9. Old age and death. 10. Chief traits of character. III. Geography of the Section Covered by Poem. Locate as named in poem-(1) mountain, IV. Period of Time Covered by Poem. Review such portions of Scotch and Eng- VI. Poem Read by Class. 1. For interest in the story given, 4. For lesson of chivalry taught by poem, VII. Incidental Preparatory Work by Pupils. 1. Pronounce and define difficult words. 3. Analyze difficult sentences to get mean- 4. Paraphrase difficult passages to get meaning. VIII. Imaging. Pupils select chief characters of each. canto and make original "word portraits," using as guides the descriptions given in poem. IX. Chief Traits of Principal Characters. These should be written clearly and succinctly, teacher assigning one or more to each pupil at discretion. Read in class. X. Short Quotations. 1. Pupils select for themselves such as appeal to them most forcibly. 2. Memorize same each pupil his own se- 3. Class recitations of these quotatiors. XI. Review Poem. 1. Tell the story, one or more cantos at a lesson, keeping chronological order of main incidents. 2. Re-read, aloud, best descriptions given by 3. Re-read, in class, best papers by pupils. XII. Quotation Match. XIII. Dramatize for School Entertainment. Use a dramatization prepared by some reliable and experienced person. Teacher makes regular program, assigning readings, recitations, etc. (chronological order being carefully preserved), to members of class, following, in general, outline given for Review of Poem, above. Teacher must briefly tell the story between the parts to preserve the continuity and hold the interest of audience. Intersperse with Scotch songs, bagpipes, quotations match, etc., but do not attempt costuming. Use map, portrait, and pictures all through, for benefit of audience. Need to rehearse thoroughly or program will consume too much time; ninety minutes should be the outside limit for the full dramatization, including all music, etc. XIV. Note Books by Pupils. These should include: 1. Map of section covered by poem. 2. Portrait of Sir Walter Scott. 3. Picture of Abbottsford. 4. Lock Katrine and Ellen's Isle. 5. Other appropriate pictures, if available. 6. Very brief sketch of author's life. 7. Brief outline of story in pupil's own words. 8. Short quotations of value for (a) thought, (b) expression. 9. Favorite passages. 10. Comparison of this poem with others of similar nature, giving resemblances and differences of the poems compared as to (1) location, (2) time, (3) plot, (4) motive, (5) treatment. THE NEW YEAR. As mountain travelers, at some resting place 1809-HONOR THE CENTENNIAL OF LINCOLN'S BIRTH-1909 ON N Friday, February 12, is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the immortal Lincoln and an effort is now being made to declare that date a national holiday. Certainly something more than an ordinary celebration of the day should take place this year in honor of this great patriot. We trust every Wisconsin school will at least suspend the regular exercises on Friday afternoon, February 12, and give a memorial program to which the citizens generally shall be invited. Every boy and girl in this country should know Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address which is given herewith. Walt Whitman's famous "Oh Captain! My Captain!" is also a classic which should be a part of every Lincoln day exercise. The libraries of the country are full of material relating cago, have a book entitled "Lincoln, the Patriot" which sells for 15c. Another book has just come from the press, published by the same firm, called "Lincoln Day Entertainments" and sells for 25c. A handsome lithograph of Lincoln, 221⁄2 x 282, suitable for framing, may be obtained of A. Flanagan Company for 35c, postpaid. This will be a good picture to use in connection with the exercises and later to adorn the walls of the schoolroom. The picture given here is a reduced half-tone of this lithograph. We present these suggestions in this issue of the Journal that plenty of time may be afforded teachers for the preparation of the exercises on February 12. Perhaps this year not so much attention need be paid to Washington's birthday. The Lincoln centennial, however, should be honored everywhere, in school and out. Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Nature, they say, doth dote, And cannot make a man Save on some worn-out plan, Repeating us by rote. For him her Old-World moulds aside she threw, Of the unexhausted West, With stuff untainted shaped a hero new, Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true. These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, REST AND PLAY. Rest a little, play a little, Rest will fit for better work, And play will bring good cheer; Rest a little, play a little, Man was made to toil, CONDITIONS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL PRIMARY READING. I. MARY D. BRADFORD. The first condition of success in the teaching of primary reading, as in all teaching, is real ability for her work on the part of the teacher; the degree of success attained being in direct proportion to the teacher's personal and pedagogical strength. Of personal qualification nothing need be said here, except to mention that its two chief elements are sympathy and enthusiasm. Granted necessary fundamental knowledge, her pedagogical strength will depend upon her clearness of understanding of scientific method, and her skill in exemplifying this. That is, she must have the science which comes from study and observation, and the art which comes from practice. First, what should her study and observation have indicated to her as the best method in teaching primary reading? Second, what should her art be able to produce in the way of results? The manual of the course of study for common schools sets forth the best method used today in the most successful schools of our land. The method is scientific because it is natural. There is no need here of telling in detail what that method is; it must be familiar to you. A summary of it is this: There can be no learning where there is not attention; hence the attention of the pupil is the first thing to strive for. There can be no attention, where there is felt no interest; hence interest is the necessary means to attention. There are certain natural interests of children that can always be relied upon; one of these is physical activity. At the beginning of reading work, method should be so managed as to involve for the child as much doing as possible. Before he enters school there is scarcely a moment of healthy, waking life when he has not been moving. To reduce the little child at this stage to a condition of quiet is to damage him, by doing violence to his nature. This is the reason why so many children, bright and promising up to school age, children whose life up to six years has been a marvelous period of acquisition, even with little help from parents, lose their brightness and are not even average in school. This is particularly true of the motor type of children. The thwarting of natural instincts, disregard of nature's methods of promoting intellectual growth, by the activity of the senses, and by the directed use of his motor tendencies, have been followed by their inevitable consequences. This simple evident psychology has of late years been taking hold of our school practices. We are allowing just as much activity in the primary school as is consistent with mass teaching. We are surrounding the child with material to stimulate sense perception. late sense perception. We are using instinctive and impulsive tendencies in as many ways as possible, drawing off, as it were, this energy into the mill-race of school practice, and making it turn necessary educational machinery. The best method in teaching primary reading does exactly that thing. Teachers, believng the theory just enunciated, do not always use the same devices in carrying it out. Some make interest in the child's home life furnish the first motive for learning to read; others, interest in stories; others, interest in objects or pictures; others, interest in child life; some start with the method given in detail in the manual. Those using the last named find four sorts of sentences entering into their scheme: The imperative sentence, whose command the child executes, as, Open the box; the indicative sentence, to be made true, as, Charlie has the apple; the indicative sentence, whose truth the child is called upon to demonstrate, as, The leaf is green; the interrogative sentence, which asks him a question to be answered by yes or no, as, Is the leaf on the box? With this method and it numerous devices, reading—that is, searching for thought in sentences— begins at once; there is no preliminary laborious learning of the names or sounds of symbols; these are left to be mastered when the child realizes a purpose for doing so. When started with the sentence, a purpose for learning words may soon be relied upon. The child sees that the more words he knows the more sentences he can read; and the more sentences he can read the more things he can Hence word drills command attention, because he sees a purpose in them. Next, through his interest in words, the teacher can make a purpose felt for mastering the sounds of the letters, and with the learning of the sounds, he picks up the names of the letters. Now phonic drills, as well as word drills, command the attention of the child, because he realizes his need of knowing the sounds that he may find out words, and hence read more sentences. |