101

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The Literary and Technical Course of Insteuction. — Besides the usual course of instruction given by the members of the staff, we had this session special lessons on kindergarten work and modelling in plasticine. Miss Landels gave a course of lessons on paper-folding and paper-cutting, in which the students were much interested. Mr. Walls, the instructor in modelling, spoke highly of the work done by the students in this subject. I gave the students the first of a series of practical lessons in paper-folding, which were afterwards given in the Normal School and in some of the associated schools. On the whole, they were satisfactory, and of real educational value and interest. Before we introduce kindergarten work or manual work into the public schools, large or small, we should, I t'nink, have a definite course of experimental lessons on the subject. The object of these lessons should be (1) to determine the most suitable subjects for public-school classes, and (2) to arrange a definite course of lessons, together with instructions with regard to the methods and principles to be adopted in teaching kindergarten and manual lessons. I hope to be able to keep this end in view in carrying on the work of the Training College. Illustrative and Model Lessons at the Training College.—The first practical lessons of the year dealt with the various educative methods of teaching the alphabet, word-building, and reading; and these were followed by constructive exercises in working and illustrating the principles of teaching this subject. Some forty leesons were given in this branch of our work. In arithmetic, written and oral, forty-four lessons were given in the Training College classes. Twenty-nine lessons were given in grammar, chiefly in the lower school. During the last few years the lessons in geography have been mainly those of Standards 11. and 111., with occasional lessons in Standard IV.; but this year we have given more attention to mathematical and physical geography. Some twenty-four lessons on the form of the earth, its motions, and the causes of the seasons proved of interest and benefit to the trainees. A few systematic lessons on map-drawing completed our geographical studies. I have always to take up the subject of time-tables early in the session, and I feel that far too much time is given to this subject, considering the unimportant place it holds in a good course of training. Students have to be taught to draw up time-tables of every kind, variety, and type. Students, as a rule, have had no experience in working under these time-tables, and in learning them they are simply reproducing other people's time-tables. To prepare, revise, and reproduce them in a given time is, to a large extent, an uninteresting and valueless exercise. It may be a good exercise in memorising to be able to reproduce a complicated time-table in half an hour, but the time required to bring students up to this point could be much more profitably spent in other ways. I should like to see this branch of our work omitted from the examination in school method, or at least omitted from the paper in the form in which it usually appears. The object-lesson course of instruction has been more complete this year than we have ever had it. Some time ago I wrote to thirty of the teachers in small schools asking them for the lists of object-lessons given during the year, showing their method of grouping the classes Preparatory to Standard 111., and the time given to the subject. With this information I was enabled to make a better arrangement for the object-lessons given by the students in the Model School. It is clear that we must have a four-years course unless we repeat the lessons from year to year with the same pupils. To group Preparatory and Standards 1., 11., and 111., giving them the same object-lessons, seems to me very unwise : some are too simple for the standard classes; others too difficult for the infants. So far as I see at present, it would be better to place the Preparatory classes and Standard I. in one division, and Standards 11. and 111. in another, giving the lessons on alternate weeks if the time-table will not allow of weekly lessons. The first thing to do, however, is to get a really good practical selection of subjects—that is, good in so far as they give a good field for mental training, and practical in so far as the illustrative material is well within the reach of the average teacher. I have gone to some pains to prepare a list that will, I think, satisfy these conditions. Most of them have been given at the Normal School or in the Training College classes. To keep the various school registers and to make up the various departmental forms and returns require constant practice for a month ; but this is work with which the students must be made perfectly familiar, and the time given to the subject is well spent. Twenty-three lessons were given to the pupils in paper-folding, and a few lessons in plasticine modelling. The training which our pupils receive in drawing and singing on its practical side with the standard classes is not so complete as it should be. I give a great deal of time to the principles of teaching and to methods of teaching, but the history of ancient and the evolution of modern educational systems is treated somewhat briefly owing to the stress of other subjects. The Model School.—The only subjects in which we have made any material alteration this year are object-lessons and science lessons. The science lessons in small schools must be a source of anxiety and dissatisfaction to every teacher who wishes to do good work. It is usual in country schools to take a course of lessons on agriculture or on agricultural chemistry. We have not tried this course in the Model School, but we have made an effort to devise a course of science lessons more general in its character, and something after the " nature study" lessons so common a feature of the science work in many English and American schools. Mr. Gray was interested in this work, and a few lessons under ibis supervision were given every Wednesday by the students in the Model School. I hope in the course of time to have a complete and suitable course of lessons in science for our Model School. The Associated Schools.— The students have not been sent to the associated schools so frequently as I should have liked, owing to the many incidental breaks in school-work last year. The students enjoy their visits to the associated schools, and recognise in this change of work an opportunity for widening their experience of schools and school-work. I have to thank the headmasters for the interest which they take in the students' lessons. Examination for Certificates. —Twenty-eight students presented themselves at the annual examination. Of these, two passed the C certificate, seven secured a full D and fifteen a partial