Alberta Normal School - Aurora Yearbook (Edmonton, Alberta Canada)

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STAFF GARNEAU PRACTICE SCHOOL s III 1 M t i fIK I

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AURORA, 1941-42 YOUR CHOICE “Journeying by land and journeying by sea, coming and going so strangely to meet and to act and react on one another, move all we restless travellers through the pilgrimage of life.”—Dickens. I have watched for a number of years this action and reaction; this adjustment to new situations; this experience of first adventures in the Practise School, and I have learned to appreciate the fact that you students face an ordeal which is demanding as well as develop¬ ing. In times such as we now face, when positions are more plentiful but where remunerations for services in the teaching profession are still low, one asks why such a choice has been made. If you would strive to become financially secure in your mellowing years, or you are in search of an easy job, then you may be unaware of what is before you. It becomes apparent that behind the choice lies the high quality of service. Nothing may become so cold and cheerless as the first glimpse of your new school. You will find within its walls the positive and the negative, the alert and the dull, but when experience has taught you to meet situations and understand personalities, you will experi¬ ence a satisfaction of achievement that is rare indeed in other pro¬ fessions that you might have chosen. That you may often capture this thrill and that it may lead you to the highest and best in the teaching profession, is the sincere wish of the Staff of the Practise School. M. W. MacDONALD, Principal, Queen Alexandra Practice School

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AURORA, 1941-42 27 TO B€ TRULY GR€flT Today the constituency of an efficient teacher reaches out beyond the con¬ fines of his classroom. Much is expected of him as a contributor to social bet¬ terment and to that extent his responsibility as a member of the community is great. Active participation by pupils in organizations and institutions helpful to the common good should be the goal of every teacher. The great purpose of living is to pass on the best from the past and present to the next generation. With this purpose constantly before him a teacher will do real service. Yet this high service must receive tangible recompense. A teacher re¬ ceives satisfaction from a gleam of intelligence on the face of a learning pupil. Someone has called this the teacher’s psychical salary. However, this is not enough. The teacher is worthy of recompense commensurate with high service. In attitude can we learn something from the response of the Grade Eight boy when admonished by his mother not long ago? The mother said, “You don’t get right down to business. You must learn to think.” The boy replied, “But, mother, I can think. The trouble is I don’t know much.” A hopeful future! ALBERT E. MIGHT. AN APPRECIATION The Practise School teachers have been affected as much as any one by the many changes of this year. Despite this they have continued in unfailing help¬ fulness and patience with us. There is a story of an old Chinaman who sent his son to clean the garden walk, and, although it had been swept and washed until it was spotless, the old man was still dissatisfied with it. Each of the boy’s further attempts to make the walk cleaner met with the old man’s scorn. Then, to show his son what was lacking he shook the trees growing beside the path until their fallen leaves, tinted by autumn, formed beautiful patterns across the bare walks. Some of us may attain to the son’s standard of punctilious discharge of duty, but, as the father added beauty to service so the Practise teachers have added the kindly and gracious gift of interest in us as individuals. To them this year’s Normal class says a heartfelt “thank you”.