V ■9 \ 8ftHS£»£&&!3 © ■ » ■H &*•: HK 9 liyilllll^M ,v LB 3011 .B9i . ' -mtmmmmmm "3? 3E3C £3 SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS. This series of Books for Teachers began with the issue in 1875 of Common School Law for Common School Teachers. Within six years more than one hundred hooks were issued, with an aggregate sale exceeding three hundred thousand copies. That no teacher's library is fairly complete without at least several of these books is com- monly admitted, and the titles of some of the more important are hereto appended, those most recently published being in CAPITALS. Besides his own publications, the undersigned deals largely in all Teacher's Supplies. He makes a specialty of works on Pedagogy; in other words, of works intended for the use of Teachers, as distin- guished from Educational Text-Books. His catalogue of over 400 such works will be sent for two three-cent stamps; and he will endeavor to fill promptly and cheaply orders for any American or English publications of this character. It is his intention to keep constantly in stock every reputable pedagogical book now published; and he also keeps close watch of auction sales, both in this country and abroad, in order to secure such works as are now "out of print," but which have present or historical value. Correspondence is solicited, and will receive attention. _ C. W. BARDEEN, Syracuse, N. Y. re< 5T-4 Agalite S : new re deen POST satisfacj To COV6 10:) fed 200 fee: 400 feel Aids to S< Checks. 1RARY QF ' an entirely b. W. Bar- I in tin boxes ited to give TED STATES OF AMERICA. 00 75 25 00 h tficates, 120 Per box_. 1 25 SuppJrEWStijaiaujiy, lASi'-llUhurea,- xirar^xeriisyiiT cts; Cards. 15 cts; Checks, 40 cts; Certificates, 50cts. Alclen (Joseph) First Principles of Political Economy. Cloth, 16 mo. , pp. 153 _ 75 Bradford (W. H.) The Thirty Possible Problems of Percentage. embracing a full and exhaustive discussion of the theory of General Percentage, with one hundred illustrative examples. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Flexible Cloth, 16mo., pp. 34 25 Ceehe (Levi N.) First Steps among Figures. A Drill Book in the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic, based upon the Grube Meth- od. Teachers Edition. Cloth, 16mo. , pp. 326 _ 1 00 Pupil's Edition. Cloth, 16mo., pp. 143 _. 45 Backhaul (Henry B.) HANDBOOKS FOR YOUNG TEACH- ERS. No 1, FIRST STEPS. Cloth, 24 mo., pp. 152 75 No. 2. Lesson's and Discipline. In preparation. Barcleen (C. W.) Common School Law. A digest of statute and common law as to the relations of the Teacher to the Pupil, the Parent, and the District. With 400 references to legal decisions in 21 different states. To which are added the 1400 questions given at the first seven New York Examina- tions for State Certificates. 7th thousand. Cloth, 12mo., pp. 188 and Appendix _ 50 Roderick IJume. The story of a New York Teacher. Cloth, 16mo., pp. 295 _ 1 25 Bulletin Blank Speller. Designed by Principal H. B. Buckham, Buffalo Normal School. Boards, 5fx7£, round corners, pp. 40 15 Book- Keeping Blanks. Day-Book, Journal, Ledger, Cash Book, Sales Book. In sets or singly. Press board, 7x8£, pp. 28 15 Composition Book. Designed by Principal H. B. Buckham, Buffalo Normal School. Manilla, 7x9, pp. 34 15 Class Register. Designed by Edward Smith, Superintendent of Schools, Syracuse, N. Y. Press board covers, Two Sizes, (a) 6x7, for terms of twenty weeks, (b) 5x7, for terms of fourteen weeks. When not otherwise specified the smaller size is always sent. Pp.48. _ .._ 25 —^-School Ruler, marked on one side by inches and metres, and containing on the back an immense amount of condensed sta- tistical information. Two Styles, (a) Manilla, 12 inch, (b) Card- board, 6 inch. Each 3 cts. Per hundred 1 00 Colored Crayon, for Blackboard, per box of one dozen, nine different colors — Red, orange, yellow, green, lake, brown, light brown, blue, lilac _ __ 25 Common School Thermometer, in box, post-paid 50 Cooke (Sidney G.) Politics and Schools. Paper, 8vo., pp. 23 25 Craig (Asa H.) The Question Book. A general review of Com- mon School Studies, to be used in schools in connection with text-books. Invaluable to teachers as a means of giving a Normal Training. 42d Thousand. Cloth, 12mo., pp. 340. ... 1 50 De Graff (E. V.) PRACTICAL PHONICS. A comprehensive study of Pronunciation, forming a complete guide to the study of the elementary sounds of the English Language, and con- taining 3000 words of difficult pronunciation, with diacritical marks according to Webster's Dictionary. Cloth, 12mo., pp. 108 .- 75 POCKET PRONUNCIATION BOOK, containing the 3000 words of difficult pronunciation, with diacritical marks accord- ing to Webster's Dictionary. Manilla, 16mo., pp. 47 15 Hie School Room Guide, embodying the instruction given by the author at Teachers' Institutes in New York and other States, and especially intended to assist Public School Teach- ers in the practical work of the school room. Tenth Edition, with many additions and corrections. Cloth, 12mo., pp. 449- . 1 -0 The Song Budget. A collection of Songs and Music for schools and educational gatherings. Paper, small 4to., pp. 72 15 The School-Room Chorus. A collection of 200 Songs, suitable for Public and Private Schools. Boards, small 4to., pp. 147.. 33 SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS, HAND BOOKS FOR YOUNG TEACHERS. NUMBER I, FIRST STEPS. BY HENRY B, BUCKHAM, A. M., Principal State Normal School, Buffalo, N. Y. Teaching is a fine art, which like other fine arts so depends on a multitude o f details that the neglect of any one of them spoils the effect of the whole and robs even genius of half its power. Syracuse, N. Y. : -o\ ftx C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER, 1881. 1>L - TO MY FATHER, who for most of a long life has been a teacher both in the pulpit and in the school-room, this volume is gratefully and affectionately inscribed by his son, THE AUTHOR. Copyright, 1880, by C. W. Bardeen PREFACE. The author began teaching in his sixteenth year, in a poor and scattered district of Oneida County. The school-house had been a milk-room for a dairy farm through the summer; the shelves for the milk- pans had been taken down, one shelf had been put round the room and in front of this a slab-seat had been set on stout legs ; a stove and one chair com- pleted both the furniture and apparatus of the room. For fuel there were brought to the door, as occasion required, loads of green wood of "sled-length;" for home, the teacher had the run of the district; for wages, six dollars per month of twenty-two days; for pupils, thirty boys and girls, presenting the usual variety of age, disposition and ability. It is needless to say that the outward conditions were not specially attractive, and that they were fully equal to the deserts of the teacher. He had never heard of a Normal School, or of any special training for teachers, and had never been told any- thing of methods or of management. All that he could claim to bring to his school was a sufficient book knowledge of the three R's, and an honest, if youthful, ambition to keep a good school. It is assumed that many now begin teaching in circumstances not essentially different, with at least equal ignorance of what to do and how to do it. This volume is written to aid the inexperience and to guide the uncertainty of the beginner, who is without special training. It is meant candidly to IV PREFACE. be what its title indicates. It is intended to give such instruction and suggestions as the author now sees would have been useful to him long ago, and which he hopes may now be useful to others. It is in no respect a book for the wise ; it is addressed to the unwise only. It makes no attempt to utter a philosophy of education, or to construct a code for the profession, or to start a new departure. It seems to the author that a host of young teachers are much more in need of the plainest and most direct precepts of doing what every school will surely need, than of philosophies and theories, im- portant as these are in their right place ; and he is abundantly content to be the one who "had rather speak five words with his understanding, that he might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." If, then, this book is plain almost to homeliness, if it deals only with the little things every beginner- must meet and manage, if it aims only to make the old ways in which many will still walk both easier and more fruitful of good, instead of aiming to make a revolution in education, be it so ; the author has meant to take a short range and fire low. It has not seemed best to swell the bulk of the vol- ume by illustrations and anecdotes drawn from the author's experience or other source, but to confine it to the simple statement of what was to be said. Other numbers are in preparation and will be published as soon as may be, the next treating of recitations, records and management, H. B. B. Buffalo, N, ¥.. March, 1881, CONTENTS. Chapter I. Outfit fob Teachinci. Needed 10 1. Knowledge of subjects 10 (a) Of subjects to be taught 10 (ft) Of collateral subjects 11 (c) General information 12 2. Knowledge of the children to be educated. 13 (a) Of their physical being 15 (b) Of their active and moral powers 15 (c) Of their aesthetic sense : 16 (d) Of their intellectual powers 16 8. Knowledge how to adapt instruction 18 4. Maturity -- 21 5. Character 22 6. Fitting disposition and temper 23 7. Good physical health 25 8. Determination to do thorough work 27 Chapter II. General Plan of Work 29 1. What education is 30 2. Special province of school education 32 (a) Intellectual training 33 (b) Imparting of information . 35 3. This province to be adhered to 36 4. How these ends may be secured 37 Chapter III. Particular Plan of Work 41 1 . A definite ideal 41 2. Choice of specific methods ,, 45 VI CONTENTS. 3. Management of classes 46 4. Order and discipline of the school . - 46 5. Quantity of work to be done . . 47 6. Resolution of personal fidelity 48 7. Personal details 48 Chapter IV. Minor Preliminaries. 51 1. A contract clearly understood 51 2. The teacher's license 53 3. Choice of a home 34 4. Seeing that the school-house is ready 55 5. Preliminary acquaintance with the schooL. 56 6. Visiting other schools 58 7. Procuring of needed materials 60 8. Good physical and mental condition 61 Chapter V. Beginning 62 1. The first steps 62 2. What shall first be done ? 63 (a) Get to work at once - 64 (6) Keep every pupil busy r _ . . 64 3. Principles of classification 67 4. Division of time 67 5. What is to be taught ? 72 6. Arranging classes 76 (a) Arithmetic 77 (b) Grammar and geography 78 (c) Reading: - 78 (d) Spelling 79 (e) Penmanship 80 (/) Language and composition..- 81 (g) History and civil government 81 (ft) Natural science 82 7. General scheme of classes 82 8. Little children 83 9. Difficulties in classification... 84 10. Bunch the pupils together 85 CONTENTS. VI 1 11. Review of the first day's work 88 12. Programme of recitation and study 91 (a) Alternate periods 91 {b) Active periods in middle of session 91 (c) Rest and stimulus to pupils 91 (d) Relief to the teacher 92 (e) Arithmetic not to come first 92 (/) Adherence to the programme _ _ 93 (g) Programme of study 93 13. Seating of pupils 95 (a) To have a plan and a purpose 95 (b) Boys and girls . 95 (c) Under the teacher's recognized authority. 96 (d) Points worth consideration 97 (A) Seats should not be too high or too low 97 (B) Special exposure 98 (C) Family antipathies 98 (D) Individual dispositions 99 Chapter VI. The Routine of School 101 1. General considerations..., 101 2. Order before school 103 - 3. Record of attendance 105 4. Opening exercises 106 5. Business of the morning 109 (a) Calling and dismissing classes 110 (b) Recesses 112 (A) Shall all be compelled to go out ? 114 (B) What kind of games 116 (C) How much noise? 117 (D) No time lost in getting into order 119 (c) Noon time 120 (A) Eating lunch 120 .(B) Scattering crumbs 120 (G) Play better than study 121 (D) Ventilation of school-house 121 (E) Supervision 122 (d) Miscellaneous suggestions. _ 124 Vlll CONTENTS. 6. Afternoon 125 7. Closing exercise 125 (a) No maudlin intirnac} T 127 (b) After-school work - -128 8. Miscellaneous Hints 128 (a) Signals 128 (b) Quietness 129 (c) Asking permission 130 (d) Neaeness in the school-room 131 (e) Chewing gum, rubber, etc 132 (/) Wardrobes. 133 \g) School property 133 (h) Care of out-buildings 134 Chapter VII. General Exercises 136 1. General considerations 137 (a) Somewhat arbitrary and levelling 137 (b) Oral instruction awakens 139 (c) In some branches indispensable 139 (d) Greater zest imparted 139 2. The subjects of these exercises 140 3. The manner " " " 142 Chapter VIII. To the Young Teacher Directly 145 Index 148 HA]ND~BOOK£ FOR YOUNQ TEACHER, FIRST STEPS. CHAPTER I. THE OUTFIT FOR TEACHING. Teaching, like every other business, re- quires a special outfit. The merchant must have some capital and some knowledge of the trade in which he embarks ; the lawyer must have knowledge of law and of modes of procedure; the physician must know the human body, the diseases which afflict it and the remedies which alleviate or cure them: without these none would expect or deserve to succeed as merchant, lawyer, or physician. Experience, as they acquire it, makes all these of ten-fold value, but a hopeful beginning cannot be made without them. It goes with the saying that teach- ing also requires its outfit. This should include, as a minimum, these. 10 THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. 1. A good knowledge of subjects. It is a truism, but one that needs constant repetition and enforcement, that one cannot teach what he does not know ; that he can- not teach well what he does not know well; and that, other things being equal, there is a fixed relation between accuracy and ex- tent of knowledge on the one side, and efficiency and fruitfulness of teaching on the other side. Like produces like in knowledge, as in other things. It follows, therefore, that ignorance is utterly out of place as teacher, because one main function of teaching is to guide and inspire and cor- rect others in their acquisition of knowl- edge. " Bricks without Straw " is but a feeble comparison to set forth the worth- lessness and the impossibility of teaching without knowledge. This should include, (a) a thorough knowledge of every subject to be taught; (b) a fair acquaintance with collateral sub- jects; (c) good general information. If one is to teach the ordinary arithmetic of the schools, he should know that thoroughly, KNOWLEDGE OF SUBJECTS. 11 and he should know higher arithmetic and elementary algebra; if he is to teach the rudiments of grammar, he should know the English language and should have, besides, some knowledge of some other language. That one should be content to know only a little more than his pupils, just enough to escape disgraceful exposure of ignorance in school recitations, is pitiful and wicked. Mastery of the subjects one is to teach, to the full extent to which those subjects are pursued, not in one's own classes only but also in the whole course of study laid down for any school, with a fair and increasing knowledge of kindred subjects, is the least that ought to satisfy any teacher. The general knowledge of a teacher can- not be too varied or extensive, provided that it is used with good sense. Let any one think how large a part of what goes to make up the intelligence of a well educated person was not learned from any text-book, and was not in any lesson he was required to recite, and he will understand how use- ful it is to know many things he will never 12 THR TEACHER'S OUTFIT. assign to a class as a lesson. Let any teacher or any student call to mind how many ques- tions are suggested by any lesson well taught or well learned, and how valuable to the eager mind of either child or adult is the truth thus acquired along with the lesson from the book, and he will say that with equal technical knowledge, he who knows many things outside of the text-book, is by far and of necessity the better teacher. Indeed, he who knows only what he re- quires a pupil to learn cannot be a good teacher at all. Add to this the obvious consideration, that outside of school the teacher ought to be an acknowledged leader among the young at least, and ought to ' be respected by all who know him for his intelligence and de- votion to study, and no doubt can remain that the knowledge here demanded is not too great. The ideal teacher, even the ideal beginner, cannot do himself or his school full justice with a smaller outfit of intelligence. This requirement of knowledge is not for KNOWLEDGE OF CHILDREN. 13 the purpose of a license to teach only ; it goes far beyond that. A school officer's examination, be it as strict and searching as any law demands, or as any ordinary ex- aminer practises, cannot call for a tithe of what every teacher ought to know. An honest beginner, meaning to make teaching a career, will not indeed despise his exami- nation for a license, but he will never be content with what it requires, nor suppose that it releases him from further study. The license is, at best, only a formal thing, and it is too often of no value, because it does not represent any real test to which the holder has been subjected. But in any case, the maximum an honest examiner re- quires, whether for the third grade license or the State certificate, should be the mini- mum with which any one ought to be satis- fied, and that only for the moment. There are no greater weights to-day on the com- mon schools than many of those whose ob- taining of an unlimited license to teach has marked the limit of their growth as scholars. 2. A knowledge of the child who is 14 THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. to be educated, and of what education means. — The teacher's work is peculiar, as indeed every workman's is. Besides the subjects in which he must give instruction and the general information which is always so much addition to one's power over others, the teacher needs to know the nature of the child upon whom and with whom he works. He deals with children, and he needs to know them, that he may deal wisely with them. He needs to know more than their names and ages and what class they should be in ; he needs to know them as children, alike in general constitution, with certain endowments of nature, with certain capaci- ties and stages of development, with cer- tain tendencies toward habits, both good and bad. It is not enough that he knows them as he knows his playmates and com- panions, nor as he sees them in the family or in society. He must know how they are made up, to what in them he can appeal and to what he can address his efforts at instruction, what they can do and what they can learn. KNOWLEDGE OF CHILDREN. 15 This knowledge includes (a) an acquain- tance with their physical being, that he may know the necessity of warmth and fresh air and proper exercise ; that he may have regard to posture in sitting, to. proper use of eyes, to proper hours of study, to the laws of health in general, in all school regulations and requirements. It includes (b) an acquaintance with the active and moral powers which prompt and guide human conduct. The child has desires and affections, sentiments and feel- ings, and a conscience, which are the key to behavior. It is necessary to know and to recognize these in all skilful dealing with him. It is impossible to understand, and hence to manage children, if this part of their nature is ignored. The sentiment of honor, the ambition to excel, the desire of appro- bation, the power of sympathy, appeals to a sense of right and wrong, are at once powerful and indispensable forces in educa- tion, if they are used with discretion. Such use of them depends, in the first instance, upon a knowledge of them, and this knowl- 16 THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. edge comes from attention to them and careful stud} r of them with reference to their use for this special purpose. It includes (c) some acquaintance with the workings and manifestations of the aesthetic sense. Taste is one of the gifts of nature, to be developed like any other gift, and it may be used, as it should be, as an auxiliary in all parts of education. It includes, especially, (d) an acquain- tance with the intellectual powers of children, as it is the special province of teaching to train the intellect. The teacher must consider what are the faculties con- cerned in knowing, their natural order of activity or development, the proper mode of their exercise, and how each subject of study and each lesson in each subject are adapted to the discij)line of one or more of them. Otherwise, he can only assign lessons and require work at random. Without this he can be only a mechanic and not a teacher, because he cannot work with intel- ligent reference to either results or pro- cesses. Perception, memory, imagination, KNOWLEDGE OF CHILDREN. 17 judgment, have their appropriate spheres of action, and bring specific contributions to education ; and not to know them aright or at all, and not to use them with at least some recognition of their place and func- tions, is to work in ignorance of essentials, and, as a result which cannot be avoided, to do incomplete and bungling, if not wholly injurious, work. The human mind seems to have a most wonderful power of getting some good from almost any contact with truth, no matter how unmethodical or ill- directed ; else every effort of teaching which aims only at getting lessons, and so getting through a book, no matter how or for what purpose, or with what connec- tion with all that has gone before or all that is to come after, would be time and labor thrown away, or worse. It is essential to know by what avenues truth comes to the mind, how it is retained and used, the value and rela- tions of different truths, and in what way and at what time each set of truths is most likely to contribute most to mental growth. 18 THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. m Teaching without this may be lucky, but it cannot be intelligent ; it may accomplish something by ingenious imitation of a model, or by unthinking repetition, but it can never be the work of a master. 3. Knowing how to adapt instruc- tion to the mind of the pupil. — Given the truth by which the child's mind is to grow, and with which it is to be furnished for future needs,and the child with such and such capacities, who by his education is to be prepared for all the duties of coming life, the question, how to make the most of the opportunity of teaching him, is a very serious question. Any kind of instruction will produce some result; children's won- derful capacity of acquisition will allow them to get some good from almost any teacher who really tries to do them good ; but it needs no argument to show that thoughtful, intelligent, methodical teaching is much more certain of good results than ever so earnest, ever so honest teaching that works without method, and as it TACT IN INSTRUCTION. 19 chances, or at least only by imitation of others. The questions, how can I best present this lesson to the child, with reference to what he already knows and what comes after in the same direction, when ought he to learn this lesson, what intellectual results ought to follow learning it, should be con- stantly before the teacher. Many other questions will go with these ; such as, how to fix attention, how to test a child's under- standing of what has been taught, how to cultivate the power and habit of expression, how to train the different faculties so as to produce a proper balance and poise of all ;. and all these will keep the growing teacher's mind in a state of continual inquiry and study. But the fundamental, preliminary study will be how to adapt truth to the mind of the child, how to teach so that he may learn. In this way only can teaching be skilful and fruitful. It is not asserted that every young teach- er must, in all cases alike, take the full course of instruction in Normal or other 20 THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. special schools, before be begins to teach; it is asserted that every one who proposes to teach should make conscientious use of such opportunities as can be had of inquir- ing diligently how teaching should be done, and that he should repeat and reiterate the question as long as he teaches. Every young teacher should ask himself whether he knows the secrets of learning to read and to draw and to cipher, how truth and the mind are related, and whether he can safely guide the child in paths he himself has trod ; or whether his teachings, as with present knowledge it must be done, will be only a leading of the blind by one blinder than they. It is high time to compel every one who offers himself as a teacher at least to consider the question, how he will teach; it is time to urge upon all such the dis- honesty, the incompetency, the certain fail- ure of teaching which does not scrupulously think what teaching means and how the mind of the learner grows. It is a correct analogy to say that if a preacher needs to know how divine truth is adapted to the MATURITY. 21 spiritual needs of men, or the physician should know how and what medicines are adapted to bodily diseases, or the lawyer what provisions of the law apply to the maintenance of his client's rights, then and for the same reasons should the teacher know how truth enlightens ignorance, what truths are adapted to all phases of ignor- ance, and by what process of teaching the child is best led up to manhood. Beside these particulars of professional outfit, cer- tain personal elements must not be over- looked. 4. Tt is too much the fashion for mere boys and girls to teach school. — The false opinion, or at least practice, pre- vails of setting out in life by a bout of school-teaching. Before education is com- pleted, pupils aspire to be teachers. A boy or a girl, whom none would trust with any other important business, does not hesitate to offer to teach, as if that were a business fit for the most inexperienced. Many a school is taught by girls of seventeen, or by boys of eighteen, and taught as is alone 22 THE TEACHER S OUTFIT. possible by such youth. No one attempts to fix an absolute age for beginning this work, but it is obviously a wrong of no small magnitude that children should be teachers ! that those whose own education is just begun should attempt to educate others ! that mere youth should be playing at what the oldest and wisest find a suffi- cient exercise of their powers ! 5. But more important than this, and an accompaniment and at least in part a pro- duct of years, is that sum of forces and attainments which is called character. A teacher needs to have grown to be a man or a woman in character before best, or even acceptable, work can be done. He should be known as having a settled pur- pose in life, as having made attainments, as giving his energies to his business, as feeling the responsibilities of his calling, as seeking for and valuing the esteem of the good rather than being ambitious of companionship and the applause of the idle and frivolous, as a student, a reader, a thinker and a worker, and all this out of school as character: adaptation. 23 well as in school. Keeping school six hours and frolicking the rest of the time, hearing lessons from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon, but with the undercurrent of thought on the evening's and Saturday's fun, laboring with the children while the mind and the interest are even divided with outside and diverting pursuits or pleasures, is not to be a teacher ; this ~is not to show the solidity and sobriety of character which ought to be the perpetual recommendation of every teacher. All avocations which affect human beings as such demand and cannot do without those moral qualities which they seek to produce in others. No person without a settled character is fit to be a teacher. 6. A disposition and temper which befit this special calling. Certain stock qualities, such as patience, are popu- larly supposed to be especially necessary in teaching. These, and more than these, are now meant. Dealing with intellect and character in their formative stages, requires both great readiness of intellectual resources 24 tht teacher's outfit. and great power of sympathy with children. A teacher should be cheerful, that he may encourage and dispense cheerfulness to all about him ; he should be sincere in word and act, and to this end must be sincere in heart ; he must be equable, not all smiles and sunshine at one time, and then all frowns and storms at another, now throw- ing everything into confusion by unneces- sary and excessive laxity of discipline, and now confounding every thing by equally un- due severity ; he must be patient, both in instructing and in managing, hopeful of all good to come from his teaching, courageous in every effort put forth, untiring in all la- bor to do that which he has set out to do. And most of all, he must sympathize with — that is, enter into full feeling with — children in their difficulties, temptations, efforts and wants. He should be able to put himself close by their side and not only to understand, but to experience, their state of mind, and with them to try to do what he requires of them. If it seems to any that cheerfulness, sin- DISPOSITION AND TEMPER. 25 cerity, steadiness, patience, hope, courage, perseverance and sympathy with children, are rather traits of moral character than ele- ments of what is generally understood as a person's disposition, let them be so classed, as they may certainly become such by the manner in which they are cultivated and the use to which they are put ; only let their necessity be acknowledged, and let those who are to teach ask seriously whether they do now form part of their outfit. 7. One thing more belongs to this outfit; good physical health. This, though mentioned last, is not least in impor- tance. The feeble, the sickly, the deformed, would be far less out of place on a farm as laborers than in a school as teachers. Prop- er intellectual activity, vigorous teaching, salutary discipline, are impossible in a dys- peptic, a consumptive or neuralgic patient. It is no less than an outrage that the motive for teaching should be expressed in these words; " I can do such light work for six hours, and rest and nurse myself out of school." Children should not be educated 3 S'B THE TEACHER'S OUTFIT. in the presence of bodily feebleness or deformity ; no sound intellectual and moral health can be nurtured by those who have just physical strength to drag their limbs about during the day, and who are constant exhibitions of bodily suffering,of ir- ritated nerves and fatigue, and who must, therefore, depress and worry the school life of children by converting what should be an earnest, active, busy, intellectual work- shop into a hospital for one unfortunate and generally unhappy being, and a prison for two score of children. This is the necessary mininum outfit for teaching. If any has it not, he, she, should wait and work till it is obtained. There is no need of any who fail in any particular ; the schools will not suffer if any who are deficient in these things will keep out of them ; they will suffer only as such enter their service. There are schools without number where a free general education, and a free special education for teaching, can be had ; why then enter this profession without the necessary education? Time PHYSICAL HEALTH. 27 and wholsome discipline, if nature lias given suitable endowments, will bring character, and time should be taken and discipline be submitted to and even sought, severe as are its trials, rather than any should go into school without their result in character. If one has not the right disposition, then he would far better follow the other business which his disposition does fit him, or for which it does not unfit him, than work ruin through his irremediable faults in this. If he has not health and symmetry of body, let him bear it as he can, but let him not spoil what might be a good school by mak- ing it at once an asylum and a failure, Should those only begin to teach who have a settled purpose to follow it for life ? — This is not asserted, nor is it an article of professional faith. But only those should ever begin who have this out- fit ; only those should begin whose qualifi- cations are nearly what they ought to be if they do intend to make this a business for life ; only those who mean to use these qualifications while they are teaching as 28 the teachee's outfit. if they intended to teach all their lives, should ever enter the school house. Does this whole doctrine seem to shut the door against many with a license to teach in their pockets, who knock at it, and knock with much persistence of claim and much assistance of influential friends ? It may fairly be so understood. CHAPTER II. GENERAL PLAN OF WORK: EDUCATION AND SCHOOL. Many young teachers begin their work without " laying it out " beforehand. They are willing to labor, but they have no defi- nite plan and simply teach from day to day as well as they know how. Their teaching is a more or less direct imitation of others, and has little thought beyond daily lessons and getting as nearly through the book as may be. A term or a year of the school is not a definite part of the school life of the child in which he must obtain a definite and pre-arranged part of education ; nor has the school itself a distinct part to play in the life of the child, a part whose boundaries and results can be marked out beforehand with tolerable accuracy. The work done is done in all honesty and all fidelity, but it is very often work without plan or 30 GENERAL PLAN OF WORK. method, and very often without any distinct aim. The thought of this chapter and of the next is, that the teacher should consider and plan his work before he begins it, and that he should follow out his plan as formed and as modified by circumstances, or by his own growing experience. In other words, the young teacher should consider what he is going to do, aud how he proposes to do it. He should do this in general before he begins, and he should do it in particular for every day of his teaching. This planning of both should consider : 1. What education is. — To know this, or at least to consider it, is fundamental to all intelligent teaching. No one can do his part of educating a child well unless he has some understanding of what the whole of education is. It is not proposed here to discuss theories of education, or even to give exact definition of the term, but only to direct attention to the subject as one to v which thought should be con- stantly given. In general it should be un- derstood and remembered and constantly WHAT EDUCATION IS. 31 applied, that education is the process of developing and furnishing the child so that he may have possession and control of him- self and all his faculties, and may be a man instead of a child. Anv thing that trains any of the child's powers, whatever gives him knowledge or teaches him to do, or contributes to mastery of himself and con- trol of other men or of the forces of nature, all that helps to form opinions, to settle principles, to fix habits, to produce ability of any kind, educates. The result of edu- cation, whether complete or defective, is manhood, whether complete or defective ; and whatever all along the road from child- hood to the fullest development and power the person ever attains, tends to any further development and power, educates. Educa- tion begins in the cradle and ends only with dotage or the grave, or with the stupidity of indifference or brutality. The nursery educates ; the home educates ; the church educates ; the day-school and the Sunday- school, the play -ground, the street, the shop, the circus, the menagerie, the placard on 32 GENERAL PLAN OF WORK. the wall, the newspaper, the dime novel, the book, the boys and girls and the men and women one meets, all educate. It is thus a life-long and very complex process resulting in a very complex product. A hundred forces bring their tribute to it, and it is not possible to separate into dis- tinct threads the web which is so closely woven of them all. It is important that the teacher should have some conception of the extent, variety and mutual relations of the influences and forces which educate, that he may know with whom he is co- worker and what all teachers combined are helping each other produce. 2. What part of education the school teacher has for his special province.— From what is said above, it is evident that but a small part of the work of education is in the teacher's hands, but that part is defi- nite and very important. By saying it is but a small part, it is to be understood that the time over which it extends is short com- pared with the life of the man, and that it is confined within prescribed limits, and THE TEACHER'S PROVINCE. 33 that it could not be omitted without serious, if not fatal, loss. No other single factor in education does so much that tells on all the future of the child as school does, and hence the common use of the term educa- tion means school-education only. If the teacher understands what his special duties are, and how and at what points his in- struction dove-tails with other lessons, he will surely do his part better than he other- wise could. This special province may be briefly in- dicated under two heads : The school is specially for (a) intellect- ual training and (b) the acquisition of use- ful hnowledge. The parent values the school as the place where his child learns to read and write, and acquires such other knowl- edge as the authorities provide for. The extent and variety of this knowledge depend, of course, on the particular school ; but whatever its grade, its primary aim is to give instruction to the end that the pupil may know what his parents, or others in power, think may be useful for him to know. 34 GENERAL PLAN OF WORK. Together with this in the mind of the teacher and the intelligent parent, goes the training of the mental powers so that the learner may presently be able to form his own opinions, to prosecute further study on his own account, and to be, in short, intel- lectually independent of the teacher. It is difficult to decide which of these two should be the primary purpose of com- mon school education. Fortunately, right teaching of useful knowledge disciplines the powers, and the few subjects of such education which are valued for their alleged disciplinary power may be made to con- tribute something to practical utility. Be this as it may, schools are for learning, and the business of teaching is to train the intellect to the acquisition of useful knowl- edge. But for this specific purpose, they would not be maintained, and here is the teacher's especial province. Children come to him to learn, and by learning to develop and strengthen their minds. To state this in a different and more INFORMATION AND DISCIPLINE. 35' precise form, the intellectual results of school should be, 1. Possession and mastery of the tools of knowledge, reading, writing, arithmetic,, and language. 2. Such useful knowledge as all will be certain to need in after life. 3. Such discipline of the faculties as will fit for actual observation, correct reasoning within the range of one's knowledge, and the formation of right opinions. 4. A love of knowledge, and right method of study, so that the education begun in school may be carried on, according to opportunity, all through life. (b.) But learning from books cannot be separated, and ought not to be separated,, from other lessons. While Reading, Arith- metic, and Geography are learned, nay, in order that they may be learned, the teacher must steadily enforce the formation and practice of right habits. Classes cannot exist, schools cannot exist, unless in these miniature communities such habits as larger communities need, are constantly Si) GENERAL PLAN OF WORK. inculcated. Order, discipline, attention, respect for others, submission to authority, are essential here as elsewhere, and there can be no school worthy of the name if they are wanting. The formation of these habits is the secondary work of the school ; secondary, not in the sense of their being less valuable than lessons in arith- metic and geography, but in the sense that school is not established on their account in the first instance. These good habits are insisted on, with reference first of all, to their necessity in order that lessons may be properly learned ; but, like the lessons whose acquisition they promote, their value does not cease when school-days are ended, but they and the lessons accompany and help the man in all future life. The distinct purpose of the school, then, is clearly defined as being the intellectual training of the child, and information of right habits, and to these ends the thoughts and efforts of the teacher should be studi- ously directed. 3. It is well to add a third particular, viz, INFORMATION AND DISCIPLINE. 37 tli at school should at least not interfere with education in matters outside of its- own special province. If it does not teach religion, all its spirit and influence and indirect power should be on the side of religion. If "it does not teach politics, in the right sense of that term, all its precepts and principles should inculcate the probity and candor which should be carried into the management of political affairs. If it does not impart taste and culture, techni- cally so called, its whole tone and example should be in the direction of taste and cul- ture, and not in opposition to them. 4. How ordinary school work is adapted to these ends and may be made most effective in promoting them. The teacher works in the dark who simply teaches certain subjects, as they are pre- scribed and because they are prescribed, without asking how they are effectual means to a definite end clearly apprehended. The teacher has considered the result which is to come from education, and so knows what he is aiming at; he has defined the 38 GENERAL PLAN OF WORK. part which belongs especially to himself, and so concentrates his energies upon his own business; further, he should consider how his own work really makes for the .general and the special result, and what di- rect contributions to that result it brings. He may, indeed, shield himself behind the course of study laid down for him .; he may say, I have to follow instructions of prin- cipal or school officer, and have no discre- tion in the matter. Granting this, it still remains equally true that the teacher should know what he, personally and individually, is about. He is, by the rules, to teach arithmetic ; what will arithmetic bring to the final result of education ?' He is to teach grammar ; what is grammar good for in manhood or in life % And if the answers to these questions do not change the sub- stance of his work, they will change the spirit and the manner of it. When the teacher understands why such and such subjects are to be taught — and there must be supposed justification of each — he will teach with intelligent reference to this rea~ THE REASON WHY. 39 son, and with an interest in each not other- wise possible. Without this, reading is simply a class exercise, and geography, a series of disconnected questions ; they are taught because they are to be taught, and that is the end of all thought about it. But it is even more important that the teacher should consider the significance and value of all that is done in schools under the general name of management or gov- ernment. Here is no such prescription as in the matter of studies ; here the teacher is always, to great extent, his own master and is left to his own resources. Unless he works blindly and mechanically, he will ask, why are classes arranged in this way and not in some other ? Why is this, and this, required ? To what good end is this point of order insisted on and that regula- tion enforced ? What is the present value of punctuality and its bearing on the future well-doing of the child ? What factor of the manhood which is to come by and by is likely to result from the enforcement of this rule about whispering \ What useful 40 GENEEAL PLAN OF WORK. quality is cultivated by " keeping after school ? Why not omit all this attention to manner of standing and order of going to class and ways of holding books, and a. hundred other less or more important mat- ters? There would result from such considera- tion of the whole range of school duties as is here suggested this at least, and this would be much ; the teacher would do all he does with some definite purpose in view,, and he would omit to do anything whose bearing on the result he aimed at is not ev- ident. Every thing done in school would have a meaning to the teacher, and all, whether in instructing or managing, would in his mind tend to the one great end of school. CHAPTER III. PLAN OF WORK, PARTICULAR AND PERSONAL. Besides the general considerations al- ready mentioned which will necessarily lead to many details, it is well to begin school with a particular plan of work, care- fully made out in writing and to be fol- lowed, unless reason for changing it is found. The teacher who has no ex- perience of his own for a guide, or that of but a single term or two, cannot work wisely or comfortably if he trust to the chances of the day. He is more likely to do well if his work is laid out in minute detail, provided only he does not feel bound to follow that detail at all hazards. This plan may properly include these particulars. 1. Some standard or ideal toward which the school shall rise. — The young teacher, if he have at all the right spirit, 42 THE PLAN OF WORK. will aim at excellence. He will not be content with anything short of the best he can do. His career is all before him and he has everything to learn. He is anxious to succeed, and is willing to pay the price of success. All practicable prep- aration is made and the final question is, What is the ideal school toward ivhich my real school shall continually strive f The school must be taken as it is ; school- houses, furniture, apparatus, conveniences are as they are ; the children w T ith their habits and great need of instruction, the parents with their notions of school and what the teacher should do, and the school officer with his notions of economy and neglect of all but the most formal duties, are very much of one pattern, the pattern of common humanity ; and with them as they are the teacher begins his career. He may, he should, set up in his own mind an ideal he would like to attain. He may, he should, ask to what degree of order, regu- larity, discipline shall I strive to bring my school ? what degree and spirit of obedience A STANDARD NEEDED. 43 and docility, what measure of industry and love of learning, should I like to see and will I endeavor to secure ? what sort of school in its lessons and behavior should I like to have ? This ideal may sometimes very properly be a school which seems to the beginner's present knowledge almost the sum of all- attainable excellence. He would not like his school to resemble some he has seen, or attended as pupil, in any single particular ; but he would like it to resemble in all things another in which he first learned to learn, and which has seemed to him ever since to have been what all schools ought to be. The order, the lessons, the spirit of that school, are a model he would now feel satisfied to imitate as closely as he can. Some teacher's conception of discipline and his means of carrying it out, his standard of lessons and his persuasiveness of resources for compelling such lessons, the whole tone and atmosphere of the school under his in- spiration, were such as any tyro would do well to reproduce in his own school. This 44 THE PLA2? OF WORK. is certainly better than no standard ; it is safer to follow a good model than to have no guide. Exact imitation is not, in any case, desirable, if it were possible ; the ways and means of another may be alto- gether admirable as used by him, and sim- ply ridiculous and feeble as used by any other. The young teacher may do well to study the spirit of his model that he may work into the same spirit, and, copying what he can make good use of, trans- form this copy into his own method and manner as fast as he acquires experience. But it is wise to form out of one's own ex- perience as a pupil, and his observance of others made with special reference to this end, and the most careful consideration of actual circumstances, a standard or ideal one would be glad and will strive to make real. This is the way to study ; th%s is the way to recite ; this is the way to teach ; this is the way to make children love study ; this is what order in school means ; this is the way in which pupils ought to behave, and this is the example the teacher ought to set SPECIFIC METHODS. 45 for their imitation ; the spirit and character of my school ought to be such and such, when I leave it, and toward all these I will constantly work. The resolution which asserts such intentions and expresses such an ideal is more likeiy to attain results, than going into school with no standard and a consequent working toward no definite end. 2. As clear a settelement as possible of the specific methods to be used in teaching, with their details. — For ex- ample : shall reading be taught by the " word method," or by some other % If by the former, the successive steps of teach- ing in that way should be clearly marked out and followed. So with penmanship ; shall it be taught by writing words after a copy, or by combining elements first prac- tised by themselves, into letters and words ? Then the details of the method to be used should be carefully and fully worked through and used as a guide in the daily lessons. About reading, beyond the first steps, it is to be considered in what good reading consists, what sort and extent of 46 THE PLAN OF WORK. elocutionary practice is beneficial, what common faults and bad habits will need correction and how to do it, what time is to be given to it compared with that given to arithmetic, etc. And so with all the subjects to be taught. Not only is it to be fixed that every thing is to be taught methodically, but the specific method with its details should be thoroughly prepared, according to the teacher's knowledge and judgment. 3. The management of classes, and the order of recitations. — What a recitation is, and what it is for, and what are marks of a good one, are points sometimes not sufficiently considered. What the teach- er's part in a recitation is, and what the pupil's, what is order in a class, details of manner, of expression, and all that per- tains to the class while reciting as well as to the recitation itself, should receive atten- tion in this plan of work. 4. The same is true of all the order and discipline of the school. — The man- ner of opening, recesses, dismissal, the A DEFINITE AIM. 47 character of general exercises, if any ; cer- tain things common in other schools to be allowed or discouraged or prohibited ; cer- tain things thought to be desirable, to be introduced ; the correcting of whispering, the securing of punctuality, — in short, everything that is sure beforehand to de- mand the teacher's attention should, as far as circumstances will allow, be planned be- forehand. 5. Quantity of work to be done. — It will help much in any school to fix some point which, if possible, the school shall at- tain. Every pupil shall be able to write at least a legible hand, to read a newspaper or book so as to be understood, to express himself in good English about what he knows ; such a goal set before the teacher at the beginning and kept resolutely before the mind will have a wonderful effect in keeping all up to their work ; the constant aim and the frequent expression will be, we must do what we have set out to do, if possible. 48 THE PLAN OF' WORK. 6. A resolution of personal fidelity and devotion to the one business of teaching this school. — It is to have, in all ordinary circumstances, precedence of all other claims on time, labor, interest and energy. Punctuality, regularity, prep- aration of lessons, daily thought how to make the most of school, ungrudging at- tention to all details, are to be matters of course. Every outside employment, all that diverts interest or withdraws needed labor from school, is to be summarily put after school, and if anything else has any place at all, it is to come in after the full legitimate demands of the school, and for the sake of certainty a little more, have all been met; whatever this may exclude should be excluded, and whatever this may in- clude should come within the spirit and scope of the resolution. 7. Some other personal details should be included in this plan. What , degree of intimacy and what measure of reserve should be practised with pupils ; proper re- lations with parents ; both due regard for, PERSONAL DETAILS. 49 and how to secure, the co-operation and as- sistance of school officers ; in what form of self -improvement leisure time shall be spent ; what is the right policy in such matters as any participation in party poli- tics, or in the special ambition of the neigh- borhood, or any actual effort in the direc- tion of the popular amusements most in vogue, or to what extent it is desirable to mingle with what is called society ; all these should have a place in the outline of work, a place which should be fixed in the first instance by the paramount considera- tions, what does school require and, what does it allow. Nor should all these details be mere matter of form, or only as general, loose notions, simply to start on. While no rigid plan can or should be formed, a definite one can and should be. It should be a rule to live by, a chart to be followed, open at all times for correction and addition, but not a thing of caprice. Good work is based on a plan which, taking into the account all the circumstances within reach and fore- 50 THE PLAN OF WORK. seeing a result to be attained, permits no serious departure from its path and leads right on to the end. Definiteness of plan prevents wasting of power ; it marks out a straight road ; it calls for and uses energies concentrated on specific objects, and it greatly contributes to victory over obstacles and to certainty of results, which want of plan, backed by whatever honesty of labor or frequent fits of zeal, can never win. CHAPTER IV. MINOR PRELIMINARIES. A few minor points of preparation are worth mentioning, because some are care- less about them, thinking that they either need no attention or can be attended to at any time when nothing else is on hand. Teaching school, like any other occupation, requires habits of business, and neglect of what seem minor matters often involves the destruction of what seems more im- portant. These further preliminary de- tails include: 1. A clearly understood bargain between school officers and teachers. It is better always to make a written con- tract, for which blank forms can easily be obtained. Trouble may arise, in which case such contract is the best evidence for both parties; but without apprehending any thing of this nature, when service is to be 52 MINOR PRELIMINARIES. rendered and pay is to be received, it is only prudent tliat the agreement should be very definite and very clearly understood. There should be no doubt when school is to begin, what the term of service is to be, what wages are to be received, and how and when such wages are to be paid, what unusual duties, if any, are expected of the teacher, what conveniences are to be sup- plied by the district; in short, there should be no doubt on any point that can be an- ticipated. It happened to the writer long ago to teach in a district in which the cus- tom had prevailed that the teacher should notify each head of family in sucession that a load of wood was needed at the school house, and to see that it was con- venient for A or B to bring such load, or else to find some one who could and would bring his load out of turn. It was also ex- pected that the teacher would not only make out the rate-bills at the end of the term, but collect them too, and so get his pay. Nothing of this sort may now be re- quired any where, but it is prudent to CONTRACT AND LICENSE. 53 know beforehand what is to be done on both sides. It is not meant for a discour- tesy, but for a simple fact, when it is added that ladies, as yet, have not fully learned the necessity of making such bargains in business-like fashion. And when a bargain has been made, like any other engagement between con- tracting parties, it is to be kept. If the district is bound to pay, the teacher is bound to earn his pay according to the terms of- the agreement. It should be kept without evasion, and with honor. The obligation to teach as well as one can, with- out grumbling or grudging, is of the same nature and of the same force as the obliga- tion to pay for the teaching ; such a con- tract cannot be broken by either party, and the teacher is bound to do as lie agrees, just as much as any other person is bound to the service he has promised. 2. The license. — Every where some license or certificate of competency is re- quired. This should always be obtained at the right time, and that is before the^ 54 MINOR PRELIMINARIES. school begins ; the teacher should not be willing to enter the school-house for one day without his license or certificate. The law requires this, but the administration of law is sometimes careless or lax. Aside from all laws, no teacher, for his own sake or for his school's sake, should allow him- self to begin school without being qualified as the law requires. Especially should the young teacher be unwilling to begin, or think he can begin, with his license yet to be obtained. Such young teacher will have trials enough without any anxiety about his license. 3. Making arrangements for his home during the term or year. — He should "get settled" before school begins. He will need to do this in order to have all his time and thoughts for his school. He cannot neglect that to be finding a boarding-place, or to be making himself comfortable. The first days of school generally determine what all the rest will be, and the first days should be devoted exclusively to getting the school well under way. In order to do THE SCHOOL HOUSE IN READINESS. 55 this, the teacher will need to be settled be- fore school begins. 4. Seeing that the school-house and all that belongs to it are ready. — It may not be his duty to make it ready, but it is his interest to see that it is ready, and he had better make it so than that it should not be done at all. It is not prudent to arrive on Monday morning at nine o'clock^ ready to call the school to order, for if things are not in readiness he will never re- cover from the neglect to see that they were made so. A proper interest in his work will prompt him to make sure that nothing which he can prevent shall spoil the beginning of his work. The house has been repaired, and the rubbish has not been removed from the rooms, or may be lying about the yard ; there may be no pro- vision for sweeping and dusting and open- ing the doors, or no wood for the first fire, or no one to light it ; there may be need of a pane of glass, or a hinge, or a door-latch ; these may be need of new seats or repairs to those now there. The teacher may 56 MINOR PRELIMINARIES. properly be asked to do any one of these tilings, and it may be the clear duty of some other person to see that they are done ; but it will be better for him to be sure that they are done, knowing as he does that such things are only too apt to be neg- lected, and that they concern him more than they do any one else. He will surely not suffer in reputation by being on the ground and being seen and known as attend- ing to them and getting ready to make a good beginning when Monday comes. ~No one ever yet lost ground by knowing for himself that all details of his business just about to commence were provided for, and many a one — many a young teacher, not to say older ones — has suffered from this very neglect of preliminary details. The fault has been only that they did not think of such things, but the consequence has been an embar- rassed start and a sense of carelessness and incompetency difficult to rally from, if not a reputation for negligence which follows them as long as they remain. 5. 8ueh acquaintance with the con- PRELIMINARY ACQUAINTANCE. 57 dition and traditions of the school as he can obtain. A knowledge of the school, such as the former teacher or the officer of the district or some resident, if asked, will give, will put the new teacher upon his guard against what might be op- position easily turned into persecution, if not wisely met. It will help him in deter- mining how to deal with any specially un- ruly children or any disaffected families ; it will help him avoid the difficulties into which some predecessor may have fallen ; it will show what mistakes he must try to avoid, and with whom he must deal with especial prudence. If he can find how " the land lies " he w T ill be far less likely to incur unnecessary risks, and far more likely to shape his course so as at least not to make enemies, if he takes pains to learn what is proper for him to know about his school and the people. It should not be necessary to say that these inquires will properly pertain only to what he,as teacher, will need to know, and will not include the ordinary gossip of talkers and news-mon- 5 58 MINOR PRELIMINARIES. gers ; the less he knows of this at the out- set and all the way through the better for himself and the school ; but he may with much advantage inquire into anything, a knowledge of which would be useful in that school at that time. 6. The visiting of some good school for the sake of observing its ways and consultation with some teacher of ex- perience for the benefit of his advice. A person of quick perceptions, with an im- mediate personal interest in what is going on because he is soon to undertake the same, will learn more of direct practical benefit from closely observing for two days the routine of a well-ordered school than from double that time spent in the study of theories. Let such a one see how school is brought to order in the morning, how classes are called, how questions are asked and answered, how work is put upon the blackboard, how the teacher appears to con- trol and regulate every movement by every- thing he does, without violent demonstra- tion or even show of authority ; let him VALUE OF OBSERVATION. 59 try to detect the spirit which reigns and which dictates the variety and flexibility of resources for maintaining order and giving good instruction, while he watches how every movement is made, and the beginner will have a guide from which he can at least learn something which it would take him long to find out for himself. And if besides this observation of a good school, he can talk freely with an older teacher and seek advice on such points as seem difficult or obscure to him, this will be of further benefit. Many would in this way be helped out of difficulties from which their books and all their previous education would not relieve them. Such visits and conferences would be of great aid in forming the plan of work spoken of above. Indeed, it may safely be said that no one, intent on learning how to teach and manage his own school, can visit any school or talk half an hour with any teacher, without get- ing many hints of what and how to do, or of what to avoid and why. Of the three principal means of improvement, — practice, 60 MINOR PRELIMINARIES. observation, and study, — probably observa* tion is, to a certain limited extent, for be- ginners the most productive. 7. The procuring of such materials as will he needed for school and per- sonal study.— The teacher will need books for his own use in connection with classes, and books that he means to read and study for his own profit. Nearly every teacher, in the course of his study and preparation for teaching, has thought, for example, of some simple way of illustrating points in arithmetic, for which he will need blocks, or a set of measures and weights, etc. ; or, he wishes to give oral lessons in physics, as he has opportunity, and he will need some in- expensive materials and contrivances for the purpose. That a teacher shall expend his wages, before they are earned, for the benefit of the district, is not meant, but that he shall provide what he can afford and means to have before he actually needs it. The spectacle of a teacher arriving to begin a winter's or a year's school with not a tittle of professional furniture is an unprom- BEGINNING AT ONe's BEST. 61 ising one, but it is no libel to say that a few both arrive, remain, and depart, in just this beggarly condition. 8. Coming to school in good physical and mental condition. — ISTo teacher has a right to come to his school for the first time or to come back to it, in a jaded con- dition of body or mind. One just from a summer of hard physical labor on the farm, or from a long and fatiguing vacation- journey, or from a succession of frolics and "high old times," or from a long term of severe study just completed, is not in fit con- dition to begin a term of school. He should come rested and fresh for work and able to endure all the mental and physical strain of those hard first days. To be fagged out from any cause whatever when the " inex- orable hour " calls to the labor of opening and organizing a school, is to hazard the first conditions of success, and to invite certain feebleness and inefficiency at the very time when vigor and promptness are most necessary. CHAPTER V. BEGINNING. The beginning of any new work is always difficult ; it is the first step that costs ; but being ready to begin, ready on all points* is half the task of beginning already accom- plished. The teacher who is on hand early, with his license in his pocket, his plans made, his goal determined, his school-house swept and garnished, has already made an excellent beginning, and he has only to go on in the same prudent and pains-taking man- ner, and a good school is assured. It is safe to say that more failures come from heedless and incomplete preparation, fol- lowed by further embarrassments springing from the same cause, than from lack of in- tellectual ability or want of honest desire to do right. THE FIRST STEPS. But it is nine o'clock on the " Monday morning after Thanksgiving," or on what- WHAT FIRST? 63 ever day school begins, and the teacher has been at his post half an hour or more al- ready. The children have been coming in with their books, and have been spoken to in turn with a word of pleasant greeting, and so at least the beginning of friendly relations has been established. Their eyes are quick to see that all is trim and to ob- serve what kind of person the teacher ap- pears to be. The teacher, too, is quietly forming provisional opinions of this one and that, and forecasting the probable management suited to one and another. At the instant of nine o'clock, by some simple call or direction school is in order, the pupils taking what seats they please, and the teacher faces his task. What is he to do first f A pleasant word of welcome to all, that all may hear his voice and know at once how he will address them, express- ing the hope and expectation that all have come to school to learn, and the assurance that, if all try to do as well as they can, school will be very pleasant, may be the wisest first exercise. Not a speech, not a 64 BEGINNING. proclamation,not a declaration of education- al principles — nothing could be more out of place — but a simple, good-natured word ; not this, unless the teacher is able — as all teachers should be able — to say such a word neatly and briefly; and then all is ready for work. Two very obvious and fundamental prin- ciples should guide the teacher from the start ; first, the thing to be done now and repeated every day, is to get to vjork at once, as soon as the time for work comes. There should be no delay to consider what is to be done ; while the head of the school is considering, the body is growing uneasy and will very soon become disorderly : while the teacher is hesitating what to do, the pupils, noticing at once that he seems to be at a loss how to proceed, are already losing faith in him, if not instinctively get- ting ready to try his mettle as soon as may be. The teacher, to save himself, must go directly and firmly at the work of getting school into " running order." Second — The starting-point and ground MISCHIEF FOR IDLE HANDS. 65 of all discipline for the whole term is to keep pupils busy. The moment school is opened books and slates should be called into use ; no school of mixed pupils can long be held in order if they have nothing to do, or if only a small part are occupied. If they, or a graded class, are at once made busy — and they can always be, if the teacher has judgment, energy and devices — nine tenths of all the sources of disorder and other dif- ficulties are cut off at one stroke ; all that remain are the exceptions to the working of a right general principle. These may at once be applied to any school. A graded class beginning together at some prescribed place can be set at a regular lesson ; to an ungraded school the teacher may say, " All who have slates and pencils may work the first ten miscellaneous examples on such, or such, a page of their arithmetics, that I may see how you cipher ; the others may read over to themselves such a lesson in their readers ; Willie or Kittle, who cannot do either, may look at the pic- tures in this scrap-book of mine." 66 BEGINNING. Then names, ages, etc., may be rapidly taken by the teacher, who beckons each in turn to his desk, or passes around the room for the purpose, and at the same time notices dispositions and movements here and there. So simple a thing as this may be done in a way to introduce disorder at once. If the teacher should sit at his desk and call each one to give his name aloud, confusion would almost certainly arise, be- cause some names would be misunderstood, the spelling of others would be uncertain, and occasionally a child is very timid about giving its name. The necessary repeti- tions and corrections would tempt some to make sport for the others. This kind of disorder would be anticipated by the way suggested, or in case of other schools, by each pupil's writing his name, etc., on slips of paper distributed. It is not so much the intention even to suggest ways of doing all these little things, as to urge upon the young teacher the fact that he must think in what way he can do them most conven- iently, rapidly and completely. He can CLASSIFICATION. 6t have ways of doing all these without becom- ing a compound of hobbies, or else he is not capable of making these arrangements at all. At the same time he can ask each what studies he thinks he would like to- have, and whereabout in each he thinks he is, and thus as he goes along can make a rough classification, so far as the pupils' account of themselves goes. Meantime, if the occupation assigned to any needs chang- ing, this should be done. These necessary statistics being col- lected, the main work begins, that of classi- fying the school. So much of the efficien- cy of any school depends on this, and so much of the weakness and partial failure of many beginners is due to mistakes here, that it is necessary to state next some GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSIFICATION. 1. Recitations and study, including under these terms all direct contact between teacher and pupil, and of both with their books or other means of study, are the chief business of school, and should, there- 68 BEGINNING. fore, occupy as much of the time as possi- ble, and to this end all other arrangements should be made. 2. There should be, within reasonable limit, as few classes as possible, that there may be as much time for each as can be bad. It is far better to give twenty or thirty minutes to a class of ten, than to give the same time to two or three classes of three to live pupils each. 3. Pupils should be put into classes ac- cording to their knowledge, which, in mixed schools, should be ascertained by such ex- aminations, generally informal, as circum- stances allow. 4. For economy of time and that the teacher may give proper instruction, every subject should be taught in classes. 5. An ideal classification should, gener- ally, give way to the practical question, what in the circumstances is best for the pupil f 6. In the last resort the teacher, of course, will determine what class or classes a pupil will be in, but he should take rea- DIVISION OF TIME. 69 1 sonable pains to satisfy the pupil and the parent that his decision is right. 7. While a mixed school cannot be re- duced to so strict an order of classes as a. graded school, the classification of such a school shows the power of the teacher, and when rightly made gives him his best op- portunity of doing good work. These principles will be applied further on, under the head, Arranging Classes. It is necessary to inquire next how much time for recitation the school-day will afford, after deducting what must be taken for other uses ; or to make a DIVISION OF TIME. The ordinary school day consisting of two* sessions of three hours each, there will be three hundred and sixty minutes in all.. The teacher should be at school, as a rule, half an hour before school time ; he is often obliged by the circumstances of the place, to remain during the noon-time intermis- sion, and he will generally have some nee- 70 BEGINNING. •essaiy work to do after school, such, as ■entering records, etc. The day is long enough for any teacher or pupil who works faithfully, and should not, as a rule, be ex- tended after school for the purpose of recitations. These three hundred and sixty minutes, then, are all the regular time for ■school work. From this must be taken these items : Five minutes for opening in the morning and for closing in the afternoon. Five minutes for business, each half day. Ten minutes for recess each half day, or in many cases ten minutes for boys and ten for girls, separately. These require in all forty to sixty min- utes, and they are all necessary or very desirable items, though they make a formi- dable deduction from the total. The only part that can be taken for recitation is the time — ten minutes — for opening and clos- ing, and this should not be taken. [See ■Chapter IX.] There will remain then, three hundred to three hundred and twenty DIVISION OF TIME. 71 minutes for recitations, and this will be the general division of time: Morning. Opening, five minutes. Bus- iness, five minutes. Recess, ten or twenty minutes. Recess need not occur exactly in the middle of the half day ; for physi- ological reasons it might better be before the middle ; it may be any time between ten and eleven o'clock. Recitations, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty minutes ; say, ten recitations of fifteen minutes each [see next topic,] or four of twenty and four of fifteen, with ten to twenty minutes for the beginners or some necessary extra class. Afternoon. Business, five minutes. Recesses, ten or twenty minutes. Closing, five minutes. Recitations, same time as morning. How long a time should each recitation have, or rather — for that is the practical side of the question — how short a time may it have? No absolute answer can be given to this question, for the time must — as in fact it will — be regulated by circumstances. 72 BEGINNING. If it is possible, no recitation in any sub- ject, unless some one little child must read by itself, or some one great child must parse all alone, should have less than fifteen minutes. Any less time seems almost ridiculously short, if recitation means any- thing but a flux of memorized words, of which a great number, certainly, can be said in less time than fifteen minutes. In the school-day, as provided for, there could be twenty to twenty-two recitations of fifteen minutes each. If it is possible to make fewer classes and give each, or even some, twenty minutes, much would be gained every way. It will, probably > be more helpful to most teachers of mixed schools to suggest fifteen minutes as the standard length, as that is a longer time than many now see the way of getting. Fifteen minutes, then, let it be, where it cannot be twenty. WHAT IS TO BE TAUGHT. The number of subjects to be taught enters into the organization of school and must be briefly considered, although it is WHICH STUDIES % 73 not now the object to discuss courses of study. Singularly enough, neither statute nor local law prescribe, with any deiinite- ness or uniformity, what the subjects of study in a common school shall be. In point of fact these embrace almost all that are pursued in any school. Teachers do not want the reputation of not being able to teach Algebra and Natural Philosophy and Physiology, and the few who are ambitious of doing, or perhaps competent to do, more than the others, tax the labor of the teacher and the time of the school disproportionately, if not unjustly. The question is not now raised,. of the relative value of Grammar and Physiology, but only whether the common ungraded school should be exclusively or mainly occupied with those branches which it is assumed all will study, and whether it should admit those also which are generally considered as higher, and which are desired in these schools by a few pupils for this very reason. No other answer can be given than this : the common branches, the rudiments of all 74 BEGINNING. knowledge, should be first and fully pro- vided for ; that is clearly the business of the school; the Reading of the younger classes, and the Geography if it can be taught sensibly, and the Penmanship, and the Language should not be neglected in any way or degree that one, or three, may study Algebra and Philosophy. If any thing is to be excluded for want of time, if any thing is to find its time and oppor- tunity as it can, it should be, clearly, the branches which are regarded as higher, be- cause the common school is established and maintained for instruction in those lower branches which all are supposed to need. It may be best to provide for the other, but not at the expense of these ; if the time of school is fully occupied with these common studies, Algebra and Philosophy must be relegated to odd minutes, to a lit- tle time before school or after, to " noon- time," or to whatever spare moments or outside time the teacher can find for them, or be discarded altogether. The tradi- tional " three It's " must in no case permit WHICH STUDIES? 75 higher branches to usurp their time and attention. But some things not always in- cluded should always come in as part of these commonest lessons for all pupils whomsoever. The intention is not to make new courses of study, but to ascertain how the subjects which are demanded and which the school will pursue, whether the particu- lar teacher thinks they should be taught or not, and those besides which clearly must be added to make others effective or to sup- ply fresh and growing demands, can be provided for. Among the latter, should, without doubt, be reckoned Drawing, His- tory and Government of the United States, and a knowledge of what is now going on tn the world, the use of language and of all knowledge acquired in the practice of com- position writing, and the rudiments of some natural science. It is fairly a question whether the last three are not worth more in every way to the pupil than technical Grammar and catechetical Geography ; it is not a question that the common school, the only school a vast majority of the land will 76 BEGINNING. ever attend, should give attention to them y if the pupils who leave these schools are to take anything away but the dry bones of a little memorized technical knowledge. But leaving in all that former theories of education still retain and adding the min- imum of what the newer theories and prac- tices properly demand, the teacher must recognize and provide for this curriculum, viz. Reading, Spelling, Geography, Gram- mar, History and Government, Drawing and Penmanship, Language or Composi- tion, and a Natural Science. A Natural Science is said, because it may be one or another according to circumstances, the main thing being that in some direction children should be led to observe and study and love nature. The way is now clear to apply all this to ARRANGING CLASSES. All were left just now at work at some- thing which will help to show the place to which each belongs. - Those who have done the most advanced set of examples in ARRANGING CLASSES. 77 arithmetic may be called out and their work inspected, and they may be further tested by questioning or by other examples to be solved. The same may be done with the part who have worked the other set of ex- amples. Aiming at two classes in arithme- tic for all but beginners, all who should begin somewhere near the middle of the book might be in one, and all who should begin just after the " ground rules " in another. In the main this could easily be done, but a few of the first would insist on being in the " back part " of the book and a few of the second on beginning at the middle. Here are the two points ; there cannot be so many classes, and the pupils must be satisfied, if they can be. They may be convinced by repeated trials, that they do not understand thoroughly what is nec- essary for beginning where they desire ; they may be made to see that they can learn so much more in class than they can in scattered, individual study without recit- ing ; they may be persuaded to make the trial and convince themselves that they be- Y8 BEGINNING. long exactly where the teacher's judgment puts them ; and, if need be, they can in the end he put there. In most mixed, rural schools, no violence will be done by put- ting all who have previously ciphered into two classes, and the beginners, or those who ought to be beginners, into a third. Those who are to study Grammar and Geography may be tested and divided in the same way. It will always be easier to make a small number of classes in these subjects than in others. The grammari- ans will readily fall into the ranks of begin- ners and advanced. Those who ought to study home Geography, or that of the United States, will properly go into one class, and those who ought to study some other country, into another. Reading and Spelling classes make diffi- culty because children and their parents so foolishly insist on using the higher readers, and because the notion prevails that there must be as many spelling classes as reading classes. In very few schools can the children read profitably in readers higher ARRANGING CLASSES. 79 than the fourth of the ordinary series, and teachers can do no better service in this subject than to pursuade, or if need be gently compel, pupils and parents to be satisfied with a reader of that grade. With a full understanding of the difficulties in- volved, there is no hesitation in saying that the teacher would better do some violence in this matter and reject the books above this. Thus there would be only four read- ing classes beyond the beginners. It is worth serious consideration whether all learning of Spelling should not be inci- dental to other lessons ; that is, whether set lessons in spelling should be given for the sake of spelling. If, however, the common way of dictating spelling lessons is to be followed, as it is almost universally, aside from what spelling will almost of necessity be done with other classes, — and spelling should be practised in them all, as occasion arises — the whole school, with the exception again of the beginners, may be divided into two classes, and with better results than if there are more than two. 80 BEGINNING. The most advanced half of the school may be in one, and the rest in the other. If any in either should, so far as spelling goes, be in the other, they can easily enough be transferred. Half the school may just as well spell in one class as to be divided into two or more ; indeed, if there is any merit /in oral spelling, or in writing words dic- tated, the more the class does, the more the individual pupil hears or does himself, and so he has a better chance than he would have in a small class. The lesson, whether from a spelling book or elsewhere, can very easily be made suitable for each of these two divisions. If any says that his school is too large to spell in this way, as there is no place in the room for so many to stand, it is obvious to say that standing in a row is no necessary part of a spelling lesson, more than of any other ; the class can sit in their seats, and the one who is to spell can rise, if that is desirable, or all can write together, no matter how many there are. As to Penmanship ; all can write at once, ARRANGING CLASSES. 81 two, or possibly three, books of 'the ordi- nary series, being sufficient for the best interests of most schools. The Drawing, also, can be very well managed in one class, the teacher giving instruction on the board one day to those who are doing cer- tain work while the others are practising yesterday's lesson. A part of the time being so devoted to lessons in advance for some part of the class, the rest of the time can be spent in inspecting and correcting the work of individuals. These two sub- jects may alternate, if it is necessary that any should. The Language or Composition, like the Spelling, will need two classes, but a little practice and ordinary devices will soon en- able the teacher to get the right kind of work from half the school at a time. History and Government together, either connecting the two in one lesson or alternat- ing them by half-terms, maybe subjects for one class, the older half of the school ; or, which would be better, they may be sub- 82 BEGINNING. jects for part of the instruction in the gen- eral exercise. [See Chapter VII.] The Science lesson will need one recita- tion period by itself or with other subjects in the general exercise, but it should be with the school as a class, each one, young and old, getting what he can from it. The general scheme of classes aimed at in this discussion would be something like this. Arithmetic, three classes ; Grammar, two classes ; Geography, two classes ; Beading, four classes ; [there should be three, if possible.] Spelling, two classes ; Penmanship and Drawing, one class ; Language, two classes ; History, with or without Government, one class ; Science, one class ; In all, eighteen classes. This scheme does not provide for the little ones, whose lessons should be short and frequent. Half an hour's time is left ARRANGING CLASSES. 83'. left for them, and this can be supplemented, perhaps doubled, by making assistant teachers for a few minutes each half day of the older pupils. This is not suggested with the thought that the instruction of the little ones is to be in any sense neglect- ed. The" teacher will give to them all the time he can,and they will receive this further instruction under his own constant notice by the plan proposed. In summer schools composed of young children only, there might be but one class in Arithmetic, none in Grammar, and so on. In these schools there would be longer time for class exer- cises, or they could be more frequent, and. there would be opportunity for much oral instruction and much practice of writing and drawing. The particulars would vary,, but the principle of the arrangement would apply, now in this way and now in that, to- all schools. No attempt is made here to fix the pre- cise number of classes for any school ; cir- cumstances vary so much that this would be impossible. The young teacher is only 84 BEGINNING. urged to make the number of classes small by ever j- device, so that the time for reci- tations may be most profitably employed. He must control and jpersuade and compel pupils to come together into classes, that he may have opportunity to instruct them. It is simple nonsense to have recitations of two to three minutes in length ; and it ■shows want of resources or feebleness of power, if a teacher allows a school of twenty- seven pupils to demand twenty-eight daily classes, as in one instance known to the au- thor. Nor can any absolute length of recita- tion be prescribed ; it is not the present 'Object to give exact formulas for managing schools but to suggest principles. This matter of classes is often the great- est difficulty, for teachers of ungraded schools, and this is the excuse, if any is needed, for dwelling upon it with repeti- tion and emphasis. Sometimes variety of text-books is at the bottom of it, but in most places now the proper authorities will remedy this if the teacher judiciously and resolutely demands it ; it arises sometimes ARRANGING CLASSES. 85» from the older pupils' having been pre- viously permitted to take up studies and advanced parts of subjects for which they were not qualified, and of course it requires much tact and firmness to bring together again what ought never to have been scat- tered ; it arises most often from the present teacher's own lack of apprehension of the evils of numerous small classes with but three to five minutes for each, and his al- lowing two or three here, and two or three there, to form a class contrary to his judg- ment, because he would like to please or because he has not courage to resist impro- tunities. Once again, every young teacher who reads this chapter is urged in those first days of school to apply himself vigorously to the task of reducing the number of classes by hunching the pupils together. Persuade or compel those great boys and girls, who can hardly read at all and think their size demands the fifth reader, the sixth reader, the rhetorical reader, to come together on the fourth, and as a solace to their disap- $6 , BEGLNTSING. pointed ambition let the teacher's news- paper, or magazine, or history or other book, supplement sometimes, or many times, the despised reader. Bring together all those mathematical geniuses, who want to cipher all over the last half of the arith- metic and the elementary algebra, at some point most suitable for the larger part of them, and let the best help the poorest catch up, and stimulate all by giving such additional work as they can bear. Put those who, in like manner, have scattered themselves over the first part of the book together, and pure beginners will make another class. If it is best or necessary to study intellectual arithmetic, the very best use to make of it is as a two minutes' drill introductory to each lesson in written arithmetic. The assertion is made confi- dently, that any teacher who really sees its necessity and will work patiently at it will very much reduce the number of classes. He must begin with resolution and he must improve every opportunity of condensing *classses, and he must make it apparent to ARRANGING CLASSES. 87 scholars, and all parents who will take pains to know, that his recitations from fifteen to twenty minutes in length are worth ten times as much as those of three to five minutes, which are really no recita- tions at all and are hardly worth reckoning as pretences. This course is not meant at all to lessen the teacher's labor — it will not do that — but to make it more useful. To prevent all misapprehension and the charge of making an ideal scheme which cannot be carried out as a real scheme in any school, it is repeated that it is meant to be tentative only, and suggestive of what may be done in the main in any ordinary school of from twenty-five to forty, or even more pupils, and it should he done. It is high time that the puttering and wasting of strength in the farce of a three minutes' recitation should be peremptorily stopped, and that " it can't be done " should be replaced by a vigorous, " it shall he done" There need be no reserve in saying that no teacher can hear, to any profit, more classes than these, and that no 88 BEGINNING. ordinary recitation period can be shorter than the fifteen minutes here specified as a minimum. Graded schools, following a prescribed course of study and being classified ac- cording to that course, present no special difficulties to the individual teacher in this matter. Conditions of promotion and forms of examination are fixed by the Principal or Board of Education, and the teacher's part is simply to carry out instructions. To come back to the getting of this par- ticular school into working order. There are to be only as few classes as possible in. each subject. By trial of those who are to study each subject, as suggested , for those in arithmetic, and trials in as many parts of the subject as may be necessary, a pro- visional classification may be made on the first day, while all are kept busy by being told that they will be examined in this way in this subject first and in that next. What then has been done this first day ? A provisional classification has been made according to a principle which will be car- ARRANGING CLASSES. 89 ried out as far as seems practicable, and on a basis which none can reasonably object to, viz. this informal trial of each pupil in each subject ; all have been kept busy, the teacher most of all, and work for the next day has been given. During the day, as occasion has arisen, the teacher has gently but firmly asserted his mastership and has at once taken control of his school and has shown the way in which he means to man- age. A word, and notice what lessons will be heard first in the morning, may dismiss the school. Once again, some man may say, " this is all very well to read, but schools don't be- gin in that way." These suggestions are not made for any whose experience per- mits them to do better, or for those who are sure they will do best by not knowing how they will proceed ; nor is it supposed that any will follow these suggestions exactly and go no step beyond. Full de- tails are not attempted ; every work-man must provide for little things, in which his work is sure to differ from that of any 90 BEGINNING. other man. For the benefit of those who do not know a better way, and on the sure ground that any sensible plan of opening school is better than no plan at all, this prin- ciple and these details so far are written out at some length. Unless the young teacher can do better, he will do well to do this. If the work here given cannot all be done in one day, let two days be taken ; the precise time is not essential. The main thing is to know what one means to accomplish and the law by which he ought to work it out ; and if any one says he can- not do this or something like it, it is a con- fession of weakness which will probably belong to all he does. But let it be noticed that the judgment used in this day's work and the value and safety of its results will depend largely on the teacher's meeting the conditions already laid down in the intro- ductory chapters. School, then, is dismissed at the close of the first day with classes formed, except in some doubtful and deferred instances, and THE DAILY PROGRAMME. 91 with lessons for the first part of the next day. This provisional and tentative classi- fication is completed and corrected, if need be, on the following day, and the school is ready for the PROGRAMME OF RECITATION AND STUDY. These principles should guide in the making of a programme. 1. Periods of study and recitation for classes, and so far as possible for individu- als, should alternate. 2. Exercises which relieve by requiring more bodily movement or manual practice, such as drawing, or reading accompanied with vocal gymnastics of any kind, should be put at times when this relief will be most needed, as in the middle of sessions, or toward the end of the day. 3. In general, classes should come in such order as will keep pupils busy but will afford rest and stimulus by frequent change of occupation or subject. The inevitable uneasiness of a school in which this princi- ple is disregarded is proof that all such points should influence all arrangements. 92 BEGINNING. 4. In consideration of the fact that the teacher is bound to continued exertion, and so the strain on body and mind is great, secondary regard should be paid to such an order of exercises as will also relieve him, as far as is consistent with the interests of classes. 5. It is very common to say that the most difficult subjects, those which require " most attention and hardest work " should come first, because the mind is then freshest, and the almost universal practice puts arithmetic into this place of honor, with the exception, sometimes, of the reading classes. This is an error ; all the subjects of study — grammar, arithmetic, geography, history, science — require close, and equally close attention ; arithmetic is not, gener- ally, the most difficult; it is made the hobby of much teaching and the . standard of promotion, until algebra supersedes it, but if any subject should be put first for this reason, it should, clearly, be grammar ; but it is neither correct nor politic to arrange order of classes on this principle, THE DAILY PROGRAMME. 93 for all subjects should receive equally earn- est attention and should be made equal stimulants of the mind. The other con- siderations mentioned should have prece- dence over this. 6. This programme should fill the time of the sessions, and should control the action of the school. It may, of course, be changed for cause, but it should be made to be followed till it is changed, and both teacher and pupil should live their school life by it. Let it be plainly written out and posted and then let it be followed. This is best for the school as a school, and the lesson of it is invaluable in all after life. 7. Besides the programe of recitations, there should also be a programme of study, and for two reasons. The teacher should know whether a pupil's time is fully occu- pied and whether he can prepare the lessons assigned. That is, the teacher should know just where the work he requires is to come in. Secondly, the habit of having a time for every part of his work, and of do- 94 BEGINNING. ing each part in its own time, is a habit to- be cultivated. It is advised, then, that a programme of study be made out for each class, that it be posted and followed in the same manner as that of recitations. The pupils then have a regular occupation — recitation of such a lesson or study of such a lesson — for each period of the day. If any prepare any lessons out of school, it is better that this too be regularly done, and be the same lesson every day. Pupils can be advised at least to take this course. With these considerations about pro- grammes the matter is left with- the teacher. Each can best make his own particular order of exercises. If only the young teacher will accustom himself from the start to seek after the best way and to de- cide on each part of his own mode of pro- ceedure for reasons satisfactory to him in present circumstances, he is better off with- out exact formulas for doing everything. The data of the formulas he needs being suggested, he can best apply them to his own case for himself. SEATING. 95 The only remaining item is that of SEATING. In graded schools the classification deter- mines the general order of sitting ; that is, the school sits by classes. The same rule prevails in mixed schools ; that is, pupils should sit by classes, so far as that can be done. Pupils who have different ranks in different subjects may conveniently sit with the highest class in any subject to which they belong. Assuming that this general principle will regulate the seating of a school, these suggestions are added : 1. Some idea in the teacher's mind of appearance, or order, or convenience for the various school movements, or the height of seats and desks, will determine whether a particular class shall sit here or there. That is, there will be a reason, satisfactory to the teacher, for putting a class where it is placed. 2. Whether boys and s;irls in the same class will be seated in the same row of seats, or in one section of a long seat 96 BEGINNING. running round the wall, or whether all the boys shall be together in one half of the seats or benches, and all the girls on the other, will not be determined, of necessity, by their being boys and girls, but by rela- tive number of pupils and seats, and by the considerations mentioned above. These ideas should be carried out rather than whims about sex. 3. The seats of individuals of a class will be determined by considerations not always to be made public. Sometimes they may be seated so as to make a regular gradation of height, for appearence's sake, provided no more important principle is sacrificed. Sometimes the unruly ones, after they are discovered, are put in front because they are unruly. Sometimes, the privilege of choosing seats may be allowed, with the un- derstanding that retaining them depends on behavior. Sometimes, rank in class, when it is ascertained, determines seat and with good effect in certain teachers' manage- ment, though this is not recommended as a good general rule. Sometimes, " good SEATING. 97 looks " or the contrary, have something to do with it, and not without reason, and sometimes, considerations of personal clean- liness or known habits which cannot be made a matter of direct school discipline properly and imperatively determine it. Here again the young teacher is recom- mended to act on the assumption that he may control this matter as all others, and to regulate it positively and so as to meet some idea of order and convenience, or keeping certain pupils out of each other's reach ; that is, he should do it by authority and for reason. Nor is this a thing of no importance, in either graded or ungraded schools. Willie Jones and his mother and Kitty- Sawyer and her father often have no- tions of their own about seats, which the teacher would be glad enough to gratify if he could. 4. Some other considerations, however, should come in to modify the foregoing, and. such as are too apt to be overloked. (a.) Children should not sit on seats or at desks too high or too low for them. No 98 BEGINNING. child should sit from opening of school to recess with feet swinging clear of the floor, or crouching down to meet his desk. This, more than any notion of looks, order, or convenience, should determine the seats of some. (b.) There are in most rooms seats of especial exposure to drafts of cold air, blasts of hot air, and painful glare of light, and there are children peculiarly sensitive to such things. Some boys do not know there is a draft, and some girls are salaman- ders as to stoves and registers ; careful re- gard should sometimes be paid to such things, both on occasion and as a permanent arrangement. (