Lawrence. Sacramento.

Teacher. Find it for me on the map. [Lawrence points to it.] All right. Another important city, Alma. [Alma shakes her head.] Steven.

Steven. Los Angeles.

Teacher. All right, find it. [Steven goes to the map and looks in northern California.] You are looking too high.

What is that noted for?

Steven. It is the metropolis.

Teacher. It is the largest city in the state.

What great industry surrounds it? [Class shake heads.] The movingpicture industry, Hollywood. [The lesson to this point has taken fourteen minutes.]

Teacher. To-morrow we are going to review the state of Oregon from the questions on page 184.

AN ARITHMETIC LESSON, GRADE 2

1. Kind of school: City grade in the better section of a university town.

2. Teacher: A high-school and normal-school graduate with four years of experience in teaching in primary grades. She was quick, alert, cheerful, and quiet in her dealing with children. Coöperation was excellent. Children displayed considerable responsibility for their own success.

3. Learning conditions: A well-lighted, comfortable room somewhat lacking in cheerfulness although very neat. The blackboards displayed well-spaced, plain writing which could be easily seen. Seats were adjustable and suited to pupils' needs. The whole atmosphere was favorable to quiet industry. A reading lesson had preceded.

4. Class activity: A group test for the purpose of determining individual needs in subtraction combinations.

5. Children: These ranged in age from six to eight. They were normal for grade, and all were making satisfactory progress. About thirty were present.

6. Previous work and day's assignment: The class had spent about twenty weeks on the usual second-grade work. The addition and subtraction facts had been grouped for presentation according to the answers that they gave; that is, the children learned everything that gave the answer six, etc. Previous to this lesson similar testing procedure

had been followed with the addition facts. In the exercise below, the combinations had been chosen apparently at random, though facts taught early in the year predominated. The day's preparation had consisted of twenty minutes of group study the day before from cards exposed in the chalk tray. Since each card contained the answer on the reverse side, the pupils were able to test each other with accuracy. 7. Materials used: A pack of forty-five commercially printed cards containing subtraction facts on both sides. The answers were on the cards so the children could check their own results during study. The teacher flashed the cards but also spoke the combination, sometimes using the term less, and sometimes take away. These cards were flashed at the rate of about four a minute.

8. The lesson: Spelling paper is passed by the monitors. Every child is equipped with a sharp pencil.

Teacher. When you are ready, sit up nice and tall. [The children have been asked to write the numbers from one to forty-five on the left edge of their lined paper so as to be ready to write the answers to the combinations as they are flashed.]

Doris.

Should we fold our paper? Teacher. Fold it quickly then. Now we will have a nice straight row to put your numbers on. [Children fold the paper vertically about one-half inch from the edge to form a margin line.] All ready, boys and girls. Up nice

and tall. Everybody up. Pencils up. [Children raise

their arms and hold their pencils above their heads. The teacher exposes the first card.] Ten less five. Put down your answers. Six less five [exposing second card]. Nine less two [third card]. Five less two [fourth card]. Eleven less nine [fifth card]. Eight take away six [sixth card]. Hurry up, Bobbie. [The following cards are flashed and contents spoken by the teacher as the card is exposed.]

If you get lost, just put a cross. Ready for the next one.

Earl, eight less seven.

What number are you on? How many are on thirty-eight? [Eighteen children raise their hands.] How many are on thirty-nine? [Six raise their hands.] Never mind, I can tell which ones you left out by your answers. Ready, seven less five [flashing the card], and five less three [exposing card]. Put your pencils and paper in the desk until after dinner.

9. Comment: The lesson period of twenty minutes had passed. There was not time to expose the last few cards. The teacher stated that she would correct the papers and use them as a basis for further individual and group drills to perfect the work on that particular list of facts. In the subsequent work to be done, the remaining facts were all concerned with significant figures-no zero combinations were included.

SUGGESTED READINGS

1. ANDERSON, C. J., and BUSH, M. G., "The Supervisor at Work," Journal of Educational Method, Vol. 3, Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, December, 1923, January, February, March, 1924. 2. BOBBITT, Franklin, "The Supervision of City Schools," Twelfth Yearbook, National Society for the Study of Education, 1913, p. 95.

3. BURTON, William H., Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching (Appleton, 1922). There are at the end of each chapter very helpful observation outlines for the supervisor. Note particularly pp. 89-95; 130-139; 152-155; 169-175; 183-186; 209-210; 227-228; 256-258.

4. CUBBERLY, E. P., The Principal and His School (Houghton Mifflin, 1923). The chapter, "Planning the Supervision," contains one of the best discussions of the constructive criticisms of teaching.

5. DORSEY, Susan M., "Supervision as Liberating the Teacher," Proceedings of the National Education Association, Vol.

55 (1917), pp. 239-243. A very suggestive article containing a number of helpful suggestions regarding visitation and conference.

6. GILBERT, C. B., The School and Its Life (Silver Burdett, 1906). Two chapters: "The Visitation of the School" and "The Private Conference" are particularly helpful. 7. GRAY, W. S., "Methods of Improving the Technique of Teaching," Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, December, 1919, pp. 263-275.

8. MCMURRY, Frank M., Elementary School Standards (World Book Co., 1914).

9. MAXWELL, C. R., The Observation of Teaching (Houghton Mifflin, 1917).

10. MINOR, Ruby, "A Case Study in Supervision," Educational Administration and Supervision, May, 1921, p. 241. 11. MORRISON, J. C., "Methods of Improving Classroom Instruction Used by Helping Teachers and Supervising Principals of New Jersey," Elementary School Journal, Vol. 20, November, 1919, pp. 208-216. Many concrete suggestions based upon an analysis of replies received from supervisors concerning their procedure in visiting teachers.

12. NUTT, H. W., The Supervision of Instruction (Houghton Mifflin, 1920). There is a good chapter on visiting the teacher at work and criticizing the work of the teacher. 13. PAULU, E. M., Diagnostic Testing and Remedial Teaching (Heath, 1924). Concrete helps in discovering weaknesses in teaching results and in conducting effective remedial measures, Chapter VI.

14. POWER, L., How to Make Visits Profitable to Teachers," First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 11-19.

15. RUGG, George, "Visitation as a Means of Diagnosis," First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, National Education Association, 1922, pp. 7-11. 16. WAGNER, Charles A., Common Sense in School Supervision (Bruce, 1921). There are many helpful suggestions scattered through the book.

CHAPTER VIII

PLANNING FOLLOW-UP CONFERENCES

Conferences to be effective should follow a wellthought-out program for the improvement of teaching. Up to this point the discussion has centered around the single or isolated conference. Following the statement of the plan of the book in Chapter I, Chapter II told “what to look for" in the study of teaching; Chapter III, "what to say" in helping the teacher to better teaching; Chapter IV, how to organize classroom visitation; and Chapters V, VI, and VII illustrated procedures of analyzing and commenting upon teaching through the study of concrete situations. In these chapters the attention was centered upon the isolated interview. As a matter of fact, however, if supervisory conferences were merely isolated discussions of teaching, they would not be particularly effective. Conferences ought to be planned for a period longer than a single day. The principal or supervisor, in practice, having once arrived at an estimate of the teacher's ability by the procedures already given, should plan a long-time program of assistance. This program will in many cases be laid out in units of two or three weeks, or months, or even years. It is the purpose of this chapter to discuss as concretely as possible just such long-time, supervisor planning.

Follow-up conferences should be the outgrowth of a definite instructional policy. Just as the work of the classroom is consciously directed by aims, general and specific, so should the work of the supervisor be guided