Page 36 - 1916 February - To Dragma

TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 115

- THE VITALIZATION OF A R I T H M E T I C
f

g FELICIA L E I G H METCALFE, O '09

t Teacher in Fayetteville, Tenn.

. Nowadays most of us enter the teaching profession while we are
m yet young, and i f we are possessed i n any degree o f retentiveness of
o mind, we can remember our childish joys and sorrows engendered
e by lessons respectively interesting and insuperable. T o me,

vicariousness is the sine qua non o f successful teaching. I f we can't
o understand the child's viewpoint, how can we hope to get results?
e
y You have heard the joke about the teacher who required "Johnny"
r to write the words, " I have gone" several hundred times, and who
e found on her desk that afternoon the stipulated copies together with
a this laconic message, "Teacher, I have went home." A propos of
, this story I have a really truly anecdote to tell you about a young
- man of my acquaintance who, having been through preparatory school
and college was compelled to ask help i n solving a simple problem

when a note i n his possession, on which several payments had been
e made, came due. H o w f u t i l e are the old cut and dried methods of

teaching "Practical Arithmetic" !
e I am going to tell you of a plan that I have used quite successfully,

viz., the organization of a class bank. Children are quick to scent

the elements of play. Have you ever tried make-believe? Isn't it

f u n ? A n d so were our arithmetic lessons.

M y desk was utilized as the bank. The cashier, teller, and book-
keeper were selected f r o m the class by vote. T h e last named was
put i n charge of a nice, new ledger. I was the august auditor.

We used pasteboard money which is quite inexpensive while those
of artistic temperament fashioned realistic looking "green backs."
Deposits and withdrawals were made by the class and entered on
the ledger with meticulous care; loans were granted, notes were
drawn up, and interest calculated. Even the bug bear "partial pay-
ments" became child's play, f o r w i t h money i t was easy to see that
the interest must not be more than the payment. Numbers of the
parents became interested i n our financial adventures, several o f
them who were bankers donating blank check books.

M y sugar coated p i l l method brought me the satisfaction of fre-
quent unsolicited comments, such as, " I understand my arithmetic
better now than ever before." I am sure that the processes of
interest were made much clearer to the class, and alas, f o r honest
confessions—to myself as w e l l .