came on my birthday." 



fully see the display but those farther away are only able to 

 catch a glimpse of the exhibit as they move on the next 

 display. 



"The conducted tour is quite different. When my son's 

 class went on the conducted tour at the museum, they were 

 first given an introductory talk about the exhibits they were 

 to see that day. They were then conducted to tlie various 

 displays that were related to a specific subject which, in this 

 case, was the American Indians and their masks. At each 

 display the guide gave a little talk and then the children 

 asked questions. The guide was able to answer them where- 

 as a teacher would have had difficulty in doing so. 



"The children gained greater appreciation for the In- 

 dian masks and their meanings. The class then was able 

 to apply their new found knowledge in their classroom. I 

 believe the conducted tours are a great benefit to the chil- 

 dren in light of the limited time they are able to spend on a 

 field trip." 



At Miss Wood's suggestion I arranged to join a group of 

 third graders as they took a guided tour of the Museum. 

 When I arrived for the tour Miss Wood and three volunteer 

 guide-lecturers, Mrs. C. W. Sidwell, Mrs. Charles Fuller 

 and Mrs. Robert Elmore — all from the Service Club of Chi- 

 cago, were holding a hasty strategy meeting. The logistics 



of marshalling hundreds of children a day through the ap- 

 propriate areas of the Museum are staggering and arc care- 

 fully planned by the Raymond Foundation staff. This 

 group's plans were being revised because instead of the 

 expected 60 students, over 100 arrived. This meant that 

 rather than each volunteer taking 20 students — a workable, 

 controlable number, she would have to take over 30. The 

 difficulties of maneuvering, making oneself heard and en- 

 couraging discussion increase proportionately with the num- 

 ber in a tour group. It was finally decided that the volun- 

 teers would take 90 of the students and the others would 

 have to tour on their own. 



The third-graders on this tour were from an area of 

 Chicago that sociologists euphemistically term blighted or 

 economically depressed. The common, accurate and pain- 

 ful term for this area is slum — hard-core slum. Almost 

 all of the children had been to the Museum at least once 

 before. 



Ninety children, three volunteers, two teachers and I 

 proceeded to the second floor meeting room to begin the 

 tour with a movie. The movie prepares the students for 

 the coming tour and, as an observant teacher pointed out, 

 settles them down after the excitement of the bus ride. 



After the movie each volunteer took a group of children 









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SEPTEMBER Page 9 



