Joliet Junior College - Shield Yearbook (Joliet, IL)

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JOLIET TOWNSHIP Departments of the School English The English Department is a life-sized one, hav- ing enrolled in its fifty-six sections of high school and college work 1,550 students. System is its watch- word. Mr. Trams, head of the department of thir- teen teachers, issues each year a manual which out- lines the aims of each course, the texts used, depart- ment regulations, questions for outside reading, and a calendar of work which is followed week by week. An equal amount of work is covered in all sections of one subject, and at a given time each class is working at the same problem. In the Junior College every student is provided with a manual outlining the requirements in a similar way, but containing in addition a schedule of daily assignments. The work offered is similar to that of other schools, three years of required English, electives of American or English Literature or Public Speak- ing in the senior year of high school. Rhetoric in the first year of the Junior College and English and American Literature offered as electives. One dis- tinctive method is the alternating of literatu re and composition throughout each semester. Special at- tention is given to cultivating in the students good reading habits. Diagnosis is made through stand- ardized reading tests. The pupils learn the use of reference books through study and practice based on Hopkins ' Reference Guides. The Junior College students work out weekly library problems and pre- pare extended bibliographies. This year a new plan for outside reading was de- vised. The books on mimeographed lists prepared for each semester are credited according to their length and value, and a minimum number of points is established as a requisite for passing a course. Pupils file simple reports on printed blanks. In the advanced work these reports are made more detailed and demand finer critical ability on the part of the students. The plan has proved so successful that a thousand copies of the books listed will be added to the high sehool library to take care of the demands which the public library could not fill. Members of the public speaking classes render constant service to the school in speaking before the home rooms and in the Auditorium in behalf of school enterprises. Each year they furnish several fine entertainments, finishing off their achievements with the Junior College Play in February and the Senior Play in June. Page Eight

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To Miss Julia H. Woodruff We The Class of 1922 Most Respectfully Dedicate This Booh Page Seven

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HIGH SCHOOL 1922 Like a sturdy youth who grows so fast that his clothes are unable to keep up with him, the English Department overflows into all nooks and corners of the building, but like the same youth it wastes no tisne lamenting its lack of frills, for it is chiefly concerned with a healthy and substantial develop- ment. Foreign Languages Foreign language study aims might be said to be two-fold, pleasurable and practical, were it not that what is worthily pleasurable is, in the high- est sense, practical. In Joliet schools foreign language study opens gates into pleasant pastures of joyous compre- hension of some of the world ' s best literature. It assists in giving proper historical perspective necessary for present day problems. For this a working knowledge of the particular language studied is necessary. The first year work is therefore devoted largely to the devel- opment of power. The tools of language such as vocabulary and a minimum amount of gram- mar are given. The student is taught how to find his way in this, to him hitherto uncharted . field of expression, oral and written. In the muJern languages oral work is emphasized through direct method class room work. Later more attention is paid to the thought con- tent. The student becomes more aware of the author ' s message as expressed on the printed page. He gained in ability to use the power ac- quired in the previous classes. It is not always the amount of foreign language possessed at the close of a course that measures its value. It is not easy to determine progress by content. There must be content, but the power gained may be so great as to overshadow this in value to the stud- ent. The power may be an interest paying in- vestment in which the interest is frequently com- pound. The student who has by patient exacting work acquired the use of a foreign language, has at the same time learned more of his own language and literature. He has done this by the neces- sary comparisons and contrasts drawn in the class room. Over five hundred students in the Joliet Schools are now taking advantage of the opportunity to broaden their thought by means of foreign lan- guage study. I ' aare Nine