IN

Superintendent and Teacher Plan
Before the Term Begins

In the case of two-teacher schools, the school work is divided between the teachers. This does not always mean that the teachers have the same number of grades or the same pupils at all times. When there are fewer pupils in the upper grades than in the lower, the superintendent and the school board may plan for the first three grades of an eight-grade school to be taught by one teacher and the last five grades by the other. For a six-grade school, the organization may be either a 2-4 or a 3-3 plan.

Some superintendents assign a smaller number of children to the teacher of younger pupils because younger boys and girls require more of a teacher's time than older pupils. Other superintendents favor a more nearly equal distribution of pupils because the teacher of the upper grades may need to use much time in teaching children how to locate information they need for their problems or projects. This means that the teacher of older boys and girls must be prepared on subject matter not required by teachers of younger pupils. The desirable division of grades and work depends upon the experience the boys and girls have had in planning and working both by themselves and in groups.

Before school begins, the local school board usually arranges for cleaning and equipping the schoolroom. The teacher may be requested to advise on materials and equipment needed, especially if she has taught in the

school before. Usually a rural teacher who expects to teach in a particular school for the first time tries to be in the community for a few days before school opens. In this way she is able to visit the county superintendent, or the supervisor if there is one, to learn about administrative arrangements, and to plan cooperatively for the important first days of school.

The Teacher Plans Ahead of Her Pupils

At its best, the modern rural school is a place where children who live in the country can learn to plan together for better ways of rural living, to work, to evaluate within reason their experiences, and then to plan and work further. In order to have this kind of school, the teacher does a certain type of planning in advance of the pupils.

Planning ahead for teaching

Planning ahead of the children does not mean that the teacher forces a list of goals and activities upon the pupils. Such planning is best done by teacher and children together. Planning ahead of the pupil does mean that the teacher considers the activities and study that she needs to carry on herself in order to be better prepared to plan the real curriculum with the boys and girls.

Experiences that boys and girls have in home and community are as important for learning as their activities in school. One type of experience enriches the other. In planning for herself, the teacher may jot down major areas of the children's everyday experiences. Then she may set down the steps that she will take in helping the pupils decide what they need to learn, when will be the best time for various activities, and in which groups individual pupils will work.

The emphasis of the teacher's planning is on what she needs to do in order to help the pupils use what they learn to best advantage. This kind of initial planning was done by the teachers who later developed with their pupils the schedules on pages 41 to 43. Initial teacher-planning was also done ahead of the teacher-pupil planning discussed on pages 33 to 40. Planning use of materials

Teachers in one- and two-teacher schools try to have on hand the kind of books, bulletins, maps, and flat pictures that are useful to children who live in the country. They know what motion pictures, film slides, and film strips can be secured from the superintendent's office. They see that materials are available at the right time and so well organized that the children can take them out, use them, and put them away neatly without undue help.

The teacher is guided by the major areas of the children's everyday experiences, pages 18 and 19, and by the problems on which individuals or

groups are working. Everyday problems of living require simple information. She selects books that help children in practical ways, as in planning a home flower garden for bouquets at different seasons; or in making the schoolroom more attractive; or in finding out why clover is a good crop in the home community; or in learning to plan wise use of money; or in building a child's wagen.

The teacher also keeps in mind the different abilities of her boys and girls and tries to see that they have things to read that they can understand. She looks for books that are readable and free from complex sentences and to many unfamiliar words.

The teacher also considers the individual interests of the children. Are they going to read for enjoyment? If so, a book on trees is not helpful or interesting for a child who is enthusiastic about dogs, the stars, or chemistry, and not about trees. At the same time, every child ought to be introduced to many types of interesting information closely related to his experience, yet leading on from it.

Rural teachers often plan opportunities for their children to read more magazines than they usually get. These include magazines on rural life and about rural resources and environment.

Some rural counties have bookmobiles. This service can be especially useful to rural schools when teachers and librarians plan together to help children solve the problems of a real-life curriculum that leads to better living in the country.1

Country children listen to the radio. In school the modern teacher tries to help her pupils develop standards for selecting radio programs. She plans ways of preparing them for the news, markets, and other programs to which the entire farm family frequently turns. She plans ways of teaching them not only to listen, but to listen with understanding and to contribute to school and family discussions which may follow.

Planning is required for use of phonograph records. When adapted to the curricular activities of country children, these are especially helpful in one- and two-teacher schools. They can have value in themselves and as a means of instruction that the children can use frequently without the teacher. With the aid of phonograph records, older boys and girls can learn to sing and to supervise some of the singing of younger pupils. Recordings of stories well told are occasionally useful to certain groups while the teacher works with other groups. Choral-speaking records, wisely chosen, are helpful when several children who are learning to read poetry in unison use them for ideas, rhythm, and interpretation.2

1 Rural Library Service. Washington. United States Government Printing Office, 1949. 32 p. (United States Department of Agriculture, Farmer's Bulletin, 1947.)

2 See also: Phonograph Records as Aids to Learning. The Journal of Educational Psychology, October 1943. p. 385-406.

Teachers plan for boys and girls to have a wide choice of materials.3 In this way they learn how to judge materials to choose the best for a particular purpose. In one-room schools, because of the variety of interests and abilities to be served, supplementary materials vary in complexity from a simple display of three or four picture books arranged on a reading table for primary children, to specimens, collections, and home equipment for older pupils to use in connection with science.

Part of a teacher's planning is to decide what uses she can help the children make of materials, displays, and exhibits. Pupils often keep bulletin boards. Usually committees of pupils help individuals put up materials with a view to keeping the total effect artistic. In Petersburg, W. Va., boys and girls maintain a public bulletin board by the town bank. Children often have individual hobbies, and some schools plan hobby shows each year at which boys and girls and adults display things made.

A one-room school in Minnesota developed a museum. In working with this, the boys and girls learned to organize, display, and use materials of the community. The museum was started when a boy found a curious-looking boot-shaped rock and brought it to school. Teacher and other children were interested.

"It's such an unusual shape," Miss Nelson, the teacher, said. "Will you let us keep it on display for a while? Perhaps one of the children will want to send it to the State museum to find out how it was formed."

Soon other rocks were brought to school. Then came shells, pine cones, bird nests, Indian relics, and fossils. Nearly everything that any boy or girl brought was found to have an interesting background. When curiousminded youngsters began to ask questions, parents sent things to school: A sampler made in 1830, a 125-year-old agate penholder from England, a pewter mold 75 years old, and a German beer stein dating back a century. These, and many more items, each with a bit of history, were added to the museum. At first they seemed odd and unrelated. Relationships were found when the children looked into the history of the different items. In the museum now are collections from many countries and a display of articles from different Indian tribes.

Sometimes school museums are not as useful as they might be because the children have little part in studying, identifying, labeling, and organizing materials. The displays too often are unrelated to the other activities of the curriculum and are left on the shelves to gather dust. When this happens, the museum that might be a rich source of learning becomes just a

3 See also: Materials of Instruction. New York, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1935. 242 p. (Eighth Yearbook of the Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction of the National Education Association.)

Petersburg Builds a Health Program. Washington. U. S. Government Printing Office, 1949. (Federal Security Agency, Office of Education, Bulletin 1949, No. 9.) p. 46.

worn-out curio shop of little real use. Organizing, labeling, and using are the jobs that skillful teachers help their children learn to do.

Miss Nelson helped the children to group related objects. The rocks were put in one collection; the fossils, arrowheads, and other relics, in another; the pine cones, coconuts, Spanish moss, and specimens of different kinds of wood, in still another. Items were labeled with names and interesting facts. She also encouraged the children to box collections and put away those not This made space for the active collections. When a boxed collection was needed, it was put on display.

in use.

In one- and two-teacher schools, especially, children learn to free the teacher for teaching by looking after their own materials. When one job is done, they put away in proper places the crayons, construction paper, or sewing materials that have been used. Without asking the teacher, they get out the library books or bulletins that they need for the next job.

This independence of children is achieved by the teacher's planning and by teacher-pupil planning. Children cannot use their materials independently unless the teacher helps them anticipate their need for the materials and plans with them to keep things in proper places. Cupboards along the wall with pigeonholes low enough for even young children to reach are necessary. If such cupboards are not built into the schoolhouse, the older children make them from vegetable crates. Boxes or baskets for scissors, painted coffee cans for clay, jars for paste within the reach of the children who use them most, places for games and puzzles and other toys are necessary. Teacher and children discuss the importance of putting things back in proper