SJofe^.of UC-NRLF TffbKS on TE/ICBIKG #FpnciS-w-PMKER - HeporM -Ly • LEM^ E • PJITI^IDGE - <$^u&vfiV2sai ^^^^^>«/^ ^cJ />^o^^ , ^^^.^d?^:> ^/f"/^.^-^^^ NOTES Talks on Teaching, FRANCIS W. PARKER, Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute, July 17 to August 19, 1882. REPORTED BY LELIA E. PATRIDGE. SEVENTH EDITION. NEW YORK : E; L. KELLOGG & CO. 1885. COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY LELIA E, PATRIDGE. M. H. Green, 324 to 330 Pearl Street, NEW YORK. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION: Sketch of Col. Parker's Work TALK I. — Preliminary 19 Attitude of the teacher toward the work — Foundation for true judgment — Price of success — The Quincy System ; — what it is. — False and true motives of education — Definition of education — End and aim of the work — What the teacher must know — Study of principles indispensable. Technical Skill 23 Vocal culture — Drill in Phonics — Training in reading and talk- ing — Cultivation in Singing — Practice in Penmanship — Exercise in Drawing — Learning to Mould, in sand and clay — Gymnastic drill. TALK n.— Reading 26 Importance of definitions — What is reading?— How we get thought — Difference between hearing language, and reading — Definition of reading — Preparation made by child for reading — What he has to do to learn to read— The child's oral expression- Function of ofal reading— The use of silent reading— Importance of correct habits of reading. TALK IIL— Reading.— The Word 30 How child acquires the spoken word — The law of association — The mental stimulus— Association of words with ideas— Objects 54,] I 71 :ij/;- : •.,: ; • -; , : ;;. CONTENTS, PAGE the best possible stimulus — The object method — The word as a whole. (Word method) — Devices to be used — Writing the word. TALK I v.— Reading.— Sentence 35 Rdsumd of previous talk — Another means of association (the * sentence) — The simplest step first (the word) — The sentence method — Child's natural expression to be retained. — Getting the thought before giving it — The method of imitation. TALK v.— Reading. — Script 40 The written word— Script versus print— The change from script to print — Advantages of the script method — Reasons for use of the black-board — Why child changes readily from script to print. TALK VL— Reading. — Phonics 45 The spoken word ; what it recalls — Explanation of slow pro- nunciation — Process of association between spoken and written word — Phonetic classification — Reconciliation of phonic and word methods— The law of like to like, and its uses— Details of the phonic method. TALK VIL— Reading.— Application of Princi- ples 53 No new methods of teaching reading — Reconciliation of all, forms the true method — Importance of a careful selection of words — What words should be taught first — Directions regarding the first vocabulary — How to teach the first words — How to teach the first sentences — Devices for teaching the next step. TALK VIIL — Reading. — Application of Princi- ples. (Continued) 60 General directions for first lessons — Devices for teaching the first writing — Purpose of phonic analysis — First steps in slow pronun- ciation — Details of further training in phonics — The Sound Chart. CONTENTS, V PAGE TALK IX. — Reading. — Application of Princi- ples. (Concluded) 66 Directions for changing from script to print — First three years* .course— Bad Habits ; how caused — Devices for correcting them — General suggestions — Reading script work — The standard of ex- cellence. TALK X.— Spelling 71 What is spelling ? — How is it learned ? — Proper function of oral spelling — Purpose of spelling — First year's work — General direc- tions. TALK XL— Writing 75 Reasons for teaching writing, early in the course — The forms of letters established — Correct training versus individuality — Every- thing should be carefully copied — Suggestions as to training in technic — Chart of letters, arranged in the order of teaching — Movement in writing ; when it should begin — What is to be ac- complished — Directions for training. TALK XIL— Talking with the Pencil 80 How to treat child when it enters school — Exercises in talking with the tongue — Correction of bad habits, and inaccuracies — New idioms, and different parts of speech, taught objectively — What should precede talking with the pencil. TALK XIII. — Talking with the Pencil. (Con- tinued) 84 Thought before expression — First exercises in original written work — Suggestions as to training in capitalization, punctuation, etc. — The use of pictures — Object teaching ; wrong, and right — Natural objects, as aids to language lessons — Descriptions, and stories — Important rules. VI CONTENTS, TALK XIV.— Composition 89 Results of previous work — Every lesson a language lesson — Ele- mentary and advanced Geography as an aid — History to furnish exercises in composition — Arithmetic will train in exact logic — How the study of Natural Science can be used — No necessity for the spelling-book — When should Grammar be taught ? — Uso of incorrect forms ; false S3mtax, etc. — Parsing ; word lessons ; and diagrams. TALK XV. —Number 95 What is number ? — Limitation of sense-grasp, and imagination — Objections to the object method— What can be done with num- bers ?— The fundamental four operations — What is the use of num- ber ? — How must number be taught ? — First find out what the child knows — Facts the teacher should know — Calculation should be au- tomatic. TALK XVL— Number. (Continued) 103 Too much attempted the first year — Let child discover facts for himself — Teach the four operation sat the same time — Reasons for this — Analysis and synthesis — A misunderstood point in Arith- metics — The learning of the language of number — Details of the step-by-step plan — When should the use of objects cease ? — Advice to teachers. TALK XVIL— Arithmetic no When and how to begin teaching figures and signs — Details of succeeding steps to 20— -Parker's Arithmetical Chart ; 20 to 100 — When can new numbers be taught without objects ? — Nothing new in higher Arithmetic — Needless complexity of this study — Teach every new subject, objectively — How to bring about humility — Teachers need to study numbers of things — How much analysis ? — Pupils should be led to discover thoughts for themselves — No ex- planations. We learn to do by doing — Education is the generation of power. CONTENTS. vii PAGB TALK XVIII.— Geography - , 120 Geography defined— Two parts of study : Structural Geography and History — First work ; forming mental pictures of structure— The character of continental forms locates and fixes them in the mind — Illustration ; the novelist and historian — All that is chang- ing should be held in immovable forms — Vertical forms determine the character of continents — Also character of inhabitants, and history — Study of structure forms the basis of all Physical Sciences — Humboldt, Ritter, and Guyot and their work. TALK XIX.— Geography. (Continued) 126 How can unseen forms be built in the mind ? — Imagination and its laws — Importance of cultivating this faculty— Power of imagi- nation in children— Directions for teaching the first steps in Geog- raphy — ^Work of the first five years in this study — Problems to ex- cite curiosity, and lead to investigation — Reasons for teaching the continent before the county or state — The wholes of sense-grasp and of imagination — Mathematical Geography ; when it should be taught. TALK XX.— Geography. (Continued) 133 What is meant by building the continents — What a continent is — The Moulding in Geography. Its use and abuse — How to teach a continent by moulding — Map-Drawing. Its place and de- sign — The order of teaching the continents — What follows this study of continental forms. TALK XXL— Geography. (Concluded) 138 The placing of continents in their relative positions — Lessons upon soil ; vegetation ; and animals — Mines and quarries located — The study of man ; races ; customs; habits, etc. — Governments and political divisions — Cities ; industries ; manufactures, and com- merce — Latitude, longitude, and climate — What countries should be studied — Collateral reading — Illustrative collections of objects, and pictures — The great difficulty in the way. VI 11 CONTENTS, PAGK TALK XXII.—HisTORY 143 What should be gained by study of History — Mental powers trained by this study— Use of fairy, and mythological stories— De- tails of indirect work from 4th to 7th year — How to take up the real study of History — Rules for selection of topics — Teach vital and interesting facts ; not empty generalization— Fix events and scenes upon clear mental pictures of structure— Detailed directions for the teaching of a topic— Dates. What they should be— Cau- tion, regarding the teaching of religious and political events. TALK XXIII. — Examinations 150 Examinations a great obstacle to good teaching — What is the aim of real teaching ? — ^What the object of examinations should be — The common standard false, and absurd— Illustration of the right mode of examining — Too much demanded of children — Ex- aminations not the proper test for promotion — Freedom necessary for the teacher — The doctrine of responsibility — Give the good teachers a chance— Appeal for earnest, honest study and investiga- tion. TALK XXIV.— School Government 156 The highest motive of school government — What is real atten- tion ? — Two ways in which it may be gained — First try to make the subject attractive— Definition of natural teaching— Kindergar- ten principles all through education — Contrast between the two ideals in education — Teach everything with the stimulus of what the child loves — Illustration. Moulding, and Drawing — Demoral- izing results of most primary teaching — Necessity of reward or punishment under the quantity ideal — Answer to the argument for stem discipline, etc. — The purpose of education — No time to spend upon made-up obstacles — ^Work best adapted to the child is best loved by him — The appeal to fear — Children study, and read the teacher — The question of Corporal punishment. TALK XXV.— Moral Training 166 End and aim of all education — What is character ? — Analysis into habits — Formation of habits — Everything done in school has CONTENTS, IX a moral or immoral tendency — Importance of training in self- control — Three causes that control the will — Child first controlled by mother or teacher — When child should exercise its own volition — Leading child to know, and do, the right — Habitual wrong- doing corrected by habitual right-doing — Necessity of knowing the diild and its nature — Natural methods defined — Wrong methods immoral in their tendency — Natural methods enhance teacher's power for right — Attractiveness in subject arouses desire to attend — Doing through love of doing forms habit — Fear and force disgust and demoralize — Answer to argument in favor of old methods — Bad effects of the system of rewards, etc. — Truth should govern the will — Train child to seek, find, and use, the truth — Reason weak- ened through teaching generalizations — How the habit of seeking truth influences the after life — Training of skill without regard to thoughts — Effect when percision is the end and aim — Conceit, an- other outgrowth of the quantity ideal — The greatest barrier to true knowledge — Necessity for constant study on the part of the teacher — Careful selection of objects of thought presented— Basis of thought and imagination — Study of nature as a foundation for spiritual growth — Fill the mind with good, leaving no room for evil — Teacher, a constant object lesson to child — Tendency of children to read vicious literature— Its cause and cure — Plea for supplementary reading — Train children to love work — Natural love of child for expression in the concrete — Distinction between real work and drudgery — Importance of training in manual labor —Last words. BOOKS ON THE '' NEW EDUCATION/^ THE "QUINCY METHODS" ILLUS- TRATED. Patridge. 686 pp., cloth, $1.50. TALKS ON TEACHING. Parker. 192 pp., cloth, $1.00. LECTURES ON THE SCIENCE AND ART OF EDUCATION. Payne. 264 pp., cloth, $0.75. EDUCATION BY DOING. Johnson. 120 pp., cloth, $0.60. SCHOOL MANAGEMENT. Kellogg. 128 pp., cloth, I0.75. PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION. Tate. In preparation, E. L. KELLOGG & CO., Educational Publishers, 25 Clinton Place, N. Y. INTRODUCTION. There is, perhaps, no name more widely known among the teachers of this country, than that of Col. Francis W. Parker. The results of his supervision of the Quincy schools have made him the most talked of, if not the most popular educator of our time. Whatever may be thought of him or his work — and it would be idle to deny that opinions differ regard- ing both — he is acknowledged, even by his oppo- nents, to be one of those who are destined to mould public opinion. Concerning such the world is always curious. We desire to know their history, their environment, that we may judge their power. Remembering this, I have thought that something of the man, as well as his methods, might prove interesting to the readers of the '* Notes.*' I have, therefore, persuaded Col. Parker to give me the salient points of his life, more especially those that bear upon his career as a teacher, and these I have thrown into shape and order in the sketch which follows. Francis Wayland Parker, born October 9th, 1837, ^^ the town of Bedford (now Manchester), N. H., came Xll INTRODUCTION. of a race of scholars and teachers. His great-grand- father on his mother's side was Librarian of Harvard College, and a class-mate of Hancock. His mother taught for several years before her marriage, showing marked originality in her methods ; and all her children were born teachers. From earliest childhood he thought and talked of be- ing a teacher. It was always his dream, and his one am- bition. His father dying when Francis was but six years old, at eight the boy was bound out, according to New England phrase, that is, apprenticed to a farmer till he was twenty-one. But nature was too strong for circumstance. A farmer he could not, would not be, and at the age of thirteen he broke his bonds, and started out into the world for himself. Without money, influence or friends, for he had angered his relatives by this move, he struggled on for the next four years, doing whatever he could find to do, and going to school whenever opportunity offered. Then he put his foot on the first round of the ladder ; he obtained his first school. It was at Corser Hill, Boscawen (now Webster), and he was paid fifteen dollars per month. This venture proved successful, though many of his pupils were older than their teacher, and some (he says) knew more. The next winter he taught at Over-the-Brook in the town of Auburn, for seventeen dollars a month, and ** boarded around.'' From this time his services were in such demand in the town, INTRODUCTION, xiil that he taught, not only the winter schools for the next three years, but opened a *^ select school " on his own account during the autumn months. One term of teaching in Hinsdale, and one in the grammar school of his native village, ended his work in New England for several years. In the fall of 1859 he received a call to the Prin- cipalship" of the graded school at CarroUton, 111., and there he remained till the breaking out of the war in the spring of 1861. Finding, then, that loyalty to the Union was the one qualification in a school-master for which they had no use in that vicinity, he resigned his position before his committee had fully decided that they wished for it, and was immediately offered a better one with a higher salary at Alton, 111. This he declined and started for the East, where he at once enrolled as a private in the Fourth New Hampshire Regiment just forming. He fought all through the war, became lieutenant, captain, lieutenant-colonel, and brevet-colonel. He was wounded in the throat and chin at the battle of Deep Bottom, August i6th, 1864, was taken prisoner by the confederates at Mag- nolia, N. C, and released just as peace was declared. Then with the remnant of his regiment he returned to New Hampshire, and was mustered out of service August, 1865. At the call of his country he had left the school- room ; now she required his services in the field no longer. Where next ? Many ways were open to his XIV INTRODUCTION, choice. Military preferment, political office, excellent business positions were offered to him at this time, but he declined them all. His passion for teaching was too strong for these to tempt him. He never wavered for a moment, not even when his best worldly interests seemed to be at stake. A teacher he was born, a teacher he would live and die. He accepted the Principalship of the North Grammar School of Manchester, N. H., at a salary of eleven hundred dol- lars, and held the position for three years. From there he went to Dayton, Ohio, in 1869, to take charge of the school in District No. i. Here he had the super- vision not only of the grammar grades, but of the primary ; and now his primary work began. He had all along had his own way of doing things, and had from the very first his conception of how teaching should be done. Indeed, he tells with some amuse- ment at his own audacity, that when only eight years old, he rose in school one day and informed the teacher that he didn't know how to teach ! Even war, with all its horrors, did not wholly absorb his mind from its favorite theme. Often, as he sat before the camp fire, or lay in his tent at night, he studied how the mind grows, and planned many of the methods which have since made him famous. It was in Manchester where he used to work all day, and then spend half the night preparing for the next, that he first began to apply his theories. But in the primary schools of Dayton, he felt for the first time that he had begun at INTRODUCTION. x> the beginning of the great work of mind development. At the end of the year he became Principal of the Dayton Normal School, a position he held for two years, being then elected Assistant Superintendent of the City Schools. No one who steps out of the beaten track can walk long in his new path unchallenged. To desert the old, to fail in respect for the traditional, to imply that customary ways of doing things might not be the best ways, is treason, and high treason. This Col. Parker was made to feel, and feel keenly. Though a soldier, he loved peace better than war, but he began to see, as time went on, that his fighting days were not yet over. More and more he found himself antagonizing the convictions of his fellow-teachers, as day by day he grew away from the time-honored traditions of his vocation. They would not agree to his views, he could not agree to theirs ; and one party must be in the wrong — which was it ? Where did truth lie ? It would seem with the majority. But he would not give up what seemed to him so clearly right without reasons. He would consult the highest authorities in the art of teaching, and learn if he were wrong. Accordingly, in the fall of 1872, he went to Germany, and entered King William's University, at Berlin, for a two years' course in philosophy, history, and ped- agogics. It need not be said that his opinions found con- firmation strong in that centre of intellectual develop- XVI INTRODUCTION. ment ; and he returned to his native land eager for an opportunity to put his theories, now fully fledged, into practice. When it comes to pass in this world that the right man finds the right place, we have a way of saying, *' How very providential !" as if affairs were only occasionally under the care of Providence. But it was certainly a singularly happy coincidence that just about this time one of the most intelligent school committees of these United States, located at Quincy, Mass., made a discovery which forced them to a conclusion, and that in turn decided them to make an experiment. Their discovery was, that after eight years of attendance in the public schools, " the children could neither write with facility nor read fluently ; nor could they speak or spell their own language very perfectly.'* Their conclusion was, ''that the whole existing system was wrong — a system from which the life had gone out. The school year had become one long period of diffusion and cram, and smatter had become the order of the day.*' [It is not to be understood by this that the Quincy schools were any worse than the average, but merely that they had a committee intelligent enough to com- prehend their true condition.] Acting on this conclusion, they had decided to try to remedy matters. But they were busy men, not specialists in education, and wise enough to know that they were unequal to this difficult and delicate work. Thus they had come to the decision to find INTRODUCTION. xvii some one to do it for them. They would try the experiment of having a Superintendent of Schools. That committee found the man they sought, in Francis W. Parker. So Col. Parker went to Quincy, and nothing since the time of Horace Mann has created such a sensation as his five years' supervision of those schools. Said his committee in their report after he had left them, '* For five years the town had the benefit of his faithful, intelligent and enthusiastic services. In these years he transformed our public schools. He found them machines, he left them living organisms ; drill gave way to growth, and the weary prison became a pleasure house. His dominant intelligence as a master, and his pervasive magnetism as a man, in- formed his school-work. He breathed life, growth and happiness into our school-rooms. The results are plain to be seen before the eyes of every one, solid, substantial, unmistakable. They cannot be gainsaid, or successfully questioned.'* Said Charles Francis Adams, Jr., in his paper on the " New Departure in the Common Schools of Quincy," " The revolution was all-pervading. Nothing escaped its influence ; it began with the alphabet, and extended into the latest effort of the grammar-school course. So daring an experiment as this can, however, be tested in but one way — by its practical results, as proven by the ex- perience of a number of years, and testified to by parents and teachers. Out of five hundred grammar- XVlil IN TROD UCTION, school children, taken promiscuously from all the schools, no less than four hundred showed results which were either excellent or satisfactory, while its advantages are questioned by none, least of all by teachers and parents. . . . The quality of the 'instruction given has been immeasurably improved/ V Such a success as this, heralded abroad by the thousands who visited the Quincy schools, could not fail to bring advancement in its train. Accordingly, when in 1880 Boston gave the country Superintendent a call to '' come up higher," and be one of its Super- visors, he accepted, and at the expiration of his time of service (two years) was re-elected for a second term. In October, 1882, Col. Parker received an urgent call to the Principalship of the Cook County Normal School (just outside Chicago), at a salary of five thousand dollars ; and later, the same year, was offered the Superintendency of the city of Philadel- phia, at a still higher salary. In December he re- signed his position in Boston, and yielding to his overmastering desire to teach, declined the office of Superintendent, which Philadelphia would gladly have given him, and accepted instead the charge of the Normal School in Illinois. The first day of January, 1883, he entered upon his duties as Principal of the Cook County Normal School, where he is now work- ing with all his characteristic force and spirit. With greater opportunities than have ever been granted to him before, with an experience broadened INTRODUCTION. xix and deepened by the failures and successes of the past, with his old-time energy and enthusiasm no whit abated, we have faith to believe that the future will show results, which shall make what he has done in the past seem but the crudest of beginnings. THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD LECTURES. The first of the year, 1881, Col. Parker received an urgent request from the Directors of the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute that he should become the head of the Department of Didactics, at their next session, beginning in July of the same year. Although working already to his utmost, it was a great temptation to have a few weeks of his favorite pursuit thus offered him in the midst of so much supervisory work. Consequently, he decided to give three weeks of his much needed summer rest for this purpose. The matter being decided hastily, and at the last moment, was not properly advertised, and the Class in Didactics that first year was small to what it would otherwise have been, numbering only fifty members. The following year, feeling that here was an oppor- tunity for wide-spread influence, and much good to be done, he returned to the Vineyard. He found that his small beginning of the summer before had been a true beginning, for not only did many of the class of '81 return, but they showed that they had been making a study of the great art of teaching, and came XX INTRODUCTION. back better prepared for the lectures, by their year's experience and observation. This season the Class in Didactics numbered nearly one hundred and fifty members, representing twenty-three States and Nova Scotia. Of this number there were forty-seven Prin- cipals or Heads of Departments, seven Superintend- ents, eleven Kindergartners, and two Institute Lec- turers. The course extended through five weeks, and the following were the Lecturers and Teachers : Principal, COL. FRANCIS W. PARKER, '* Art of Teaching." Dr. William T. Harris, *' History and Science of Education." Dr. Larkin Dunton, Head Master of the Boston Normal School. *' Principles of Teaching." Prof. Moses True Brown, Professor of Oratory in Tuft's College. *' Reading in Grammar and High Schools." Prof. H. E. Holt, Supei'visor of Music in Public Schools^ Boston. " Teaching Music to Little Children." Prof. Hermann B. Boisen, Author of Boisen's New German Course, " Principles of Teaching Modern Languages." H. P. Warren, Principal of the N. H, State Normal School, " Teaching History." Prof. L. Alonzo Butterfield, Teacher of Elocution at the Newton Theological Institution, and Associate Principal ivith Alex. Gra- ham Bell, in School of Vocal Physiology, Boston, Mass. "Phonics.** INTRODUCTION, xxi Miss Ruth R. Burritt, principal Kindergarten Training School, Phila. ** How to Teach Form by Moulding Clay." Miss Hetta Clement, First Assistant, Coddington School^ Quincy. " Moulding Geographical Forms." Mrs. Mary D. Hicks, Late Supervisor of Drawing, Syracuse, N. Y, " Lessons on Drawing." Mrs. M. Frank Stuart, Boston School of Oratory, " The Delsarte Method — Its Uses and Abuses." Miss LeliA E. Patridge, Instructor at Teachers* Institutes, Penn, " Gymnastic Drill." Col. Parker, yielding to the strongly expressed desire of his pupils and fellow-teachers, has consented to resume his work at the Institute the coming season ; but it will be his last year at the Vineyard. His regular work in the West is too arduous and absorbing to permit of any outside interests. Besides, he cannot afford to fall before the fight is ended ; and not even his splendid vitality could long endure the strain of such exhausting and continuous labor. However much we of the East may regret the loss of his inspiring lessons on the great art of teaching, we must be willing to forego them after this season, not only for his own sake — that his days may be long, but for the sake of the little children of the land ; for when he dies they lose their warmest friend, ablest champion, and wisest benefactor. Philadelphia, March, 1883. L. E. P. I HAVE carefully examined the MS. of the " Notes of Talks on Teaching " prepared by Miss Patridge, and find it substantially correct FRANCIS W. PARKER. Chicago. Ill.» April 19, 1883. NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. TALK I. PRELIMIN ARY. I SHALL try in these lessons to help you learn more of the great art of teaching. We have come from widely different sections, and are, for the most part, strangers to each other, and may find it a little difficult at first to draw together. But a common interest will unite us in the bonds of sympathy and good-fellowship. We have all seen teachers who were so self-satisfied that they seemed — to their own minds — to have rounded the circle of teaching, made the circuit of knowledge and skill complete, and closed their minds against the entrance of all further impressions. Such can never learn till the barriers of conceit behind which they have intrenched themselves are broken down. There are others, the opposite of those just described, who stand like empty pitchers waiting to be filled ; they accept any and all methods which are popular, or have some show of authority. Such teachers are imitators merely, and will change when any novelty is brought to their notice. No one was ever great by imitation ; imitative ^.o yvO/ViS" OF TALKS ON TEACHING. power never leads up to creative power. Just here let me say that I shall object quite as strongly to your taking the methods which I may present, unquestioned, as I should to your acceptance of others in which I do not believe. Again, there are teachers who have some good ways, but who are so prejudiced that they have no regard for anything outside their own work ; they cling to the old, have a ready-made objection to the new, and have ceased to examine. Facts are the eyes through which we see laws. There is no better founded pedagogical rule than that the facts must be known before generalizations can be. It follows, then, logically, first, that we can- not know which is the better of two methods without knowing both ; second, that we cannot know which is the best without knowing all ; and, third, that we cannot know any method without knowing the principles which the method applies. Finally, no one can fairly judge a method by seeing it in operation once or twice, because the application may not be correct, and that cannot be judged unless the foundation principles are known. The great difficulty in the way is, that teachers are not willing to pay the price of genuine success — that is, untiring study in the most economical directions — hard labor. The demand for good teaching was never so great as now, and no matter where you are, if your work is good it will attract attention. I have been often asked to explain the so-called Quincy system. So far as I have been able to under- stand this system, it does not consist of methods with PRELIMINARY. 21 certain fixed details, but rather presents the art of teaching as the greatest art in all the world ; and because it is the greatest art, demands two things : first, an honest, earnest investigation of the truth as found in the learning mind and the subjects taught; and, second, the courageous application of the truth when found. In the talks which follow, the only real substantial help I can give you is to aid you in such investigation. All the truths that you may learn must be discovered by yourselves. In this way alone truth is made a living power. Nothing is farther from my present purpose than to have you take what I shall say without the most careful scrutiny. The great mass of teachers simply follow tradition, without questioning whether it be right or wrong, and it requires very little mental action to glide in the ruts of old ways. The work of the next hundred years will be to break away from traditional forms and come back to natural methods. Every act has a motive, and it is the motive which colors, directs, forms the action. Consequently, if we would understand the educational work of to-day, we must know its motive, bearing in mind the fact that due allowance must be made for the stupefying effects of long-established usage. The motive commonly held up is the acquisition of a certain degree of skill and an amount of knowledge. The quantity of skill and knowl- edge is generally fixed by courses of study and the conventional examinations. This is a mistake. In con- trast with this false motive of education, to wit, the gaining of skill and knowledge, I place what I firmly 22 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, believe to be the true motive of all education, which is the harmonious development of the human being, body, mind, and soul. This truth has come to us gradually and in fragments from the great teachers and thinkers of the past. It was two hundred years ago that Comenius said, ** Let things that have to be done be learned by doing them.'* Following this, but broader and deeper in its significance, came Pestalozzi's declara- tion, ** Education is the generation of power." Last of all, summing up the wisdom of those who had preceded him, and embodying it in one grand principle, Froebel announced the true end and aim of all our work — the harmonious growth of the whole being. This is the central point. Every act, thought, plan, method, and question should lead to this. Knowledge and skill are simply the means and not the end, and these are to work toward the symmetrical upbuilding of the whole being. Another name for this symmetrical upbuilding is character, which should be the end and aim of all education. There are two factors in this process : first, the inborn, inherited powers of the mind, and, second, the environment of the mind, which embraces, so far as the teacher is concerned, the subjects taught. The subjects taught, then, are the means of mental develop- ment. To aid in the mind's development the teacher must know, first, the means of mental and moral growth, which are found in the subjects taught ; and, second, the mental laws by which alone these means can be applied. Knowing the mind and the means, he can work toward the end, which is growth. Method is the adaptation of means of growth to mind to be PRELIMINAR V. 23 developed, and natural method is the exacf adaptation of means of growth to mind to be developed. To ac- quire a knowledge of the mind and of the means by which the mind may be developed is the study of a lifetime. Let us stand with humility before immensity. In the beginning, then, the study of methods aside from principles is of little use ; therefore, that investiga- tion should lead to a knowledge of principles is all-im- portant. There are two lines of investigation : the direct one is the study of mental laws, or the investigation of the facts out of which the generalization of principles is made. The second, and indirect way, is the study of the application of methods in detail, in order to discover through such details the principles from which they spring. Let no teacher rest satisfied with a study of the mere details of methods, but use them as illus- trating and leading back to principles. TECHNICAL SKILL. In order to train children how to do, we must be able to do ourselves ; hence the great importance of that preparation on the part of a teacher which will result in skill in the technics of school work. First of all, the voice should be trained, for a clear musical voice is one of the teacher's most potent qualifications for success, and cannot be overrated. Drill in phonics is necessary, not only to gain the ability to give the slow pronun- ciation with ease and with natural inflections, but as an aid to perfect articulation and pronunciation. That every teacher should be an expressive reader is self- evident, but it might not occur to all that to be an elo- 24 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. quent talker is also one of the requisites demanded by the New Methods. Faults of tone, modulation, and manner are propagated by the teacher, as well as false syntax and incorrect pronunciation. Then, too, every teacher should be able to sing, and sing well. Music fills the air with beauty, and in the school-room every- thing should be quiet and musical, with never a harsh note. Failing in this the school lacks harmony. Writing is the second great means of language expres- sion, and should follow immediately upon talking. A teacher who cannot write well, cannot teach writing well ; for the copy on the blackboard should be well nigh perfect. Skill is the expression of power, and drawing is the second best way of expressing thought. Given the skill to draw, and a teacher is never helpless, for then he can teach, even if everything else is taken away. Besides, I see a future in drawing which I see in nothing else in the way of developing the mental powers ; hence the demands made upon teachers for knowledge and skill in this art must increase with every year. Moulding in sand is one of the best possible ways to teach geography, and should precede map drawing. Moulding in clay is a valuable means of form teaching, and is also the best of preparations for draw- ing. Last of all, gymnastics — the training of the whole body — is of the utmost importance, not only to in- sure symmetrical physical development, but to aid in the establishment of good order. Mental action, as you know, depends largely upon physical conditions, and therefore we should train the body that the mind may act. Believing that the skill of the teacher in these PRELIMINAR F. 25 directions measures in a great degree his power to do good work, 1 have endeavored in this course of lessons to provide you with the best of teachers for these different departments. Now, a word of caution : time and strength are both limited, therefore don't try too much ; but that you may become experts in these tech- nical matters, let me add, whatever you do try, be sure to follow it up. TALK II. READING. In the teaching of any subject it is of great impor- tance that we have a clear definition of what we teach. Not a definition in words alone, but a definition in thought that comprehends what we teach in the most definite manner. The question before us .is, What is reading ? The answer to this question that I shall give, is, Reading is getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences. Thought may be defined as ideas in relation. Ideas are either sense products, or derivations from sense products. We get thought, first, by seeing objects in their relations ; second, by thinking of things in their relations without their presence ; third, by seeing pictures or drawings of objects in their relations ; and fourth, by language. We get thought by language in two ways. First, by the spoken language, and, second, by the written or printed language. To illustrate, I put this hat upon the table. Here you see the relation of two objects, and you think The hat is on the table. I draw or sketch the hat on the table, and it brings to your mind the thought The hat is on the table, I say, " The hat is on the table," and you think the same. I write on the board the sentence, The hat is on the table^ and that conveys to your mind the same READING, 27 ideas in their relations. Thus we get the same thought in four ways ; the only difference in the result is, that the thought gained from seeing objects in their rela- tions is generally clearer. Hearing language is getting thought by means of spoken words arranged in sentences. Reading, as I have said, is getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences. It would be well for us to examine these two operations, hearing language, and reading, in order to see in what they are alike, and in what the}'- differ. The arrangement of words in sentences, that is the idioms, are precisely alike. The thought in the mind, gained either from hearing language or reading, is identical. The only difference lies, then in the fact, that in one case the word is spoken, and in the other it is written or printed. I am sure you have said, as I have given my definition, that reading is the oral expression of thought. That is oral reading. But you will see at once that we may get thought — and by far the greater part of reading is con- fined to this process — and not give it to others by means of the voice. If we comprehend oral reading in our definition, we should say that reading is the getting and giving of thought by means of words arranged in sentences. Not less in importance to the definition of reading, is the thorough knowledge of the preparation a child has made for learning to read, how he has made it, and exactly what is to be done in learning to read. This may be briefly stated thus : First, a child has acquired ideas from the external world by means of his senses 28 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. Second, he knows the ideas in their relations, that is, he has thoughts. Third, the child has associated spo- ken words with these ideas. Fourth, he has asso- ciated idioms or forms of sentences with his thoughts. Fifth, he has learned to utter these words and idioms in order to express his thoughts. This is a brief sum- mary of the process of learning to talk. How he has done this will be discussed in another place. Exactly what the child has to do in order to learn to read may be clearly stated thus : The ideas that he has associated with spoken words are to be associated with written or printed words. If I am not mistaken, this is the sum and substance of learning to read. Oral reading may be further defined as the vocal ex- pression of thought that is gained by written or printed words. A child has already learned to express thought orally, by means of ^"vq or six years' continual practice. The emphasis, inflection, and melody of most children's voices can rarely be improved. The child should be trained in no new way, then, of expressing thought in oral reading. Unfortunately the beauty and strength of what the child has already gained is entirely ignored, and a new and very painful process of oral expression is initiated. What is the use of oral reading? Talking enables us to see the thought in the child's mind ; oral reading, to the teacher has no other use. Oral reading, then, enables the teacher to know whether the thought is in the child's mind in its fulness, strength and intensity. If, however, the long preparation of the child in talking is overlooked, and a new and stumbling process of slowly pronouncing words is begun, the in- READING, 29 dispensable function of oral reading is entirely destroyed. The thought may or may not be in the child's mind, his half-groaning utterances never reveal the fact. What is the use of reading ? We return to our defini- tion :/reading is getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences.) Comprehensively stated, reading opens to the mind all the learning and erudition of the past. To the teacher, however, it is of the utmost importance, for reading is thinking, and thinking is the mind's mode of action ; and all mental development is rightly directed toward action. Study of text books, then, if it differ from reading, the differ- ence may be found simply and solely in intensity. In study the thought gained may be clearer and more com- plete than in mere reading. You can judge for your- selves then, fellow teachers, of what immense importance it is for the little child to form correct habits of reading ; and you know by experience how easily incorrect habits may be cultivated, habits that will dishearten a child in his attempts to read, and make words, instead of being clear mediums of getting thought, actual barriers to the truth they were intended to convey. TALK III. READING. — THE WORD. The child at five years of age has acquired ideas in their relations, has associated spoken words with these ideas, and idioms with the thoughts or related ideas. The process of learning to read, then, must consist of learning to use the written and printed word precisely as he has used the spoken words. Learning to read is learning a vocabulary of written and printed words, so that the child may get thought through the eye as he has done through the ear. It is a matter of great interest to the teacher of little ones to know just how the child acquires the spoken words. The process is a very simple one ; an object is presented and the word spoken. That is, the idea produced by the object and the spoken word are associated in one act of the mind, which we call an act of association. We all know that only by means of a mysterious mental law, called the law of association, are we enabled to recollect anything. Words are used under this law to recall ideas. The word recalls an idea after a certain number of repetitions of these acts of association. In the same way related ideas are associated with idioms or sen- tence forms. Every act of the mind is affected by some stimulus or READING,— THE WORD. 31 mental excitement coming either from without or within the mind. As; a rule, the greater the stimulus the more effective the act. The little child, for instance, sees an elephant for the first time. The sight of the huge, strange beast stimulates the mental action of the child to an unwonted degree. The perpetual question of the little one, " What is that ?" comes to his lips with great fervor. The answer, ** The elephant, my child,** will be likely to remain in its mind forever. The spoken word, then, is acquired by repeated acts of association. The number of these acts necessary depends in a great de- gree upon the stimulus of each act. For instance, the greater the stimulus the less the number of acts of association required, and vice versa. What we have said of wor Js may also be applied to the learning of idioms. Now, the question is, in learning the new means of re- calling ideas by means of the written words, should there be the slightest change in the general method ? A word is used simply and solely to recall an idea. It has no other use. It can be learned only by association with the idea recalled ; and the sole question for the teacher is, to know how best to associate words with ideas. I think we can lay down this one rule as funda- mental : in all the teaching and the study of the art of teaching, little children to read , that that which aids directly in acts of association of words with their appropriate ideas, aids the child in learning to read, and any other method, detail of method or device that does not aid the mind in these acts, hinders the child in learning to read. To this one rule, then, all our discus- 32 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. sion of the art of teaching reading must return. Every- thing must be reconciled with this or it is wrong. The first question, then, is, What is the best way of bringing about the acts of association with the best pos- sible stimulus ? It is plain common-sense to continue the method that has developed a fixed and powerful habit of learning new words, namely, the presentation of ob- jects as the highest and best stimulus to acts of associa- tion. This is strikingly true in teaching the first few words. The written or printed word is a new, strange object. It repels rather than attracts. No stimulus, then, can be found in the strange hieroglyphics that look more mysterious to the child than Hebrew or Sanscrit do to us. Tide the child over his first difliculties by using the active energy of a fixed habit. Simply repeat that which has been repeated thousands of times, present the object (a fp^vorite one of the child's), and say the word, not with the lips but with the chalk. The child's consciousness is filled with interest for the ob- ject, leaving just room enough for the new form to find a resting-place. On the other hand, try to fill the child's mind with the word itself, and you fill his soul with disgust.- The spoken word has been learned as a whole. It is more complex, and therefore more difficult to learn than the written word. Every spoken word is learned as a whole, and we have no reason to believe that the child has the slightest consciousness that the spoken word has any elementary parts. The attempt to teach him the elementary parts of a spoken word, while he is learning to talk, would prove disastrous. Why, READING.^THE WORD. H then, should not the written word be learned as a whole ? Why introduce a new process, when the old one has been so effectual ? Indeed, there is no doubt that any attempt to separate the written word into parts, or to combine the parts of a word into a whole, directly and effectually hinders the acts of association, and there- fore obstructs the action of the child's mind in learn- ing to read. The tendency of unscientific teaching has set steadily and strongly for the last thirty years toward woful and useless complications in details of instruction. The return to real teaching is signalized by a strong leaning toward simplicity. The height of the art of teaching, as in all other lesser arts, is found in simplicity. Hold up the object and write the name. Say just enough to lead to the proper mental action and no more. The fewer words the better. Begin with ob- jects. Select those objects most interesting to the child. Next to objects I shall place sketches upon the black- board, done in the presence of the child, so they may be associated with the names of the things drawn, and the sentences that express the relations of the objects. Third, pictures may be used effectively. Fourth, con- versations of the teacher that will bring the ideas to be associated with words vividly into the child's conscious- ness. Fifth, stories may be told with the same result. How long should objects be used ? Until the child will actively associate new words with ideas without the presence of the objects or pictures of the objects that produced the ideas. No teacher who watches the faces of her little ones will fail to note when this time has fully come. 34 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. If the principles that I have here given are true, then you will have a basis of truth for the discussion of the art of teaching little children to read. This method, to use a popular but not a correct term, may be called the associative or objective method. Learning the word as a whole, without trying to fix the child's attention upon its parts before it becomes a clear object in the mind, is called the ''word method." The question, no doubt, will arise in your minds, if the old alphabet method is entirely laid aside and the phonic method is not used at the outset for the analysis of words : How is the form of the word fixed in the mind ? The answer is a simple one : The best way to fix any form in the mind is to draw it. TALK IV. READING. — THE SENTENCE. I WILL repeat thefundamental principle of the art of teaching reading. Learning to read is learning a vocabulary of written and printed words. Each word is learned by repeated acts of association of the idea and the word. That which helps in these acts of association, and that alone, should be used in teaching reading. All other means are hindrances. I have shown that the effectiveness of the acts of association depends on the stimulus or excitement to the act. This stimulus comes primarily and mainly from the side of the idea. The vividness of the idea or mental picture in the conscious- ness, with the appropriate word, determines the result. The greatest difficulty to be found in the process of learning to read is in learning the first few words. The habit, so strong in the mind, of learning the spoken word, is to be carried over and used as a power in learn- ing the written word. The word itself should be subordinate and secondary in interest to the child, to the idea that excites the mind. The word is to be learned consciously as a whole, and any attempt to analyze or synthesize it hinders the act of association by absorbing the attention. The means used to arouse the mind to acts of association, I have told you, are, objects, 36 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. drawings upon the blackboard, made under the eye of the pupil, pictures, conversations, and stories. But there is another and still stronger means of association after the first few words have been learned, and that is the arrangement of words that recalls ideas in their re- lations or thought. Every object that we recall or think of is recalled in space. The more interesting the re- lation of the ideas one to another, the stronger will be the association. That is, it is a great help in learning words to learn them in sentences. We do not learn the word in order to read the sentence, but we read the sentence in order to learn the word. The question may here be asked, Why not begin with the sentence, as many do, with great success? My answer is, that the first written v>rords, as I have said, present the greatest difficulties to the child. We can hardly comprehend how mysterious the strange forms are to the little one. We may get an inkling of the trouble if we have ever begun Greek, Hebrew, or Sanscrit. We may recall the fear that came over us, when we looked forward to the time when we must use the meaningless forms to get thought. The successful learning of the first few words, it seems to me, depends upon presenting the simplest obstacle to be overcome, and in making the child, the little learner, as unconscious as possible of the difficulty. The simplest step, then, consists in following a fixed and powerful habit of the child, by presenting a favorite object, and saying with the chalk just what the tongue has so often repeated. I have no doubt but what the skilful teacher could successfully begin with a whole sentence. My point is, that it is much simpler and easier to begin READING.— THE SENTENCE. 37 with the single words. Just as soon, however, as a few words have been learned, for instance, fifteen or twenty, short sentences should be taught by the objective plan ; so that when the child sees the sentence he is able to get the thought that it expresses. There are many words that mean nothing alone, which should always be taught in phrases or sentences. We come now to the discussion of oral reading, or getting thought by means of written or printed words arranged in sentences. A thought is ideas in their re- lations, and may be called the unit of mental action. A sentence, therefore, is the unit of expression. We can- not learn a single word without recalling the idea it ex- presses in some relation. You will remember what I have said concerning the different ways of getting thought. First, directly through the senses, by seeing, hearing, etc., objects in their relations. Second, by pictures and drawings. Third, by language, both oral and written. In all these cases the thought is the same in the mind, differing only in degrees of intensity. The written sen- tence is simply one way of getting thought. The child has already, by long and continued practice, learned to talk, and to talk well. One thing above all others I wish to impress upon your minds, here and now — do not teach him to talk in any other way — that is, when he gets the thought by means of the written sentence, let him say it as he always has. Changing the beautiful power of expression, full of melody, harmony, and cor- rect emphasis and inflection, to the slow, painful, almost agonizing pronunciation that we have heard so many times in the school-room, is a terrible sin that we 38 NOTES OF T A Lies ON TEACHING, should never be guilty of. There is indeed not the slightest need of changing a good habit to a miserable one, if we would follow the rule that the child has naturally followed all his life. (jVever allow a child to give a thought until he gets it, ) Remember, and keep on re- membering, my dear teacners, that the child has learned to talk, and that that teaching which mangles this grand power is needless and worse than useless. Let the child get the thought himself, in the easiest possible way, by means of the written sentences. One of the worst ways of teaching reading may be called, for want of a better term, the method of imitation. Now you will see that the valuable act of the mind, the thing to be done, is the child's getting the thought for himself and by him- self by the means, I repeat, of written words. If the teacher reads the sentence to the child, the child gets the thought through the ear from the teacher's lips, and the one thing he ought to do is prevented. I do not wish to be understood that the teacher should not read to the child. The teacher should make herself the best possible model of good reading, and through her read- ing present a high ideal of expression for the child to attain. What I wish to impress upon you is, the one pedagogical principle that stands above all others — we learn to do by doing. Oral reading has one function, one use to the teacher ; it is a means of knowing, as I have said in a former talk, whether the thought is in the mind of the reader, how it is there, if every relation is known, and the intensity of the thought felt by the reader. This grand function of oral reading may be perverted or entirely destroyed. First and foremost, by READING.— THE SENTENCE. 39 not waiting for the child to get the whole thought before he gives it. Second, by training the child to imitate the teacher's voice, her pauses, emphasis and inflection ; and, third, by a useless struggle with the parts of the word in forcing analysis before the whole word is clearly in the mind. The alphabet method is the best possible means of obstructing the mental action of the child in learning Lo read ; too early phonic analysis the next. With the child thought has always controlled expression. Why siiould we throw this grand power aside, and try to teach a child oral expression by means of pauses and imitated inflection and emphasis ? The initial capital of a sentence and the punctuation have one use — they enable the child to get the thought. When the thought is in the mind they have no use. You will see, then, that if you follow the principle — thought controls expression — much of the labor and toil of the teacher, in trying to force artificial expression by training a child to pause at commas and periods, to raise the voice or let it fall at the end of sentences, to give stress when they see diacritical marks, is not only useless, but positively injurious and nonsensical. TALK V, READING . — SCRIPT. The written word to the little child has no element of attraction. It is, on the other hand, a repelling ob- ject. I have tried to show how the difficulties of learn- ing the first words may be overcome by the stimulus of the idea in acts of association. It is a matter of great importance to steadily overcome the repulsion oc- casioned by the written word. This repulsion will grow less and less, and the acts of association will be made easier by continued familiarity with the new forms, if the interest and the appetite of the child for words is sedulously cultivated, through the pleasure that the ob- jects and pictures excite. All words are made, as you know, of only twenty-six different forms. The less the mental action it requires to see these forms, the easier will be the acts of association. It is important to im- press these forms upon the mind in an easy, natural, semi-unconscious way. As I have shown, the best pos- sible way to impress the word forms upon the mind, is to write them — to make them. We hear the objection very often that a child does not learn the letters by the new method. He does not learn their names, but he learns them by continually making them. What is the best proof that any object is clearly in the mind ? A READING —SCRIPT, 41 word description is weak beside the representation of the object in drawing. This brings us to the question so often mooted, whether we should use print at the be- ginning, or print and script, or script alone. I will try and present the arguments in favor of using script alone, not denying, however, that script and print may be used at the same time with good effect. When two or more ways of teaching are presented, all of which may be defended by good reasons, reasons that do not directly violate a principle, the question of choice then becomes a question of economy. If we begin with print, it certainly fixes the printed forms in the mind by reproducing them on the slates, so that if the teacher uses print alone at the beginning, she should train the children to make the printed forms. But, making the printed forms is not a means of expression that a child ever uses after the first few months, or the first year. Writing is the second great means of language ex- pression. It should be put into the power of the child just as soon as possible, in order that he may express his thoughts as freely with the pencil as with the tongue. This fact needs no argument. Written expression is as great a help to mental development as oral expression ; and, indeed, in many respects, it stands higher. Written expression is silent, the child must give his own thought, in his own way ; thus developing individuality. The greatest difficulty in all teaching in our graded schools is the sinking of the individual in the mass. In written expression we find a means of reaching in- dividuality through the mass. Why not, then, begin at the beginning with this mode of expression that 42 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, the child must use all his life, and every day of his life? Why not teach printing and script together ? Because it violates the rule of perfect simplicity. Train the child to use one set of forms, made in one way, and one alone. In my experience, extending over eleven years of supervision of primary schools, I have never known the failure of a single class to change from script to print, easily and readily, in one or two days. What, then, is the use of print at first ? What logical reason can be given for its use, if the step from script to print is so very simple ? The writing of the words by the child on blackboard, slates and paper, furnishes a vast amount of very interesting and profitable busy work. In writing the first word the child begins spelling in the only true way. In writing the first sentence the child makes the capitals and punctuation marks, and if he is never allowed to make a form incorrectly, it will be al- most impossible for him ever to write a sentence in- correctly^ — that is beginning it with a small letter, or not using the proper punctuation at the end. In writing the words, the child follows exactly the method of learn- ing the spoken language. Spelling is the precise co- relative of pronunciation. The child hears the spoken word and strives to reproduce it by his voice. The child sees the written word, and reproduces it with his pencil. He gets the thought by means of the written word, and gives it back just as he gets it — he is talking with his pencil. He is ready to tell you any time, orally, what he is writing. in the first three years' work, talking with the pencil READING.— SCRIPT, 43 may be used as a greater means of learning to read than all the books of supplementary reading. When the child writes the first word, the unity of all language teaching is begun. Getting thought and giving thought by spoken and written words should be united at the start, and grow through all future development as from one root. What advantages has the blackboard and crayon over the chart and printed book in elementary reading ? First, the words are created by the hand of the teacher before the eyes of the children, as the spoken word is created. Second, the word is written alone in large letters, separated from all other objects of interest ex- cept the object it names. How different the confused mass of black specks upon the printed page. Third, the attention of. the little group is thus directed to one object in a very simple manner. Fourth, words are learned by r^^^/^^ acts of association. The great fauh with charts and primers is that they do not repeat words times enough for the child to learn them. On the black- board, on the other hand, these repetitions can be easily made. It is of great importance that the first one hundred words should be learned thoroughly. Super- ficial work is always bad work. From the first, then, the child should write every word he learns from the blackboard, and just as soon as he is able to write sentences the word should invariably be written in sentences. The child should be trained to read from his slate all that he writes. The reason why the change is made so easily from script to print used to puzzle me, I only 44 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. knew that it could be done, but could not tell the reason why. Script and print are very nearly allied in form. The first print was a crude reproduction of old manuscript. Both, indeed, have changed since the art of printing was discovered, but the resemblance remains. The child, as you know, has a wonderful power of seeing resemblances. Like comes to like in his mind because his mental pictures are not filled out with that which produces the differences. This, to my mind, is sufficient reason for the surprising ease with which the child changes from script to print. TALK VI. READING. — PHONICS. I PROPOSE to speak to-day of the use of the spoken word in assisting acts of association between the idea and the written word. It is very often urged that the spoken word is sufficient to recall its appropriate idea, and thereby bring about an act of association between it and the written word. That, as the ideas are already in the mind of the child, the spoken word alone is need- ed to recall them. Those who hold to this doctrine fail to understand the great economy of mental action that is brought about by the stimulus of the object. Were I to teach you a foreign language, German, for instance, how much quicker and easier you would learn the words if I were to present the objects and speak or write their names. This is thoroughly understood to-day by the best teachers of modern languages. If we adults can learn a foreign language so much easier by the object method, it can be readily inferred how necessary the use of objects is to the little child. When the old habit of learning spoken words is carried over into the learning of written words, that is, after a hundred or more words have been learned, probably the spoken word will then be sufficient to bring about the required acts of associa- tion. When a child does not need the stimulus of ob- 46 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. jects, pictures, etc., then their use should cease. Any- good teacher will not fail to observe when this time comes to the child. The spoken word, then, aids in recalling the idea, and at the same time names the written word. The spoken word is associated with the written word, so that it recalls the written, and the written recalls the spoken. Deaf mutes learn the written words without the intermediate help of spoken words, and it is found that with the use of objects these unfortu- nate beings learn written words with as much, if not greater, rapidity than the children who have perfect hearing. Notwithstanding this fact, the spoken word has a use in learning to read, but it may be badly mis- used. For instance, when it is associated with the written word alone, and the written word is not associ- ated with the idea. In this case, the reading is not the getting of thought, and, therefore, not real reading, but simply mechanical word pronouncing without the slightest inspiration from the thought. There are methods of teaching reading, whose sole aim is to train children to pronounce words with little or no regard to the thought. To the casual observer the results seem surprising. To the real teacher they are the sounding of empty words. The use of the spoken word, then, in teaching reading, must be to assist in acts of association. To use them for any other purpose is a hindrance in learn- ing to read. The question, then, is. How can spoken words be used to help associative acts ? The spoken words have been acquired by the child before he enters school. He knows how to make every sound in the language, and to combine them in pronouncing all the READING, -PHONICS, 47 words he knows. He has learned the spoken words as wholes, and is not conscious of the elementary parts of a word, although he can combine them without the slightest hesitation. The spoken word consists of the articulation of one elementary sound or a succession of elementary sounds. An elementary sound, with the exception of the sound of //, requires for its articulation a certain fixed position of the vocal organs. Change the position of the vocal organs, no matter how slightly, and the sound must change. Between a few combina- tions of two sounds the articulation continues, produc- ing peculiar modifications of sound brought about by various positions of the vocal organs that they must take in changing from the position required by one sound to that of another. If, however, these glides were made between each and all of any combinations of the sounds of the language, the intermediate sounds would be innumerable. As it is, forty sounds are all that are given in making the spoken words of the English language. In changing, then, from the position of the vocal organs required to make one sound, to that of another, there must be, except in glides, an actual suspension of sound. In pronouncing ordinarily, these pauses between sounds are too short to be perceptible to the ear. Make these pauses percepti- ble, and we do, what I think is wrongly termed, spell by sound. As phonic analysis has nothing whatever to do with spelling, is oftentimes a hindrance rather than a help to English spelling, I prefer to call the act of articulating each sound with a perceptible suspension of the voice between two sounds — slow pronunciation, fol- 48 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. lowing the German term — langsamer ausprache. Now, it should be borne in mind, that in reality the spoken words alone are pronounced slowly, the written words cannot be. It is a mistake to say that certain letters have several sounds, several sounds are represented by one letter. The process by which a word is made to recall a spoken word, or a letter is made to recall a sound, is exactly the same as that by which the written word recalls the idea — viz., the process of association. When the first word is learned, the spoken word is associated with the written word. The spoken word and written word are learned as wholes. I have tried to show that the written word is fixed in the mind by writing it. That when one word, for instance, rat is taught and written, the word cat can be more easily seen and more easily copied ; for the word cat contains two thirds of the forms of the previous word. In this way we see that as the different forms are impressed upon the mind, the repulsion of the word, or the difificulty in grasping it is overcome, and successive associations made easy. In the same way the spoken word may be associated with the written words, so that the written words will recall the spoken with greater ease. As the written words become more clear in the mind, the separate parts of the written word may be associated with the separate articulate sounds, so that the difficulties in the acts of association may become less and less ; that is, new words may be pronounced and known at sight. The great danger is, that children may be trained to the skil- ful pronunciation of words without knowing them. A word is only known when it recalls its appropriate idea. READING.— PHONICS. 49 There are two great obstacles in the way of the success- ful teaching of the so-called phonic analysis. One is more apparent than real, and that is, the fact that different sounds are represented by the same letter in the English language. In a purely phonetic language (which, by the way, does not exist), each sound is represented in- variably by one character. If the English language were phonetic, it would greatly lighten the burden of learning to read and write. But a careful examination of the words learned by a child will show that the difficulties are not so great as they are often represented to be. If we begin, for instance, with the short sounds, a child may learn at least two hundred words that are purely phonetic to him. I have calculated and classified the words in thirty-nine pages of the New Franklin Primer, in the whole of Monroe's Charts, and in the first forty pages of my Supplementary Reader, First Book. There are 456 words in all : 205 of which are purely phonetic, 216 are words whose pronunciation is indicated by their form ; and only the 35 remaining may be called entirely unphonetic. After a child learns this number of words he has formed a fixed habit of learning new words, and all active use of primary meth- ods may cease. What, then, is the use of burdening the child with mangled and twisted print or diacritical marks ? Phonics may be used as a great help in teaching primary reading, if the natural growth of the child's power is carefully followed. The second difficulty in teaching phonics is found in the apparent opposition of the word and phonic method. The word must be learned as a whole, and any so NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, early attempt at word analysis simply retards the teaching. The struggle to analyze a new word, or to build it up from parts, as I have already explained, absorbs the attention and prevents the act of associa- tion. These two methods, that seem to be in direct op- position to each other, may be entirely reconciled by closely following well-known mental laws. The child, as I have said, knows how to make all the sounds in the language in their word combinations. He is not con- scious of a single separate element. Obviously, the first step to be taken is, to bring these elements slowly to his consciousness. This may be done by training the child to pronounce words slowly (spell by sound). I have found by repeated experiments that the little child will understand me when I pronounce words slowly in a natural manner, nearly as well as when I pronounce in the ordinary way. The child may be trained by imitation to pronounce slowly with great readiness and skill. This should be carefully done be- fore any direct association is made between articulate sounds and the word that represents them. One of the greatest activities of the mind is the coming together of like to like. It may be called the law of analogies. It begins, as all good things do, in perfect unconsciousness on the part of the child. When a child says, ** I seed,** for I saw, and ** I goed," for I went, the child is unconsciously fol- lowing this law of analogies. The same law is in operation when the child spells all words pho- netically, without regard to the absurdities of Eng- lish spelling. Using phonics, in teaching reading, RE A DING, —PHONICS, 5 1 in the proper way, simply intensifies this law. If the word method were used, pure and simple, the child's unconscious mental activity would seek out and use the analogies of the language, in associating new written words with the same sounds he has learned to associate with them. When we teach words in phonic order, as, for example, rat, fat, cat, mat, sat, pat, this law of like coming to like in the mind is made more effective. But when at the proper time the articulate sounds are consciously associated with the letters that represent them, we use this mental activity in the most economical way. Great care, however, should be taken not to force the growth of this mental action so as to conflict with the other and more important law of learning words as wholes. These whole words cannot be analyzed until they are clear mental objects. The process, then, of using phonics may be given thus : First, train the child to recognize words when pronounced slowly. This may be easily done, if the teacher pronounces slowly in easy, natural tones. The greatest obstacle that I have found in phonics is the inability of teachers to do this. Second, train the child to pronounce slowly by imitat- ing the teacher's voice. All this should be done, as I have said, before any direct association of articulate sounds is made with written words. Third, after a few words are taught, let the teacher in writing words give each articulate sound as she makes the character that represents it. Do not require the children to imitate -the teacher until they do so of their own accord. Fourth, have the children begin to pronounce slowly, without even a suggestion from the teacher, the words 52 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, which she writes. Phonics may be thereafter used with great effect in teaching reading. Thus, you will observe, that by this process the spoken word retains its unity as long as it is necessary, and the way is carefully prepared for the conscious analysis of words when the proper time comes. This will be indicated by the child's own spontaneous action. All new words, then, that come within the child's ac- quired analogies of sound may be readily associated with their appropriate idea with little or no aid from the teacher. Give the child the power to help himself as soon as possible, and at the same time please remem- ber not to violate any known laws of his mental growth. TALK VII. READING. — APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. In this discussion of the art of teaching reading, I have tried to explain the principles that underlie the so- called object, word, sentence, script and phonic methods. Each of these methods has been discovered by teachers in the past, and generally each has been applied by different teachers as the only true method. Probably the exact date of the discovery of each method cannot be given, but the youngest of these, the script method, is nearly one hundred years old ; and the oldest, the phonic, is described by Valentine Ickelsamer, a con- temporary of Luther's, in a book written in 1534. No one would claim the title of inventor of a new method, if they had studied the history of the art of teaching read- ing. Each one of these methods was discovered in the ac- tion of some mental law. So far as they go, and used in their own proper place and proportion, they are all nat- ural methods. The difficulty is in using one method to the exclusion of all others. It is like using one power of the mind and leaving four others inactive. The fact is, that the object, word, sentence, script, and phonic methods form one true method in teaching reading. Each should be used in its own time, place and pro- portion, in such a manner as to arouse and strengthen 54 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. five faculties of the mind instead of one. This recon- ciliation of most methods that have been discovered in the past, is true not only of teaching reading, but every- thing else. We might say that everything now done in the school-room, in the way of teaching, is right, in its place ; but the trouble is that things get frightfully misplaced. Precision, for instance, may take the place, and crush the evolution of thought, and thought growth may override precision. It seems to me, that the great duty of the teachers of this age is, first, to know all the great things that have been discovered by the teachers and thinkers of the past, and to reconcile them into a science of teaching. I shall now endeavor to apply in practice what I have given you in theory ; in which I trust you will see that all the methods I have given can and should be used as one. The preparatory exercises that should always precede the teaching of primary reading, I will give when I dis- cuss the teaching of language. We will suppose that the child has had these preparatory exercises, and is ready to be taught reading. The first question to be settled is. What words shall be taught ? (Learning to read, you will remember, is learning a vocabulary of written and printed words.) The first general answer to this question is. The oral words the child has already gained. The idea must always be acquired before the word can be. All through the education of the child this rule should be carefully followed. Education may be said to consist, first, of enlarging the range of ideas ; second, in relating these ideas in various ways. The value of a word depends wholly upon the READING.— APPLICA TION OF PRINCIPLES. 55 value of the idea it recalls. It is of great importance to select carefully the vocabulary to be taught the child during the first year ; and it is of greater importance that the selected vocabulary should be slowly and thoroughly taught. That is, that repetitions of the word should entirely suffice to put the word within the automatic use of the child. Much time and very good teaching is wasted by not following the step-by-step rule, by which everything done is thoroughly done. It is far more important to teach 20 words well than to try to teach 200 imperfectly. The first vocabulary selected should con- tain about 200 words, to be taught in script on the blackboard. In selecting this list of words three things should be taken into account. First, the favorite words of the child. Those words which would naturally arouse most interest in the child should be taught first. Second, the words should be arranged in phonic order — generally the short sounds are taken first. With these words, all the unphonetic words, like where, there, etc., that serve to introduce the idioms used by the little child. Teaching words in the phonic order, that is, the order of vowel sounds, serves, as I have previously ex- plained, to intensify the law of analogies on which the phonic method is founded. I may say here, that the phonic order should not be followed at the expense of the interest of the child. Every word and sentence should bring up a bright and interesting picture. One should not hesitate to introduce any new word for this purpose. The first words taught should be names of common objects. Now it is true that the objects most 56 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, common to the child have names in which only short vowel sounds occur, such as fatty cap^ hat^ cat, mat, rat, bat, bag, rag, flag, hen, egg, nest, bell, fish, dish, pig, rabbit, ship, dog, doll, top, fox, box, cup, tub, mug, jug, ?tut. The second thing to be observed in selecting the list is, the words used in the first book or books that the child will read. No First Reader extant furnishes repetition enough for the thorough learning of the words. It is better to select the vocabulary from the first parts of three or four different readers. If this is done when the child begins the print (after 150 or 200 words have been taught in script), he can read with great ease and de- light 150 or 200 pages in print. We will suppose, then, that the vocabulary has been carefully selected ; that the preparatory oral work has been done ; that the teacher has selected fifteen or twenty objects, or models of objects, to aid in teaching the first few words. The pupils have been carefully divided off in groups of five or six, according to their mental strength. The work would naturally begin with their brightest group. (Never tell them that they are bright, however.) The teacher is at the board, surrounded by a little group of children, who have been made to feel quite at home in the school-room, and who are ready and eager for any new step, because everything they have done in the school-room has given them pleasure. They have unbounded faith in the power of the teacher to lead them into green pastures filled with the most de- lightful shrubs and flowers. The teacher holds up an object as she has often done before ; but now, instead of READING.— APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 57 giving its name orally, she says, ** Hear the chalk talk," and slowly writes the word. Let me say here, that the articles a, ^;2, and the, should always be written with the words, and the article and word should be pronounced as one word. Write the name of the object several times. Let the teacher point to the word, having put the object down, and say to the child, ** Bring me a — " point- ing at the same time to the word. Let the teacher hold up the object and ask, ** What does the chalk say this is?" having the pupil point to the word. These exer- cises should not occupy more than five minutes. The next lesson shows a new object, and write its name as before. Let the child take the two objects, one in each hand. Let the teacher write the name, and ask him to hold up the objects, first one, and then the other, as the names are written. This plan may be safely followed till ten or fifteen words are taught. In review of words, all the names may be written ; let the teacher point to the different names and have the pupils bring the objects ; then the teacher holds up the objects, and lets the pupils point to the names ; and last, have the pupils point and give the names without the objects. The first sentence may now be taught. Let the child take, for instance, a fan in his hand, and be led to say ** This is a fan." The teacher writes the sentence on the board, and says, " The chalk has said what you said, what did the chalk say ?" The child, holding the fan, says, " This is a fan." Write in place of fan succes- sively, all the words that have been taught. Have pupils take the objects and read the sentences. Change this to that ; place the objects at a little distance from the 58 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, pupils, and repeat all the sentences as before. Change that to herCy and repeat all the sentences, having the child hold the appropriate object as he reads each sentence. Change here to ihere^ and repeat as before. Change the singulars to plurals, and change the sen- tences accordingly, using these and those^ here and there. Write questions beginning with inhere, as, ** Where is the fan ?" and let pupils answer orally by holding up the object, as " Here is the fan." Put the objects on the table, and ask the question by writing it on the board — " Where is the fan ?" After this answer, write the answers and have pupils read them. When a dozen sentences have been written, have the pupils read the whole successively. Introduce new words as before with objects. Qualities of objects may be brought in next ; as ** The red box ;" '' The white fan ;" ** The fat rat ;" and reviews made by the schedule just given — this, that, these, those, -etc. Place objects in different positions, as the fan in the hat, the cap in the box, and write sentences, describing them. Little ex- clamatory sentences may here be introduced with good effect, as *' Oh, what a pretty fan!" ** See the little doll!'* '*Oh, there is the cat!" *'The cat is sitting up !" *' Isn't she funny ?" Directions might be written on the board which the pupil reads silently, and com- plies with; such as ** Come to me." "Sit down." ** Stand up." "Shake hands." **Run." "Jump." **Skip." "'Hop." "Laugh." "Cry," etc. The next step may be the writing of little connected stories on the blackboard. A very good way to write stories, or sentences connected in thought, is for the READING,- APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES. 59 teacher to sketch a picture on the board. Let her make a plan for a picture containing quite a number of ob- jects. Let her sketch one object before the little group, talk, and then write sentences about it, and arouse cu- riosity as to what the picture is to be. Thus, one picture may serve for several lessons. A large wall picture may be used in the same way. In all object lessons, lessons on plants, animals, and color, the words and sentences should be written upon the board. TALK VIII. READING. — APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONTINUED. Some general directions to be followed in teaching these first lessons may be of service. I will give them here. 1. Carefully introduce each word which of itself recalls an idea, by first presenting the object, sketch or representation of the object, or by bringing the picture of it vividly to the child's mind by means of conversation or questioning. 2. All words that do not recall ideas except in their relations, should be taught in phrases or sentences. 3. Try to make every thought and its expression real to the child, and when it can be done, suit the action to the word. 4. Be sure the child has got the thought before you allow him to make an attempt to give it. 5. Have the child get the thought by means of the written words, and not by hearing the sentence read. 6. Do not teach emphasis, inflection and pauses by imitation. Thought will control expression. If the thought is in the child's mind in its fullest intensity, the expression will be appropriate. 7. Train children to read in pleasant, conversational tones, free from harshness, monotony, or artificiality. APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONTINUED. 6i 8. Never allow the children to read carelessly, or to guess at the words. 9. To arouse a desire for new words, and a love for the reading lesson, observe the following rules : 1. Teach the words very slowly at first. 2. Put the words taught into many different sentences. 3. Write short sentences, and then make very slight changes in them — generally of a single word — in order that the children may be successful every time they try to read a sentence. 4. Wait patiently until they grasp the thought, and if they are dull be very patient. 5. Have always a bright picture behind each word or sentence, which the child shall see vividly with his mind's eye. The children should be trained to write on their slates the first words they learned from, the blackboard. Several devices may be used for this. First, the chil- dren, following the teacher, may write the word in the air. Second, they may trace the word. Third, they may write the word line by line as the teacher writes it. (The teacher, by the way, should be an excellent penman.) Fourth, the children may write the word without any help from the teacher, copying it from a large and well-nigh perfect copy on the blackboard. The slates should be ruled. The same word may be copied several times. No matter how badly the child writes the first word, praise him if he has tried, and do not discourage him if he has not tried. Imbue him with your own faith that he can do it. When the 62 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, sentence is written, have him write the sentences in the order I have given for the teaching of sentences. Be sure that he always begins the sentence with a capital, and uses the correct punctuation mark at the end of the sentence. Have the pupils read everything they write. Use short sentences at first. Never allow a child to read a sentence till he has the thought in his mind, and never allow him to express the thought in any other way than by talking. If he does not talk well train him to do so, orally, by object lessons. Introduce all new idioms in the same way. Repeat the words until you are sure they are thoroughly known. The use of the phonic method may begin the first day the child comes to school, with the phonic analysis of the spoken word, which I prefer to call slow pronuncia- tion. The purpose of this exercise is to bring distinctly to the child's consciousness the separate sounds of which the spoken word consists, and to give him such practice as will enable him to utter all the elementary sounds of the language purely and easily. But no attempt should be made at this time to associate these elementary sounds with the letters that stand for them. That comes later. The child should first become ac- customed to hear the separate sounds and to utter them ; and the exercises for this purpose should be among the first given to the child, and be carried on side by side with the oral language work from day to day. I will describe in detail the first steps of this work. When a few exercises in the repetition of sentences have been given, the teacher may, without changing her tone of voice, pronounce slowly (spell by sound) one of the APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONTINUED, d^y words in a given sentence. For instance, the teacher, pointing at the clock, says, " There is a c-l-o-ck." The pupils will repeat the sentence as before, without hesi- tation. Or the teacher may say to the children, ** Touch what I name : n-o-s-e, m-ou-th, f-a-ce, d-e-s-k," and the pupils will perform the acts ^iVOTCi^tly if the teacher does not change her tone. Then pronounce single words slowly, and ask pupils to tell what you say. Pronounce whole sentences slowly, and ask the pupils to repeat them in the ordinary way. Direct pupils to *' s-t-a-n-d u-p ; s-i-t d-ow-n, etc. As soon as they have become accus- tomed to hearing the slow pronunciation say single words slowly and let them imitate. (One sound may be given at a time, the pupils repeating — as, ** m," *' ^,*' ^'ou,*' '' ou;' *'th," '' thr) It is not well to let the pupils pronounce a word slowly and immediately pro- nounce it in the ordinary way, as in a spelling exercise, because they should have the feeling that when they have once uttered the sounds, they have pronounced the word. After this, pronounce words in the ordinary way, and ask the pupils to pronounce the same words slowly. Let pupils pronounce slowly any words that they may think of. Those children who have defects in articulation should have special drill. To assist them in uttering the sounds correctly, the right position of the vocal organs should be shown. Words mispronounced should be corrected by imitating the teacher, and by repetition until the correct habit is formed. The preliminary exercises, both in oral language and in phonics, should be carefully graded, beginning with those which are very simple. There should be frequent 64 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, reviews, and the exercises should be short — five minutes at first, and never at any time more than ten minutes. Practice on the sound chart is of great service. Begin by articulating each sound separately, and asking the pupils to imitate you. Each sound may be repeated once or twice or three times, both slowly and in quick succession, the pupils imitating. In this exercise the sounds may be given in the order indicated in the chart which is given below, but this chart should not be written on the board at first, not until it is needed for the purpose of associating the sounds with the letters in teaching reading. SOUND CHART. Consonants. ^^ ^ ^^ A -^ '^^/^ "14/- . applica tion of principles, continued, 65 Vowels, short sounds, ^ ^ i^ . -O- ^ ^ (as in pull) NAME SOUNDS, LONG SOUNDS, 1^ 2^^ €^0- -Oi- 'O'l^ TALK IX. READING. — APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONCLUDED. When 150 words or more have been taught, write a nice lesson on the blackboard in script, and have the pupils read it ; then, after the day's session, erase the script and print the same lesson in the same place. Call up the pupils the next morning, and have them read the lesson. Do this two or three times, and the pupils are ready for the chart or a book. It is better to take the chart first. In my experience of several years in changing many classes from script to print, this simple process has sufficed. One rule should be strictly followed. Never point out or allude in any way to the difficulty in learning print. You should have, be- sides a good chart like Monroe's or Appleton's, at least five or six sets of First Readers. They are very cheap, and you can induce your committee to buy them, providing you do good work. Read one book until the sentences be- come difficult, and then take another. (Never let the children point to words with their fingers, and train them from the first to find their places for themselves.) Two years at least should be spent with the average child in learning to read First Reader reading, and the third year may be profitably spent in commanding Second Reader reading. There is immense economy in APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONCLUDED. 67 going very slowly. If the primary work is thoroughly done, there will be little or no need of teaching reading as reading after the fourth year. BAD HABITS. I am quite sure that many of you have asked the ques- tion, to yourselves at least, while I have been explain- ing the principles and methods of teaching primary reading as I understand them, What shall we do with children whose teaching has been all wrong from the beginning ? Who have been taught by the alphabet, phonic, phonetic, or word methods without the life- giving principle of the thought ? Who struggle with each particular word in a painful way, and drawl out the sentences as if there were no beautiful pictures behind them ? Who have been led through a dreary waste of empty words in a harsh, unnatural manner ? What shall we do with these children ? you ask. It is a very difficult question to answer, for two or three weeks' wrong teaching will leave their scars in the child's mind forever ; crippling every action, and obstructing every step. The elocutionists, by scores, reap a rich harvest from the bad teaching in primary schools. The trouble with the voices generally is, that the natural, easy, pleasant tones of the child are changed to harsh, unnatural utterance. Something may be done indeed for these unfortunate victims. First, I would say, no matter what grade the children may be in, put them into the easiest possible reading, even if you have to begin with the First Reader. Select the most interesting 68 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. and the most dramatic pieces. Dialogues, brisk, sharp dialogues are very good. Drop oral reading for a time, and lead the children to see vividly the picture that lies behind the words. Have them tell you in their own language what they see in the word-pictures. When they are very much interested, and are talking with great freedom, ask one to read a short sentence. The pupils will feel the shock (if the teaching be skil- fully done) from cheerful, interesting conversational tones, to dull, prosy word-pronouncing. Thus you can slowly lead them to form new ideals in reading. Your whole mind as a teacher should be concentrated on the one great thing of leading your pupils to get the thought, or seeing mentally the picture. If you hold steadily to this one purpose, you may be able to lead them to read naturally. It is a good plan to question them sharply upon the sentences they are reading. Take a paragraph like this, for instance : " Five little peas in a pod ; they were green and the pod was green, so they thought all the world was green, and that was as it should be." And then question, thus : ** Where were the peas?" "How many peas were there?" "What kind of peas were they ?" " What color were the peas ?" "What color was the pod ?" "Because they were green, what did they think?'' The pupils can answer correctly, only by the closest attention to the thought expressed by the paragraph. Ask them occasionally to read a whole sentence. In this way children may be led out of the wilderness. Remember, also, to give pupils a great deal of interesting reading adapted to their vocabulary and thought. APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES, CONCLUDED. 69 SUGGESTIONS. Two kinds of reading exercises, at least, should be given to the pupils. First, exercises in which every new word is carefully taught upon the blackboard, before the lesson in the book is read. Second, tests in which pupils try to read new selections without preparation. These tests should be frequently given — once a week at least. The same general rules should be observed in teaching reading in books. Do not let the child read a sentence aloud until he knows its words and its meaning. If the sentence is long he should be allowed to express the thought by phrases or clauses. As a rule, do not let the pupils in a class know who will be called upon to read next. Do not give the thought to the pupils orally, but let them get it for themselves. Do not require them to read the same lesson over and over again, lest they lose their interest in it. It is a good plan to have the pupils close their books and tell in their own words what they have read. In the second year, when composition has been well begun, require pupils to write one thing they remember of what they have read ; then two things ; three things ; and finally let them write the whole story as they remember it. Ask them to read orally the sentences, descriptions, and stories they write. A large number of sentences, plainly written on slips of paper, or cardboard, may be successfully used. Give each pupil a slip. If one pupil reads a sentence correctly, give him another slip to read. For busy work, give pupils slips to copy, and let them read what they have copied. Let pupils take a number of 70 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. ^ slips and arrange them for busy work, into a little story. Then let them read the story from the slips, or read it after copying it upon their slates. Single words, written or printed upon cardboard, may be put together into sentences and read. When the teacher finds, by false emphasis or wrong inflection, that the thought has not been correctly apprehended by the reader, questions may be used with good effect. By this means the attention of the pupils will be turned directly upon the thought, and their answers will be given with natural tones and expression, as in talking. Gradually they may be led to utter the whole sentence with expression. Reading and composition should be taught together, the one assisting the other at every step. Let pupils read what they write from a copy, from dictation, and in composition. If pupils are trained, as they may be, to express thought correctly and easily in writing, their compositions may be made as profitable as supplemen- tary books in teaching reading. Let pupils read one another's compositions. In testing the script work, the list of words taught may be rapidly written in sentences and short stories. If the pupils can readily read these, the teacher may feel confident that the words have been well taught. In book-reading the tests should be from books that pupils have never read. Before reading a paragraph aloud, a short time should be given the class to read it silently. Finally the standard of excellence is indicated by these two questions. First, has the reader correctly apprehended the thought ? Second, has he used correct pronunciation, distinct articulation, and natural tones ? TALK X. SPELLING. Reading and spelling should come first in the child's school-life, so as to finish them, and get them out of the way. If the preparation is thorough, and the teacher skilful, not a great amount of time need be given to either. To continue the teaching of spelling, as is usu- ally done, through all the years of a common-school course is a wasteful expenditure of time and strength. What is spelling ? Spelling is making the forms of words correctly, it is writing correctly, and should include capitals and punctuation. Oral spelling is not spelling per se, it is a description of the word. Spelling is the co-relative of pronunciation. I hear a word pronounced over and over till I can give it back. I see a word spelled over and over till I can give it back. The only difference is, that spelling is the written or printed form, and pronunciation is the spoken. We learn to do a thing by doing it ; by doing it repeatedly ; by doing it right every time ; by doing it until it is well done. It follows, then, that we learn to make a word by making it ; to make it accurately by making it accurately ; to make it easily by making it many times. In order to know how a word looks we must see it, and the best means of seeing a form is to draw it ; therefore drawing (or 72 NOTES OF TALK'S ON TEACHING. copying) words is the best means of receiving distinct mental impressions of written words. If I spell a word orally, the names of the letters recall their forms and you combine them in your imagination. It is just as absurd to try to learn drawing by oral description, as it is to try to learn how to spell a word from hearing it spelled orally. The proper function of oral spelling is to describe word forms already in the mind ; not to bring them into the mind by acts of imagination. The most natural and economical way of learning to spell, is to write words until we can write them automatically. What is the purpose of spelling ? During the first year it is entirely to prepare for composition or "talking with the pencil." Indeed, all spelling is for the sake of composition, and it has no other purpose. The words first taught on the blackboard in reading, and the com- monly used and constantly recurring words of the child, in short, the script vocabulary, should be the words first spelled. Bear in mind the fact that word forms sink into the mind very slowly, and that patient waiting and working are especially required just here. Make every step with the small child a success, otherwise you may disgust the mind with its failures. You must wait for idea growth, which cannot be forced. Therefore do not have a child reproduce words without a copy during the first year. Spend this time in preparation for talking with the pencil. Training in talking with the tongue is one of the best ways of preparing for this work. If this be properly done, the words will drop off the pencil as easily and naturally as they drop off the tongue. Faith has a great deal to do with results. It SPELLING. 73 is a great element* in successful teaching, as well as humility. Accept crudities. The best thing which the child can do is always excellent. You may take the hand and help the child, or allow him to trace the form, but I like best to let him work out his own salva- tion. Get to sentences as soon as possible, and after that keep to sentences, for they are the written forms of thought expression, and the stimulus of the thought enables the child to recall the word-forms in writing, just as it does in reading. Do all this work easily and slowly, and in the doing of it let the child alone and don't fuss with him. If a child makes anything wrong, rub it right out, make it a sort of dissolving view. Have him acquire the power of copying from the black- board with perfect accuracy any sentence he can read. Never accept any careless work. Don't scold, but let the work vanish under the sponge with quiet celerity, and have the child do it over. A better vocabulary can be gained by writing than by reading. Form, during the first year, a nucleus vocabulary of written words, so distinctly fixed in the mind that they can be reproduced instantly, without copy and with perfect accuracy. Train children to know when they can see a word men- tally, and when they cannot. In other words, have them know when they don't know. Say to them, *' Don't write that word if you don't know it," but never allow them to guess. Every guess brings before the children a wrong form, and as only one is right the wrong are in a majority. I w^ould never allow a child either to see or to hear any wrong forms. When they get into the High School they may come in. There will 74 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, be plenty of time for false syntax then. When a word is spelled wrong, don't explain, say nothing, except perhaps, ** You didn't see right," and erase it at once. Cultivate constantly the child's desire to do work well, and that desire will absorb all his energies, leaving no time for idleness or mischief. In dictating, read the sentence in your best voice, and read it but once o Pupils should be trained to hear perfectly, as well as to read expressively. When they can write readily and accu- rately from dictation, begin to train them to talk with the pencil. As soon as this is accomplished, all spelling per se may cease, and this branch of study be taught in composition. They should be able from this time for- ward to write page after page without a mistake in spell- ing, and with capitals and punctuation marks correctly placed. TALK XI. WRITING. I HAVE called your attention to the fact that the second great means of expression, i.e. by writing, should be placed in the power of the child just as soon as possible after he enters school. One great advantage of written, over oral, work, is that the written enables the teacher to get at and develop the individuality of the child. In oral lessons, the answers of bright children are con- stantly copied and imitated by others. Whereas, in written composition each child must express his thoughts for himself and by himself. By means of the command of writing, the child can be trained to do a great deal of busy work, thus keeping his mind and hand constantly employed. The third reason for teaching writing very early in the course is, that the work necessary to the command of good legible hand- writing may be entirely finished ; and the time hereto- fore taken throughout the eight or nine years for writing, may be used for something more profitable. Writing may be kept in the best condition throughout the whole course, if language is properly taught, and the rule, "never allow any careless work,*' closely followed. 76 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. There are two things to be acquired in writing : First, the forms of letters. ^ Second, movement with the pen. The conventional forms of the letters has been establish- ed by the highest authorities in writing in this country. All the systems in our schools have substantially the same forms. The slant of letters (between 51 and 52 degrees) is very nearly identical in all. It is not my purpose to discuss whether these forms are right or wrong. It is true that when pupils enter the upper primary and grammar grades, they are trained to make these established forms. It is a great saving of time and toil to make these forms right in the beginning, so they will never have to be changed. Allow children to display what is called their individuality at the start (that is to write any way and every way), and it is much more difficult to train them into good handwriting when they take the pen, than it would be if they had never written at all ; many claim that fixed forms of writing injure the child's individuality, or destroys the character dis- played in writing. As well might we say that the child should be allowed to pronounce words as he pleased, as the fixed pronunciation acquired by imitation of cor- rect standards would seriously affect his individuality. The most potent reason why teachers do not train chil- dren to write correctly is, that they cannot write well themselves, and will not take the trouble to learn. Teachers should train themselves by constant and care- ful practice to write with a great degree of perfection on the blackboard, so as to give the children a good ideal toward which they can work. In this question of character in writing, there is one rule that teachers WRITING, 77 would do well to follow ; in writing as in all other things, — precision precedes ease. That is, let the established form be thoroughly acquired, and then, when the child has formed a character, that character will go into the writing. The painful attention now required to decipher the manuscript of most great men and women could be given to something else more beneficial. The foundation of spelling should be learned entirely by writing. x\s we have shown in the application of the principles of teaching reading, every word that the child learns from the blackboard should be carefully copied on the slate or paper. These copies, as I have said, should be written with exceeding care. At the same time technical writing should begin. In this there are certain elementary principles that are the key-notes of the whole. Find them and follow them, and you are certain of success. Begin with one letter and stay upon that letter till it is learned. The child must have the ideal to follow, and that comes slowly into the mind through the eye. Begin with this fundamental form, found in the first letter taught, and work on until you get it, even if it takes a year or two years. The children will not tire till the teacher gets tired. Have the standard, the ideal clear, and they will work to- ward it patiently. Get them to master the foundation form, which is also the simplest, and then take the next shortest and easiest step. I have always taken the small letter / as my fundamental form, and have taught the writing of the alphabet in the following order : 78 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. Do not allow the children to try a new letter till they have mastered the one upon which they are working. In this way you will teach writing once for all, and there will be no need of pursuing it as a study in the grammar grades. WRITING, 79 MOVEMENT IN WRITING. Pen writing should be taught just as soon as a child has thoroughly acquired the forms of the letters. It should begin, certainly in the third year, and may begin in the second. This is a purely gymnastic exercise, and, like all gymnastic exercises, position and movement should be acquired by the greatest precision and accu- racy. The simple thing to be accomplished in pen writing is, that a perfectly smooth line may be made on the paper by both nibs of the pen. Give very few directions, and fol- low them strictly. Erect, easy position ; both feet square- ly planted on the floor ; knees at a little more than right angles ; forearm on the table ; elbow never drawn back of a right angle. Slide on the nail of the fourth or ring- finger. Let the pen rest in the pen fingers (the thumb and first two fingers), the pen-holder opposite the knuckle. Give a great many simple exercises in move- ment. It is a good plan to perform these exercises to rhythmic movement, regulated by piano-playing. It is of little use to have one position and drill for these gymnastic exercises in writing, and to have another and entirely different one in the regular writing, com- position, etc., of the pupil. A few months' thorough work in position and movement, and then rigidly hold- ing pupils to the same in all their writing, will give each child an excellent hand-writing, unless some phys- ical difficulty intervenes. TALK XII. TALKING WITH THE PENCIL. When the child enters the school-room, he comes into a new world, and should bring all that is good and pleasant in his old world with him. The strange sur- roundings, the new faces, banish from his consciousness almost everything but wonder and fear. If to this is added a teacher strong in discipline, who would put the pupil as soon as possible in the well-worn grooves of order, it is likely that fear and consequent timidity will be the controlling power in the child while he is in school. On the other hand, a warm, affectionate greet- ing, a cordial shake of the hand, and something to do or see that is pleasant, from the moment that he comes into the school-room, will drive away his fears, and allow his own nature and his own knowledge and skill to 'have free course. Give a child something to do the mo- ment he enters the school-room. A piece of chalk to work on the board, a slate and pencil, a pile of blocks, anything to attract his attention. Lead the child to talk as freely in the school- room as he does at home. He has learned idioms, pronunciation, accent, use of language, by imitation. Continue this process of imitation by exercises in imitating the voice of the teacher. Have him pronounce sentences, suiting the TALKING WITH THE PENCIL. 8i words to the action, thus, — teacher stands before the class and says (holding up her right hand), "This is my right hand," the children do the same; "This is my left hand," *' I can stand up," ** See me stand up," *' I can run," ** I can walk/' " I can jump," '* I can skip," etc.; always uttering the word as the action is performed. Then have pupils review. Ask them how many things they can do ; and have one pupil after another perform acts, and tell at the same time what they are doing. Let the teacher point to objects and say, " There is the clock," " There is a picture," and have the pupils imitate her. Use here.^ there^ this^ those^ in the same way. Place objects in different positions, and have pupils tell where they are. Introduce the easiest object lessons. Lead pupils to tell what they see, in the simplest possible way. Plants, stuffed animals, and other objects of the kind may be used with good effect. Lessons in Form and Color, and in fact all the lessons laid down in the Manuals of Ob- ject Teaching, may be used as helps for the teacher, if she allows the child to see for himself, and use his own language in talking. Pictures may be used in the same way. The great purpose should be to train the child to talk freely and correctly. It is a good plan to note down all the idioms a child has at his com- mand. Faults in pronunciation should be corrected by repetition of the right pronunciation. Faults in articula- tion should be carefully corrected, by leading the child to place the organs of speech in the proper positions. Until the child talks with a good degree of freedom, little or no effort should be made to change the incorrect 82 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, use of language. After this important period is passed, pupils should not be allowed to use ungrammatical forms. The simple remedy for inaccurate habits of speech is to give the child many opportunities to use proper sentences. This should be done almost invari- ably with objects. If, for instance, the child uses is for are^ lead the child to talk about numbers of objects be- fore him, using the word aj-e. You will remember that I said that all new idioms should be learned in the oral language, and not in the written. All the modifications of subject and predicate may be taught objectively. For instance, the adverbs and adjectives. Objects may be placed in different positions, — for example, a hat upon the table, — and the question asked," Where is the hat ?" All the prepositions may be taught in this manner. De- grees of comparison may be taught by comparing ob- jects. " This is a little block,'* *' That block is larger than this," "This block is the largest." Adjectives may be taught by leading the child to see the qualities of objects. When the child or a group of children has been trained to observe attentively, and to talk fluently, the work of teaching Reading may profitably be begun. It is generally an extravagant use of time to begin Reading before this power is acquired. When teachers fully comprehend that education is the generation of power, they will know better how to adapt the steps of progress to the mind's ability. Haste makes a terrible waste, when it consists in taxing the child's strength in an undue degree. I have given in a former talk the method by which I would teach Spelling. The first year TALKING WITH THE PENCIL. ^^ should be spent in training the child to copy (in sen- tences) all the words he learns in reading, with absolute accuracy. The beginning of the second year dictation may be given. I wish to repeat here two rules for Spelling, that should be invariably followed. First, train the children to know when they don't know a word. The teacher should write words which the children do not know on the blackboard, until they are able to use the dictionary. Second, never allow a child to write a word incorrectly, or see a word incorrectly spelled, if it be possible to prevent it. When it is found that pupils can write from dictation all the words they have previ- ously used in copying, the Talking with the Pencil should begin. TALK XIII. TALKING WITH THE PENCIL, CONTINUED. All education consists of the development of thought and expression. The thought must precede the expres- sion. Thought, as I have explained, is the relation of ideas. The best stimulus the child can have for clear thought is the observation of objects in relation. The simplest way to bring thought into the mind, in order to express it with the pencil, is to perform some simple act. Let the teacher take up, for example, a block, and ask, ** What did I do?" ** Tell me upon your slates what I did," and have pupils write an appropriate sentence, each writing it in his own way. Let the teacher sit down in a chair ; stand up ; walk ; run ; reach ; laugh ; sing ; shake hands ; rap on the table ; point to the clock ; and perform a thousand simple acts, and have pupils tell with their pencils what she has done. Let a pupil perform an act, and have the others describe it with their pencils. Let two pupils plan, and do, something for their play- mates to describe. In this way all the idioms that a child uses, and even new idioms, may be introduced. Pupils may be led to use the various modifications of subject and predicate in single words (adjectives or adverbs), phrases, and clauses. Prepositions may be taught in the written language, as they were in the oral, TALKING WITH THE PENCIL, CONTINUED, 85 by placing objects in different positions. Adverbs, by modifying actions, as, walking slowly^ and swiftly^ etc. In fact, all the ways I have just given for oral work may be used in the written. Pictures may be effectively used. Every teacher should have a large collection of good pictures. These may be cut out of illustrated books and papers, and pasted upon stout cardboard. Let each child take a picture, and write upon the slate one thing that he sees in the picture. After he has done that well, let him write another and another. Great care should be taken to train children to write sentences ; using the proper capitals and punctuation. This can be done only by having them write a great number of single sentences. They should not be allowed to write connected sentences, until they have formed the hab- it of beginning and ending the sentences properly. Teachers will often allow children to write a whole page without the proper separation of sentences one from the other, repeating *' and" and other words over and over again. This is simply leading them into bad habits. A good way to prevent this is to require pupils to ask and answer questions, writing both question and answer. Pictures may be used in a great many ways. Write questions on the board, to aid the pupils— such as, ** What things do you see in the picture ?" *' Where are they ?" '* What are they doing ?" ** What have they been doing?*' ** What do you think they will do?'* *' What are the names of the persons in the picture ?" \Note, — Let pupils give names according to their own fancy.] These and many other questions may be asked to stimulate investigation. When the proper S6 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. time arrives — that is, when pupils can write single sen- tences correctly — have them describe the picture fully ; and then have them imagine and write a story about the picture. This they will do with great pleasure. From the first, children should be trained to tell, in their own language, what the}^ have read ; either at the close of the lesson, or at the beginning of the succeeding lesson. When they begin to talk with the pencil, after each lesson in reading, let them go to their seats and write one thing they have read. Follow this by two things, then three, then four ; and at last have them write all they can remember. Objects may be used as the best means of training children to talk with the pencil. I wish to say a word here about object teaching. That object teaching which tries to force a child to see all the teacher sees in an ob- ject, or has prepared, by copying a schedule of things to be seen from a Manual of Object Teaching, and then leads the child to use a lot of strange words, like "opaque," ** transparent," ** flexible," etc., at the same time he is struggling to observe ; is to my mind as completely wrong as the old-fashioned text-book rote learning. In the first place, the whole attention should be directed to the observation of the object, without being encumbered by new words. Secondly, the child can see very little in the object at first. The attempt to make him see that which the mature mind only has the power to observe, is manifestly wrong. The rule to be followed is — place the object before the child, let him see what he can, and write what he sees. Then by questioning and devices lead him to see more. TALKING WITH THE PENCIL, CONTINUED, 87 Follow the child, and not make the child follow you. Thus, gradually and naturally, the child's powers of observation will develop. In other words, the object should ask the questions, and the child should answer them. Natural objects are the very best means of training the observing faculties ; and at the same time the child can be led to acquire the elementary facts or a, b, c's of Science. Seeds sown on brown paper, or in cotton, their germination and growth watched, and every change noted by the children, on paper or slate, may be used to arouse the greatest curiosity, and at the same time to teach language in a very effective way. Plants inside of the room, and out-of-doors shrubs, trees, and flowers, should be made the subjects of object and language lessons. I trust that I shall live to see the day, when both Reading and Composition will be beautifully taught by the inspiring stimulus of facts, gained from natural objects, that will lay a grand foundation for a future knowledge of all the Natural Sciences. All lessons in objects, form, and color, should be made language lessons. The highest perfection of composi- tion is reached in accurate descriptions of objects. Toward this end all teaching of language should steadily tend, without the slightest forcing or over- driving. Every teacher should be a good story-teller. By constant practice, she should be able to tell a story in a clear, simple, concise manner. Hans Christian Andersen's, Grimm's, and Hebel's charming stories 88 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. may be told by the teacher, and then written out by the pupil. In conclusion, there are certain important rules to be observed at every step. First, always be sure that the thought is in the mind before you ask the pupil to ex- press it. Second, never allow any careless work ; never permit a pupil to write a word or sentence wrong, as I have said, if it be possible to prevent it. It is a good plan for the teacher to move around among her pupils while they are writing, and closely watch all they are doing. Erase every mistake, and have pupils try again. Such expressions as, '* You do not see well," " I am glad you see something in the picture " (or the object), ** Look again, and look closer," " Be very careful while you are writing that word," may be used by the teacher with good effect. Third, have pupils read everything they write. Pupils may read each other's stories. Use ruled brown paper freely in writing. When pupils get command of the pen, have them use ink in writing their stories. If this plan of training pupils to talk with their pencils, which I have tried to outline, be closely fol- lowed, I am quite sure, from my experience, that every child of ordinary ability may be trained to write accu- rately and rapidly page after page of good English in three years. And, above all, they may be trained to talk with their pencils with as much eagerness and pleasure as they talk with their tongues. But the best result is not found in correct expression, but in the power to think. TALK XIV. COMPOSITION. In the previous talk, I tried to show how children may be trained in three years to write legibly, correctly, and rapidly a page of English ; that good, patient, careful teaching and training will lead them to talk with the pencil as correctly and fluently as with the tongue. The greatest result is that they love to do this work, and that they are entirely prepared by a thoroughly formed habit, ever after to express whatever thoughts they may have in good English. Education consists, primarily, in the development of thought and expression. Expression is used by the true teacher simply and solely as a means of knowing just how and what the pupil thinks, in order to lead him to higher struggles and greater victories. I am aware that most so-called teaching consists in the training of expression without regard to thought — that is, the child's imitative powers alone are cultivated, while his creative strength is left to pine and wither under a mass of meaningless words. If the teaching is real teaching — /. ^., thought development — all the studies that now follow (after the third year). Geog- raphy, Arithmetic, and the Sciences, may be made the best kinds of language lessons. Every real lesson is carefully planned and given to evolve thought. The 90 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. child's previous training has given him the power to give to the teacher all the thought evolved, either orally, or in writing. During the lesson the thought is given orally ; when it is finished it should invariably be given to the teacher in writing. All true up-building of any science consists of logical premises, sequences, and con- clusions. Each step grows out of the consistent union of all previous thought of which each lesson is a con- stituent part. It holds true, then, that if the thought evolved in the pupiPs mind be logical, its expression, either orally or in writing will be — that is, real teach- ing, assisted by constant written expression, must train a child into the highest art of written composition. There is little or no necessity of going outside of the regular branches for the best kind of language teaching. Elementary Geography furnishes an exceedingly fruitful source for charming written descriptions of hills, valleys, plains, coast lines, bays, gulfs, rivers, springs, in fact all the forms of water and land under the pupil's obser- vation, which alone can give the power of imagining all unseen forms of land and water. When these un- seen forms are moulded and described, and the great, magnificent unseen world is imaged through and by the seen, all these creations of the imagination will make in- spiring subjects for composition. Take one step farther, and from the earth spring the countless forms of vegetation. Trees, plants, and flowers may be described by the child, and each description be an inspiration to further observation. The animals may be described by the quick pens of the children. Shelter, clothing, cities, commerce, and COMPOSITION. 91 all the interesting subjects with which Geography fairly teems, form an exhaustless source of excellent themes. Faith, Hope, and Charity may be left to repose serenely in the lists of subjects for compositions, until they have time to bud and blossom in the child's heart. History, so closely allied and growing out of Geog- raphy, if properly taught, may be made a most excel- lent means of language teaching. Pictures, illustrating the great events in history, may be described. Follow- ing this, the teacher should tell short, interesting stories in history, which may be given back by the ready writers. Then comes a carefully arranged list of topics in History. The school library, if teachers and school committees have done their duty, is rich with historical works, adapted to the capacity of children. The village or city library also, is at their command. The eager children are led to read up the topic in a large number of excellent books. In the hour of recitation, they pour out their new-found treasures for their schoolmates to hear and discuss, and for the teacher to mould into con- sistency and order. Then comes the happy time when they can tell the whole story in their own words, on clean sheets of white paper. I am describing no Utopia, but a reality, that comes to those who have an immense faith in the capabilities of human development. Every pupil in a grammar school, at the end of an eight years' course, may be trained to do this beautiful work. You who, instead of feeding the child's wonderful exhaustless power of imagining the good, the true, and the beauti- ful, driven where the cutting lash of tradition turns the grand study of history into a dry, stupid rote- 92 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. learning of pages, dates, and meaningless generaliza- tions, will remember that the New Education leads you to the heights beyond Jordan, within sight of the Prom- ised Land. Do not turn back to the rocky, sandy desert of Sin. Arithmetic, if it be the study of numbers of things, instead of figures, has for its purpose the development of exact logic. And if the logic is exact, the statements and rules and definitions must be. The pupils are led to discover every fact, process, and generalization for themselves, and then to state what they have discov- ered in concise language. Thus Arithmetic may be made to fill an indispensable place in language training. I have spoken of the use of the elements of Natural Science as an excellent means of language teaching. From what I have already said, you will see that each step in the teaching of Science may be materially assisted by written descriptions. There are teachers who stoutly aver that the child can spend weeks and months, and even years, upon the study of columns of words in that expressionless volume called the Spelling- book. Now, I would like to ask, if the pupil writes, and writes correctly, day after day all the words he learns in History, Geography, Arithmetic, and the Natural Sciences, how many more words does he need to learn ? What is the use of the Spelling-book ? When should Grammar be taught ? After the facts necessary to the metaphysical generalizations, that are indispensable for the comprehension of the difficult science of language. When the mind is ready to use a high form of logical deduction. What is the use of COMPOSITION, 93 Grammar ? First, to enable the mind to look more closely into the masterpieces of composition, in such a way as to comprehend the thought of an author in all its fulness and completeness ; second, to express thought orally and in writing, in the clearest, most con- cise, and beautiful manner. Correct speaking and cor- rect writing can only be learned by constantly speaking and writing correctly. No incorrect form should ever be presented to pupils until they reach the age of care- ful reflection. The custom of writing incorrect syntax for children to correct, is a vicious one. Many teachers who are now breaking away from the cast-iron method of teaching, parsing, and analysis, are diluting the old forms by an infusion of weaker ones — /. ^., they are training children to use words for the sake of using them, without regard to the thought that should always inspire their use. They lead children to make sentences, using ** are,** ** is,'* ** been," etc., just (as I have said) for the purpose of using the word. Now, if the child is continually writing, from the second year to the eighth inclusive, and every sentence is written under the stimulus of thought, he will use all the necessary words correctly, and repeatedly. There is, therefore, little or no need of purely word lessons. But this teach- ing of grammar is infinitely better than the old way of taking a sentence, that was made to express a beautiful thought, or behind which lies a grand picture ; and mangling it by hard names, cutting it into minute pieces, hanging its mutilated remains on cruel diagrams ; while the author's meaning remains as far away from the pupil's mind as the bright stars in heaven. There 94 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. will come a time, in the course of proper development, when teaching technical grammar may be made a most excellent and profitable study ; when the rich mines of thought and emotion, of which our literature is full, may be opened to the growing minds of children. Technical grammar, to my mind, as it is usually taught, effectually disgusts children, and bars the way to deeper insight into the beauty and strength of language. TALK XV. NUMBER. At the outset of this discussion, three questions should be very carefully answered : What is number ? What can be done with numbers ? What are the uses of number ? It is of the utmost importance that we know definitely and exactly the nature of the subject we teach ; its relations to other subjects ; its place as a means of mental development ; and its utility in the affairs of life. If the correct definition of the subject be not entirely comprehended, all attempts at teaching will be vague and unsatisfactory. The usual definitions of number are open to criticism ; for instance, *' A number is a collection of units." A collection of objects of the same kind may be designated as 3. few, several, some, etc. Thus you see the definition fails in definiteness. The best way to define anything is to concentrate the mind upon the thing to be defined. I place, for example, several blocks before you. You can say, ** There are some blocks,** ** There are several blocks,'* ** There are a few blocks.'' ** Some,** ** several," and ** few" are ad- jectives limiting the substantive, " blocks.** If you wish to be more definite in regard to a collection of blocks, by a closer inspection you are enabled to say, ** There are five blocks.'* ** Five'* is also a limiting adjective. 96 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING, What is the difference between the former limita- tions of "few,*' **some,'* and ** several," and of the last, "five**? The difference, you see, is in definite- ness of limitation of the collection. *^ Five" answers definitely the question, "How many blocks?" It is difficult to formulate a satisfactory definition from these facts. The best we can give at present is, that number definitely limits objects of the same kind to how many. The correlative of this definition is, that surfaces, lines, corners, or points definitely limit vol- umes or bodies of matter in regard to dimensions. You will observe that number definitely limits objects of the same kind, in regard to how many. Number lim- its nothing vague or intangible. Number is not a quality of objects or any part of an object ; it simply limits objects of the same kind in one particular way. We can make these limitations first, by the senses ; by sight, touch, and hearing. But these limitations of the senses must have their limitations — that is, the visual, tactual, auricular grasp of numbers of things, however highly cultivated, must reach a point beyond which it cannot go. What this point is, I am not at present able to say. Following, and leaving, the point where the sense-grasp ceases, must come what may be called, the grasp of the imagination. The latter depends totally upon the former for its definiteness and distinct- ness. This fact is of the greatest importance. The un- seen can only be measured by the seen. For instance, experience, or, in other words, actual sense products, are the only measures of that which cannot come within the direct and limiting acts of the senses. We measure the NUMBER, 97 unseen mile by the yard or rod that is definitely fixed in the mind by close observation. We measure a hun- dred things by a standard that has been fixed in the mind in the same way, by the action of the senses. I have often heard objections raised to the object method of teaching number, because the eye and hand can take in so few things at a time. This objection is illogical to the last degree ; for it is of the utmost impor- tance that our measures of values, that can be obtained only through the senses, be as distinct to the mind as the actual yard-stick or bushel to the measurer. You can easily see how a slight fault in the standard would bring about an immense error in great numbers of things. Precisely in the same way, if the standards of measure are not distinct in the mind, the imagination of num- bers of things that lie beyond the sense-grasp, will be weak and wrong. Thus you see that the illogical argu- ment of the objectors to object teaching is, in reality, the very strongest reason that can be given in favor of such teaching. What can be done with numbers ? I advise you always, for such answers, to observe closely numbers of things. Here are a number of blocks. What can I do with them ? In what relations can you see them ? Take this one number ; with your eyes you can per- ceive the definite limitation as to how many. What can I do with this number ? I can separate it into other numbers or parts, each of which you limit defi- nitely in your mind by the means of sight. Can I do more ? Try it. Here are several numbers. What can be done with them ? I unite them into one number. 98 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. What more can be done with a number ? I separate the number into parts, or other numbers ; I unite numbers into one whole number. I can do this actually, or I can think it done. Numbers can be united ; a number can be separated. Every operation in arithmetic, however difficult or complex, must consist of one or both of these two simple processes — uniting and separating. There are two relations of numbers, in these two processes, which are severally actual counterparts, or correlatives of each other. These relations may be called, first, the relation of unequal numbers to each other ; second, the relation of equal numbers to each other. I can separate this number of blocks into numbers that are not equal, each to the other ; I can unite the unequal numbers into one number. I can separate this number into equal numbers or parts ; I can unite the equal numbers into one number. Here we have the so-called fundamental four operations of arithmetic. Uniting numbers (or making a unit of them) is addition ; uniting equal numbers, a simpler process to the eye and to the imagination than the union of unequal numbers, is multiplication. The reverse of the former is subtraction ; of the latter, division. A full comprehension of these simple facts,' and the highly important truth, that every operation in arithmetic consists solely and entirely of the application of these simple relations, will make the subject of arith- metic a true science, instead of a complex art. What is the use of number ? First, and the most im- portant point to be understood in the teaching of any subject, is its bearing upon mental development ; second, its utility as applied to the affairs of life. The NUMBER, 99 teaching of arithmetic may be divided into two parts : first, training the power to calculate with accuracy and rapidity ; second, the development of the power to reason exactly and logically. When we train a child to add, subtract, multiply, and divide with accuracy and rapidity, the exactness and celerity necessary to good work trains the power of attention. Mathematics is the only exact science ; if the premises are correct, the con- clusions must be. To form a strong effectual habit of seeing and thinking of things just as they are, and in their exact relations, is the province of mathematics. There are, then, two motives in teaching arithmetic ; one of which is to train attention, the other, the higher and more important one, is the development of the power to reason logically. All arithmetical reasoning must be done, by bringing the mind to bear directly upon the relations of numbers of things. Language is simply the means of bringing the numbers of things and their relations into the mind. How shall, or rather how must number be taught ? I use this word must because, primarily and fundament- ally, there is only one way to teach number — that is, by direct observation of numbers of objects. We may, it is true, teach the language of number, leaving the as- sociation of the language with the ideas they should recall, to accident, and fondly imagine that we are teach- ing number. As well might we try to teach the facts in botany without plants, in zoology without animals, form without forms, and color without colors, as to teach number without numbers^of objects. All primary ideas of number and their relations, must be obtained loo NOTES 01^ TALKS OJST TEACHING, immediately through the senses, and by their repeated limitations as numbers of things, as to how many. The first step in teaching number is, to ascertain, by careful examination, just how much the child knows of number — /. ^^^ and writes ==. ** Now read it the same way as before." Teach the signs, =, +> — -> X, -^, very carefully, one at a time, and then review, by writing them together. Show objects (as in oral teaching), and have pupils write the like the following : answers. Introduce exercises I 8-2 =4 4 2'«=8 2 8-^2 = 4 2'«= 3 8- =4 4 ^ = 8 4 -2 =4 2'^= 8 5+4=9 8-5 =3 4X2=8 5+4 = 8-5 = 4X2 = 5 + =9 8- =3 4X =8 + 4=9 -5 =3 X2 =8 ARITHMETIC, III Then have pupils erase the answers, (see 2) and write the answers rapidly. Have them erase answers again, and read the columns. Have them erase second line, (see 3) then fill up the columns. Have them erase again, and read. Then let them erase the first line, (see 4) and fill in the answers. Use in these exercises, all the forms of stating processes, to be found in arithmetical calcula- tion ; the pupils learning them, by seeing the relations which they express. In division, for example, 8 -f- 4 = 2, 4)8(2, 4\8; in multiplication, 2X3 = 6, 3. When these h i 6 forms are firmly fixed in the mind, give the same exercises, without using objects. From 10 proceed, number by number, to the development of 20, using both oral and written work. For reviews, give an ex- ercise like this (orally), having pupils write out answers upon slates or board, in columns, without hesitation : 7+5 ; 54-3 ; 4's in 12 ; 10 — 7 ; ^of 9 ; 6X2. Let pupils change slates, and correct ; the teacher reading the answers. Train pupils to make good figures, and to arrange their work neatly upon slates, blackboard, or paper. Never allow a?iy careless work. These exercises, however, form only a part of the work which should be done. The oral and written work should go hand in hand. Calculation should be followed by applied numbers ; using, as in oral work, weights, measures, and money. Have pupils buy and sell, and keep an account of their trades, on slate and paper. Give them a great many little problems, that will test their thinking powers. Have them write their 112 NOTES OF TALKS ON TEACHING. own problems, (language lessons). Write on the board 7+4 ; 3X5 ; i of 12 ; i6-f-4 ; and have them write problems on their slates, using these numbers and their relations. Write examples for them on the board. Have them read them (reading lessons). A Primary Arithmetic may be introduced, [like the ** Franklin"] as a reading book, at this stage. The squares of 2, 3, 4, and 5, may be taught, by draw- ing the squares on the board. Have children make the tables — multiplication and division ; products not exceeding the number taught. I believe, when 20 is thoroughly taught, and all the facts are known with- out the slightest hesitation, and when the child has formed the habit of using figures, simply to represent numbers of things, in such a way, that the figures, in any and all of their relations, will readily recall the numbers in their relations ; that more than half of the science of arithmetic, is within the grasp of the pupils. This work should occupy the time, at least, of the first two years. It may be done, I think, in one year, if the pupils have had thorough Kindergarten training. I have not time to speak of the steps from 20 to 100. For this work, I will refer you to the Arithmetical Charts, soon to be published by Cowperthwait & Co. Three years at least, should be allowed for the thorough teaching of 100. I am often asked the question, ** When should the use of objects cease, in the development of number ; that is, in teaching a new number ?" It is clear to my mind, that when pupils can analyze a number, [/.