Reference Library

The teacher should herself have a professional library of one or more books, treating respectively of textiles, of fabrics, of the design and construction of clothing, and of the history of costume, the economic and social aspects of clothing, etc. She should encourage her school to develop a reference library for students' use. Other volumes in the series of which this book is one, will be found useful. Books can usually be secured from publishers on examination and this will help in judgment. Individual students besides owning the text-book, should be encouraged to secure additional material; in several States, the State College of Agriculture prints one or more bulletins on dress for free circulation and the office of Home Economics of the U. S. Department of Agriculture will shortly publish bulletins on textiles; in some cases students can develop their own permanent collection of fabric samples.

Score Cards

Some teachers are finding score cards a useful method in instruction. A score card is a schedule listing the different aspects of some object or situation, with proportionate numbers assigned to each item on the list on a scale of 100, each item being given a larger or smaller number in accordance with its relative importance. The score card is then used in judging different examples of the particular object; each object in being scored is examined in regard to the characteristics listed and for each characteristic is given a more or less perfect score, according to its perfection in that particular regard; the total score is the sum of the scores for the various characteristics. The following are among score cards which have been suggested for judging clothing:

Sewing, Patching, Darning1

1Missouri State Board of Agriculture Bulletin XI, No. 11, p. 21. For other suggestions, see U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 255.

Fancy Work, Embroideryl

1 Missouri State Board of Agriculture Bulletin XI, No. 11, p. 21. For other suggestions, see U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 255.

Such score cards may be used in the teacher's criticism of student work; or in a competition of student work in an exhibit; they have been found useful in class-room discussions as outlining the complete standard by which work is to be judged. Score cards such as those above might well be carried out in more detail, by listing subordinate points under each heading and dividing the total credits for each main heading among its subordinate points.