionnaires used in this inquiry were so worded as to encourage a free expression of opinion, and such suggestions as might occur to the writers. County super- intendents were asked specifically to indicate points of weakness and strength, to suggest needed changes, and to appraise the training given ; while city superintendents were asked in addition to give details of the administra- tion, to compare the efficiency of instruction in elemen- tary branches and in professional studies. The answers showed conscientious care in the filling out of the papers, and a sincere wish to help toward a true understanding of the situation. POINTS OF WEAKNESS According to the replies, a chief weakness is that stu- dents admitted are too immature to profit by the profes- sional training offered. Even when they are sixteen or more upon entering, they are so poorly grounded in read- 65 66 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA ing, writing, arithmetic, history and geography that much of the energy of the instructor is used in the teaching of the fundamental elements of these common school studies, leaving little time or strength for the teaching of method. At the end of the year these girls, none too sure of the common branches and far from being ade- quately prepared in teaching methods, are sent out to country schools, there to teach another generation of boys and girls the common branches. Higher entrance requirements offer a practical remedy for this condition ; but so long as the existence of the department depends upon the number of students applying for the training, it is hard to maintain a high standard of intelligence and training in the candidates. The inadequacy of instruction, especially in the com- mon branches, is a common cause of complaint ; although an impartial critic must admit that in one year, with young girls who have not studied these subjects for several years, any great results would be manifestly im- possible. Moreover, the students have no strong incen- tive for accuracy and sureness in learning, for they are not required to take the county examinations required of other applicants for teaching positions. If required to stand this test doubtless the results in acquiring the com- mon subjects would be far better than they are; but on the other hand there is a common feeling that the re- moving of this inducement to attendance would ma- terially reduce the enrollment. It is repeatedly emphasized that in the practice teach- ing and method instruction, actual rural conditions are not met. Happily this criticism is becoming less and less applicable as rural practice and demonstration schools are added to the equipment of each department ; and even when such is the case, it may be that the truth is that the WHAT SUPERINTENDENTS THINK 67 "rural condition" needs changing rather than the con- demned method. The meeting of so-called "rural condi- tions" means sometimes a concession to local prejudice or tradition which is not for the best interests of the boys and girls. However this may be, there remains the fact that both superintendents and country patrons feel that in many cases the training given does not answer their requirements ; that it is focused rather on town than on rural needs. It is clear that the teachers in charge range all the way from women of marked talent, excellent training, and absolute devotion, to those having poor instructional and managing abilities and no sympathy with rural needs and attitudes. It is also clear that under competent state supervision the standard of preparation and power for teachers is rising steadily, and that professional spirit and mastery of the situation are much greater now than they were five years ago. The same improvement can not be claimed for the curriculum, for the overcrowding due to the necessity of covering the absolutely necessary subjects in a year's time is still responsible for much hur- ried and superficial work. With the now officially ad- vocated minimum of two years' training beyond the high school for all teachers, there has developed a strong con- viction on the part of many superintendents that the de- partments can succeed only when they adopt a two-year course; but to extend the course to two years, while it might lead to more thorough training, would mean the fastening of the local system upon the state. INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS A few superintendents show in their answers very clear insight into the situation, and a constructive ability which augurs well for the future. Among these are th*" 68 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA men who realize that the duplication of the paraphernalia necessary for doing normal school work effectively is wasteful and extravagant, an economic blunder because so much of it is used very little compared with the use it would have if put into a larger institution in which it would serve many times the number of students it does. That the departments lack the breadth of the larger schools, and therefore fail to give the broadening incidental training that is desirable, is another opinion. That the department is run for the advantage of the local school system, the students being used as substitutes to save the employment of a regular substitute teacher in the town, is the complaint of one superintendent. The following stimulates thought : "The work of most rural teachers in actual school teaching shows that they are not doing as well as they should. They do not follow the training of the departments. The great need of the rural schools is good supervisors who can go about keeping each teacher in the right path. A supervisor for every twenty-five schools could take care of the young teachers in such a way that good work could be done in rural schools by these normal graduates. As it is, much of the work is a farce. Schools in this county are receiving state aid when they do not deserve a cent of it. They have not complied with the law at all, in many cases." On the positive side there is much to be said. There seems to be a general feeling that the professional sub- jects are well taught; and that the professional atti- tudes of the graduates are sane and true, although they miss much specific training because of immaturity. In the practical training the primary work seems to be bet- ter done than that for older children ; and there has been a notable emphasis upon reading method, which is fortu- WHAT SUPERINTENDENTS THINK 69 nate indeed. The training, with whatever shortcomings it may have, does at least give confidence and a pro- gram to the graduate, and does in many cases serve to develop inherent qualities of leadership. Much of the approval of superintendents is based upon the fact that the departments are so inexpensive, and so available for all, that they offer training to many who could not other- wise have it. It is clear that if more centralized institu- tions are in the future to supplant the local departments, some form of subsidization must supply the place of this advantage. Another virtue possible to the small de- partment is that the students come very intimately into contact with the training teacher, receiving much in- fluence from her individual attitude and ability. Whether this advantage is greater than that of meeting many trained minds and many conflicting currents of educational thought in a larger institution must, of course, depend upon the personality of the teacher in question. Many suggestions are given for the improvement of the departments. Most of them include the greater adap- tation of methods to actual rural conditions, a need which some think might be met by some form of apprentice teaching or a year's paid experience between the first and second years of a two years' course. There is a strong sentiment in favor of the extension of the course to two years ; it seems clear to all that a single year is altogether inadequate. (This would, of course, entail the doubling of the staffs, since the present force is more than occupied in teaching one year's work.) Some means of standardizing the credits with those received at state normal schools are evidently much needed ; some think that the second of a two years' course should be given at the state schools, the first to be taken at home. 70 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA In connection with this it is suggested that the work be more carefully graded, especially in the matter of practice teaching. It will be noted that this is now being done according to the plans of the present super- visor. The criticism of practice teaching and of lesson plan- ning on the part of superintendents is not especially helpful, owing probably to the fact that these teaching devices are comparatively new and that many superin- tendents know little of their technique. There is for in- stance little adverse criticism of lesson planning, al- though an investigation of it made by university repre- sentatives showed it to be almost uniformly poor. On the whole there seems to be as much practice teaching as the crowded curriculum allows ; and if its supervision and constructive criticism are in some cases below par, that also may be blamed in part at least upon the lack of time. A repeated and valuable suggestion is that super- vision of the graduates' actual teaching for one, or per- haps two years after graduation is exceedingly helpful; and this suggestion is being carried out, in the face of great difficulties in many cases, by several training teach- ers. One of the most pressing questions of policy now be- fore the departments is the matter of putting them upon a high school graduate basis. The state department is strongly in favor of this, although it has been forced to waive its attitude under stress of war conditions. At present writing (1918-19) only seven of the no schools of the state are graduate or nearly so, although others expect to adopt that status upon recovering from the effects of the war. Of the superintendents who ex- pressed their ideas upon this subject, sixty-one think it a good idea and recommend doing it, besides the three who WHAT SUPERINTENDENTS THINK 71 at that time had made theirs graduate and liked it. Twenty-eight thought it a mistake, some of them evi- dently regarding it as an impending calamity. Five thought it unwise to make the change as yet, but thought that eventually it would have to be done if the depart- ments are to be retained. One man only thought that a two-year graduate course should be maintained, although nine were in favor of making it a two-year course, the first year to be the senior high school year and the second graduate. Although those opposed were in a minority of about one to two, they gave more and clearer reasons for their faith than did those who favor the graduate course. Many of them, together with some who favor the change, say that the result would be to close the smaller departments, since the girls would rather take graduate work at a normal school or college. Many re- mark that to eliminate the small departments would be a good thing; but those who superintend these depart- ments do not agree. No less than twenty-one men speak of this probable result. The conclusions drawn from many discussions of a point evidently of great impor- tance are that at present most of the students are inade- quately prepared for the year's work, and therefore an- other year of preparation is badly needed ; but that if this additional year be insisted upon the result will be to close all but the best and largest schools, as the girls will prefer to attend the state normal schools for their better equipment, courses, and rewards. JUSTIFICATION AND CONTINUANCE There is practical agreement among all who have known the working of these departments, that they have greatly served the state, that their graduates are far superior to teachers without normal training of any kind, 72 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA and that to do away with them without some adequate, even superior substitute, would be an unthinkable blun- der. But on this question of the continuance of the de- partments the city superintendents, who were asked their opinion of it, divide into three distinct groups, besides the few who say frankly that they do not know what to think or say about it. One hundred and five know ex- actly what they think ; and of this number, sixty-two con- sider the present system as good a one as could be devised to meet present conditions, "as it meets the local need." Twenty want county normal schools, either continuing the best school in the county or establishing a new school for the exclusive training of country teachers. The rest consider the present or a county system inadequate and temporary at best, and advocate the adoption at the first practicable moment of an adequate state system, which shall give to rural teachers the same training now de- manded for town and city teachers. REASONS Two reasons predominate among those given for keep- ing the present system: first, that girls who have once tasted the joys of town life and have received at a state school the training which enables them to secure a town position, will not go back to the country to teach; and second, that many girls are not financially able to go away from home, and that the local department therefore gives them a training they could not otherwise have. Another reason which appears prominently is that state normal schools do not plan their work to train teachers to work happily and efficiently in rural schools ; that they are overtaxed to furnish teachers for town schools, and scarcely touch the rural school need. So run the opinions of the county and city superin- WHAT SUPERINTENDENTS THINK 73 tendents of Minnesota. To summarize evidence so vary- ing and conflicting is difficult indeed ; but one can at least say that the men and women, who have seen the system developed during the last few years and who have the best opportunities for appraising it, pay sincere tribute to the good work it has done in preparing teachers for rurals schools in the state ; that they agree that with all the improvements made, it is a system still far from achiev- ing maximal efficiency; but that they are not agreed as to the best methods of remedying faults, nor as to whether any other system could supersede it profitably. INTERPRETATION To interpret the answers of the superintendents is not so difficult as their varying answers might indicate, when one takes into consideration certain facts relating to con- ditions and to points of view. It is to be remembered that there is as yet no actual uniformity in the departments, either as to theory or as to practice ; and that in their preparation for their work, and therefore in their points of view, the superintendents vary exceedingly. City and county superintendents have each their peculiar interests to serve and their local communities to please. In this last respect especially must the findings be interpreted ; for the opinions were reported before the awakening of the present nationalizing spirit. In these men, then, varied in ability and in professional outlook from one extreme to the other, there appears to be one common conviction that the training departments have done yeo- man service to the school system of the state, but are not on the whole yet satisfactory. Few of them, however, are ready to go the length of recommending their dis- continuance, not only because such a position would be very unpopular in most of the communities having the 74 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA departments, but also because few of them see clearly the practicability of substituting a larger plan and a more efficient method for the present one. Such a plan must come from some other source than from the superin- tendents of the state, although many of them are now beginning to catch the vision of a more unified and schol- arly preparation for the teachers of Minnesota than has ever yet been realized. Not until the ideal of a rural school system with a staff equally prepared with that of town and city schools, paying equal salaries and offering an equally dignified professional position, becomes real to the minds of the superintendents of the state, can Minnesota hope to see rural school teaching and rural school training become other than provincial in feeling and mediocre in quality. Many agencies are at work in this as in other states for the enlarging of the vision of the men and women who supervise the local educational units of the state. Yearly conferences at the state university, and yearly conventions at one of the larger cities, serve to introduce and foster the newer ideas ; while the state department, the educational press, the normal schools and colleges, and the state university bring to bear continually those influences which strengthen courage to change old custom and to furnish precedents and devices for the new regime. War conditions have accelerated the rate of change in Minnesota; the next few years may see the point of view of local leaders so changed as definitely to support one state rather than many community schemes for the training of rural teachers; and one standard of excellence for teachers of country and of city children, which shall put the child born and reared on a farm at no educational disadvantage when compared to his city cousin. IX. CONCLUDING STATEMENT The whole system of local training schools, one exam- ple of which has now been studied in detail, may be also reviewed as a specific example of a phase of American education which, at the present time, demands careful consideration. The Minnesota system is as well devel- oped as that of any state, and therefore may be weighed in the balance as to its good and its evil features with fair justice to the ideas which it exemplifies. The outstanding idea of the institution is that of local control of the local educational situation, so far as coun- try schools are concerned. The proof of this lies in the clearly defined feeling about the departments, in the com- munities which they serve. They are liked there because they serve the local needs — because they permit girls to receive training who could otherwise have none, because "they cater to the local situation," because they supply teachers who stay in the -country for a little while (two or three years at the most, with rare exceptions), but who if trained in the normal schools would not serve the rural schools for a day. The departments are now institu^ tions with vested interests, and any .effort to supplant them will meet with vigorous opposition. As they have given and are giving great and good service to the state, of course no one could wish to supplant them, except by other training institutions which are clearly better. One factor in the situation of which little has been said is that of the very uninviting conditions in rural 75 76 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA districts. The salaries are low in the country, and the living conditions are often poor, involving frequently a degree of discomfort and loneliness to which no young man or woman will submit if better is to be had. Two solutions of the situation are possible. The one which must come sooner or later is that of making con- ditions good enough to attract good teachers. Salaries must be raised, living conditions made comfortable, social life provided, and the equipment of the country school made such that a well-trained teacher may use her train- ing in the school. When the consolidated school, with its comfortable teacherage and its adequate salaries and its little staff of trained teachers, with its attractive school- house set in well-planted grounds, with its social and religious opportunities assured, has supplanted the bleak one-room rural schools, it will no longer be neces- sary to provide a special local school for the training of rural teachers ; the rural school will then be able to com- pete with the village or city school in securing trained teachers. And when such competition is possible, teach- ers trained in colleges and normal schools will be avail- able for rural education as they are for town and city service, and the increased demand will have to be met by enlarging the normal schools. But the solution which has so far been offered and practiced — one which has helped the situation but which is far from being final or ideal — is to offer local training at a very low cost. Little or nothing has been done to make the country school position more attractive; but something has effectively been done to keep part of the teaching supply bound to local rural school offerings. Such a teaching supply can never be permanent; it can never be truly professional ; it can never be so efficient as one more expertly trained. The most that can be said CONCLUDING STATEMENT 77 for it is that it is immensely better than nothing, and that it points the way to a final solution of the problem. The wisest policy, therefore, would seem to be to retain the training departments in the city schools as a tem- porary expedient, but to supplant them as soon as prac- ticable by normal school training. If the revenue now used by the departments were diverted into additional equipment and faculty at the normal schools, which al- ready possess much of the equipment needed, and ade- quate organization for handling so large an enterprise ; and if to these facilities for training there were added a certain degree of subsidization of students, during their period of study, the improvement would be as marked as that which marked the introduction of the present sys- tem of training. Instead of one or two overworked teachers, dividing their energies among a dozen subjects and so teaching few if any with expert skill, the candi- dates would then be instructed by specialists. Instead of a department with fourteen or fifteen students at the outside, closely affiliated with a high school, they would feel the professionalizing influence of a large institution given over to the training for this one profession. In- stead of living at home, where too often the students are burdened with household duties or diverted by social life from their studies, they would live with students, and live the student life. It is not to be understood, however, that the transfer- ring of this important work to the normal schools as at present constituted is recommended. Only with adequate equipment, both in staff and in facilities, for practice and demonstration can the normal schools realize their in- herent possibilities in this direction. Few normal school presidents have considered this work as a serious part of the business of their schools. They have been content 78 TEACHER TRAINING IN MINNESOTA to drop a few stray crumbs from the educational table for the country schools that asked them for bread. The advantages of larger schools in the way of institutional life cannot compensate for any lack of carefully planned courses under the direction of experts. The ideally trained country school teacher is she who brings to her pupils both breadth of contact with larger interests, and the sympathetic understanding which comes from in- tensive study of concrete problems of country life. The program toward which the state department in Minnesota is at present working is substantially as fol- lows : the number of training departments is to be limited, being somewhat reduced from the present quota, so that there will be one good department, with at least two teachers, in each of the more populous counties. Of these two teachers one will teach the common branches, receiving a salary of about $1,000; the other will teach the professional subjects, and receive a somewhat larger salary — a scheme which will, of course, involve the giv- ing of more state aid. The affiliation with the state nor- mal schools will be made closer as occasion offers, and when standards warrant such a provision, a year's credit will be given at these schools for work done in the local units. As soon as possible, equal training for grade and rural teachers will be required, the rural teachers receiv- ing their first year's training at the home school and the second at a state institution. Eventually it is hoped that the capacity of the normal schools will be increased until they can turn out teachers enough to supply the needs of the state. At present they do not supply nearly enough for the town and city schools. The realization of the hope eventually to supplant the local departments by a more centralized, efficient and economic system, is probably far in the future. It may CONCLUDING STATEMENT 79 be years before Minnesota will feel herself justified in changing from a system which has at least given fair results to one which involves the spending of more money but which will yield far greater progress to the cause of education. The initial cost and the reluctance of those whose interests are served by the established system are, of course, the two great obstacles to change. Without doubt the change will come eventually and will bring with it a distinct and marked raising of educational standards in the rural districts, with an elimination of many regrettable differences now existing between town and country. The system was established in the first place because the central educational machinery and the state normal schools were not meeting rural needs, and it has grown because it does supply an immediate need in an immediate way. At the time when it became an institution the people of the state were not used to acting in unison on such questions ; without doubt, were the problem to be solved anew with the educational machin- ery now organized in the state, another solution more efficient and more economical would be found. APPENDIX 2 (from directions sent out to department heads, 1918) A SUGGESTIVE YEARLY SCHEME FOR PRACTICE TEACHING FIRST SEMESTER Kind of Teaching Chief Emphasis Kind of Lesson Plans Two^Weeks I. Observation and Prepa- General class proced- Oral and written dis- ration ure and management cussion of work seen Group teaching (prefer- Technique ; drill lessons Class procedure out- ably of classes observed and class manage- lined above) ment One^Week Rural visiting and obser- Study of rural school Special reports of ob- vation conditions servations No teaching; discussion of Study of rural school Summary of points rural school visits conditions made in discussion each day Twelve Weeks (Three Months) II. Group Teaching Class technique Complete First Month Arithmetic: Grades 3 Drill lessons; motiva- Detailed plans chiefly and 4 tion, and assign- ments Reading: Grades 2 and 5 Drill lessons; motiva- Detailed plans chiefly tion; and assign- ments Second Month Language: Grades 3 and 4 Drill lessons; motiva- Detailed plans chiefly tion, and assign- ments Phonics: Grades 1 and 2 Drill lessons; motiva- Outline plans for tion, and assign- phonics ments Third Month Geography: Grades 5 Inductive lessons; mo- Detailed plans for and 6 tivation; organiza- geography tion, questioning; assignments Spelling: Grades 3 and 4 Drill work and motiva- Outline plans for tion spelling 80 APPENDIX 81 SECOND SEMESTER Kind of Teaching Chief Emphasis III. Room Teaching (Grades i to 8, inclusive) First Month Language Grammar Geography- Second Month History Reading IV. Rural School Practice V. Spring Primary Class Eight Weeks (a) Special methods in the subjects taught (b) Discipline and room management (a) Special methods in the subjects taught Two Weeks Management of all grades at once Eight Weeks Starting beginning children Kind of Lesson Plans Outline plans; com- plete plans required occasionally Complete plans for history; outline plans for reading Class procedure out- lined Complete plans for reading; outline plans for other sub- jects GENERAL RURAL PRACTICE — Procedure in Arranging for Practice Teaching in General Rural Schools. At least two weeks of rural school practice is required of all students receiving certificates through training departments. This practice may be secured in two ways: (i) Through the general rural schools of the county; (2) Through rural demon- stration schools. Of these types demonstration school practice is best, because most carefully controlled. But the demon- stration school is designed to suggest ideal rural conditions, and is, therefore, inadequate as a means of acquainting students with typical conditions. For the latter purpose general rural practice in various country schools is necessary, and at least one week of this type of practice teaching should be provided for each student, even when a demonstration school is main- tained. Under normal conditions this week or two weeks of rural practice should come in the spring (see yearly practice scheme) after students have done considerable grade teaching. In arranging this general rural practice modifications of the following procedure have been employed by many teachers and found effective : 1. Confer first with the city superintendent as to the best time for this event ; also regarding transportation, board and other matters. 2. Confer with the county superintendent and get a list of the best rural schools from him. 82 APPENDIX 3. Communicate with the teachers of these schools by tele- phone or circular letter, asking their cooperation. Request them to get permission of their local school officers and to suggest arrangements for the board and transportation of students. 4. Call a meeting of all rural teachers who agree to take students at least one week in advance of the date set for the rural teaching. Make this meeting both a business and a social occasion with the training students, rural teachers, and jaunty and city superintendents and their wives all present. Have light refreshments and prepare an exhibit showing teaching ideas from training department work. If at night, have students take the visiting rural teachers into their homes. This social plan will get the students and teachers acquainted and estab- lish good feeling, but it must not overshadow the business session. 5. At the business session of this meeting these items should be considered : (a) Each rural teacher should previously prepare and bring to the meeting an outline of fhe subject-matter to be taught while students are out, and also a list of the texts used in her school. This information should be left with the train- ing teacher to aid students in planning their work. (b) Each rural teacher should receive a practice-scheme indicating the amount of teaching the student is to do during the week. This will vary with strong and weak students but the following is indicated as an average: FOR TWO WEEKS First Week 1st day: Observe and assist or teach a little. 2nd day: Teach one-quarter of day; observe remainder. 3rd day: Teach a different quarter. 4th day: Teach one-half day (the two-quarters formerly taught.) 5th day: Teach a half day (the other half). Second Week 6th day: Teach one-half day (observe remainder). 7th day: Teach one-half day (observe remainder). 8th day: Teach full day (teacher absent). 9th day: Teach full day (teacher present). 10th day: Teach full day (teacher absent, perhaps visiting schools). FOR ONE WEEK When students are out but one week the following scheme is recommended : APPENDIX 83 1st day: Observe and teach one-quarter. 2nd day : Teach a different quarter. 3rd day: Teach one-half day. 4th day: Teach full day (teacher present). 5th day: Teach full day (teacher absent perhaps). (c) The training teacher should also give each rural teacher an outline for reporting the student teacher under her charge. Careful explanations on observing, criticising, and reporting student teaching will be necessary. The questions in this outline should emphasize the student's ability to manage and teach the whole school at one time, this being the particular purpose of this type of practice. No group teaching should ever be done in rural schools. (d) Arrangements for transportation and board of students should be clearly made with every rural teacher. Free trans- portation should be secured when possible. 6. Place all students in the country at the same time, and close the department. This plan permits the training teacher to spend her time supervising students and in visiting each one at least once. To increase and vary experience, students may sometimes exchange schools at the close of the first week. 7. Upon the return of students, reports and class discussions on rural teaching experiences and problems should be arranged. In this way individual experiences of professional value may be made to benefit all. LOAN FUND Training students must pay their own board while in the country. To assist those in need of help it is recommended that a permanent "Loan Fund" be established by having students donate at least half, or all, money received as pay for substi- tute teaching in both town and country. Other additions to this fund may be made through plays and special activities. Needy students can then borrow from this fund and return their loans the following year when teaching. PRACTICE TEACHING IN RURAL DEMONSTRATION SCHOOLS The following suggestions on practice teaching in rural demon- stration schools are offered as the outgrowth of two years' experience and experimentation : 1. Have no practice teaching in the demonstration school for one month or six weeks at the beginning of the year. The demonstration teacher usually needs this period to get hold of the school herself. The training class should visit the school at least twice during this time, however, to observe its early conditions. 2. Experience favors sending out one student at a time for 84 APPENDIX two weeks. Students should secure free transportation with farmers when possible; stay the full time in the country; board with the teacher, but have a separate room; and share all the work and experiences of the regular teacher including teaching, janitor work, community activities, playground supervision, etc. 3. Students practicing in demonstration schools should have complete charge of the whole school when teaching, and should never do group work. The aim is to provide typical rural ex- perience. This means that the demonstration teacher and stu- dent should keep the school together as if but one teacher were at work, following the regular program and dividing the reci- tations, but never teaching at the same time. 4. A practice-scheme must be carefully worked out for each student at least one week (preferably two weeks) before she goes to the country. The same schemes as those submitted for general rural practice are recommended. 5. (1) Planning Teaching — It is of the utmost importance that all teaching be well planned before students go to the country. In planning this teaching, experience has shown the value of these suggestions : (a) Instruction in the demonstration school should be based on the Minnesota State Course of Study. (b) The demonstration teacher and the training teacher should make a thorough study of this course, working together at least one Saturday forenoon of each month, and planning the work for the demonstration school in detail one month in advance. Supply training class with copies of this detailed outline. (c) Each student teaching in the demonstration school should thoroughly prepare and plan all work to be taught at least one week in advance. To aid in this the training department should have two sets of all text books used in the demonstration school. (d) Judgment — Was there opportunity for the children to "judge relative values," or compare ideas and make judgments on points during the lesson? (e) Initiative — Did the children show any initiative by mak- ing original suggestions of worth during the lesson? (2) By its meihod. That is, by HOW the teacher tries to realize her purposes. — This relates to the teacher's skill or technique. (a) Types of teaching — Were the types of lessons used rightly chosen for the purpose and subject matter presented? Were they well handled and combined? (b) Questions — Were the questions good? (c) Assignments — Were the assignments problematic, moti- vated, definite, and reasonable? That is, did they appeal to the children, make them understand just what they were to do, and reveal a purpose in doing the task set? (d) Illustrative materials and devices — Were these well chosen, ready at hand, and effectively used? APPENDIX 85 (e) Study — Was every opportunity improved for showing the children how to study and inculcating economical habits of study? (f) Lesson-plan — Was the lesson-plan practical and effec- tive? Did the teacher follow it approximately and keep to her main purposes? Was she skillful in meeting unexpected situations? (3) By its results. That is, by whether the teacher does what she intended to do. (a) — Did the teacher accomplish the specific purpose or aim of the lesson? Were the children interested? Were they in- structed — did they get something? Was what they got worth while? Did they think ? Did they fix facts or information? Did they show growth in correct habits and right attitudes? Note: Educational measurements and tests should be used occasionally in demonstration schools for testing results. (b) All lesson plans prepared by students for the demon- stration school should be written in ink on uniform paper; corrected by the training teacher ; revised by students ; read with care by the demonstration teacher when the student first arrives ; then marked with comments by the student after her teaching, indicating where they worked and where they were defective ; and finally returned to the training teacher and filed permanently in a special folio. Such a file will be valuable for summary and reference. (c) The demonstration teacher should give her whole atten- tion to observing the student while she teaches. If the regu- lar one-teacher program is followed and the demonstration teacher and student do not teach at the same time this will be possible. While observing, the demonstration teacher should sit in the rear of the room and should take notes in a special notebook devoted exclusively to this purpose. This notebook may well be ruled in two columns, one side for recording what the student did, the other for making criti- cisms and suggestions on the thing done. This critic's note- book will form a permanent record for reference. (d) As an aid in judging student teaching, demonstration teachers will find some help in the following outline: HOW TO JUDGE A LESSON A lesson or a series of lessons may be judged: (1) By its aims and purposes. That is, by WHAT the teacher tries to do. — This relates chiefly to subject-matter. A. Was the subject-matter presented in harmony with the general aim of education; that is, was it of actual life value to the children? B. Did the subject-matter and instruction given fulfill the McMurry standards in the following respects : 86 APPENDIX (a) Motivation — Was it motivated? Did the children feel a purpose in the lesson which appealed to them? (b) Organization — Were both the teacher's lesson and the children's ideas well organized? 6. Presenting criticism. The demonstration teacher, as well as the training teacher must use the utmost tact and sympathy in presenting criticism to students. The best time for doing this and talking over lessons is in the evening after school hours, or after supper. In discharging this duty the demonstration teacher will find the following points suggestive : (a) In general, criticism should be presented much as a development or inductive lesson is taught; that is, the stu- dent should be led to criticise herself and suggest improve- ments through questioning. (b) Before meeting the student for this purpose the demon- stration teacher should go over her notes and organize the points of criticism she expects to present, numbering them for clearness. (c) Pick out and commend the good points in the teaching, first explaining why they were good. (d) In presenting corrective criticism induce the student to criticise herself first in the light of standards established by the training course. (e) Never make an unfavorable criticism without suggesting a better substitute for what was done. That is, make your criticisms constructive. (f) Illustrate the points of criticism made, by several con- crete examples. If the student's questioning is poor, for example, several of the poor questions used should be cited, and better questions given, to illustrate the poor quality. (g) Summarize the criticisms given each day in the form of definite statements, and have the student keep a numbered list of these in her plan book. Review these occasionally by referring to them, and particularly by making a final summary at the end of each week or at the close of the practice period. CO X Q W On Ph < Woo <5 co <£> Kg ^ Q 3 Oh a H « O H O Ch w o H 8 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oooooooooooooooooooooo i^nion 10 o\ fo o n io o o o >-< ■-< t>-ior^.cor>.ON.ONCN OnOO IONO N OO <0 co O t^r^O^D O O 11 NO cO i-i "+ CO 1 ^. ^ 1 N . H . °. °. C . H N On O i— ON^fN CN i-i i-i CN i-i rf — — ________ |_, 1-4 l-l I— ! I— I 1-4 (— Ml-T In C O d ow 0) O Q' oo Q • • • o • • • • o oo io • • • o • • • • d OnOO ^ ... ^J. .... ^ ««. t-H _L C c -^ o g O o o o g o o O o o Q o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O o c o o z o o o o - co «+ 1—1 1— 1 h ofd .J a CD 6 a d cr OOvOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ooooooooooooooooooooooo cn mvooo o r^-^-cot^o vO cOiOiOOCNcOcNi-i ii CO CS i-i CN NOOOO IO o CN o ^- ^r^ CN CN >-i i-i IO CN t^OO IO CN O IO CO i-i ON CN t^ O — r i _ , _ _ !/■} T aj oooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooo OOOOiOOOO O O O lOiOiOiOO i-i O On OnOO On On O I- 1 I- 1 ►— . OiOMOONN C lOOiOO o o O lOiOiOO t^cOiOcOO t1- O O O On OnOO O00 On 00 00 CO O 0> O On O OOO "8 -, ND 8-° ■A c o c _ u ■tnONOO ONOO CO t^ O -tOvO OnOO 00 00 On On OnnO 00 M M M M M M H h 11—4 1- II- 1 1—4 a. 2 on O ■>-> *-> Ph N M TfN M O H O O CN t^ CN NO O »-<« 0_nO On CN_ OnOO NO CO CO i-t NO OOO OnnO O 00 lOOO rj- OM^.1-1 CN O CNOO CNOO OnO cOiOOniOcOCNnO i-i 00 On cOOO r>. ro 1-1 lO'tt- O O t^ IONO cOOO > On — c en d a u CO u. 3 CD CO CD a) r -1 bo - -3 < < < < < < ffl«ffl«fflUUUOuuOuQQQQ o -1- CD 87 tn 00 H-c W «•* S CO H Sh C* hJ < H-J o Q »— i Q H- 1 £ < ^ tf w H tf « O fa U 5S < o w H C* o H ooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo coco t->. O CM rhiOH On O lONO O CO O O MOO O m o ©^ tN_ ^no^ o^ o_ o^ on o^ o^ on q_ cm_ cm_ q_ cn_ oo »-> r>. o on cm on hh m m m hh m CM <\|h*mmmmmm i-T CM~ m" h-T o • • o o • • • o ♦ • • o o • • o o •••©••• o co • • o o • • ■ o • • • d •^-••vO vo . . . m • • -co I 2^ o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o O O O CM OO NN 'tf- CM HH NO vO o io o >o CO CO iO CO O ih •ON ICON lOv© cm lOPHO o OfOOH is. Pi 000 000 000000000000000000 000000000000000000 rtTJ a h-1 cr lONOO CO ^h M O -fOONO 't'OiO t^oo 10 On 10 ON 10 10 lOOO O t>» ONO00 O moo Om hh lO lO On hh^ 1-^ coco ONOO^ On NO On^ On On hh On O 00 On cooo 00 00 00 MhHM HH M HH HH HH M c cj X Enroll- ment HOOO HH hH ONONfs»H-i00 iOmqo CM ONOO ts»vO t>. O O O 00 CM CM HH H-l MH-IHHt-l ON NO co a H-> Popula- tion, 1910 NO ON CN NO 1000 hh ■+NOOOO 1-1 O "* cONO cO C CO lOOO NO 10 CO t^ O (N NO t>»oo 10 qoo on 0^ 0^00^ r>. rs» r>. i-^ ci ^ onoo fs»oo vo t^vo cm COt>. N ONh^O h m N oT m" to OO*" cf as in aJ c o o x o 02 CD m4 HM X 'cu -»J -M o o^ is i-< t-H CO CO art to OjOT3 o T3 id £ 1— 1 Jh CD +J '5 a u Sc3 o CO S.-9.S m4 C3 H-l IS o o o CO C X o 3 CO ctf a> co < « u H S3 H ti « W O ffi Uh o H -iO>-'OOOnOcO OcNOcnojOO'-iOO'-iOO'—On'-'COcnOoj-i-iOnO 03 o "nl £ O t-i ri <-> a ow f* a « a> o Q'£ • o • o • d o o lO "4- o o o o O -l — hH h* .CO i-c ON ONCO O OnOnOnO OnOnOn OnCO On On On Onco On w OJ CU J3 £3 +J o d d £ O t^.CO COOOCOCO 01 O >-< >- C^Ni-nO O « O tJ-co co co I— I I/O I— C HH d « -4 a. 2 <^ O +J "- 1 r^r^"^-C^ 01 iOh rONO O t^rOHVO CN) CO NO CO > o ,-d -^ d^^l^^ d d T3 *rt 'aJ P 4* c > co O ajc3a3cDcu."d."dOd a d j o 13.52 cj a3 d a o d o3 rd 3 8 c c 0) CJ ■ IH +3 d o 'O d 03 is ^ *-• ^ ^ o3 cu d CO 03 CU u. 03 CO cu In d cu co cu x; 89 CO H oo £ ON W HH S H ^ •J W o Q Q O fc Z W i— i « Z < i— i w < >H tf (il H K tf H W o a to o H < as n w to H w tf o H cj o *-" o L. ri O 9 §co cu o Q'2 d -^ H I- aSX) *-• d -9 aS d CU a d a 1 W i-i 'al CO o a u a; d d ooooooooooooo ooooooooooooo oooooooo oooooooo CN lOiOO ^ O ^t" CN >00 NOnh CN Ot^H O00 CN vO CN CN P)OMiOONOONO(HfO«tOO^tOOMNPiM4iO OcnOOOcnOni-ii-iOCncncncncni-icnOOncnji-iOm o o <* o o d 8 o ON o o o o o »o o o o o *r> o coo ft hH o o o o o o o o o o o o O o O o o o o o o o o o o o o o lO o o o o o o O o o o o o o t^» r>» M ro tHO CN Tj- lONO o On t^ "* ON lO M 1— 1 o On On CO CO ^J- fO lO ►—1 f-H CO (N M CM CO t^ CO CN CO lO c CN — ooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo lONfOO o lO CN NO IOVO ON O^0 O iO rt On O On ON O OncO On OnOO On ft O 00 m On On^O 00 On On On O w CN ft >> ^3 0\N«)00 O OO rON OvO m o m NON« Onm^OOO ft CN HH H-l hH H* ioioo mx i-i oo iocoio r^-oo o« <+-tH -3-^0 rhO N vO CN NO i-i iOO lONOMOiO OnnO 00 ^J-NO ft ^* t^. iO iO rh MM ONO OOO W ^mionOvOmMONONhhqom CO CO M IO CN On >-i -3-TJ-CN ft CN CN rf- o o a m T3 aS o a> B < a O 0) o T3 O O in o as •«-! W3 f3 ,v r"t O C3 Oj r^ ,d ^3 ^3 CL Cl >4 C o w w ^ r ^ ^3 D033 d . aS >» . w co ►^ ^i !=? i5 ^ as.^.^r^, v-, ^ O H 000006, 3 ,6>ba go'd.o'®^ o b 000000 *obo'Q , o*ooo©©oo •-" nO OO too O00 N fO T) "CM r^-i-H o On On »>* *•* 00 "CO on «o ►-» 00 c» O n »>» O O n OO00i-it^C)Oi-i'-i'-'>HOHOONn^0 O ro 10 1—1 rO hH ►H o* ►-( »o >OlO'tfOfO't^t^f) rO ^ »-( •q S c o S a cr 000000000000000000 000000000000000000 (D NnO 00 NO O i-i O O c*i '+ O O ION rf- NO CM t>.(N OnmOO <^-m 0\t^(NNO •+ ». rj- rj- -i O M •-< 1-1 cd 1-1 M • ft o3 rt4^ v-i rt t-l S to pT^ •£ rt rt a u c (NJ 10 00 61 .00 40.00 10 Tj-lO c c NO c C c in -t c o NO <** o o 00* O CI o O H rt S c CO u to rt *-> rt Ui o rt In to