__ . Copyright S?_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS BY THOMAS H. BRIGGS, A.B. OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, THE EASTERN ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL AND LOTUS D. COFFMAN, A.B. SUPERVISOR OF THE TRAINING SCHOOL, THE EASTERN ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL REVISED AND ENLARGED CHICAGO ROW, PETERSON & CO. v^ Copyright, 1908 By Thomas H. Briggs and Lotus D. Coffman Copyright, 1911 By Thomas H. Briggs and Lotus D. Coffman ©CI.A2S9490 PREFACE No attempt has been made to set forth in this book a novel theory of reading. But the best that is known and used by well trained and thoughtful teachers is here reported in some detail. The authors have drawn upon their own experience, both in teaching and in training others to teach, their reading, and their observation for every fact stated or device explained. Nothing is merely theoretical. Yet, it will hardly happen that any one reader, unless he have put long study on the subject, will find nothing new in the book. Even if he should, an orderly setting forth of things already known brings them to mind afresh and usually from another point of view. It is not expected that the book will prove equally helpful, of course, to all teachers. But the authors have aimed to be simple and direct and soundly practical. Teachers are urged to get the grasp of the entire second or third part, in whichever they are especially interested, before introducing the ideas of any one chapter into the schoolroom; for, although one point at a time should be emphasized in the teaching, the ideas in the various chapters are interwoven and are to a great extent interde- pendent. PKEFACE The problem of silent reading has been set forth as fully as experiment and experience seem to jus- tify. The authors believe, however, that this is an open and inviting field just now in education, and that more saving of time and efficiency can be secured through teaching children to read rapidly and retentively than through any other one means. But it is doubtful if further discussion and sugges- tion than are here given would prove helpful before the teachers themselves progress further in the matter. The plan of the book is easily comprehended from the table of contents. Part One treats of the sub- ject in a most general way. The first chapter con- sists largely of quotations from men who have thought deeply and expressed themselves effect- ively ; the second is historical of texts and methods. Part Two presents the theory and methods for the first three years, carefully avoiding discussion of mooted questions. It was the original plan to give separate parts to reading in the intermediate and in the upper grammar grades ; but the work so over- laps that it finally proved impracticable to divide it. Hence, Part Three sets forth the theory and gives detailed suggestions for teaching reading in the upper five grades. The obligations of the authors are many. Where there are direct quotations, acknowledgment is made in a footnote; but it is impossible to acknowledge the many minor points taken, often unconsciously, from books and magazines. The authors have read PKEFACE 5 every book and article on the subject that was accessible. The fact that they found nothing else covering just the field in which they were interested, encouraged them to prepare and publish this book. Acknowledgment must be made here of the assist- ance afforded by many friends, most of it coming from their regular class room work. To the critic teachers of The Eastern Illinois State Normal School especial obligation is due. Miss Anna H. Morse has been especially helpful in the preparation of the material used in the chapters on primary reading methods. To Mr. Forrest Sumner Lunt acknowledg- ment is made for assistance in the simple and excel- lent breathing and articulation exercises on pages 162-4. " T. H. B. L. D. C. Charleston, Illinois, July, 1908. PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION In response to repeated requests, the material on the teaching of literature has been considerably ex- panded. The original single chapter has been en- tirely rewritten, so that it now contains twice as much as formerly, and three chapters of special ap- plication of the principles set forth have been added. A few other changes, the need of which became manifest as the book was used by various state read- ing circles, have been made. T. H. B. L. D. C. March, 1911. CONTENTS PAET I Introduction chapter pack I. The Importance and Kinds of Beading 9 II. The History op Reading Methods and Texts.... 24 PAET II Primary Reading III. The Primary Period 36 IV. Primary Reading 45 V. A Typical First Lesson 51 VI. Oral Reading 55 VII. Silent Reading 62 VIII. Word Drills 70 IX, Phonics 79 X. Dramatic Reading 92 XI. Seat Work 105 XII. Pictures Ill XIII. Memory Work 128 PART III Intermediate and Grammar Grades XIV. The Intermediate and Grammar Grade Periods . . . 140 XV. Position and Criticism 145 XVI. Articulation and Enunciation 149 XVII. The Use of the Dictionary 173 XVIII. Literature and Reading 186 XIX. Literature in the Elementary Grades 213 XX. Literature in the Intermediate Grades 225 XXI. Literature in the Grammar Grades 239 8 CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XXII. Sight Eeading 255 XXIII. Silent Eeading 259 XXIV. Synopses 268 XXV. The Assignment 276 XXVI. Dramatics 289 XXVII. Memory Work 314 XXVIII. The Direction op Private Eeading 318 PART I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I The Importance and Kinds of Reading It is unnecessary today to argue the advantages of reading. From being the possession of the few, regarded by the people as a form of black art, read- ing has come to be the heritage of the many. The man who can not read to some extent is now as rare as five hundred years ago he that could. By reading we satisfy our instant craving for current news, we read for the pleasure that literature affords, and we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors in all realms of knowledge. A librarian has said, "Take away our reading, and the observation possible to one man, with the thought it will awaken, may result in shrewdness, even profundity, but they can never give him breadth."* The Choice of Books As Tithonus was given one great gift without the wisdom to use it, in like manner many today have *Koopman: The Mastery of Books. 9 10 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS the ability to read without the wisdom to choose what to read, without the power to discriminate between treasure and trash. In his "Democracy and Other Addresses," James Eussell Lowell tells us of a Wallachian legend. "One Bakala, a good-for-nothing kind of fellow in his way, having had the luck to offer a sacrifice especially well pleas- ing to God, is taken up into heaven. He finds the Almighty sitting in something like the best room of a Wallachian peasant's cottage. . . . On being asked what reward he desires for the good service he has done, Bakala, who had al- ways passionately longed to be the owner of a bagpipe, seeing a half-worn-out one lying among some rubbish in a corner of the room, begs eagerly that it may be bestowed upon him. The Lord with a smile of pity at the meanness of his choice, grants him his boon, and Bakala goes back to earth delighted with his prize. With an infinite possibility within his reach, with the choice of wisdom, of power, of beauty at his tongue's end, he asked according to his- kind, and his sordid wish is answered with a gift as sordid." The application of this incident to the choice of books is evident. A scholarly love for literature after graduation is often a test among people of intelligent discrim- ination of the culture acquired by schooling. How can this taste be developed if the material to be read at home or studied in schools is low or vulgar, silly, above the child's enjoyment, or if he does not there acquire the habit of associating with books on friendly terms? It must be realized, too, that in the vast majority of cases opportunity and inclina- IMPOKTANCE AND KINDS OF BEADING H tion for reading for general culture ends with the period of youth. Euskin asks in "Sesame and Lilies": "Will you go and gossip with your housemaid or your stable-boy, when you may talk with queens and kings; or natter yourselves that it is with any worthy consciousness of your own claims to respect that you jostle with the hungry and common crowd for entree here, and audience there, when all the while this eternal court is open to you, with its society, wide as the world, multitudinous as its days, — the chosen and the mighty of every place and time? Into that you may enter always; in that you may take fellowship and rank according to your wish ; from that, once entered into it, you can never be an outcast but by your own fault; by your aris- tocracy of companionship there, your own inherent aristocracy will be assuredly tested, and the motives with which you strive to take high place in the society of the living, measured, as to all the truth and sincerity that are in them, by the place you desire to take in this company of the dead." What Are Bad Books? With these fine words ringing in his ears, as- suredly one desires to fit himself to enjoy the com- pany of the aristocracy of letters. Just as surely he desires to avoid the bad. The question What are bad books 1 is excellently answered by the Reverend Dr. Robert Collyer: "If when I read a book about God, I find that it has put Him farther from me; or about man, that it has put me farther from him ; or about this universe, that it has shaken down upon it a new look of desolation, turning a green field 12 EEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS into a wild moor; or about life, that it has made it seem a little less worth living, on all accounts, than it was; or about moral principles, that they are not quite so clear and strong as they were when this author began to talk; — then I know that on any of these five cardinal things in the life of man, — his relations to God, to his fellows, to the world about him, and the great principles on which all things stable center, — that, for me, is a bad book. It may chime in with some lurk- ing appetite in my own nature, and so seem to be as sweet as honey to my taste ; but it comes to bitter, bad results. It may be food for another; I can say nothing to that." Development Through Reading. Moreover, one should make it a practice to read something a little beyond him, something that will make him stretch every faculty of his intellect. A book containing this kind of material should lie con- stantly on the desk, and one should open it every day or two, not when the mind and the body are alike wearied, but when both are fresh and ambi- tious for some task worthy their strength. The book suggested in the following quotation is undoubtedly too abstruse for the vast majority of common school teachers. In fact, we all differ so widely that it would be difficult to recommend any book that would serve as a good mental gymnasium for each of us. Our own experience can guide us. Where is some book which is recommended heartily by those whose judgments we trust and which we have diffi- culty in understanding? Choose that, if you have or can acquire interest in the subject of which it IMPOETANCE AND KINDS OF EEADING 13 treats. If we make mere drudgery of it, we shall almost surely fail to gain the blessing. Don't try too much of it at a time; think over what you read; and keep at it! "Let a student read one page of Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' when his mind is fresh, concentrating his full atten- tion upon it," says Eosenkranz. "His first reading will not suffice to give him much insight. But if he repeats his read- ing of this one page every week for six months, he will dis- cover within himself not only new ideas but new faculties. While this progresses he will be delighted to find that other less difficult works, which, however, had" formerly required his full strength to master, have now become quite easy. It is like substituting for the flame of the alcohol lamp that of an oxyhydrogen blowpipe : the difficulties melt away before his new power of analysis disciplined on the dry and abstruse philosophical work. By this exercise the youth overcomes that worst of intellectual obstacles — the belief that what he can not understand at first trial is permanently beyond his powers: — 'My mind was not made for that kind of work.' The motto of the schoolroom should be, 'Each may master the deepest and wisest thoughts that the human race has trans- mitted to us.' Repeated attacks by concentrated attention not only master the abstruse problem, but leave the mind with a permanent acquisition of power of analysis for new problems." * Pace in Reading Even after we have selected our reading, choos- ing with care and discrimination, we find that we read the various kinds differently, — that is, the * Eosenkranz : Philosophy of Education, p. 89. 14 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS trained reader does. An anonymous contributor 10 the Atlantic Monthly (July, 1902) has given some exceedingly wise points on "Pace in Reading." He declares that good reading depends on "good will, concentration, and the habit of dispatch," condemn- ing heartily "the formation of the newspaper habit," "the habit of mind which makes it possible for men to spend an evening in going through motions." This is a habit that is too often exemplified about us to demand explanation. "The good reader," he continues, "takes all reading to be his province. Newspapers, periodicals, books, old and new, all present themselves to him in their proper perspective; they are all grist to his mill, but they clo not go into the same hopper or require the same process. . . . Milton may be read in words and lines, Macaulay in sentences, Thackeray in paragraphs, and Conan Doyle in pages." Fear- ing that he may be misunderstood as confusing pace in reading and skimming or skipping, the contributor declares : "Skim- ming and rapid reading are different processes, but skimming is at times a good thing, too ; even skipping becomes, on occa- sion, a sacred duty. . . . For skimming implies cream, and skipping, a foothold somewhere." The principles laid down in this most suggestive article are, however they appeal to common sense, relatively unrecognized in the teaching of reading. Teachers, when they thought at all of the impor- tance of reading with different paces, have, it seems, either feared to meddle with anything so dangerous and novel or else they have thought that experience would bring the ability to each reader. Unfortu- IMPORTANCE AND KINDS OF READING 15 nately it does not always do so, and many a man has wasted days and days in conscientiously going through a process that could have been variously modified with great profit to himself. These prin- ciples have been utilized here and there through this book, though not as extensively as they should be. Much experimentation must be done before one can speak authoritatively on the subject. Training in pace in reading and in silent reading are open fields that invite every earnest teacher who would make a real contribution to his pupils as well as to education in general. Kinds of Reading Before improving the pace or anything else in reading, we must have an understanding, an agree- ment as to what reading is. And the very first thing we find out, upon considering the question, is that there are several sorts of reading just as there are at least two kinds of reading matter. "There is first," says DeQuincey, in his Essay on Pope, "the literature of knowledge, and secondly, the literature of power. The function of the first is, to teach; the function of the second is, to move. . . . The first speaks to the mere discursive understanding; the second speaks ultimately, it may happen, to the higher understanding or reason; but always through affections of pleasure and sympathy." There are the non-literary and the literary read- ing, the silent and the oral, the elocutionary and the dramatic. Perhaps the following divisions and defi- 16 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS nitions will prove helpful. Denotative reading, exact reading for sense only, such as we give the literature of knowledge, is of two kinds, silent and oral. The first is merely getting the thought from the printed page through the eye; the second, get- ting the thought from the printed page and express- ing it by the voice. Here, "words, like window panes, are things to look through, not things to look at." Connotative reading, the reading of implication, of suggestiveness, likewise, is of two kinds, appre- ciative and representative. This we give to the literature of power. The first is getting the thought and emotion from the printed page and, when oral, expressing them by the voice. Literary reading should, until good habits are formed, be almost en- tirely oral. Representative or dramatic reading is getting the thought and emotion also from the printed page and expressing them by voice and action. These kinds of reading merge one into the others more or less, of course, but chiefly less. Beading at one extreme is a mere medium through which the barest thoughts come. It extends continuously, however, to another extreme, which ranks with the highest art. Perhaps there are fewer really excel- lent readers of this latter kind than singers, both dealing with that most exquisite and subtle instru- ment, the human voice, as a means of translating thought and emotion. And if the teacher keeps clearly in mind which kind he aims to secure, much IMPORTANCE AND KINDS OF READING 17 confusion in the reading lesson will disappear. These kinds of reading, it will be found, are kept quite distinct throughout this book. Denotative Reading In the denotative, non-literary reading of a book one may be said to have read it when he has found out from the book what he did not already know. The useless and senseless plodding through page after page of matter already known to the reader or of matter that does not concern his end and aim at the time, should in every manner ' possible be discouraged. Let a boy know what he is reading for, and then show him how to find his goal. Connotative Reading And when reading literature, one needs even more advice and direction to prevent waste of time. These are given in some detail in the pages of this book. Here let us cite a few points made by Pro- fessor Henry VanDyke. He divides readers of liter- ature into three classes somewhat fancifully named "the simple reader," "the intelligent reader," and "the gentle reader." The "simple reader," he says, is he who reads to occupy spare time. The best advice to him is negative. "Do not read vulgar books, silly books, morbid books. Do not read books written in bad English. Do not read books simply because other people are reading them. Do not read more than five new books to one old one." 18 EEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS "The intelligent reader," he defines as one who "wants to know, and to whom books are valuable chiefly for the accu- racy of the information which they convey." If his thirst for information he keen enough, this reader will not wander far afield. Professor Brandes has even said, "Better far read ten books about one thing or about one man than a hundred books about a hundred different things !" But, as another writer has it, "The best reading is both intensive and exten- sive; one reads a little of everything, and a great deal of some things." Professor VanDyke's "gentle reader" is one "who wants to grow, and who turns to books as a means of purifying his tastes, deepening his feelings, broadening his sympathies, and enhancing his joy in life. . . . He is looking for the books in which the inner meanings of nature and life are translated into language of distinction and charm, touched with the human personality of the author, and embodied in forms of permanent interest and power. This is literature." And one can learn to read it well only by early, wise guidance, wide experience, and much practice in interpretation. "We have not read an author," says Carlyle, and this is especially true in literature, "till we have seen his subject, whatever it may be, as lie saw it." Reading and Thinking Young readers should not forget, moreover, the wise words of John Locke : "Beading furnishes the mind only with material of knowl- edge ; it is thinking that makes what is read ours. We are of the ruminating kind, and it is not enough to cram ourselves with a great load of collections; unless we chew them over again, they will not give us strength and nourishment." IMPORTANCE AND KINDS OF READING 19 And this recalls Lord Bacon's famous passage in his Essay of Studies : "Bead not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention." The young reader is inclined to put all his reading in the first or second classes; but only by this chewing and digesting can he make himself wise through reading. Practical Suggestions "Among practical suggestions to those who would read for profit, I have found nothing more pertinent," says Mr. James Baldwin,* "than the following from the posthumous papers of Bryan Waller Proctor. 'Always read the preface of a book. It places you on vantage ground, and enables you to survey more completely the book itself. You frequently also discover the character of the author from the preface. You see his aims, perhaps his prejudices. You see the point of view from which he takes his pictures, the rocks and impedi- ments which he himself beholds, and you steer accordingly. . . . Understand every word you read; if possible, every allusion of the author, — if practicable, while you are reading ; if not, make search and inquiry as soon as may be afterward. Have a dictionary near you when you read; and when you read a book of travels, always read with a map of the country * The Booklover, pp. 69-71. 20 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS at hand. Without a map the information is vague and transi- tory. . . . After having read as much as your mind will easily retain, sum up what you have read, — endeavor to place in view the portion or subject that has formed your morning's study; and then reckon up (as you would reckon up a sum) the facts or items of knowledge that you have gained. It generally happens that the amount of three or four hours' reading may be reduced to and concentrated in half a dozen propositions. These are your gains, — these are the facts or opinions that you have acquired. You may inves- tigate the truth of them hereafter. Although I think that one's general reading should extend over many subjects, yet for serious study we should confine ourselves to some branch of literature or science. Otherwise the mind becomes con- fused and enfeebled, and the thoughts dissipated on many things, will settle profitably on none.' " Brandes on Reading George Brandes, the Danish critic and man of letters, has written so wisely in his essay ",On Reading" that we have taken many fine sentences from it. Instead of interspersing them throughout this chapter with similar ideas, we have kept them together, thus giving a very bare outline of the essay. It should be read in its entirety.* "There is no best book, the ideal varying with the com- munities, and the individual, and even in the individual at different times of life." "Few people can be said to read at all, or enjoy reading, * From Brandes' On Reading. Copyright 1907 by Duffield & Com- pany. IMPORTANCE AND KINDS OF READING gl or get any good out of it. Out of a hundred people able to read, ninety generally read nothing but newspapers, — a species of reading which demands no exertion. Most people, for that matter, read without any particular attentiveness. Perhaps they select reading-matter which does' not deserve any par- ticular attention. What wonder, then, that they forget what they read?" "In the domain of reading . . . it is regarded as a changeless rule that one time is no time at all, that a man who restricts himself to one reading of a good book knows little about it." Why Should We Read? "We are not to believe that we can attain to any wisdom simply by devouring books." Books "set thoughts in motion, which men seldom do. They are silent when questions are not asked of them; men are seldom so discreet. . . . And books are seldom so inane as people. One feels fre- quently like applying to the mass of humanity those words of Goethe : 'If they were books, I would not read them.' ' ; "We ought also to read so as to add to our own experience those of other men, greater and more competent than ourselves." "Eeading has power to make us keener and more susceptible to the value of things." "If reading affords no more than innocent entertainment, it is worth while in the wearisome and monotonous exertion of daily life." "We do not demand of an author that he should work to make us better. All that we can demand of him is that he work conscientiously, and that he have it in him to teach us something." 22 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS What Should We Read? "There are two things one would wish for newspaper readers : — that they might read their favorite papers with some exercise of the faculty of criticism; and be not so satisfied with newspaper reading as to incapacitate them for any other." "It is perhaps best," inasmuch as we are not prepared to understand the classics, written for former ages, "to begin with books written for those now living." "Find books good for you, as you find your friends." "A book which is really to instruct must embrace either a single country, or a short, definite period." "The infinite in itself is not immensely much; frequently it is best revealed by symbolic treatment of some significant detail." "Dangerous books are not only those which speculate in the youthful reader's sensual impulses, or appeal to his idle- ness or frivolity, but those also that represent base and low things as admirable, or disseminate prejudices, and throw a hateful light on liberal mindedness, or the pursuit of freedom." "It is a sorry superstition that leads people involuntarily to cherish a certain respect for earnestness and erudition that wearies them. Wearisome books discourage people from acquiring knowledge." How Should We Read? It should be our aim "to grasp clearly the meaning which the author has sought to convey through the characters pre- sented in it. We reach through the book to the soul that created it." "We ought preferably to read so as to comprehend the connection between an author's books." IMPOETANCE AND KINDS OF EEADING 23 "We ought to read, too, so as to grasp the connection be- tween an author's own books and those of other writers who have influenced him, or on whom he himself exerts an influence Of course this mode of reading is not for every one." "We ought . . so to read as to appropriate from our reading the moral lesson that lies hidden behind it." "When we read so that we personally assimilate what we have read, we feel this is the central point in the course of circumstances, is the origin of actions, the central point of character, the central point of will, the central point of passion, the Archimedean spot whence the earth can be moved." "Why should we read, then? To increase our knowledge, divest ourselves of prejudices, and in an even greater degree become personalities. What should we read? The books that attract us and hold us fast, because they are exactly suited to us. These are the good books for us." "That book is good for me which develops me." "How ought we to read these books ? First, with affection ; next, with criticism ; next, if possible, so that our reading has a central point, from which we may guess or descry connec- tions, and lastly, with the aim of fully understanding and making our own the moral lesson to be found in every event narrated." "A whole world can thus open out for us in a single book. We may become acquainted through it with some parts of human nature, wherein we shall not only recognize our- selves — changeable and rich in alterations and transforma- tions, — but find also the unchangeable being and eternal laws of nature. Lastly, if we read attentively, we have the power to add to our moral stature, in so far as we vividly feel those things which ought to be done or left undone." CHAPTER n HlSTOKY OF READING Reading, as a subject, has varied retrospect. The methods involved in the compilation of text-books and in the teaching of the subject, have fluctuated between the extremes of form and thought. At times thought has been subordinated to form and word-study emphasized; at other times, and yet today, form is subordinated to thought and inter- pretation is exalted. Text-book makers have drawn upon every conceivable field for material and appar- ently have considered all equally acceptable for reading purposes. Religion, ethics, nature, geog- raphy, history, science, mythology, and literature, each has made its contribution, but the transition from the religious to the more strictly literary reader has been slow and laborious. TEXT-BOOKS The development of reading as a branch of study began with the Reformation. This wide-spread movement necessitated, on the part of the common people, a familiarity with the Bible, and as a result For much of the matter appearing in this section the writera have drawn heavily upon Carpenter, Baker and Scott: The Teach- ing of English; Huey: The Psychology and Pedagogy of Beading; Eeeder: Educa. K. 18, 225-226. 24 HISTORY OF READING 25 reading and writing were introduced into the ele- mentary curriculum and training in them became general. The books used for this purpose, of course, contained only extracts from the Bible. They were wholly religious in character. The German word for primer means little bible. This primer appeared in 1419. In the A. B. C. book published by Schulte in 1532, an attempt was made to adapt the material more to the children's interests, and this notion received a decided impetus when Basedow (1723-1790) advo- cated the teaching of reading through play in eating. The children were rewarded with sweetmeats for their success in learning German or Latin through games. A single quotation shows how Basedow put this plan into general use. ' ' The children must have breakfast and it is not necessary for any child to eat the alphabet more than three weeks. The cost of shaping the dough into letters is less than one- half penny daily for each child."* Early Methods The earliest teaching of reading in England was probably done with the abacus. This was an arrange- ment of the first nine letters of the alphabet in Christ-cross-row, afterwards called a chriss-cross- row. When these were mastered, other letters were given. As the letters were learned in every possible direction, the device proved laborious in the extreme. * Quoted by Huey, Chapt. XIII, pp. 241, 242. 26 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS The abacus was superseded by the hornbook, which came into existence about 1450. "The horn- book consisted of a square, short-handled wood or paste-board paddle, upon which was pasted a sheet of paper containing small letters and capitals, the Arabic and Roman numerals, as many syllables as could be crowded into the space, together with the Lord's Prayer. The paper was protected by a sheet of transparent horn."* Sometimes the edges were protected by strips of brass. This was followed by the A. B. C. catechism. All the reading material for the catechism and for the classes above it was taken from the Bible. The first class above the catechism was called the Psalter class; the second, the Testament class; the third, the Bible class. The New England Primer In 1690, the catechism was supplemented by the New England Primer, which really marked the first effort at secularizing the schools. This book "con- tained the alphabet, lists of vowels and consonants, lists of syllables, of words for spelling arranged according to the number of syllables; rhymes for illustrative wood-cuts for the letters in order, moral injunctions, prayers, catechisms, etc., for the chil- dren, including "Now I lay me down to sleep. "t Some of the verses accompanying the wood-cuts and used to teach the alphabet were: * Reeder: Educa. R. 18, 225, 226. fHuey: The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, p. 244. HISTORY OF READING 27 In Adam's fall We sinned all. Noah did view The old world & new. Peter deny'd His Lord and cry'd. Zaccheus he Did climb a tree Our Lord to see. The Webster Boohs Following the decline of this primer, which occurred after the revolution when the colonies were awakening to their new life and its responsi- bilities, came, in 1783, the Webster Speller, which combined the ideas of the primer, speller, and reader. No other school book has ever had so exten- sive a sale in America as this, more than 60,000,000 copies having been sold up to 1895 and even at the present time it is still in use. This speller was followed in 1785 by the Webster reader, really the first American school reader. It contained many dialogues, narratives, biographies, and was intended to instruct "in the geography, history, and politics of the United States." In its pronounced tendency to secularize the reading mate- rial, it corresponded very closely to Der Kinder- freund, published in Germany in 1776 by Frederick Eberhard Rochow. 28 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Among other readers which appeared during the last quarter of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century were: Lindlay Murray's English Reader, published in London in 1799, which had its lessons "classified under the following headings: narratives, didactic, argumentative, descriptive, pathetic, promiscuous, dialogs, and public speeches ' ' ; the Columbian Orator ; the Amer- ican Preceptor by Caleb Bingham; the Columbian Class Book in 1825, containing many descriptions of strange countries ; ancf the National Reader by John Pierpont, which was the first to have many selec- tions by American authors. Keagy's Pestalozzian primer in 1826 marked some change in the attention given to method as it began to emphasize the teaching of reading by object les- sons. The earliest effort at specialization came in 1824, when Daniel Adams published his Agricultural reader. It was followed three years later by Rev. J. L. Blake's Historical reader. Series of Readers After this, readers began to appear in series of two or three books each. The series usually con- sisted of an Introduction, a Middle book, and a Sequel. The primer and speller were sometimes added to complete the series. The Putnam series in 1828 was the first to attempt some work of the dic- tionary type, that of explaining difficult words and phrases, and the Worcester series of the same year was the first to advocate the word-method of teach- HISTOEY OF READING 29 ing. The McGuffey six book series, the pioneer of its kind, which appeared in 1850, dealt with the widest range of subject-matter and probably had the most extensive sale of any series ever published. As soon as the custom of adopting a series became fairly well fixed, supplementary readers began to be introduced, the Swinton series, in 1880, being the first. Since its publication, there has been a bewildering number of short-lived series, more or less scrappy in character, thrust upon the market. But out of the mass of seemingly contradictory opinions that have prevailed in regard to the selection of material, the notion is gradually gaining ground that only material of real literary worth is desirable, and that it should be presented, as far as possible, in the form of literary wholes rather than by frag- ments. METHODS OF TEACHING EEADING There is much evidence to show that the race was in the pictograph stage more than eight thousand years ago. Of course gesturing preceded picturing as a form of communication, but the alphabet was born of the picture. At first there were almost as many schemes for writing as there were different nations. However, all writing began with picture- making and all reading with picture-books. Picture writing, in its infancy, assumed many peculiar arrangements, but there was always some effort at order. A temporal succession was usually expressed 30 EEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS in the series of pictures, and often there seems to have been some effort to show the lapse of time between events by the space between the pictures. There were at least three distinct stages in the evolution of pictures as a means of communication. At first they simply portrayed objects and were the crudest sort of sketches. Next, they represented ideas and feelings. Instead of picturing an entire animal, a picture of its foot-print sufficed. War, danger, hunger, sorrow, and the like, each now had some appropriate symbol. A little later, pictures became more conventionalized. A single sign was always used to represent the same thing. The papy- rus represented knowledge; the pipe, peace, etc. But these symbols were still arranged in many forms strange to us. They were read from right to left, from left to right, in vertical columns, or some- times they were placed in solid squares and the papyrus had to be turned to read each succeeding line. Even after the alphabet came into use it was not until the eleventh century that a sensible and usable system of separately written words was invented. Origin of the Alphabet It took the race a long time to discover that all words are uttered by a few sounds. The idea dawned very gradually. The first step was taken when certain simplified picture-characters came to suggest the spoken names of ideas which they sig- nified. They thus became true phonograms. While HISTOEY OP BEADING 31 it was a distinct advance to discover that a character conld represent a sound, it did not become really valuable until it was found that these characters could be combined to represent the sounds of syl- lables. This was the rebus-stage in the history of the race and marked a transition to the invention of the alphabet and word structure. Every child still passes through this stage. Our compound words show it. This rebus-form of writing was early utilized to express whole sentences. The Chi- nese, much to their discredit, have never risen above this plane. The next step was taken when primitive races made use of the principle of aerology, the breaking up of a word into its constituent elements. This was the beginning of the alphabet. The exact history per- taining to the origin of the alphabet is detailed and voluminous. From an hieroglyphic alphabet con- sisting of many characters, the race gradually evolved out of more than two hundred and fifty recorded alphabets through the Egyptians, Phoeni- cians, Greeks, and Romans, a syllabary consisting of forty-four syllabic sounds and an alphabet of twenty-six characters. It must be clear that because of the way the alphabet developed, learning to read by letters was one of the very first methods employed. It was put into practice in Greece and Rome and was until quite recently in general use. The child was first taught the letters, then syllables as ah, eh, then words, and finally sentences. 32 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Phonics The first effort at relieving the drudgery of the alphabetic method by phonics was made by Ickel- samer in 1534. "He separated the letters of the alphabet into classes distinguished by the position of the vocal organs, and taught first those that, like o and a, were simple and distinctive." The mne- monic associations used were unique. For instance, b was represented by the picture of a bleating lamb ; s, a hissing serpent; z, a buzzing insect; and w resembled a crawling worm. In mastering a word a child was expected not only to image the written or printed letter and its appropriate sound, but the animal which suggested the sound. "For example, if the word Marz (March) was to be learned, the pupil first analyzed the word into its sounds ; m, that of a cow beginning to low, a the sound made by the goose, r the snarling dog, and z the twittering of the sparrow." The Orbis Pictus, published by Comenius about 1658, has been accredited with being the first effort at the word-method of teaching reading. Comenius himself says, ' ' The very looking upon the thing pic- tured suggesting the name of the thing will tell the child how the title of the picture is to be read." The Sentence Method , Probably the next step in advance was made by Olivier, who held that reading should be taught by the sentence-method. According to him, the sen- HISTORY OF READING 33 tence to be read should be spoken by teacher and pupils. Then the words were to be divided into syllables and these small parts were to be pro- nounced, reducing or slurring the consonant sound as much as possible. After the elementary sounds were learned, the letters were taught. The book which was taken up a little later contained the sen- tences the children had already partially learned and further drill was given for thoroughness. Stephani's method, adopted for general use by the Prussian empire in 1841, required the mastery of the sounds of the letters, followed by simple easy advancement to words. It firmly and finally estab- lished the sound-method over the letter-method. Attempts at Correlation In the early part of the nineteenth century Grafer introduced the writing-reading method. It was held that writing after reading tends to greater care in noting the form and order of letters and words. "Its opponents asserted that it doubled the difficulty of learning to read by requiring two things to be learned at once; its supporters, that the interest and self-activity of the child made the learning process easier." Jacotot (1770-1840) is responsible for the analytic- synthetic method. His notion was that we should proceed from the whole to the part, from the known to the unknown, or from the word or sentence to the letters. The children were required to memorize the sentences, then copy them, and were not questioned 34 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS upon the content until after ten or more lessons had been taught. Word-imagery rather than sound or letter-imagery was the end secured. Every effort was made to fix the form of the word in the memory. In America, the alphabetical method was made prominent by the Worcester Primer, 1828. The word-method was put forward and stoutly defended in the Brumstead readers, 1840-1843, and since then has had numerous supporters. The phonic method was early introduced in St. Louis, Washington, New York, Boston, Fall Eiver, Mass., and Burlington, la. Probably the leading advocate was Dr. Edwin Leigh, who pub- lished his plan in 1864. His scheme involved the following steps: Represent the object by printed form and through conversational exercises, spell the word by sound, associate the sound word with the printed word, note that each character of the printed word stands for a particular sound of the spoken word, teach the name of each letter of the printed word, note the distinction between the letter-name and the letter-sound, review and have word spelled both by name and by sound, as soon as enough words have been learned arrange them to represent a thought. A Combination Method A combination of the word and phonetic methods was begun by Ward in 1894 and his readers are even now having a wide sale. Mr. Ward gives the gist of his plan in this language, ' ' The word method HISTOEY OF READING 35 is at first used as principal, because of its value in developing a habit of reading thoughtfully, and afterwards as auxiliary, to remedy the shortcomings of the phonetic method and increase the stock of phonograms. The phonetic method, which is intro- duced by easy stages during the ascendancy of the word method, finally becomes itself the principal means of growth and progress." A detailed state- ment of the method is found in the Ward Readers, published by Silver, Burdett & Co. Along in the early seventies of the last century, many educators began to claim that since the unit of all language work is the sentence, we should begin to teach reading by the sentence method. Many different plans and combinations with the other methods have been tried in recent years, but no one has been universally accepted. In the pages which follow, we believe that there is unfolded a safe, sensible plan, one that has stood the test of expe- rience. PART II PRIMARY READING CHAPTER III The Primary Period The child, on entering school, stands on the threshold of a new phase of life wondering, listen- ing, ready to have his imagination attuned to the finer influences. It is a most significant and impressive time for him. His mind is not filled with many perplexing questions and he is prone to believe all that he hears and sees. He is curious, groping, searching, and reaching out for the unknown and at the same time busy constructing imaginary situations. His whole disposition is to follow after nature, to do those things for which he feels a need rather than pursue conditions set up for him by others. The two words which sum- marize the distinctive characteristics of the primary period are imitation and imagination. Imagination and Literature Although the latter of these will receive a more exhaustive discussion farther on, a word or two 36 THE PEIMAEY PEEIOD 37 about it here may not be amiss. No better material can be found for stimulating this power of mind than literature. As soon as the child has acquired the power to read, and even while he is acquiring it, he should not be sent on a long chase after the phantoms and vagaries found in cheap literature produced by indifferent writers, but to "the rich deposit of the centuries — which by its simplicity, its self-reliance upon elemental truths of the soul, its homely instincts, its free spirit of wonder and belief, appeals directly, surely to the imagination of the child."* Feed him only on the best. Through the already wide-open gates of child-life let in the life- giving floods. Give him through choice books a multitude of friends who will never desert him and of whom he will never be ashamed. The best literary works have so much imagination concentrated in them that they appeal to and stimulate this activity in the child. Imitation The other factor, imitation, is well worthy of our serious attention just now. While the adult is prob- ably never free from its influence, the child at six is largely controlled by it. His imitation may be either unconscious or conscious, but more commonly the former than the latter. He is indebted to it for his language, habits, mannerisms, many of his move- ments, social notions, moral and religious concep- tions, and probably even self-consciousness itself.f •Scudder: Atlan. 73, 252. tRoyce: Studies of Good and Evil, p. 182. 38 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Imitation is the basis of originality. It is not possible for one to add something characteristic to his copy nntil after he has imitated two or more copies. Indeed, he cannot even be selective of his copy nntil after he has done this. Then, too, orig- inality is shown in the fact that while many may be following the same form, say in the copy-book, no two copies are exactly alike, the individuality of each is expressed in his copy. Imitation is thus the basis for enriching life "by adding to it the lives of others."* It enables one to repeat in himself the conduct, the thinking, and feel- ing of his fellows. Before the true judgment, insight, and discrimination have been cultivated, there is a marked tendency in children, and in primitive peoples, slavishly to imitate all details; but when these qualities have been progressively strengthened and attention is given to the consequences, then the person seeks to appropriate only those qualities which can be utilized in new adaptations. He has then reached the plane of self-emancipation, but, unquestionably, he has not arrived at this station in his development when he enters school. In school training it is important to lift the pupil above the low plane of mere imitation or copying, but it must be remembered that the former is basic to the latter. The existence and operation of this principle in child life is clear even to casual observers ; still its application to the problem in hand may not, at first sight, seem so obvious. We have already stated, * Harris: N. E. A., 94, 637-41. THE PRTMAEY PERIOD 39 and shall do so again and again, that thought-getting is the first essential in any kind of reading. If the thought is thoroughly understood, a pupil will usu- ally have no trouble in giving it oral expression. His rendering may not be the best possible, the most musical, or expressive of the subtler shades of thought, but it is essentially correct, and what is more important, it is his own. The Value of Tone and Infection There are times when the voice is unable to trans- late the thought to another's ear, however well it be understood. Many a cheerful, social man has a manner of saying "Good morning" that belies his whole nature. This is probably due to a bad or thoughtless habit. In other cases, the reader simply does not know how to use his voice to express what he has in mind. In the first act of Hamlet, for instance, when the ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius has murdered the king, Hamlet utters merely the one word "Mur- der." Now, to one who has studied the play, there is little doubt concerning what lies back of the word. Hamlet has long suspected his uncle: and through this one word he expresses his horror at the reve- lation, his grief for his father, his determination to avenge the crime, and some satisfaction that his sus- picion has been confirmed. How, then, should the word be uttered? Most readers and actors despair of conveying all the emotions through the word, and concentrate their efforts on translating one of them 40 HEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS to the hearers. But the emotions are all there : and if those who have a good command of their voices should once hear a master reader utter the word with the fulness of its meaning, they too could, by imitation, approximate his success and translate what is already clear in their own mind. Under such circumstances, imitation is not a bad thing ; indeed, it is one of the very best things. The danger lies, of course, in a failure to insist on the child's first having the thought for himself, a thought which he thoroughly understands but may be unable to express vocally. The teacher must be sure, too, that her understanding of the thought and that of the pupil approximately agree, otherwise gross mis- understandings may arise and much effort be wasted. She must be sure, too, that the child has the vocal skill to express it satisfactorily. Setting Up Ideals of Reading All this is largely about the expression of litera- ture. The same thing is true to a less extent with our denotative material, — to a less extent because there is less room for variation. Some primary teachers who do not fear the effect of employing imitation have an excellent device that could be utilized at times even by teachers in the upper grades. When a child reads mechanically "I — see — a — dog — in — the — street," the teacher reads with proper inflection. "I saw a cat in the street," and then the child repeats his own sentence, using a similar inflection and phrasing. This can be done THE PRIMAEY PERIOD 41 effectively in any grade, the teacher giving a good Tending of a sentence nearly parallel to the one the pupil has; misread, or making any variation what- ever in the .sentence form, provided she retains an illustration of the essential point. Another device for a similar end. to be used largely with pupils who are not so clever at trans- ferring a notion, is for the teacher to present sev- eral readings of the same sentence, readings that will each give a different turn to the meaning or shade to the expression, and have the pupil choose from these the one that best gives his idea of the meaning. The Teacher's Reading Too much can not be said in insistence upon the teacher's setting a good model in reading of what- ever kind she does in the schoolroom. Just as reading can not be taught well if the pupil is held to a good standard only in the reading class, so the effect of the teacher's admonitions and precepts is; greatly weakened unless she illustrates them herself all through the day. It is possible, of course, for a person who can not sing to teach vocal music; but how much better if he can practice what he teaches ! The teacher of reading should have an intelligent understanding, a quiet, firm voice, clear articulation. correct pronunciation, and a good manner in every thing she reads before her school, from the Bible lesson in the morning to the last assignment in the afternoon. 42 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Setting a good example does not mean that the teacher will resort to exhortation or rank didacti- cism to bring about the desired result. She will not be constantly haranguing her class, wasting valuable recitation time, by urging them with such charac- teristic injunctions as, "Now, children, read it this way," "Listen to me and then read it in the same way," "Why, Mary, didn't you hear mef Try it again," and so on ad nauseam. How much better and wiser it is for her to be a good model at all times instead of practicing her precept perhaps only during the reading lesson ! We are not denying the necessity of occasionally calling the attention of the children to a correct or corrected pronunciation, to a more appreciative or meaningful reading, to grammatical misconstruc- tions or inaccuracies of statement. Example should be reinforced by precept, but the efficacy of precept increases in value with the age of the child. In primary work, the former is of the more vital and far-reaching significance. Far better is it for the teacher to read here and there as the recitation pro- ceeds apparently because she can not help it, because she is so alive to the story, than to assume an air of pseudo-dignity, and, after inviting the children to listen to her, to pronounce the language in an unnat- ural tone, one probably wholly unadapted to the spirit of the selection. By reading occasionally her- self in the proper way she keeps up the standard, which, if the children are permitted to do all the reading, is sure to retrograde and likely to be lost THE PRIMARY PERIOD 43 sight of entirely, just as it often is in writing. There pupils, beginning with an excellent copy at the top of the page and using each succeeding line they write as the copy, finally produce one that is almost wholly unlike the one at the top; the standard of excellence, in most cases, diminishes as the writing proceeds. Pupils Set Models The teacher must unconsciously in reading be the pattern, and the needs and abilities of the children must afford her almost intuitive knowledge of the means to be employed. As soon as possible some secondary pattern work may be done by some of the better pupils. Undoubtedly there is little place for conscious imi- tation in reading except in the drill phases of it, which really are only accessories to the deeper pur- pose. In these, however, there may be an abundance of individual, sectional, and class imitation carried on consciously to relieve physiological defects and to acquire proficiency in the mechanical features, or the so-called tools, of reading. This principle implies that good models, whether they be material or the more potent ones of per- sonality, be placed before the child. Why has so. much effort been made in educational circles in recent years to secure well-lighted buildings, neat and clean floors, tinted walls decorated with master- pieces of art, beautiful playgrounds, and the like but that the right kind of material models may be 44 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS constantly before the child? Surely that teacher whose spirit is alive, whose interest in the thing she is doing is real, and who, in the primary grades, can bring to her "aid a great company of invisible spirits, interpreters to her as well as to the child," will be most stimulating and most worthy of being followed. If she has vivid and beautiful imagery, a soul satu- rated with the spirit of art and music, if she clothes her thoughts in clear, choice language, tells her stories with appropriateness, reads as she should, and pronounces and articulates in almost faultless style, the effect upon her pupils cannot be estimated. These are the ideal qualities of the primary teacher, never realized completely in any but always to be striven for by all. In proportion as they are attained, the responsibilities of the day become lighter, the tasks easier, the duties more welcome, and the mechanical and routine features of teaching, here- tofore dry and uninteresting, rich in devices and fruitful in results. CHAPTER IV Primary Reading The fundamental purpose of reading cannot be fully realized so long as the primers and first and second readers are nothing but dilutions of litera- ture. Many of the readers are mere scrap books. It is true that books today contain fewer didactic essays and forensic speeches than the old readers did, but most of them are still made up of the pick- ings of literature. Huey emphasizes this point as follows : "Next to the beauty of the primers, the most striking thing about at least three-fourths of them is the inanity and dis- jointedness of their reading contents, especially in the earlier parts. No trouble has been taken to write what the child would naturally say about the subjeet in hand, nor indeed. Usually, to say anything connectedly and continuously as even an adult would naturally talk about the subject. The language used often shows a patronizing attempt 'to get down to the child's level' and results in a mongrel combination of points of view and of expression that is natural neither to an adult nor to a child. How a child could talk such stuff is naturally beyond comprehension, and reading it can scarcely help developing that drawling, wooden, monotone so generally found in the reading class. The child loves to get some- 46 EEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS whither in what is said, wants an outcome to the discussion, and has a persistence and continuity of thought that are con- stantly violated by such 'sentence-hash/ The actual aim that has guided in the selection and arrangement of most of the early reading-matter has been the development of the power to recognize and pronounce words." The Content of Primary Readers The study of words is not reading, but prepara- tion for reading. Children do not express them- selves in words, but in sentences. They do more than bind words together; they bind sentences together. Now reading can never possess continuity of expression except by observing the connectedness of sentences or the inter-dependence and unity of the thoughts. The test of sequence is found in the unified thought the reader and the auditor secure. If the sentences are scrappy, fragmentary, tell no story, there is no genuine interest in them. To be sure, it is far better to have several short sentences than one long one, but there should be some unity of thought running through the sentences. The first sentences given the children should be made up of words selected largely from the speaking vocabu- lary of the children. The material found in the readers should be con- nected, interesting, and stimulating — not interesting and stimulating to the adult, but to the child. From the very first he should study literature. The child poems and stories of the "Heart of Oak" books and "Hiawatha," the rhymes, jingles, fables, and PEIMARY EEADING 47 the like, will insure active attention and vital interest. In these days of hurry, many urge the introduc- tion of numerous supplementary readers and primers. We shall have more to say about this in another place, but we do wish to emphasize now that those selections and stories children like will bear repeating many times. Too little is made of this factor of repetition in the lower grades. In their play children do the same thing over and over and they love to have a story told many times and to read repeatedly a selection that is rich in child- hood's fancy. If the material given them in their reading is worth while it will bear this sort of repetition. Children should not be asked to repeat that which is dry, uninteresting, matter-of-fact, or that which is of no permanent value. Start them out with fine material and they will return to it again and again from their own choice. The Purpose in Primary Reading The purpose of all training in reading, a thing never to be lost sight of, is the interpretation of the printed page with accuracy and a reasonable degree of rapidity. In addition to the principles set forth in the general introduction, three others, marking, in a way, stages of growth, are important. First, the purpose cannot be actualized without a mastery of the tools — the means of interpretation; second, the ability to interpret demands constant cultiva- 48 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS tion; and third, increased skill in expressive utter- ance should accompany all reading. Considerable attention must be given in the pri- mary grades to learning how to read. But learning how to read is not reading. The drill or mechanical phases of reading should, in the main, be carried on apart from the reading lesson. Reading is a search for ideas and not a mere word recognition, the acquisition of a vocabulary. Reading is not the study of letters, sounds, or words ; it is not enuncia- tion, articulation, or pronunciation : these things are only means to it. The reading lesson has to do with interpretation and these mechanical phases should be at the minimum during the reading lesson. They should not be entirely lost sight of, but they are not to be emphasized during the reading period. To teach reading as a process of mechanics leads to the mere pronunciation of words with little or no appre- ciation of the sense. Drill work is necessary only so far as it aids in getting the thought. It will not do to spend weeks talking about reading and pre- paring for it. Power in it can be acquired only by doing it. Some assume to read by looking at words. What we should do is to read by looking through the words. Garlick declares that every school reader should embrace all the following principles : (1) It must be well printed and attractive, calculated to give pleasure; (2) it should impart some knowledge, and should not be too childish or silly; (3) it should be written in English, and not in the gibberish found in some of the early PRIMARY READING 49 reading books; (4) it must be able to maintain interest: To do this, consecutive stories are perhaps the best for young scholars. Short, scrappy pieces should be avoided, as they kill interest. (5) The book must be progressive. Every lesson should contain a few new words, slightly increasing in difficulty. Essentials of First Lessons The first lessons in reading should make sure of a few vital things. The following points are of especial importance: 1. The child should associate the written symbol directly with the thing symbolized. The method used involves the sentence method. The work in phonics which, concentrates the child's attention on form rather than on thought is not begun immediately, but when begun, it is for some time kept separate from the reading lesson. 2. From the very first the child should look upon reading as a thought-getting and a thought-giving process. This implies, first, that the material used will, from the child's point of view, be worth thinking about, and second, that the oral reading will be done in sentences rather than in isolated words. The second suggestion presupposes the silent study of a new sentence before it is read aloud. 3. Good reading necessitates rapid eye-move- ments, rapid recognition of not only words but phrases. 4. Pupils should steadily show growth in power to recognize new words. Drill in phonics gives this needed independence. 50 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 5. The voice and body should help to express thoughts effectively and appropriately. To aid in gaining freedom of expression, dramatization, dia- logue, and play of various kinds are used freely to help the reading, but are rarely introduced into the reading lesson itself except during the first weeks of school. 6. Opportunities should be given for expressing the reading lesson by hand, in writing, picturing, and other forms of manual activities. 7. As an aid to gaining a mastery of the language of choice reading selections, some judicious memory work should be required. The illustrative material which follows gives a running amplification of these principles. The first lesson is typical of those taught the first weeks of school. In such a lesson the child feels from within a certain necessity to read, such as has never been experienced by him before. He must do this to be "in the game." The stronger the desire to read, the easier the process of learning to read. Hence the teacher needs to stimulate and to give again and again life to the child's wish to "find out what it says. ' ' CHAPTER V A Typical First Lesson A typical first lesson in reading, in which the chil- dren learn to recognize several sentences and one isolated word, is given below. Such lessons as this are carried on daily during the first month of school, and occur frequently during the first two years. In most schools these are conducted at the same time with daily lessons in oral reading, which lead at once to the use of a primer, and in which from the begin- ning written and printed forms are used. The au- thors, however, think that these lessons in oral read- ing may be deferred with perfect safety and positive profit to the children until the fourth or fifth week. During this time the children will be trained in reading without the necessity of the teacher giving any extensive drills in pronouncing. They will be trained to recognize word forms through the eye. The shortest road through the symbol to the thought is emphasized in such reading. The number of les- sons which can be given, of the character here described, will depend entirely upon the resource- fulness of the teacher. Some plans require the learning of eighty, others of two hundred words, before the children are 51 52 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS allowed to do any actual reading. Such methods certainly can possess little intrinsic interest for the children. They must be more or less deadening. It seems far better to have the class really read something the very first day. In their reading, they will acquire a knowledge and soon a mastery of many words. No rule can be laid down as to the number of words the children ought to learn daily. They often recognize ten groups of words and three or four isolated words at the end of the second week. After this, the number of words they learn increases more rapidly than the number of wholly new sen- tences. To understand the explanation of the lesson given, it is necessary to keep in mind that every sentence is accompanied by the suggested physical activity on the part of the child or teacher, but the children do not pronounce any of the words written on the board. The teacher speaks those she cannot act. The best results will likely be secured if two twenty-minute lessons in reading are given each day, and, besides, a fifteen-minute period to work in phonics. The Lesson A big yellow ball is in sight. The teacher steps to the board and writes, speaking the words and sentences as she writes them the first time. The words below, which are in italics, are the ones which are written on the board. The others are spoken only. A TYPICAL FIRST LESSON 53 Come to me, Euth. Come to me, John. Let us have a game of ball. Do you see a big ball any where about? You may get the ball. After the first time the teacher points to the word ball instead of speaking it. After she receives the ball, she sings a simple little melody : My ball, want ^ 1 p d | r d|F-^=F cH two times, three times, four times, five times, six times. She bounds the ball rhythmically to John as she sings. At the conclusion of the song the teacher says, if it can be said truly, "John played well. Let us do this for him." And she writes the word clap upon the board and gives John the suggested applause. She next writes Come to me, and calls Lucile to her. She and Lucile play as before and at the close of the song she points to the word Clap, saying, per- haps, "I think we ought to do this," and joins in the applause herself. 54 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS The word ball and the sentences Get the ball, Come to me, and Clap, are used again and again during the twenty minutes, until each child has had his attention centered upon them several times. He soon finds that he needs to remember what the strange marks say or else he is at a disadvantage in the game. As the children pass to their seats they touch "the name of the game we played" as they find it here and there among the words on the board. Another day the teacher will write the word sing on the board as she asks the children to join in the music. She will give the words rise and march, when the time arrives for the direction of these activities. Still later other games may be introduced which call forth such sentences as, Form a circle, Choose a partner, Ship, etc. CHAPTER VI Oral Reading In many schools oral reading is begun the first day or the first week, but according to the plan herein outlined it probably should not be begun sooner than the fifth weel: of school. Oral reading involves recognition of the words, thinking the thought, and experiencing the feelings of the author and the conveying of the same pictures, thoughts, and feelings to another or the arousing of sympa- thetic thought and feeling in the auditor. The child must have much training in thought-getting before he will be able even to approach this ideal. Silent reading must precede oral reading in time. Skill in thought-acquiring precedes skill in thought-con- veying. In those schools which attempt to teach the two from the start simultaneously, we frequently find a wooden, monotonous, halting pronunciation of the words. Conditions of Oral Reading The power of interpretation is cultivated and dis- played through oral reading. Of course, the exact nature or character of the interpretation varies with the kind of selection studied, but it is well to bear 55 56 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS in mind that drill work in the pronunciation of words is not oral reading. The power to make the lesson a vital part of one 's life experience is very different from the power of calling words. If the individual sees some organic unity in the details he reads about, sees through the mechanics of the page the pictures and the various incidents, and is able to give to each its proper emphasis, experiencing pleasurable or painful feelings as the case may be, he is prepared for the highest type of oral reading. Oral reading becomes educative when it is re-creative. Time in Oral Reading In much of the oral reading consideration is not given to the time element. Any effort to make the oral reading as rapid as the silent leads to a tele- scoping of words and phrases which obscures the thought. The reader must bear in mind his audience. It must follow him and unless he is clear and delib- erate, emphasizing and inflecting appropriately, it will soon be characterized by inattention. Beading must be thinking both to the reader and audience if interest and attention are maintained. Seeing words is not thinking, nor does the mere pronunciation of them convey thought. Thought must precede expression before expression can be followed by thought. The constant request the audience makes upon the reader is "Give us time to think." Although the questions, "What did you say?" or "What does that mean?" may sometimes indicate ambiguity of statement, they more often indicate ORAL READING 57 that the utterance was so poor that it failed to impress the mind of the hearer. Two Suggestions Out of the list of numerous devices used to strengthen the power of oral expression two, at least, are worthy of further consideration. During the first year and even later, frequently practice having the child grasp the thought of the sentence, and then, with his face turned away from the book and his attention directed to the class, have him reproduce it. Drill of this kind will do three things : it will enable the child to grasp larger and larger units of thought, it will produce a better correspond- ence between his reading voice and his conversa- tional voice, and it will insure a more thoughtful expression. A little later, possibly in the third grade, give to a pupil some unfamiliar matter, but of a degree of difficulty adapted to the class, and with the rest of the class sitting as an audience, seek to have it read so that the class will attend the reading and be able to restate immediately, as well as at some future time, the gist of the selection. This plan will put the reader and the class to the real test. Training in Interpretation The interpretation of any story or selection will be greatly aided by judicious questioning. McMurry* says: * Special Method in Reading, pp. 111-112. 58 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS "The chief aim of questions is to arouse vigor and variety of thought as a means of better appreciation and expression. Children read poorly because they do not see the meaning or do not feel the force of the sentiment. They give wrong emphasis and intonation. A good question is like a flash of lightning which suddenly reveals our standing ground and surroundings, and gives the child a chance to strike out again for himself. His intelligence lights up, he sees the point, and responds with a significant rendering of the thought. But the teacher must be a thinker to ask simple and pertinent questions. He can't go at it in a loose and lumbering fashion. Lively and sympathetic and appreciative of the child's moods must he be, as well as clear and definite in his own perception of the author's meaning." A Type Lesson A TYPICAL ORAL READING LESSON. SECOND MONTH OF SCHOOL Materials, three Teddy bears and a tiny house, three chairs, or pictures of these things. Teacher looks at one of the bears and says as she writes upon the board, "7 see the papa bear." She asks, "Is this true for you, Horace? Then tell me so." Horace replies, "I see the papa bear." Teacher quickly writes the same sentence directly under the first one. "Is this true about you, Pru- dence?" she asks. If Prudence sees likenesses quickly she can read the sentence. Not all children can do this during the second month of school. Teacher, pointing to word papa, says, "I'll erase this word papa and write mamma in its place. Now OKAL READING 59 who can read the sentence?" "Show me that you do," she asks as the sentence is read. (The child touches the mamma bear.) The teacher holds up the baby bear, saying as she writes the sentence, "This is the baby bear." "You may tell me who this is," she says as she gives the bear to Marion. As Marion repeats, "This is the baby bear," the teacher points to the words upon the board. "Close your eyes, children," says the teacher, and while the boys and girls are not looking the teacher writes, "This is the baby bear," again in another place upon the board. "Look now and find another sentence telling who this is," says the teacher. "Muriel may show us." "See what this says" (writing under the above, "This is the mamma bear"). Several children read, holding up, or pointing to the bear mentioned. "This is the bears' house," writes the teacher, and she points to the house. Some of the children take the hint and can read the sentence. In quick succession the teacher writes : "I see the bear's house." "I see the Ell 3 O "I see the baby." "I see the baby's chair." "I see the papa." "I see the papa's chair." "I see the mamma." "I see the mamma's chair." 60 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Considerable blackboard space is filled with the above work, which has been read a sentence at a time, many sentences repeated by different pupils. The lesson looks like this : X>ue__ ~TncLori/rn o. — -x^e "Edward may read all we have written," says the teacher, "and as he does so, Roscoe may touch the things he is telling about." At this stage of the work the teacher tells Edward the words or phrases he does not remember, making no effort to have him find out for himself. (As OEAL EEADrNG 61 soon as he has all the letters in phonic work, cease to tell. The children should know them at the end of ten or twelve weeks.) At the close of this lesson the teacher devotes a few minutes to a word drill after some such manner as this: "We must say good-bye to the bears for to-day. You may put this bear, ' ' pointing to the word papa, "in the house." "Put the chairs away," pointing to the word instead of speaking it. "Elsie may erase the name mamma bear" while John puts the bear away. "When you pass to your seats, you may take turns in touching one of the words you know and you must tell us all what it is." Seat Work For seat work supplementing this lesson the chil- dren have a supply of these sentences mimeographed. These they cut up so that the words stand isolated. The children rearrange the words to "say things about the bears." They illustrate with crayon on desk top or on paper what they have said in the above mentioned arrangement. The purpose of such seat work is to keep the word- form before the eye of the pupil, and at the same time to make him need to think what the form stands for. CHAPTER VII Silent Beading It is expected that every child will become a rapid silent reader. This is a skill which can be acquired only through persistent, intelligent, well-directed practice. However, its acquisition is often endan- gered by the erroneous supposition that all reading in the primary grades must be oral reading. Skill in silent reading is never acquired through oral read- ing. Just to the extent that a reader finds it neces- sary to read aloud, to pronounce whole clauses or even words to get the thought, he is dissipating his energy. When one reads aloud he has his voice, the muscular tension accompanying it, and his ear as the agencies through which he interprets. Purpose of Silent Reading Up to the time the child enters school he is trained in ear-mindedness. As soon as he enters we begin to train him in eye-mindedness by teaching him a " sight vocabulary." This can be acquired only through silent reading, which seeks to establish and to intensify the direct association between the printed word and the thought. Printed language is primarily a representation of thought and not a representation of oral language, as some think. The 62 SILENT READING 63 order involved in teaching reading is indicated by the following quotation:* "The association between the printed word and the thought should be made first, as it is in the case of all children who have never had the sense of hearing. After this association has been made, that between the oral vocabulary and the printed vocabulary should be made. Silent reading is the agency which enables the child to look through the words to the thought in the same way that one looks through a clean window glass to the objects beyond." The expert silent reader does not hear the sono- rous sounds of his own voice or experience any mus- cular tension of the vocal cords as he reads, espe- cially as he reads the literature of information. When one is reading the "literature of power," of inspiration, the kind that should be chosen for much of the oral reading, no doubt he will and should experience a "mental" pronunciation of the words. But the vast bulk of all our silent reading is of the former kind, and because of this we should strive to bring the printed word and the thought into direct association. The more intimate this association becomes, the less the necessity for the reader to think the reading in terms of oral speech before the thought is obtained. In proportion as he does this, he falls short of the ideal of silent reading for ordi- nary purposes. In all silent reading, the vocal-mo- tor tendency should be reduced to the minimum, because it tends to retard or becloud the thinking. * T. M. Balliet: N. E. A. Proceedings 1893. 64 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS The sentence read should awaken the ideational centers rather than the vocal-motor or the auditory. The words should be made as transparent as possible; the language series should become sub- conscious, mechanical, that is, offer the least pos- sible resistance. The great purpose of silent reading is realized whenever the attention is focused on the stream of thought rather than on words and phrases. Economy of Silent Reading Both time and energy are saved by such a process. It is a much shorter route through the eye to the brain than the circuitous one from mouth to ear to brain. The stimulation of this shorter route, the line of least resistance, is our aim in silent reading. The more stimulations it receives, the greater the speed of the reader. What a sad commentary it is to see children in the advanced grades, people in libraries, in hotels, and in other public places moving their lips as they read. The eye-minded person who gets the thought directly from the printed symbols can read several times as fast silently as he can read orally; while the ear-minded person who is obliged to get the thought indirectly through the oral symbols as they are recalled in idea by the printed symbols, cannot read materially faster silent- ly than he can orally. When to Begin From the very beginning some training in silent reading should be given. The teacher can soon SILENT BEADING 65 write, "Come to me," "Erase the board," "Close the door," "Take your pencils," and as soon as the knowledge of the children will permit, entire lessons should be given in which hardly a word is uttered or a lip moved. Impossible, do you say? Not at all. This can be done as readily in the first grade as in the second. The lesson following this discussion is typical. Some may raise their voices in protest against this plan on the ground that not enough words are read in a given recitation, but in the lesson described the children read more than two hundred fifty words, more than in many of the lessons found in the readers for this grade. The best result will likely always be secured by corre- lating the lesson with action work. The interest in such a recitation is intense. One only needs to try it to be converted to the plan. The real test, of course, is displayed later in the increased ability to interpret easily and rapidly. The Lesson This was a second grade lesson. A full period of twenty minutes was given to it. Partly to save time and partly for variety, the teacher had some sen- tences, which she expected the children to read, written in bold script on cheap writing (manila) paper. It should be borne in mind that practically nothing was said during the recitation. The chil- dren were expected to read and perform. While every effort was made to reduce the noise and con- fusion of speech to the minimum, an observant vis- 66 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS itor could easily tell that there was a maximum of mental effort on the part of the children. As soon as the class was seated, the teacher, dis- playing the first sheet on which was written, Let us play a game this morning, said, "What do you say to that, second grade ? ' ' Some members of the class said, "Yes, Miss M;" others clapped. They then read from the second sheet, You may get the box of bean bags, Harry. It is behind the screen. Harry obeyed. The teacher next wrote on the blackboard, Do you see a white dot on the floor, second grade? As soon as the class located the dot, she continued by writing, Use that dot for the middle of the circle. Draw a little circle about it, Trevor. When Trevor had com- pleted his circle the class read, Draiv a big circle around the little one, Dorothy. As Dorothy's circle was very irregular, the teacher wrote, That does not seem round; erase it, Lucile. You may try, Lillian. Her circle was poor and again the teacher wrote, That does not suit me very well. Erase it, Donald. Make a circle, if you can, Chas. B. His effort brought the merited commendation of Better. The teacher was now ready to continue with fur- ther instructions regarding the game. She wrote, // you toss a bag into the little circle, it counts ten. Number the circle, Harriett. Erasing the words little, ten, and Harriett, and substituting big, five, and Josephine B., the teacher had this sentence, If you toss a bag into the big circle, it counts five. Number the circle, Josephine B. SILENT READING 67 Considerable interest was aroused by the teacher's next sentence, which read, Let us play the boys against the girls. Shall ivef The final instructions for the game were on the writing paper. The fourth sheet read, You may give a red bean bag to each girl and a green one to each boy, Harry. The fifth sheet said, The boys may stand on the north side of the circle, the girls on the south side. The children very quickly separated into two groups, each group going to a place indicated by a straight mark on the floor, located about seven feet from the circle. They were now in position for play and only needed to have captains appointed. As they were arranging themselves, the teacher wrote on the board, Virginia may choose the players for her side; Trevor for his. As the captains alternately called the names of their players, they stepped to the lines and tossed the bags at the circles, displaying much real pleasure when a bag fell where it counted ten and much dis- appointment when one fell outside the circles, where it counted nothing. It soon became evident that there were more girls than boys and the teacher wrote, The girls have three more on their side than the boys have, so Trevor may choose three boys to play twice. When all had thrown, they read this sentence, Can you count the score, Donald? "Yes, Miss M.," he said. She then wrote, Count the green bags first. Count out loud. As he picked up the bags, he counted 68 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS them by fives and tens, according to where they lay, and fonnd that the final score stood sixty-five for the boys and sixty for the girls. As the lesson proper was now completed, the fol- lowing instructions came rapidly by way of the blackboard : Seats. Please pick up the bags, Josephine, Edith. Will you put the bags away, Frank? Put my paper and handkerchief on the table, Harriett. You may remain and erase the floor, Bobert. Suitable Games Other games which may be adapted are : 1. The old fashioned game of "Hop Scotch." 2. "Marching to Jerusalem." 3. The farmer and his cornfield. 4. Hide the thimble. 5. "The farmer wants his pets." 6. "Fruit Basket." 7. Games based on stories the children use in language and reading. 8. "Cobbler, Cobbler, mend my shoe." 9. A great variety of games with bean bags or ball. The following books contain games which may be adapted for silent reading: Perrin and others: One Hundred and Fifty Gymnastic Games. Geo. H. Ellis Co., Boston, Mass. Lamkin: Play; Its Value and Fifty Games. Holbrook- Barker Co., Chicago. SILENT BEADING 69 Newell: Games and Songs of American Children. Har- per & Brothers, Boston. Johnson: Education by Plays and Games. Ginn & Co., Chicago. This book contains a most excellent and complete bibliography of games and plays. Poulsson : Finger Plays. Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston. CHAPTER VIII Word Drills The study of words is not intended immediately to afford power in thought getting, but to give skill in the recognition and mastery of new words. As we have already stated, these drills should at first be carried on apart from the regular reading lesson. The words used for drill in recognition and pronun- ciation should be those that are found in the early part of the first book to be studied. As soon as a few words have been mastered, the acquisition of the vocabulary will be greatly assisted by constantly combining them with the old in a variety of ways. The same words must be recognized in many new connections. All phases of drill work are intrinsically uninter- esting. All the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the teacher must be exercised upon work of this sort if an interest is maintained in the recitation. She is justified in appealing to the "puzzle instinct" and to the competitive impulses to stimulate activity in the children. The fighting instinct may be awakened by the stimulation of rivalry for immediate results or for displays later. The devices following this 70 WOED DEILLS 71 discussion show in a very practical way some of the uses made of these instincts. Before leaving this, let us emphasize one direc- tion. Make the drill recitations short and vigorous. All drill work should be kept at high pitch, otherwise the mere repetition of the material will tend to fatiguing monotony. Begin to drill as soon as the class is seated. Do not waste any time in prelimi- naries. A two minute drill recitation vigorously conducted is worth more than fifteen or twenty min- utes characterized by listless, tactless, wooden teaching. The Purpose of Drills The purpose of every drill lesson is to make some- thing function as habit. Its factors are "focaliza- tion and repetition in attention." By focalization is meant getting the thing to be learned before the mind cf the learner through explanation or demonstra- tion, or both. After the mind is centered upon the thing, it is equally important to repeat and repeat until the response is automatic. Evidently the first habit to be established in a child is the habit of rec- ognizing and pronouncing easily and readily words and phrases as wholes. This is what is done in practice later. Speed and fluency in reading are gained as one acquires the ability to take in large groups at a glance, and in proportion as he does this he becomes a rapid, effective reader. While we must begin to drill upon isolated words, the words themselves become valuable only when 72 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS they are seen to function in sentences. This visual- izing of unrelated words must continue until the child has acquired the power of mastering words in sentences. With this end in view we append a number of devices found serviceable in handling the drill phases of reading in the first two grades. Some Devices for Drill 1. Words in bold print or script are held for a second before the eyes of the pupil, then turned away. These should be words the child has met in sentences during some previous lesson, or words so similar that he should be able to recognize them very quickly. The "perception" cards, about four by six inches, may be easily made of manila paper by the teacher and printed with a Fulton Sign Marker, a useful tool for every primary teacher. The speed of this exercise should be gradually increased, but never so far as to result in haphazard guessing by the children. 2. Hide these cards about the room. Send groups of children to find and bring before the class all they can recognize. 3. Match the words on these cards with words upon the board or chart. This is a device to be used early in the first year. 4. The purpose of this exercise is to teach the child that certain symbols, regardless of position, size, or color, always represent a certain word. WORD DRILLS 73 (a) Write one of these words at a time among other words on the blackboard. (b) Write it in different places on the blackboard. (c) Write it in different sized letters. (d) Write it with different colored crayon. 5. Have the children build words with letter cards. This is a good device for seat work. 6. Promote a contest between members of the class in pronouncing rapidly the words to which the teacher or some child points, the words being before the eyes of the whole class. A variety of other devices for enlivening this formal exercise, called a word drill, can be used to aid in reaching the desired results. Whenever pos- sible the imagination of the child should be stimu- lated by the thought of the lesson. If the lesson is the story of "Hiawatha's Brothers," the teacher writes on the board such words as: beavers acorns reindeer timid squirrel built rabbit swiftly lodges hid ran why She then says, "Play you are Hiawatha. All these words are ypur friends, hiding in the forest. See if you can find them out and tell their names." Or, "At first the beasts were a little afraid of Hiawatha and ran away. How many can you catch before this eraser makes these friends disappear?" 74 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS She erases a word here and there, the children pro- nouncing as fast as words vanish from the board. Or, if the lesson is one about the seashore, the teacher may suggest, ' ' I have written all these words in the sand. Charlotte may play she is a big wave. She may wash away (erase) all she can get (pro- nounce)." Or, "See all these pretty shells! Who can get a basketful of them?" The children pronounce in turn and claim as theirs the words they recognize. These devices should be appropriate to the moment; it is almost impossible to suggest suitable ones for general use. They are numerous, but their use should be limited. Several devices valuable in the second year for drill on words may be mentioned here : 1. The child pronounces as rapidly as he can the words down the middle — or edge — of an ordinary page of reading material. 2. The teacher begins reading aloud a sentence anywhere upon the page and the child who first finds the place reads the sentence. 3. Concert work in pronunciation of lists of words can be made valuable to all in the class if some such plan as the following is used : The teacher touches words, one at a time, with the pointer, then waits a second before removing it. The pupils understand they are not to speak until this is done ; then all speak, and promptly. Special attention should be given to enunciation in all word drills. WOED DRILLS 75 A Type Lesson A TYPICAL READING LESSON FROM THE BOOK. FOURTH MONTH OF SCHOOL. Parts of the lesson. 1. Connecting the lesson with the child's experi- ence by a question or two. 2. Teaching the new words from blackboard sen- tences. 3. The use of the book. Teacher. ' ' Have you ever seen a rainbow, John ? ' ' John. "Yes, I saw one yesterday afternoon. It was such a bright one." Teacher. "What colors seemed the most beauti- ful to you?" John. "Oh, I liked the blue and the red and the green, but all of them were beautiful." Teacher. "Did all of us see that rainbow? I did, and I thought about you and hoped you were looking at it." Then, placing a glass prism in the sunlight, the the teacher points, until they discover the rainbow. Then she writes on the board : ' ' See the little rain- bow!" A child begins to read, but is puzzled by the word rainbow. The teacher tells the word, but after the sentence is read by several children she asks, "If you should ever forget this word, how could you find it out for yourselves ? ' ' The children give the sounds 76 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS represented by the following letters, to which the teacher points, one by one, r-a-n-b-o. She then writes : ' ' The colors are very beautiful. ' ' If several children look puzzled, she asks, pointing to the word colors, "Does this word trouble you? How does it begin?" The children give the sound of the initial letter.* The teacher gives the vowel sound and the children repeat it after her. Then they go back and give the initial sound and the sound of o in quick succession, following with I and r, as the teacher points, until they discover the word. After this sentence is read, a child is asked to read both the sentences from the board. The teacher erases the first two words from the last sentence and substitutes Rainboivs. Several children read the new sentence. "Red is a beautiful color." ' ' Green is a beautiful color. ' ' "Blue is a beautiful color." These sentences are written one after another, giving drill, and a thought-producing drill, upon the new words beautiful and color. Several children read each, trying to make us know that they realty feel these things, if they do. Then the teacher says, "I want to ask you some- thing. It is going to begin, 'Have you ?' I'll ask it on the board." She writes, "Have you seen the rainbow before?" "Ask Edith, Harold," she says. Then erasing the words the rainbow, she * The chapter on Phonics gives extended drill on this work. WORD DRILLS 77 substitutes these colors. The children ask and answer these questions. Turning from the board to a set of printed words prepared on perception cards with the aid of a sign printer, the teacher says, "Hiawatha saw the rainbow one day. The book tells about it. Here are some words you'll need to know before you can read the story." Again, the teacher shows words on which she wishes to give further drill, in appropriate sentence settings. She emphasizes the words by reading all of the sentences except the words to be recalled, pausing expectantly when she comes to their places that the children may pronounce them. All of the sentences, or merely the drill words, may be written, the teacher speaking the others. "The sun was in the s%." "It was in the western sky." "The rainbow was in the eastern sky." "Hiawatha asked questions." "Nokomis answered the questions." As the teacher shows the words again and without comment, the children as individuals pronounce them and in some cases give the sounds of the letters to "help them remember." The class then turn to page sixty-six in the Hia- watha primer and read the page, each sentence studied through silently by all the pupils, then read orally by a few. The teacher often asks for several review sentences to be read by one child, and finally the page is read as a whole by one or two pupils. 78 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Seat work supplementing such a lesson as this might consist in word building of letter aards. colors orange rainbow green red yellow blue purple It may consist also in the sorting of colored wor- steds, placing a red bit by the side of the word red, etc. CHAPTER IX Phonics A large proportion of the letters in our written language represent sounds. A knowledge of what sounds various letters stand for helps a child to find out for himself words new to his eye, but already in his spoken vocabulary. The diacritical marks used in the dictionary help him to pronounce words new to both eye and ear. A pupil has no need for diacritical marks so long as he is meeting in print and script only words familiar to his ear. The work in phonics should aim at giving the child a real mastery over the printed page. Some say that he should be independent of the teacher as soon as possible. Others prefer to delay this matter of independence a little while for the sake of habits they think more important, but all, prob- ably, agree that the pupil should grow steadily in ability to gain new words for himself. Avoid Formality The teaching of these sound values to the children should be done with the least possible amount of ; 'red tape." The children are to look upon these symbols as tools with which they are to do things. The sooner they are masters of their tools, the 79 80 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS sooner they can "find out what the book says" for themselves. Formal work in phonics can be begun with profit at any time after the first few weeks of school. During these weeks the teacher, in some such man- ner as follows, is laying a foundation for what is to come: Ear Drills Here the pupil for the first time grows conscious that a word may be separated into sounds and that these sounds may be recombined into words. Unless the analysis of words into sounds and the synthesis of sounds into words is thus prepared for, the pupil will be much handicapped later. So the teacher who presents exercises like the following to her class during the first weeks of school has in mind the ulti- mate help they will be to reading, although now they are not given during the reading lesson proper and seem to have very little connection with it. Exercise 1. — Getting ready for recess offers an easy and ready opportunity for early practice in phonics. The devices which may be used for such work combine the play spirit with the process of learning. The children enjoy guessing what the teacher says as well as performing what she indi- cates. For instance, the teacher says, "You may pick the scraps up off the f-l-oo-r. The children listen, probably unconsciously repeating in half whispers this strange combination of sounds. When in their minds it grows into the wholly familiar word PHONICS 81 -floor, they obey the direction. Other instructions, similar to those indicated below, follow, the teacher in each instance separating the underlined word into its component sounds. Edith may get the b-a-s-k-e-t. Please p-a-ss the basket, Harold. Will you open the d-oo-r, John? You may r-i-se. Eric may be the c-a-p-t-ai-n. Get your d-r-u-m. You ma} r m-a-r-c-h. etc. Exercise 2. — Physical exercises offer an excellent field for emphasizing the elementary sounds. How- ever, as the teacher gives the sounds she must be careful not to indicate by her own movements what they mean. The right and delight of interpreting the sounds belongs wholly to the children. The fol- lowing sentences will suggest a line of exercises which may be used : You may touch your two sh-ou-1-d-e-r-s. Touch your ch-ee-k-s. Stretch your arms to the s-i-de. Stretch arms d-ow-n. Stretch arms u-p. Upward c-i-r-c-le. Upward c-l-a-p. You may r-u-n. You may t-r-o-t. etc. gg BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Ear and Lip Drills Exercise 1.— For some time the children have been interpreting the sounds the teacher has made. She now leads them to imitate her analysis of words and has them repeat after her the sounds of simple words, for example, b-a-11, c-a-11, t-a-11, f-a-11, letting them through ear and voice become conscious of the likenesses between such words. Exercise 2. — The element of play may be intro- duced here. The teacher may say, "See if you car* guess what I see." Closing her eyes a moment, she says, "I see a c-a-m-e-1." And, impossible as it may seem, a large proportion of first grade children cannot hear the word camel when it is analyzed into separate sounds. Those children who articulate the sounds well may be allowed to take their turns in propounding questions. For instance, one may say, "What do I see? I see a f-ai-r-y;" another, "What do I see? I see a f-i-sh;" etc. So say the little leaders, while the other children at their seats con- tinue to half whisper the strange sounds until they "hear" the word. Exercise 3. — Suggestions may be made for home work, simply to keep the ideas more frequently in mind. ' ' Suppose, ' ' says the teacher, ' ' that this noon you try to have mamma guess some words when you speak them very, very slowly. Perhaps you will ask her for some m-ea-t, or perhaps you will want some m-i-l-k. ' ' Exercise 4. — The teacher may say, ' ' I am thinking PHONICS 83 of a word that begins with m," making the sound with her lips. The children guess, one by one. "Is it mamma?" "No; it is not m-amma," emphasizing the initial letter slightly. "Is it middle?" "No; it is not m-iddle." "Is it marble?" " No ; it is not m-arble, ' ' etc. Soon the children can take their turns in choosing a word for others to guess when the initial only is given. Exercise 5. — A little later the teacher may use the same device to concentrate attention on termina- tions. "I have a word that rhymes with day," she says, and the pupils guess as before. This game can be made of value to second and third grades by introducing the element of definition. "I have a word that rhymes with tree" says one. "Is it a joint in the body?" questions another. "No, it is not knee," answers the first. "Is it that with which we open a lock?" asks another. "No; it is not key," etc. Exercise 6. — While initial sounds are being empha- sized the teacher may frequently say, "Say the beginning of your name," or, "Start to say sum- mer," or, "Play you cannot talk plainly; you can say only the very beginnings of words. What do you say for papa? for bed? for water?" etc. 84 EEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Ear and Eye Drills Combined Following the vigorous and systematic work in ear and lip drill, there comes, after a few weeks, the connecting of the oral and written symbols in the mind of the pupil. For this purpose, the following devices will prove helpful: Device 1. — The teacher says, "Say the beginning of the word, mamma, Frances." Frances says m; the teacher then writes the word mamma upon the board. The class recognize it at once, as it has been taught before. Covering up all but the initial m, the teacher says, "This letter stands for the sound Frances made. It always says m. ' ' Then she writes the letter in several places on the board, the children giving the sound quickly as she writes. Device 2. — Next she says to the children, "Play your finger is a piece of chalk. Write in the air the letter that says m," etc. This aids very greatly in securing a distinct and accurate visualization of the form of the letter. Device 3. — When the children begin the mastery of a vowel sound the teacher instructs them as fol- lows : ' ' This letter a says several things. Sometimes it says a, sometimes a, sometimes a, and sometimes a. When you see this in a word you will have to try first one sound and then another until you hear a word that seems sensible. What sounds does a stand for ? ' ' asks the teacher. The children respond, * ' a, a, a, a, ' ' and the drill is continued until the four sounds in the above order are memorized. These PHONICS 85 four sounds are all that are taught for a in primary- grades. They are enough for practical purposes. Other vowels are taught in a similar manner. Device 4. — After a week's work in drill upon writ- ten and printed letters representing the following sounds, a, a, a, a, m, s, t, c, e, e, r, p, the children are ready to use these letters in word building and word analysis. A few plans for such work are indi- cated below: a. "You may write the little word m-e," says the teacher, speaking the last word very slowly. And the children write in bold script in the air or on the board the two letters representing the sounds they hear. "Write m-a-t, p-at, c-at," etc., directs the teacher. Inasmuch as such combinations as at, et, etc., occur frequently, they are soon recognized as phonograms and are not separated into their component elements. b. "See if you can find out what word I am writing," she says and writes slowly m-e-t, the chil- dren making the sounds with their lips as she writes, and again as she points to the letters. "Try another sound of e," she may need to suggest, for in this case there is no context to guide the child's voice and he may give the wrong sound. Erasing the initial, she writes s in its place, and the children find out the new word by saying s-et. Then while the children close their eyes, she substitutes p for s, and again m for p, as the children find out one word and then another. c. Soon the children can build lists of words that 86 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS rhyme when one word is given them, and, too, can pronounce rather readily lists of rhyming words when one of them is familiar. d. Work with words whose beginnings are alike but whose terminations vary, may also be done. The word pail is taught as a sight word, for instance. Then upon this as a foundation the chil- dren build such words as pain, pails, paint, paints, etc., the teacher making her approaches in two ways, as : (1) Erasing the final I, she asks, "Who can make this say p-ai-n?" emphasizing n a little; or, (2) "Who can tell me what word I have made?" she says as she adds t to pain. Keep Phonic Drill and Reading Separate All this time the work in phonics is kept entirely separate from the reading lessons, which are filled to the brim with interesting material of literary value. The thought is the basis of the work there, and both sentence and word methods are used. But after perhaps two months, when all the fol- lowing sounds have been thoroughly taught in a period devoted to phonics, the programme changes. The drill in phonics may then occupy about three minutes at the beginning of each reading lesson, and the period previously devoted to phonics is given over to writing or word building, with either printed or written letters. . The three-minute drill, for some weeks, will con- sist in the children's repeating, either in concert or as individuals, the following sounds as the teacher PHONICS 87 points to them, sometimes in the following order, often promiscuously. In introducing this drill the teacher may say, "We shall need to know these sounds very well in order to find out some new words in our new story." This furnishes the children with a motive for mastering the elementary sounds. The sounds may be grouped on the basis of the organs used in giving them. While it is not necessary for the children to analyze the way in which the different sounds are produced, except possibly in the case of those who have some physiological hindrance to clear pronunciation, it is advisable that the sounds be learned by groups. These groups furnish the key to pronunciation. In connection with each sound, we have placed a type word, a word which may be used as a means of acquiring other words of the same "family." The type words should be learned as sight words. Group 1 a-all 6-hot b-p (bin-pin) d-t (den-ten) e-eve Q-do e-met u-tune g-k (get-kill) v-f (vat-fat) th-th (this-thin) z-s (zone-sun) l-ice ii-sun l-pin ii-rude (oo) o-note w-wen (approximates 6T>) zh-sh (azure-shun) y-yet (initial approximates e) Group 2 a-mate a -bat a-far y-by (when ending a little word equals i) y-many (when ending a long word equals l) 88 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Group 3 Group 5 1-line j-jug m-my ou-out n-nine ow-owl r-ring oy-toy Group 4 oi - oil h " him Group 6 g"g ate wh-when g"g em gh-laugh (often silent) e-mercy sh-shun c_ca h ph-phlox x-six (ks) ng-sing x-exit (gz) qu-quit (kw) s " sm k qu-pique (k) §-has When placed on the board for drill, each letter should be written but once, and without marks or explanations. The teacher when she points to a for example will expect the pupil to respond promptly a, a, a, a, unless she says, "Give one sound for this letter, Mary," "Another, Paul," "Another, Grace," etc. If she desires the sounds given expressed in the type words, she must so instruct the class. After the second month of school, the pupils must be led, encouraged, and even pushed into using their knowledge of phonics in their reading work. Many opportunities are afforded for this. For instance, at the end of a reading lesson the teacher may ask as she writes one at a time on the board, a few al- ready familiar words from the lesson, "If we should forget this word, how could we find out what it is 1 ' ' PHONICS 89 " C-r-a-d-1-e, " sounds from the pupils as the teacher points. "M-o-ss," they say again, etc. The sentence, "You may get the bean bags," may be upon the board. John is puzzled by the last word. Shall some one tell him? No, let him grow in self- respect by finding out for himself. The teacher at first points to the significant letters, passing over the a in bean, but later she does not even give so much help. John tries first one value of ea, then another, until he finds a word that fits the context. Advantages of Simplicity This "try-another-sound" method has several advantages over methods that try by a multiplicity of rules, marks, phonograms, and helpers to account for all the possible combinations of letters in our complicated English language. 1. It gives the child fewer formal things to be conscious of. 2. It forces him to think the sense of what he is reading. 3. His reading books have no markings, no aids save those of the picture and the thought. He will be independent of the teacher's help sooner if he does not wait for her to mark the letters, show the "helpers," or suggest the rule, but thinks only "What does this tell?" 4. Every child ought to be given opportunity to rely upon his own judgment and good sense, and this method of supplying a child with the simplest possible set of "tools," and then letting him alone 90 READING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS to work out his own salvation with them, gives fre- quent exercise to the judgment and common sense of the child in question. If a child comes across the sentence, "I bought this new book in the city, " it is fair to infer that he would not be satisfied with the hard sound of c in the last word, and "because it doesn't make any sense" is a far better reason to him for rejecting it than any formal rule about "c before i." Let him build up his own rules about sounds after he has had enough experience to warrant it. Only continued practice will make a child really independent in the matter of reading. Again and again he must meet new words and always must he master them. He can do this if the teacher has given him a working knowledge of phonics. She should never give more than the amount of "help" absolutely needed. The pupil must not look for any help until he has used every bit of knowledge he pos- sesses which bears on the point in question. A Caution The danger in all this work is that the children will acquire bad habits regarding silent reading. They necessarily move their lips in "sounding" words, and they appeal to the ear to help the eye recognize combinations of letters. The teacher should take care that the children do not get into the habit of moving their lips uncon- sciously and unnecessarily. The child who has strug- gled through several new words in a sentence should PHONICS 91 be directed, "Now read that to yourself, using only your eyes." A teacher should commend the child who remembers words as wholes when they have been once presented. Of course he has an advantage over the child who, meeting the word flower four times in a paragraph, has to study it out letter by letter four times. And, of course, the child who laboriously finds it out four times for himself, has an advantage over the child who cannot find it out for himself no matter how much time be given him. A pupil should never grow into the way of think- ing that "sounding words" for himself is in itself a virtue. The virtue lies in finding out ivhat the book says. The more readily he can do this, the better. The use of phonics is "the only way out" if the eye fails to recognize the words that stand in the way. CHAPTER X Dramatic Reading Children are born with the instinct of dramatic imitation. They live, during the period of child- hood, in a make-believe world. Under the magic touch of imagination, inanimate objects are filled with life, acquire the gift of speech, the power of locomotion, and are subject to all the ills and frail- ties of a human being. Parties, church socials, school, home life, etc., are played with imaginary companions. The most insignificant object, a worm perhaps, is easily and readily transformed into a cherished pet or some horrible creature. In fact, the whole world is drawn upon by this dramatic power and expressed in make-believe objects or symbolic movements. For all practical purposes the child is fancy free until he enters school, where, too often, the conven- tionalities of the ordinary school room curb and restrain the vivid imagination, the tendency toward spontaneous and original action, the very instinct which, when properly directed and developed, has constituted the real basis of all scientific inquiry and of every form of art. 92 DRAMATIC READING 93 What the teacher needs is resourcefulness in sup- plying material for dramatic representation and skill in effecting its reproduction. Reading offers a fertile field for the cultivation of this power. Social Benefits The enthusiasts claim that dramatic work in con- nection with reading brings the pupil and teacher into a new relation, where, for the first time, they actually become acquainted. Of course this acquaintanceship is unreal and likely ineffective in its results in case the teacher fails to live in the play on the level of her children. However, when this result is achieved, the work will not be pleasurable simply, it will be a positive delight and enjoyment. Unless this spirit saturates the work, the social ben- efits to be derived from it are of no more real value than superficial manners are to an individual in good society. It is claimed that dramatization furnishes proper ideals of conduct. When a child represents some of the characters found in the fables, legends, myths, historical stories, or classics, with which our best recent readers are fairly well supplied, he surely grows in ability to interpret human life and char- acter and in securing the emotional basis which enables him to experience deep sympathy and affec- tion for ideals of a certain type and to loathe those of another. His ideals of conduct are likely to grow 94 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS just in proportion to the growth of his power to portray beautiful character artistically. Effect Upon the Voice Dramatic work aids the speaking voice. It demands clear enunciation and correct pronunciation. If the language is poor, the pronunciation slurred, and the voice weak and indistinct, the acting loses its force- fulness. However, it is not wise to give extensive drills on these preceding the performance. Growth in power of expression will accompany growth in skill in reproducing. The naturalness of the play is of paramount importance and in so far as we are able to secure it, the children, unconsciously, will strive to use the tone and language of those whom they are representing. Other Results As has already been hinted, successful dramatic work leads to self-forgetfulness. When a child goes out of himself, beyond himself, and becomes another, he is truly dramatizing. He then reads with the proper expression and appreciation. He is no longer conscious of the language ; its mechanism does not restrain ; he is the living embodiment of the thought of the selection. The droning over words disap- pears and the atmosphere, so far as the child is concerned — and it ought to be equally true of the teacher— is surcharged with living ideas. What finer example of realistic reading can be found in DRAMATIC READING 95 the school! It is only when a child goes beyond himself in play of this sort that his ideals are realized. Because of the universality of the dramatic instinct most children take naturally to this form of reading. The diffident, backward, and awkward may need to be encouraged at first, but when they have once caught the spirit of the game, no further urging will be required. They need only an incentive for reading. Dramatizing, if it be a success, presupposes dis- tinct and accurate visualization, and this is basic to all oral reading. As a child lives through the expe- riences of the story, he is strengthening the power of visualization. More than that, he is developing an ability to read with expression and is laying the emotional basis for a real literary interest. Dramatics and Memory Work In order that a story or a poem may be drama- tized, it is not necessary for the children to commit it. They need only to have it told them or to read it until they are thoroughly familiar with it, to be ready to play it. Their language will always corre- spond to that of the book, but it will not be a mere repetition of it. The children will need frequent suggestions at first, but these should be eliminated as rapidly as possible in order for the spontaneity and freedom of the actors to have full play. They will soon exercise commendable judgment in select- ing performers and in arranging for the play. 96 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS The Place of Dramatic Reading A stage effect is never to be sought, merely a realistic reading. Costumes, paraphernalia, a plat- form, — none of these is essential. The imagination will supply them all. All dramatic work in school can be justified only on the ground that it affords an opportunity for reading. It represents, in the first place, the child's interpretation of the selection. After the play has been sympathetically criticised by both the teacher and pupils, it can then be read, or rather re-read, with increased meaning, vitality, and force. So dramatic reproduction stands between reading for understanding on the one hand and reading for interpretation on the other. It is not indulged in for mere entertainment, — in fact, it should never be permitted for this alone. Because of the unique place it holds in the mastery of a given selection, there will be no special time for it, nor can it be given every day. It may be used with increasing frequency, as fluency is gained in reading, but it will always be used more in the lower than in the upper grades. As indicated above, the art-element is present when children yield with freedom to an intense urgent desire for expression. The crudities of their speech must be left for future correction. Many of them will drop out, through imitating the teacher, long before the time for correcting them is reached. Of course, all flagrant abuses of language must be corrected, but, in the main, the freedom and invent- iveness of the children should not be interfered with. DRAMATIC READING 97 Miss Bryant on Dramatics After speaking of the crudities and absurdities that ought to be overlooked, Sarah Cone Bryant says: "The teacher, on the other hand, must avoid with great judgment certain absurdities which can easily be initiated by her. The first direful possibility is in the choice of material. It is very often desirable that children should not be allowed to dramatize stories of a kind so poetic, so delicate, or so potentially valuable that the material is in danger of losing future beauty to the pupils through its present crude handling. Mother Goose is a hardy old lady and will not suffer from the grasp of the seven-year-old ; and the familiar tales and fables of the 'Goldilock' variety have a firmness of surface which does not let the glamour rub off ; but stories in which there is a hint of the beauty just beyond the palpable — or of a dignity suggestive of developed literature — are sorely hurt in their metamorphosis, and should be protected from it. They are for telling only. . . . "Another point on which it is necessary to exercise reserve is in the degree to which any story can be acted. In the justifiable desire to bring a large number of children into the action one must not lose sight of the sanity and propriety of the presentation. For example, one must not make a ridiculous caricature, where a picture, however crude, is the intention. Personally represent only such things as are definitely and dramatically personified in the story."* * Stories to Tell Children, p. 39. The introduction to this book, its stories, and Miss Bryant's former book, How to Tell Stories to Children (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), not only enumerate many stories suitable for dramatizing and offer excellent suggestions regarding the playing of them, but ako emphasize the intimate relation story-telling bears to language work. 98 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS Miss Bryant continues by saying : "There is a definite distinction between the arts of narra- tion and dramatization which must never be overlooked. Do not, yourself, half tell and half act the story; and do not let the children do it." In illustrating this blunder she tells of a teacher who said that, after much practice, she had acquired the ability to lose herself in her story and could hop, like a fox, when she told the story of the "sour grapes." Miss Bry- ant, describing the production of this story by the children of that teacher, said there was a "constant alternation of nar- rative and dramatization which was enough to make one dizzy." "The trouble with such work," she continues, "is, plainly, a lack of discriminating analysis. Telling a story necessarily implies non-identification of the teller with the event; he relates what occurs or occurred, outside his circles of consciousness. Acting a play necessarily implies identifica- tion of the actor with the event; he presents to you a pictare of the thing, in himself. It is a difference wide and clear, and the least failure to recognize it confuses the audience and injures both arts." Of course, dramatic work does have some indirect results of the highest possible value. Professor Blaisdell has summed them up in a single sentence : "Dramatizing is a potent factor in teaching oral reading and oral language because it makes the child understand literature, because it makes him self-reliant, and because it makes him see the vital relation between a story and the life he is living today." * Illustrative Examples A few concrete examples taken from regular class work may serve to make the foregoing discussion * Blaisdell: N. E. A., 1907, p. 491. DRAMATIC READING 99 more meaningful and to demonstrate the practical utility of it. The first is the story of King John and the Abbot, taken from "Fifty Famous Stories Retold," a collection well adapted for such work. It was given by the second grade, but during the time of its rendition the first grade was seated in the room and they were invited to listen. Although the second grade had previously read the story, they were asked to re-read it, really to get a further understanding of it and to sense its atmosphere, but ostensibly to familiarize the first grade with it. To accomplish this latter purpose the readers stood in front of the class and read in clear, distinct tones, endeavoring, also, to convey the meaning through appropriate inflection. Suggestive questions bearing upon the part just read and then upon the part to be read were asked from time to time. The conversational parts of the lesson were read more than once to get the proper interpretation. The references to Canterbury and Oxford drew attention to the fact that prints of these ancient institutions were hanging on the wall. The teacher caught up the spirit of the work and read once, but the instant she reached a very critical and interesting place, she stopped, and the pupil fol- lowing her read with renewed zest and enthusiasm. The story was read to the place where the shepherd mounted his horse and set out for London. The class was then invited to act the story so that the first grade would know it all. The first grade had been very attentive so far, but now they were all 100 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS alert. "With very little help from the teacher, pupils were selected to impersonate King John, the Abbot, the shepherd, servants, professors in Cambridge and in Oxford; and the various important places were readily located. It was interesting to note that King John appropriated the teacher 's chair for his throne. The first grade and the teacher now became visitors. During the acting the language of the story was not given verbatim. King John mused in his dis- gruntled way about the social prominence Of the Abbot and finally sent his messenger to the Abbot demanding his immediate presence in court. After he had criticised the Abbot, he propounded the three famous questions and demanded an answer to them in a fortnight or else the Abbot should lose his head. The good Abbot went forth crestfallen, visited the wise professors of Oxford and Cambridge, seeking an answer to the questions, and finally in despair started home, when he met the shepherd who resem- bled him and who offered to go disguised as the Abbot to the King and answer the questions. His answers to the King saved the life of the Abbot and brought him a pension, the King saying he would ' ' pension him on a dollar a day. ' ' Such naive state- ments added interest to the adult listeners. The shepherd hurried home to the Abbot rejoicing and cried out, "The King said you are free and so am I." The entire performance, reading and play, required but twenty-five minutes. At its conclusion it was discovered that the first grade did not fully DRAMATIC READING 101 comprehend every situation and the second grade quickly arrived at the conclusion that they must always act so as to make the story clear and that just in so far as they did not they failed. Perhaps another illustration will help. Some time earlier in the month the children had read the story of "The Cat and the Birds" in the Aldine Second Reader, and when the teacher, turning to it on the day the writer happened to be present, said, "Now we are going to have a good time with that story," the children cheered. Stimulated with the desire of acting it, for thus they interpreted her statement, they were allowed to read it again and were urged to show that they understood each situation by their expression. The text furnished three choice pictures which aided greatly in getting the proper visualization of the story. The first picture contained the bird house, with some birds sitting about and others flying in and out. The old cat was seated on a tall stump near by, gazing wistfully at them. The second pic- ture presented the cat dressed as a doctor, standing before the door of the bird house, hat and pills in hand, seeking of a much disturbed bird admission. The third picture showed the tragedy of the last act. The birds were flying angrily at the cat and he, in his fright, lost his glasses, pills, and tile and fell from his lofty perch. When representing the cat the children read as if they really wanted to get in, but when representing the birds they used a sur- prised and indignant tone. 102 BEADING IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS When the reading was finished, preparations were made for the play. Some children were chosen to represent the birds, one of the boys to be the make- believe doctor, and the home of the birds was located. The birds flew to their home, moving their arms np and down as wings, and running lightly on their toes. The first scene was acted quickly and nat- urally; then the old cat, disguised as a doctor, with a pointer for a cane and crayon for pills, in a very dignified way called at the home of the birds on the plea that he wished to treat a sick bird, but cher- ishing the secret purpose of having a fat meal. The birds, penetrating his disguise, attacked him furi- ously and drove him away. The total time spent upon this entire recitation was twenty minutes. Dialogue Reading Selections which contain an abundance of dialogue may be used for a kind of dramatic reading. Chil- dren in the third and fourth grades greatly enjoy dramatic dialogue reading. As a preparation for it the children should be taught to note the quotation marks, the parts that are explanatory and descriptive only, and, in answer to questions, should be required to tell the parts within the quotation marks. A study lesson might be assigned thus: Copy the parts in quotation marks ; write the names of the characters in the order in which they speak in the story; tell how many and what scenes are there in the story. DRAMATIC READING 103 As an additional preparation, give some practice in reading the dialogue parts. Plan the staging, as the reading proceeds, leading the children to do as much of this as possible. Assign characters to the children who read well, introducing the other chil- dren gradually by giving them short or easy parts. Sometimes it is well for the teacher to take one part and let a timid child take the other. Call attention to the hints given in the author's comment in the text concerning the expression. Let the children know that in another lesson they will act the parts instead of reading them. Attention should be called often to the part to be omitted in a broken quotation. If the children are inclined to be forgetful after the parts are assigned, ask each child the name of his character. On the day the story is to be acted, review the staging and characters, call attention to any points that were especially troublesome the day before in the dialogue reading, and encourage originality. The children in a fourth grade played parts of the ' ' King of the Golden River" for their own pleasure at noon and recess when told they were to act it the next day. Stories suitable for dramatising in the primary grades: The Lion and the Mouse. — zEsop. The Fox and the Crow. — Msop. The Boy Who Cried <.