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MUNDT 11880118 20 096 067 RC 008 109 AUTHOR Pox, Robert S., Ed. TITLE Teaching in the Small Community. Yearbook 1956, Department of Rural Education. INSTITUTION National Education Association, Washington, D.C. Dept. of Rural Education. PUB DATE 56 NOTT 225p.; Out-of-print Elm PRICE MF-60.75 NC-410.20 PLUS POSTAGE DESCRIPTORS Annotated Bibliographies; Classroom Environment; Community Involvement; *Curriculum Development; Family Life; Flexible Scheduling; Individualized Instruction; Instructional Materials; InterdisciplInary Approach; *Outdoor Education; Parent Participation; Resource Materials;*Rural Areas; *School Community Relationship; *Small Schools ABSTRACT Educators' main concern in 1956 is withteaching in small communities rather than exclusivelywith teaching in one-teacher schools. The modern rural school is likely tobe one which serves an entire community, usuallyincluding a hamlet, village, or small-town center and the surrounding opencountry area. Yet, the school tends to be small (about64 percent of all school districts have fewer than 10 teachers and about 11 percenthave 40 or more). Written for teachers who servesmall communitiese the Department of Rural Education's 1956 Yearbookfocuses on problems encountered by teachers in small schools throughoutthe United states. Emphasis is upon practical approachesto these problems, although it is recognized that no solution to oneteacher's problem can be transposed to anothersituation. The solutions are based on the assumptions that (1) good learningexperiences utilize and grow from the child's own environment; (2)education is more effective when directed toward the improvement ofliving; and (3)it is important that the school program besufficiently flexible and varied to allow each child theopportunity to grow to his maximum capacity. Also included are a 53 item annotated bibliographyand the roster of the Department's active members for the calendar year1955 and those enrolled prior to April 1956, listedalphabetically by States. (NQ) ii 40\# )100811V3A 9S61 li1 ONIHDV31 NI .3141 If' 'W101%4130 AN 113 ,i11V3K 1111113MINoitv)naa IVNOISVN sanaltiNt iD ,1,1 ¶O. aolavanaa iN %V1.4 Id 4 os VII ¶ 0)1.1141 4114 cv trOsiiiii mo MO . P4 0 A0+.1 *),1 4 OVI¼v 41,41et41 40 V *40)%140 I, ti 00 4U4 A0114,0010 041% 10 I ¶y MVIIM & 4414114 %Mu 'Vo40 4014,004, 40 &) FJay 17. 'AiNt.11.4.01/416PI , i 1 1,0,),,L,k,. ,-4... 44.,,-, ,.. ..,... % - ,., ;..... ' b..- . .......,.:.:,1,.. :sr.\ ' , , -1/4aLt- 4 . t . 1 0., Ike .- 11A"". .1 ..4 -* ., lir. 1 ' .. .* % .V 4 Alt t ' .a. V. ' ,. r0 311111-167---. I ." :4%1.11.11.V, al , , . ..- ,,I , r 141161e'w ,."--- . rms.% , .41; * 4 k trIP) I I T ) 14 . Lr' le . L s .4.404,vowpt. , a 111 V a V Teaching in the Small Community Edited by ROBERT S. FOX PERMISSION TO RIPRODLC.E THIS COPY RiGRTED MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED pv e gr - 0 014.-ERIC. AND ORGANI ?ATIONS OP MING/ UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE NATIONAL IN STITUTE Of EDUCATION FURTHER REPRO OUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM Rf DOMES PERMISSION Of THE COPYRIGHT OWNER Yearbook 1956 DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDVCATION National Education Association of the United States 1201 Sixteenth Strcet, Northwest, Washington 6,D C. COPYRIGHT1956 NATIONAL E.NUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION Published by the Department of Rural Education of the National Education Association of the United State., as a service to all 1956 members of the Depart- ment. Executive and editorial offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street, Northwest, Wash- ington 6, D. C. Sale price per copy $3. Discounts:2-9 copies, 10%; 10 or more copies, 20%; 20% to bookstores and other agencieslot resale purposes. FOREWORD With this 1956Yearbook the Department of Rural Educationagain teachers and of teaching. This turns itsattention directly to problems of is not a newconcern, for it appearsagain and again in The Journal of Rural Education,published by the Department from 1921 to 1926, and yearbooks which began their annual appear- in theofficial bulletins and mice inthe late 1920's. Amongthe titles published during the past quarter centuryare: Organization of Curriculumfor One-Teacher Schools (1933);Newer Types 6f Instruction in Small Rural Schools (1938); CommunityResources inRural Schools(1939) ;Child Development andTool Subjects in Rural Areas (1941) ; Guidance in Rural Schools(1942) ; and The Child in the Rural Environment (1951), as well asThe Rural Supervisor at Work (1949), which looks atprob- lems of teachersthrough the supervisor a eyes, and several volumes in such specialfields as school libraries, conservation education, and physical education. Significant differences between the rural Americaof two and three decades ago and the rural Americaof today are reflected in the literature in rural educationof that day and now. In 1930, approximately 25 per- cent of the UnitedStates population lived on farms, while 19 percent was classified asrural non-farm and 56 percent as urban. Today, only 15.6 percent of the population lives onfarms, while 25.3 percent is classified as rural non-farm and 58.8 percent asurban. In 1930, nearly 149,000 one-teacher schools were operating;today only about 39,000 of these remain. The number of schooldistricts has been sharply re- ducedfrom 127,530 in 1932 to 59,270 on July 1, 1955as stateshave sought to organize districts capable of providing the range andquality of educational offerings which rural life todaydemands. In 1956, therefore, we are concerned with teaching insmall com- munities, rather than with teaching in one-teacher schoolsexclusively. The modern rural school is likely to be one that serves an entire com- munity, usually including a hamlet, village, or small-town center and the surrounding open country area, Nevertheless, the schoolin a small community tends to be small (about 64 percent of allschool districts which operate schools have fewer than 10 teachers;only about 11 per- cent have 40 or more), so we must beconcerned with the distinctive iii . .. 6111101 problems facedby teachersin small about a million schools. Weare aware, childrennow travel too, that special problems to school inschool buses, arise fromthis circumstance. and that But more thanall else,we are concerned ing which with theteaching and goe: on in schoolsserving small learn- communities has communities.Life in small much incommon with life it also hasits distinctive in othercommunities, but qualities,some of which ficance forlearning. The have specialsigni- child'spresent needs and they arebecause ofthe problemsare what interrelationshipsof his life community. Outof whathe experiences and that ofhis attaches towords both come the meaningswhich he as he hears themand as he numbers and learns to read;to quantitativerelationships;to his interactions Out of these with others. same experiencescomes also the understanding ofan orderly universe basis fora growing and of man'slife Well used,theresources of rural and on the earth. smallcommunity are infinitely valuablefor learning environments up in this nation the kinds ofthings children and worldneed to know growing this Yearbook and understand. for the insightit gives into We commend and for its theseresources and their practical helpon varied problems use, persons who live and faced by thethousands of teach in smallcommunities. CLIFTON B.HUFF President HOWARD A.DAWSON ExecutiveSecretary iv CONTENTS Page Foreword iii 1956 Yearbook C.ornmittee vi Development of the Yearbook vii Acknowledgements ix CHAPTCR 1, Focus on the Small Community 1 2. What Do I Teach' 7 3. But These Children Are All Different! 31 4.Can I "Get It All In"' 51 5. We Have the Best Climate! 83 6. Where Can I Get Materials and Resources' 101 7. I Need To "Talk Shop" with Someone 115 8. The Community Should Help, But How? 129 9.I'm an Administrator, Too! 145 10. And Then, My Personal Life 161 Selected Bibliography 173 Official Records 183 Index 215 a 1956 YEARBOOKCOMMITTEE ROBERT S. Fox, Chairman Associate Professor ofEducation and Director ofthe University School, University ofM:thiganknn Abor, Mirti;gan EFFIE G. BATHURST Education Specialist,Office of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, andWelfare, Washington,D. C. DANIEL R. CHADWICK Principal and Uppet-Grade Teacher, Cave CreekElementary School, Phoenix, Arizona Lots M. CLARK Assistant Director, Divisionof Rural Service,National Education Association, Washington,D. C. MRS. BERYL E. Cu!. Amisrant Professor ofEducation and Supervisorof Teaching, Eastern Oregon College ofeducation, La Grande,Oregon CLARA E. COCKERILLE Assistant Superintendent of Schools, ArmstrongCounty, Kittan- ning, Pennsylvania DOROTHY 1. DIXON Assistant Superintendentof Schools, McDonough0.,unty, Ma- comb, Illinois ANNE S. HOPPOCK Assistant Director,Elementary Education,State Department of Education, Trenton, NewJersey LILLIAN D. JOHNSTON Educational Consultant, ElDorado County Schools,Placerville, California CHARLES L. KINCER Supervisor, Rural SchoolImprovement Project,Pine Mountain, Kentucky MRS. GENEVIEVE BOWENSHAW Pebble Hill Acres,Doylestown, Pennsylvania MRS. MARIE R. TURNER Superintendent of Schools, Breathitt County, Jackson,Kentucky vi DEVELOPMENT OF THE YEARBOOK One of theexciting differences between the usual professional book and most j...:books is the high level of cooperative effort represented in the last.The Department of Rural Education hasbeen fortunate in having beenable to draw upon the rich resources of its .iembershipwd many other persois vitally concerned withproblems of teaching in the small communityin the development of this 1956 Yearbook.