Show SUPERINTENDENTS SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT IRON COUNTY s SCHOOL DISTRICT Continued from last week 01 SUPERVISION J OP OI INSTRUCTION J The he problem of supervision in a sparsely populated district su such h as Iron ron C County is one of ot great dif difficulty yet et of great Importance Schools III are i maintained for the training of children Supervision can be justified only ony so far as ns it aids In the teaching process It is often n far cry from child hild to supervisor The difficult difficulty of S Supervision in Iro Iron County becomes app apparent rent with a u study of the teaching leaching personnel The tear teaching iring staff Is n changing bod body composed composes of about 15 5 per cent new teachers each year T Th he new teachers are arc of two types the beginning t teachers teachers teachers' chers and the experienced ex- ex teachers who are entering the system for the first time Both Doth need iced the harmonizing and coordinating Influence of a supervisor Iron lion Count County bounty used sixty seven te teachers hers for the year 26 1925 12 or 18 per cent of if lh them tk-m m were beginning teachers while 17 or 25 per cent of them Were e entering the district for the first time but were experienced tea hers Every very effort possible has been made I to secure the best teachers available within the ran range e of the districts district's ability to pay Even among the experienced experIenced exper- exper teachers however there is need for teacher training and Improvement Improve ment meat ment of teaching technique Improvement of teaching process harmonizing harmon harmon- izing the w work rk done in the various schools securing the cooperation of teachers the direction of teacher activity and the measurement of pupil and nd teacher progress then are among the duties of the Supervisor The Superintendent has done much uch of the supervision In the schools at t Cedar I City and and all all aU of it in the rural schools Table 5 1 2 3 4 A I 5 C G I 7 Name Type of No of No of Per Cap T Total tal per School Schoot Enrollment Teachers Trips cost trip cap cost Nada 1 teacher 9 5 b 3 Summit 2 teachers 36 2 G 6 21 18 Cedar ledar City 3 G teachers 24 24 15 15 01 Ol 15 4 Prin Desert New Castle 3 teachers s io s Modena Modern 1 teacher i 1 I I II I. I Valley Volley 1 teacher J Beryl Deryl 1 teacher c Or 3 3 36 1 10 08 3 Parowan G C G I teachers t t 15 15 Supt 3 33 3 j i f Prin Print D 9 90 P Midvalley l w And Enoch 1 teacher Leacher Gl 61 25 8 12 9 96 G Iron Springs 1 teacher SO 0 1 l' l 3 25 7 75 5 Par Paragonah gonah 4 teachers 4 1 9 08 03 7 72 3 teachers 84 3 G 0 09 5 54 Table No 5 gives the schools in the County their enrollment number numbe r of teachers tl trips made to the school in ps the capacity of supervisor the pe per capita cost per trip and the total per capita cost for supervisor It will b be e noted from column 5 b that many more trips were made to some schools the th others which in general is justified by the high cost of supervision Fro Fron Table 5 column 6 G it will be observed that the per capita cost of in Nada is times as great as in Cedar City and that these towns o 0 othe 01 the desert New Castle Modena Hamlin Valley and Beryl have a per capita capiti cost of supervision 36 times that of Cedar City While it is the duty o othe of the Board to equalize the opportunity of schools in the District as muc mu much muchas h as possible the geography of t the e county greatly influences its ability t todo to tJ do so The Superintendent spent about 40 90 per cent of his time in supervision i in hi n 26 1 25 which is much too small a portion in which to really aid in teacher r improvement This however is all the time available for this activity with wit rh h the demands of administration constantly increasing The supervision has ha s consisted of personal visits to the teachers in the class room personal conference conference con ference with them proceeding and following visits suggestions as to books book s which would be helpful to i individual teachers checking progress of children childre n by means of standard tests and conferences with principals and holdin holding institutes Institutes in Iron County have been attended with very muc much h interest and have contributed greatly to the fine spirit of cooperation e eiting existing ex ex- x- x among the teachers An alternating program of rural institutes and an d testing have been conducted during the past two years in the rural district t. t The institutes were extremely successful and did much to improve th the e teaching taching done in the rural schools The tests used were for diagnostic and an d comparative purposes It is important to find the strength and weaknesses weakness es of the child and the school then proceed to remove the weakness and maintain maintain main main- tain tam p the strength The tests used were very will continue to toof be beof beof of use in the future With the addition of a Primary Supervisor in Iron County ro fn V the year yea r 27 1926 which has been provided provid d for this phase of the work sh 1 I l succeed ed even better in the future than it has in the past TEACHERS There are many and varied factors factor which contrib contribute te to an efficient scho school ol system Important among them are proper organization and administration tion efficient supervision good buildings sufficient supplies supplied well chosen chose n books and adequate equipment but most important of all Is the teaching g staff It is ig the teacher r after all who comes in direct contact wit with h the child For years ears much emphasis has been placed on good buildings an and d dt suitable equipment During this period of expansion it was somewhat t natural that the teachers teacher's importance to the success of the school vy was Yas unrecognized Superintendents and School Boards the country over however however how hot ever are me now fully y awake to the fact that a poorly trained teacher politically political politics 1 ly appointed has no place in the class room Nom It is not an easy matter to determine just how successful an individual al alg teacher may be Much has been done dono recently along the tho line of measuring g a teachers achievement principally by measuring pupil progress Ma Many 1 y score cards for measuring teacher success have havo b been en devised some of the them m thet with a 11 great deal of merit Even now however much importance nce is a ato at attached at- at t t- t tIt to the supervisors supervisor's personal opinion of each ach individual teacher Itis It Itis is difficult to grade rade teachers impersonally am and therefore much danger awaits a a- waits the supervisor charged with this responsibility Until measuring becomes be comes more standardized personal will play an important part i ithe in inthe inthe n nr the e choice choice of the teach teaching in corps There are nrc qualities which cannot be r- r ed On the other hand there are certain things which can b be m measure measured rd d Since there thelo is a very high correlation between teacher training and success ss in teaching it is very important that the training of prospective scho school schoot ol be m measured Experience In the hands of well ell trained teachers rs usually contributes to the probability of success Therefore this fact factor facto r should be measured Personality though immeasurable and indefinable is important as liS a factor to successful teaching From what has been sai said d should be well trained where whre possible have experience nce and ond po possess possess pos pos- s- s sess Bess personality There are many other qualities which the writer pros up- up p- p poses should be present with V well 1 trained teachers Since the teacher turnover in Iron Irol County Is h so 80 great the choice of w we well ll qualified prospective teachers is no small responsibility The Superintendent Superintend d ent has worked diligently to fill every vacancy with a teacher possess possessing g character personality and educational background There has haa also atso been a conscious attempt to add maturity to the teaching personnel of Ir Iro Iron n County feeling that there is great danger of too much teaching in t the he hands of the immature IThe i iThe The Boards Board's policy of a certificated teach teacher r for every class room ma maa made madea de a marked improvement in the type of teaching done in the County T Th he heng teaching leaching staff in the County as a whole has made a very creditable shows showing ng I for lor the past y year ar and have very happily responded to supervision To Be De Continued |