Since C D, or the “Y” school, has physical education the first hour in
the morning, and A B, or the “X” school, has it the last hour of the
afternoon, pupils in the “Y” school are permitted to come an hour later
in the morning, and the pupils in the “X” school are permitted to leave
an hour earlier in the afternoon. It will be observed from this program
that only one fourth of the pupils are engaged in group 1 during any
hour of the day. Four separate classes are, therefore, accommodated in
each regular classroom. Consequently, the capacity of the school plant
is four times that of the regular classrooms. But since a number of
rooms which would otherwise be used for classrooms are used for
laboratories and studios, the net capacity of the school plant operating
under the new program is, as under the old program, twice the capacity
of the total number of classrooms.
In the lower grades it is found desirable to use for formal physical
training, half an hour out of the two hours assigned to group 2. An
exchange is, therefore, made with the grammar and high-school grades,
which are assigned to the regular classrooms for an additional hour of
English and mathematics. In all grades the time assigned to group 4 is
divided between the teachers of physical education and play, and the
teachers of the subjects in groups 1 and 2. In the lower grades,
teachers of the regular studies use their share of the time—one hour—in
games and constructive plays that apply the subject-matter taught in the
classes. This is the “application” work which is so distinctive a
feature of the Gary school. It is planned systematically to give the
formal work of the school opportunity for expression through activity.
The music and literature teachers use the “application” period for
folk-dances, musical games, dramatics, modeling in clay and sand, and
for free imaginative play and construction. This “application” work is
carried on informally in the broad halls or in corners of the
playgrounds and playrooms. Whatever work has permanent value or interest
may then be practiced for presentation in the “auditorium” period. The
nature-study and science teachers use the application period for the
care of the lawns, trees, shrubbery, the conservatories, the gardens,
the animal pets. In the upper grades, mathematics teachers use this
period for the practical measuring and planning of the various
mechanical construction projects of the shops or grounds, or in
practical accounting in connection with the clerical work of the school.
In other words, it is in the “application” periods that that work is
done which contributes to the school community life which has been
described in the chapter on “The School as a Community.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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