University of Nebraska Kearney - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Kearney, NE)

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. . A. O. Thomas School Custodian, Ray Lantz, hurries to his morning work. . We Train Our Teachers The teacher-training program at Nebraska state teachers college at Kearney conforms to the procedures followed in the best teach- er-training institutions. It may be considered as involving three distinct areas—academic subject matter, theory courses, and practice. The first area of experiences is provided by the various subject-matter departments of the college; the theory area is provided for by courses in education; and the experiences of practice are the particular functions of the training schools. Two school systems now provide student teaching opportunity; name- ly, the campus school, and the Kearney pub- lic schools. The A. O. Thomas demonstration school, which is a campus school, provides teaching experience for elementary grades, kinder- garten through the eighth. The school serves two purposes—to provide student teaching and demonstration facilities, and to afford normal educational opportunity for elemen- tary pupils who attend. The school does not follow the philosophy of the extreme liberal group as advocated by the Progressive Edu- cation Association, nor is it ultra-conserv- ative. As illustrative of the effort to enrich the program for elementary school children, Page 18

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Eileen Lynch, Music W. Bruner, Biology Louise Adams, Demonstration School Supervisor Cecile L. Chambers, Demonstration School Supervisor L. F. Klein, Physical Education Bernice D. Dunlavy, Home Economics Louise Enochs, Home Economics A. E. Burke, Director of Demonstration School ]. D. Hansen, Speech Roland B. Welch, Commerce Richmond Davis, English Alta Berquist, School Nurse Harold Oakes, Physical Education Faye Colegrove, Physical Education Page 17

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the A. O. Thomas school curriculum provides for activity work as follows: Physical education, grades ........1-8 Music and Art, grades .............1-8 Conversational French, grades......1-8 Shop work, grades .................1-8 Home Economics, grades ............5-8 Visual education plays a prominent part in the program. One room is fitted with cur- tains for excluding light when the sound equipment is used. A balopticon, property of the school, is also used quite largely for throwing pictures from books on the screen. A daylight lantern with slides is used in all the various rooms. Maps and globes are available and much used. Appropriate pic- tures and statuary are on display in all rooms and corridors. The largest room of the building is used for the school library and contains some three thousand volumes. The program of teaching at the Thomas school consists of four weeks directed ob- servation, four weeks participation, followed by ten weeks of directed teaching. In this way students are gradually inducted into the teaching process. The college is greatly indebted to the Kear- ney public schools for the privilege of ob- servation and cadetting inaugurated this year. Prospective secondary teachers are assigned, once each semester, to a class in one of the fields of specialization selected by the student teacher. The Kearney junior and senior high schools thus serve as a field in which young people may learn how modern public schools operate. College students ob- serve the activities of all types of work, not only class routine, but home-rooms, extra- curricular, library, corridors, and all the varied experiences of a well organized, pro- gressive school system. The experience of the cadet begins with directed observation, and as rapidly as the candidate for teaching demonstrates his ability, he moves through participation into actual directed teaching. This results na- turally in variations in type of activity made available to different individuals, which is in accord with best educational procedure. A committee, composed of faculty mem- bers of the city schools, of the college, and student teachers, has developed a very in- teresting outline to be followed in observa- tion. Experience gained in observing and dealing with adolescents in a modern public school system such as Kearney, will prove most valuable to our prospective teachers. —A. E. Burke. . . Both pupils and teachers 'learn by doing' in the A. O. Thomas primary activity room . . Page'19