97- Rural School Leaflet 



SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS 

 Edward M. Tuttle 



The first pages of this leaflet contain the point of view from which 

 we regard the work in Nature-Study and Elementary Agriculture. Fol- 

 lowing this are notes outlining the work for the year and presenting 

 certain fundamental considerations. We shall now mention some specific 

 ideas that may be of value to the teacher who desires to secure the interest 

 of his pupils and the cooperation of the community. While we are particu- 

 larly concerned with the work in Nature-Study and Elementary Agri- 

 culture, we are in no sense blind to the fact that it is but one portion of 

 the school curriculum. With this in mind we venture to make the follow- 

 ing suggestions, not as our own, but as a result of the experience of persons 

 who have actually been successful in this work. 



I. How to secure interest. — In many schools the work with nature is 

 new and teachers find difficulty in securing active response from their 

 pupils. It seems that once an interest is created, the expansion of the 

 subject is very simple. To secure the first attention a comprehensive 

 and detailed examination of some one or two common objects has been 

 found valuable. Something that the children see every day of their 

 lives should be taken and carefully studied with them. The exercise 

 will reveal facts regarding the object which the children have never before 

 realized. After one or two repetitions this appears to create a spontane- 

 ous desire to see whether other familiar objects possess characteristics 

 usually hidden from the ordinary observer. Once this spirit of inquiry 

 is gained and when it is guided and directed by the teacher, the rest follows 

 naturally. This presupposes that the teacher is prepared. One of the 

 most significant remarks that has recently come to our attention was made 

 by a teacher of thirty years service with notable success, who, when 

 asked what was the secret of her work, said, " I try to be always ready " 

 — ready, that is, to cooperate intelligently with the pupils in their eflorts 

 to name and explain things. 



