EVERYDAY P EDAGOGY LINCOLN Class L ff Book ,y-fr CopyrigM^?_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT: EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY WITH SPECIAL APPLICATION TO THE RURAL SCHOOL BY LILLIAN I. LINCOLN SUPERVISOR OF TRAINING IN THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL FARMINGTON, MAINE GINN AND COMPANY BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON ATLANTA • DALLAS • COLUMBUS • SAN FRANCISCO COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY LILLIAN I. LINCOLN ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 515-4 o y <-: \y gftc satftengum j>reg< GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. MAY -5 1915 ©CI.A398686 PREFACE No claim is made that the ideas here set forth are new. The best of them are very old. Some of them are told more than once in this book, but those are the ones it has been found necessary to tell many times to student teachers. The material is in part oversimple, and in part, perhaps, overelaborated. It has been made so purposely. In those things that might be called faults lies the merit of the work, if it has any merit. The plans herein given are practical not theoretical, most of them having been tried in our own school and gathered through close association with many teachers. They are stated in the way which has seemed to meet the needs of young teachers in everyday work. Not all the books and other material, nor all the ideas, are supposed to be used by any one person. Enough has been suggested to leave freedom for choice. In cases of doubt, application has been made to the rural school, though most of the suggestions will serve as well for any other school. Repeated requests for information along these lines and a long-continued service in connection with young teachers in training classes and institutes have furnished the occa- sion for the making of the book. It is hoped that the volume may be of practical value. [iii] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY The writer wishes to take this opportunity to express her indebtedness and gratitude to Payson Smith, LL.D., Litt.D., Superintendent of the Public Schools of Maine. His kindly assistance and encouragement have been un- failing. His corrections, suggestions, and additions, made in connection with the reading of the manuscript, have added much to its practical value. LILLIAN I. LINCOLN State Normal School, Farmington, Maine [iv] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE TEACHER i II. THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT 7 III. THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS. . . 15 IV. APPARATUS — ITS SOURCES, CARE, AND USE 25 V. STARTING IN 44 VI. GOING ON 57 VII. THE PHYSICAL COMFORT OF THE CHILD. . 67 VIII. MORNING EXERCISES 88 IX. ARITHMETIC 95 X. READING 112 XL DICTIONARY STUDY 128 XII. SPELLING 132 XIII. LANGUAGE 142 XIV. THE PICTURE 152 XV. THE POEM 155 XVI. THE STORY 166 XVII. GEOGRAPHY . . 178 XVIII. HISTORY 191 XIX. NATURE STUDY 199 XX. DRAWING 215 XXI. WRITING 222 XXII. MUSIC 228 XXIII. DESK WORK 234 [V] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY CHAPTER PAGE XXIV. INDUSTRIAL WORK 244 XXV. SPECIAL EXERCISES 259 XXVI. THE RECITATION 264 XXVII. PLAY 277 XXVIII. DISCIPLINE 282 XXIX. CONCLUSION 299 INDEX 303 [Vi] INTRODUCTION It is trite to say that the success of a school system is to be measured in terms of the efficiency of the teaching force. Yet, in a day when the emphasis on system and machin- ery is great, it is worth while to reiterate that plans, policies, and theories for the improvement of education are effective only in the degree that they find expression in the life of the individual school and that this expression must come by means of the individual teacher. To make the teacher more efficient is to make the school better, hence improvement of the teacher remains the im- portant function of the educational machinery we establish. Much stress is laid, in the work of teacher improvement, on the need of the widest possible knowledge on the part of the teacher of the principles underlying successful in- struction and school management. Happily there is no longer any serious discussion of the desirability of this knowledge. One may as well admit, however, that general information in regard to the theories of education is not of itself a guaranty of effective teaching. Unless these theories find concrete expression in daily practice, the knowledge of them is quite without value. It happens not infrequently that teachers — and espe- cially beginning teachers — find themselves embarrassed in [vii] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY a wealth of theory. How to summon to their aid in a crisis of the day's work just the principle the occasion requires constitutes an educational problem by itself. Admitting, then, the very important place of the school- room teacher in making the school system effective, and emphasizing the necessity of a sound basis in educational theory for schoolroom procedure, we find there must be a large place for those who — whether by book, lecture, or ser- mon — shall aid teachers to interpret their theories into sane educational practices. Progress in the making of better schools will be less halting and hesitating, will be less dis- turbed by unnecessary repetitions of experiments and by much traveling of bypaths with profitless ends, as teachers find ways of coming in contact with the experiences of other teachers and especially those whose business it has been to test daily in the crucible of experience the freshly wrought theory. This book, reflecting a thorough study of schoolroom needs on the one hand and of carefully tested theory on the other, with their constant application, cannot fail to bring to any teacher that satisfying inspiration which results from the worthy accomplishment it will help to bring. Especially to those thousands of teachers, who, in rural and other small schools, must rely so considerably upon their own resources its pages will bring constant help. PAYSON SMITH Augusta, Maine [viii] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY CHAPTER I THE TEACHER Preparation for the work. There are certain things in the way of preparation that will soon be absolutely de- manded of the young person who wishes to teach. Even now, every one who plans to be a teacher, if only for a little while, should demand of herself that she have the equivalent of a good high-school course followed by normal- school training. This, at least, is essential if she is not to waste much precious material in unwise experimentation. She may indeed, by direct school practice and careful ob- servation, gain skill in her calling without this, but she will always be hampered, as is one who picks up a trade, by lack of knowledge of the best ways of going about things. She will waste time, energy, and material, and will fall short of what her success might have been if she had been well prepared for her work. School training not sufficient. The high-school and normal courses should form the foundation upon which a young teacher should build her power. They should be supplemented continuously by reading (both general and particular), by travel (though one may be a good teacher without having gone to Europe), by school visiting, and EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY by attendance at teachers' meetings and conventions. If teaching becomes a life work, there may come a time when a convention, a school-visiting day, or an educational book may bring only one or two new ideas, but a single idea is worth working for at that point, and the stimulus of such things is of more value than can be counted. Many teach- ers feel that when once they are graduated from normal school or college and placed in a school, no further work is necessary. Such teachers, somewhat undesirable to start with, grow more so with every additional year of service. Personal appearance. A teacher's personal appearance is also of moment. She may not be beautiful, but she should look beautiful to the children — a thing surprisingly easy to accomplish if one goes about it with intention. The first essential is good health, which may usually be attained by proper attention to food, exercise, rest, and sleep. A teacher should not remain in a boarding place in which the food is insufficient or unpalatable, either to save a few pennies or to spare her landlady's feelings. She should not make her chief articles of diet candy and pickles, nor serve herself continuous lunches through the evening. She should not omit her out-of-door exercise because of the miles walked in school, nor her rest on account of uncorrected papers, nor her sleep because of school worry or social dissipation. Dressing properly also helps to preserve good health and has undoubted effect in production of beauty. Too thin clothing in cold weather causes great waste of energy in keeping warm. If the room is right for study, one ought not to be uncomfortable in reasonably warm clothing. The teacher who goes to and from school and to the THE TEACHER playground at recess with no greater protection against cold and damp than that given by the regular indoor dress is not only endangering her own health, but is setting a poor example to the children. Again, school dress should be suitable for school. The schoolroom is not the place for wearing out one's old silk dresses. It is not necessary for a teacher to have many or expensive clothes, but those she does have should be appropriate to the occasion. Children like change, so the element should be furnished, not usually by many different dresses, but by the collar, ribbon, or bit of embroidered tie, that will delight the eyes of the little people and not take much from the teacher's scanty funds. By her own scrupulous care of hair, teeth, and nails the teacher should stimulate the desire for per- sonal daintiness in her pupils. A child's admiration for his teacher is a great help in discipline. Children are always delighted to tell of their pretty teacher. Mothers are invited to come to school to see how attractive she is. One mother was invited to come in the afternoon, because the teacher's hair seemed to curl best then. It is no uncommon thing for children to raise hands and ask the teacher to come to them for a minute, while they confide admiration for dress or ring or touch of beauty. It pays to make one's self look well to the school. Of even more importance are manner and speech. If a phonograph could be set up secretly in our schoolrooms, and we could hear at night all we have said during the day, repeated with the monotonous tone, or the irritation, or the whine, which are so often there, many of us would not sleep so easily. If we had these remarks to analyze and parse, our remorse would often be still greater, and we [3] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY should cease to wonder that the children's language lessons do so little for them. A teacher should be as polite to her pupils as she requires them to be to her. Her every word and deed should suggest the courtesy that she wishes to teach. Too often, in demanding obedience and politeness in the schoolroom, the teacher uses tones, and even words, that would not be tolerated elsewhere. Position in the community. A teacher's personality counts for much in a community. Sweet temper, sympathy, an interested and animated attitude toward life in general and school life in particular, tact, common sense, a will- ingness to take hold and help whenever help is needed, a sturdy dignity when dignity is desirable — all these will go far to aid the teacher in making and holding a right place for herself in the schoolroom and in the children's homes. She is in a position to be of much service to the young people of the neighborhood. A little girl once said to her mother in regard to the teacher : "I love her, mamma. I touch her dress as she goes by." " Does she know it? " asked the mother. " Oh, no; but I love her so, I like to touch her." Another child bent in humble adoration and kissed the teacher's hand as she stood by his desk a moment during a recitation. These things being so, how can a teacher lower herself to lend the force of her example toward making slang the regular language of the boys and girls, or to associate with them on any but the highest plane ! A complaint was once made concerning a teacher that through her one of the pupils made her first acquaintance with the question of beaus, the teacher having spent her time in the discussion of no other subject when in the girl's company. [4] THE TEACHER A teacher should not enter in any way into the neigh- borhood quarrels that in many places exist perennially and do their worst toward lowering the community spirit and ideals. She should identify herself with the life of the people with whom she is working, call upon them, attend their social gatherings, and mingle with them freely, but she should not forget that her business is to teach school, that her position tends to make her an example, that her life should be lived worthily, and that she must keep her- self above reproach. If she is musical, she should be will- ing to help out in that line, but she should not sacrifice her regular work for it. If she dances or plays cards, she may do both in moderation, unless the community as a whole objects to these amusements. She should be sure that she permits attentions only from young men of good standing, and then only to a reasonable extent. In many communities teachers receive eagerly the attentions of young men who are looked down upon in the neighbor- hood. Any teacher who knows all the men. in the place in a few weeks, or who is the subject of conversation in stores or on street corners, is doing herself, her school, and her profession a serious injury. If the community as a whole does not respect her, she might much better give up her school and go home before further mischief is done. Even with every intention of doing right a teacher often finds herself too deeply involved socially to be at her best for school work. In general, Friday and Saturday evenings may be given to amusement, but the others should usually be employed in finishing the work of the day, preparing for the morrow, reading, resting, and such occupations. [5] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Attitude toward school officers. The attitude of the teacher toward her superintendent, her principal, or her associate teachers, if there are such, should be cordial and friendly. She should be open to suggestion and should give her opinions when they are desired, but should not force them into notice. She may not always agree with her superintendent, but she should remember that he is in authority and is usually aiming at the same result that she is — the good of the school. He may have ideas with which she so disagrees as to make the position difficult for her, but while she stays she should be subordinate to his direction. It is well for a teacher to talk over school con- ditions freely and to ask for things needed for the work, but she should not at every meeting with the superintendent overwhelm him with complaints, with demands for working material or for help in discipline, or with requests for an increase in salary. The teacher makes the school. This first chapter is given to the teacher, because she is the important thing in any school. The room may be unpleasant and poorly equipped, the books worn and out of date, the neighbor- hood undesirable, the school officers difficult in many ways, and still the school may be of value ; but if the teacher is not right, the term can never be profitable. A teacher should take to her school every possible aid, but she herself must be the greatest thing of all. She must have the spirit of the mother and the missionary, and this will usually supply her with ways and means to conquer the situation. [6] CHAPTER II THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT Why needed. A wise teacher, disregarding the fact that school authorities are supposed to furnish all things need- ful for school work, equips herself with many small neces- sities, to tide her over waiting times and to supplement supplies. It is right that a superintendent should be asked to furnish what is needed, and a teacher is rarely ranked the higher for asking little ; yet through indifference of authorities, lack of funds, or other causes, a school is often hampered in its work unless the teacher fills the gap and provides that which it may not be her place to provide, but which it is hard to do without. The equipment box. Every teacher should secure a large wooden box having a cover (hinged if possible) that may be screwed down, and provided with a padlock or other fastening. It should also be fitted with rope handles, that it may be shipped as baggage. This box should be the home of her school equipment and should be kept at the school building. The advantage of the box is that if one takes the material in a trunk, one gets along with little, and that little must be conveyed to school bit by bit. The equipment should include the following things at least, with such others as may occur to the teacher. Books. A teacher's collection should contain educational books and books meant for relaxation. The educational [71 EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY books include those intended for the teacher only and those to be used by her and the children. Every teacher should have a library, and every teacher should have at hand what may serve as a library for the children. The books best suited for the purpose are usually those to be obtained from the firms that publish schoolbooks. Most of them are in- expensive. The teacher may acquaint herself with them through the samples displayed at teachers' conventions, and to a certain extent by the study of publishers' catalogues. Dealers will usually be willing to send books to be looked over ; these may be retained if they prove to be what is desired, the money and the remaining books being returned at once. A teacher should aim to start a permanent school library immediately, if she does not find one established, but it will take time to acquire a library of any size, and in the meantime the books that go in the teacher's box will have to serve. As has been said, most of them are cheap. They may be purchased a few at a time, — as few as must be each term, — but their value in saving time and friction, furnishing spice for the regular lessons, and establishing a bond of sympathy between teacher and pupils will make them worth considerable sacrifice on the part of the teacher. It was said in the last chapter that the teacher should have the spirit of the mother and the missionary, and the mis- sionary who has formed the taste of a child community for the right kind of books has performed a saving service to mankind. The children should be welcome to use the books from the teacher's outfit in preparing their lessons, for filling in spare (otherwise wasted) minutes, and for entertainment at noon and before school, and should be allowed to take them home when they wish. The parents [8] THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT often get as much from the books as the children do. " Papa and I were talking of Damon and Pythias," said a seventh-grade boy to his teacher. "Would you let me take home your * Stories of the Greeks ' for a day or two, so we can read it again together? " "As long as you please," said the teacher, and the book stayed a fortnight, and both father and son were pretty well up in Greek history when it came back. Even where there is a public library the teacher's books are often preferred, partly because failure of memory does not mean a fine, and partly from a feeling that the books are a little more desirable. It is somewhat difficult to enumerate the books best fitted for the box, but many of them are of the sup- plementary-reader kind. A list of such is included in the chapter on Apparatus. There are countless books suited to the need. Sixty cents is the highest price I recall for any of the more usual ones. Many do not cost half of that. They may all be read by the children with delight. The box, starting with three or four of them, may grow as fast as possible to include many. The other class of books under the educational head includes those helpful in getting lessons. Every teacher has a few arithmetics, language books, or other common textbooks. These should be taken along, as they may prove useful. There should be also books of special helps for different subjects, at least one for each subject. Many of these are suggested in the lists at the ends of the chapters. They may be accumulated gradually, starting with the one of which the greatest need is felt, but a teacher should never rest until she owns them all. Back numbers of educational magazines should go along to [9] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY supplement the one that will be received each month. These may be reduced in bulk if the teacher chooses to go over the numbers and select the articles she finds most useful, making them into a scrapbook collection such as is spoken of later. Besides the material mentioned there should be books of poems and any book which the teacher may have that will furnish rest and relaxation — general reading matter, to serve if no libraries are at hand. Pictures. Almost as important as the books that go into the box are the pictures. We are awaking to the work done by pictures in the training of communities. All the magazines are recognizing this, and we find them vying with each other in the beauty and abundance of their illustrations. It is quite possible to keep well informed on most subjects of general interest through a study of the illustrations of various articles, without doing much read- ing of the articles themselves. Advertisers content them- selves with a striking picture and a few words and do not fail to reach the public. Schoolbooks are equipped with beautiful and truthful illustrations at enormous cost, and the publishers find themselves paid for the outlay. The children study the pictures with delight, but it is surprising how indifferent the teachers often are to the need of mak- ing the illustrations of greater value by a judicious use of them. Many teachers never use intentionally even the pictures furnished them in the books. The child does profit by them, but the profit may easily be doubled. Nor is it sufficient to use only those in the book. Indeed, pic- tures shut up in books are difficult to handle for class work, as one has to spend too much time in getting at [10] THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT them and they cannot be put up to be gazed at for as long as is needed. So a teacher should have an abundance of pictures in her equipment box. The manner of getting and using them is discussed at length in the chapter on Apparatus. Illustrative articles. Every odd nook and corner of the equipment box should be filled with illustrative material. If the teacher has any real curios, so much the better, but it is not necessary that this material be either odd or valu- able ; the little things that one might pick up anywhere may find a place in the collection — a bit of iron plate or wire, or any small metal object ; a little lump of each of the different kinds of coal ; a piece of quartz, marble, or slate ; a bit of ivory, or bamboo, or rattan ; a few pretty shells ; a box of mixed spices ; the dried, clean backbone of a fish ; samples of various breakfast foods and of the different grains — anything, everything, that may serve to brighten and make clearer the lessons of any day. Many teachers fail to realize what such things mean to children, but when a teacher has once fallen into the habit of using them, she thereafter knows their value and saves greater and greater space in the box for them. Teachers have seen the objects many times, so at first they seem common, valueless. The child has seen them less often, has usually failed to make connections between them and his school work, and is in the perceptive state, when everything that appeals to the senses is very dear to him. Description may serve in many cases for older people, but children need to see the things. The simplest object may serve many, many times. A few years ago the toy shops contained dolls made to represent different races ; [»] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY one teacher gathered in a number of these, and their appearance was always greeted with as much delight as if they were being seen for the first time. Besides the little odds and ends that cost nothing, the judicious expenditure of ten cents or a quarter here and there will in time produce a really good collection. If a teacher keeps her eyes open, and if she prefers her collec- tion to ice cream and certain forms of entertainment, the increase is rapid and the product becomes worth while. Besides serving for illustration, the collection grows to be a great aid in the drawing work. Little vases, kitchen utensils, toys, and the like reach out beckoning hands at every turn. Material for desk work. The teacher's equipment should contain material for desk work for the little chil- dren. The most important of all is the hectograph, with- out which no teacher should feel herself able to exist. Then there should be colored papers, sometimes called oak tag, outlived calendars (the larger the better), colored sticks, tiny pictures cut from advertisements, and other like aids. The way in which these should be used will be indicated under the head of " Desk Work." Material for industrial work. Industrial material is a valuable addition to the contents of the school box, and the teacher will easily find at home many things which will prove useful in this line. They may include bits of ribbon, velvet, silk, muslin, linen, and flannel ; pieces of denim, silkaline, cretonne, and cheesecloth ; balls of bright wool, remnants of silkateen or embroidery silk, empty spools, and bits of wall paper, bright-colored papers, and card- board ; knitting needles, tape needles, bonnet wire, and [12] THE TEACHER'S EQUIPMENT twine. Anything which may serve as a help in the various lines of work suggested in the chapter on manual training should be saved to go into the big box. Emergency helps. It is well to put in also a box of material that will be useful in case of sickness or acci- dents. A roll of old soft linen, which should be kept immaculately clean, a roll of absorbent cotton, a few fine needles, a little court-plaster, small bottles of camphor, peppermint, peroxide of hydrogen, aromatic spirits of ammonia, and creolin or sulpho-naphthol are the most useful. Miscellaneous articles. Lastly, the box may hold a little paper of the kind known as arithmetic paper, a little manila language paper and manila drawing paper, a dozen or so of cedar pencils, a few pens, a tape measure, a yardstick, a foot ruler, a few colored pencils, colored crayons, and a box or two of cheap paints. These are to fill in the gaps when the regular school supplies give out ; periods of being " hung up " come in every school. It is quite possible to get along without the school equip- ment box, or without any of the articles mentioned, but the teacher will be happier and her work will be far more effective with it, and the results accruing will more than make it pay in the long run. Starting humbly, the collec- tion will grow to large proportions, and such a box, well started, is an eloquent prophet of future achievements, of promotions, and of good service generally. No teacher who has prepared herself for the meeting of school emergencies will allow herself to drift into the attitude of trusting to chance. She may be depended upon to meet situations and conquer obstacles. [13] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY REFERENCES Bagley. Classroom Management. The Macmillan Company. Charters. Methods of Teaching. Row, Peterson and Company. Colgrove. The Teacher and the School. Charles Scribner's Sons. Dexter and Garlick. Psychology in the Schoolroom. Longmans, Green, & Co. Finlay-Johnson. The Dramatic Method of Teaching. Ginn and Company. Fisher. A Montessori Mother. Henry Holt and Company. George. Teachers' Plan Books. A. Flanagan Company. Gesell. The Normal Child and Primary Education. Ginn and Company. Hall. Aspects of Child Life and Education. Ginn and Company. Hughes. Mistakes in Teaching. A. Flanagan Company. Kirkpatrick. Fundamentals of Child Study. The Macmillan Company. McMurry. Course of Study in the Eight Grades. The Macmillan Company. Montessori. The Montessori Method. Frederick A. Stokes Company. Roark. Psychology in Education. American Book Company. Scott. Social Education. Ginn and Company. Smith. Systematic Methodology. Silver, Burdett & Company. [14] CHAPTER III THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS Cleanliness. The first requisite for the school building is cleanliness. A schoolroom may be roughly constructed, unadorned, uncomfortable, inconvenient, but there is little reason for its being dirty. If a teacher finds it so, she should see that it is made clean. Of course, it is the jani- tor's business to see to this work, but if he does not do his work properly, the teacher should look after it herself, till the time when she may be able to bring about an im- provement in the janitor service. A teacher often feels it beneath her dignity to do any work of this sort, but it demands a greater sacrifice of dignity to live in dirt than to scrub a bit. If the room is found littered and dusty, the teacher should sweep and dust it. If it is otherwise unsightly, she may organize the children into a brigade for cleaning. This may well be done on the first Saturday, or, if that proves difficult, the work may be done a little at a time after school. Everything that can be improved by soap and water should be looked after. The scrubbing should in- clude chairs and desks, though if these are varnished, soap should not be used in the cleaning. Children may scrape or sandpaper desks and afterwards shellack them, but the work must be carefully superintended. Sandpaper is an efficient aid in removing ink stains from the floor. If the [*5] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY walls and ceiling are smoked and discolored, it sometimes has to be borne, but a pail of whitewash may be obtained, or a particularly earnest and fascinating teacher may be able to secure from the school authorities paint enough to cover the surface, if she will get it applied. Often it is the labor more than the materials that it is difficult to obtain from the school board. Paint is better than paper or white- wash because the walls can afterwards be washed, but it is more expensive, of course. Organizing for permanent improvement. It is always well for a teacher to organize some kind of club whose purpose shall be to improve the appearance of the school- room, building, and grounds. Such an organization may be made up of the teacher and pupils only, or it may be extended to include the parents and any members of the community who may be interested enough to wish to ally themselves with such a society. Often it will prove a strong bond to unite teacher and children, and it will usually tend to produce a better feeling in regard to school property, which will result in improvement, additions, and more careful use. Bookcase, school cabinet, and other furniture. When the room has been cleaned, the teacher should look over her resources and proceed to make the most of them. She will probably find a small bookcase containing the school supply of books. It should be her aim to make this grow to a large one and to create a companion piece that shall serve as a school cabinet. Teachers who are re- ceiving present-day training ought to know how to con- struct, from boxes, something that may be used for a cabinet till a better one can be obtained. If a tall box is [16] THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS stood on end and fitted with shelves, and a door is made from the cover, we have a good beginning. The box may- then be stained any suitable color or covered with dark green or brown cartridge paper. Shelves for books or for display of work may be made in the same simple way and placed wherever an opportunity is given by an unoccupied corner or small piece of wall space. A good table for many purposes may be made by standing a small box on end and nailing the cover of a large box to it, the small box serving for the foundation, the large cover for 'the top. By- such means many articles of furniture may be obtained which will have a special value in the eyes of teacher and children. Blackboards. There will be a certain amount of black- board space. If the board is in bad condition, it may be bettered by the application of blackboard slating, which comes in small cans and may be put on easily with a brush. If the board space is too small, it may be supple- mented by use of blackboard cloth or brown paper. Either of these materials may be used for making maps. Decoration of room by pictures. A clean room is in a measure beautiful, but the room in which teacher and chil- dren are to live day after day should be more than clean. It should be adorned. There should be several pictures — not so many that the beauty of any one is lost, not of neces- sity expensive, but each really good and artistic. It is pos- sible to find copies of many masterpieces unframed and mounted on gray paper. Though it is nicer to have framed pictures, the unframed ones or those framed with a passe- partout binding may serve at first. It would be well for the teacher to have a few in the big box. These she may use till they are no longer needed, or, if they are the only [17] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY ones she finds it possible to get, she may well leave all or a part of them when she passes on to the next school. One teacher, by the expenditure of a dollar, got several such pictures, put them on the wall with brass-headed tacks, and was surrounded all the while by admiring children. The pictures included the Sistine Madonna, the Madonna of the Chair, Murillo's Saint Anthony, the Saint Cecilia of Raphael, and other like subjects. These immediately took away the uninhabited aspect of the place and were a continual source of pleasure to the whole school. Good framed pictures need not cost too much. There are some Prang colored prints which include Mother Goose subjects that are particularly pleasing to children and indeed to older people. These sell, mounted, for fifty cents each. Framed, they make large pictures, about 22 by 28 inches. It is better to order them unmounted and buy a sheet of gray mounting board for them, as the express or parcel-post charges greatly increase the cost. Unmounted, they may be rolled and sent by mail for a few cents. They should be ordered from The Prang Educational Co., New York. The Rhine Prints offered by Atkinson, Mentzer, and Grover are good and inexpensive. Prints not easily dis- tinguished from high-priced ones, except after long service, may be obtained much more cheaply at the large depart- ment stores than elsewhere. A teacher visiting any large city would do well to look in such stores for them. There are also many good pictures to be purchased cheaply from The Perry Pictures Company and other like firms. Sometimes a schoolroom may contain an unsuitable pic- ture in a good frame and the teacher may make a substitu- tion. Great care should be used in selecting. In choosing [18] THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS pictures for a schoolroom, beauty should be made the first requisite. Good pictures of Washington, Lincoln, and Longfellow are suitable as subjects, but other portraits are not usually desirable, and a really beautiful picture is pref- erable even to these, though it is very fitting that a Wash- ington school should have a picture of Washington. No picture at all is better than an ugly one, hanging before the school day after day, making its imprint of ugliness. The pictures should be hung close to the top of the black- board, not six inches above it, though I am aware that I may offend some art critics in this matter. The ordinary schoolroom arrangements always make pictures hang too high to be seen well by the children, and long observation has convinced me that the height is more to be considered than the space. Many schoolrooms have been decorated by means of the ever-present " soap order," and since the soap order is bound to exist, it might as well be of service here. Entertainments will often prove a source of revenue. Other decorations. Not only may the schoolroom be adorned with pictures, but often bits of the children's work may be arranged around the walls — bright-colored paper chains and those made from kindergarten straws and small circles of colored papers arranged alternately, pretty cuttings, nicely woven mats, strings of berries or seeds. Festoons of green are suitable at Christmas time, strings of pop corn and cranberries at Thanksgiving, and bunting or crepe paper on patriotic holidays. None of these should stay up too long — not long enough to be dust traps or to become tiresome. They serve as a change and to awaken an appropriate response to seasonable suggestions. [19] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Plants. Plants are invaluable if the room is heated so they will not freeze. If there is not continuous heat in the schoolroom, they may be kept there in the fall and spring, and some of the children may take them home during the coldest weather. An aquarium, containing a few water plants and any form of animal life, is a pleasing addition to the schoolroom. Flowers. There should be flowers about the room in the flower season. The children will bring them in abun- dance, in regulation children's bunches — a little of every- thing. Many teachers put them into dishes without regard to the principles of harmony or of flower arrangement that they have been taught and are now supposed to be teach- ing to their pupils. It is often difficult to know how to avoid hurting the children's feelings and yet have artistic groups of flowers. One of the best ways is to have a large bowl or pan into which are put all unarranged flowers. Out of this they may be taken as desired. Some are never taken. As they are not thrown away, no child has occasion to be grieved. His flowers may be the next to come, and at any rate they are there in the room. The teacher may arrange the flowers herself or it may be a general exercise in which the fitness of the different flowers for each other's company may be discussed and a selection made. It should be remembered that it is much better to save a child's feelings of right and kindness than to elevate his artistic taste, but he may easily be trained to right ideas of beauty. He should know that too many flowers should not be grouped together, that they should have different lengths of stem, that they should be of one kind or of kinds that seem to belong together, and that [20] THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS there should be plenty of green. Sometimes it is possible to purchase a few vases for the school at small cost. Vases of clear glass or those green in color usually harmonize best with the flowers. If this cannot be done, one may use olive or pickle bottles, since these are of convenient size and are often artistic in shape. All labels should be re- moved, and the bottles should be clean. The vases of flowers should be placed where they will look best in the room, not crowded several in a group or set up in rows. As soon as the flowers can by any stretch of imagination be called faded, they should be thrown away. "The shrine of beauty." The suggestion has been made by some teacher of art that in every schoolroom there should be a small shelf, in a corner or other convenient place, which should be considered a " shrine of beauty." On this should be displayed each day some truly beautiful article. It might be a vase of flowers or a vase alone, a shell, a leaf, or some simple, well-proportioned manu- factured article. It was maintained that such a shrine might do much toward developing the aesthetic sense of the children. Blackboard decorations. Borders made with colored crayons, or a calendar with a spray of flowers or leaves behind it, will add to the beauty of the room. The deco- ration may well be simple, and a teacher will quickly grow in power to produce a good one. Care should be taken to avoid crude coloring ; gray or violet crayon or crayon of the necessary complementary color will be found useful in softening the effects. Children are not critical, but glaring reds, blues, or yellows in a board decoration are not pleas- ing. It is not always necessary to finish a drawing at one [21] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY time. The teacher should work long enough to make it as good as possible. Artistic children may sometimes help. A curtain of dull green or some other soft color should have a place, and upon it should be put the children's good work, or it may be used for display of the pictures before referred to. Other pictures may stand on the chalk rail. Some teachers stretch a length of black mosquito netting over a board. The pictures may be fastened to this, the netting not showing at all against the black surface of the board. Orderliness. When the room has been arranged with attention to as many as possible of the above suggestions, it should be kept in good order. This calls for constant care from both teacher and pupils. It is well to have the children formed into certain committees who shall care for particular things. The officers may be changed from time to time. All litter should be disposed of at once. Chil- dren should not be allowed to tear waste paper into bits or crumple it into a ball. It should be folded up and laid on the desk till collected for the waste basket. Many teachers encourage the use of a small cloth bag hung beneath each child's desk. Whatever is done with the waste paper, the teacher should inspect it carefully before it is burned, though this inspection should not be made noticeable. Exami- nation of this kind brings to light much needless waste and often silly or improper notes, which should be traced to their source and the source purified as far as possible. No litter should be allowed in the aisles, the books and other material should be arranged neatly in the desks, and, above all, the teacher's desk should present a model. It takes only a minute to put things away as they are used, [22] THE SCHOOL BUILDING AND GROUNDS but if a teacher's desk is not cleared up during the day, the result is distressing and astonishing. Things out of place constitute disorder, and hats, coats, mittens, and rubbers have no business to be strewn around the room. The wraps should be hung upon the proper hooks ; the rubbers should stand beneath them side by side, heels to the wall, as they look more anchored so. Many teachers make use of snap clothespins having the child's name. These hold the two rubbers together. Mittens may be put under a stove or upon a steam pipe to dry, but when dry they should be put in the proper place. Lunch boxes should have a particular place and be kept there. Tin cans, decayed fruits, withered flowers, and such things do not add to the beauty of a schoolroom. The blackboards should be cleaned carefully with an eraser, after each lesson in which they are used. At recesses, at noon, and at night they should be wiped with a piece of soft cloth. The teacher should include an abundance of this in her packing box. The boards should be washed with clear water when necessary, though too much wash- ing is not good for them. Hard rubbing is often better, and a board may be almost perfectly cleaned by rubbing carefully with a cloth that is damp, not wet. Erasers should be clean. They may be washed by dipping them in water and rubbing them together vigorously, afterwards rinsing thoroughly. Chalk dust should not be left scattered on chalk rails for any length of time, and it is better usually to keep the chalk in a box than on the rail. A clean black- board is an ornament to any schoolroom, and a blackboard adorned with good writing is still better to look upon, but no schoolroom can be attractive if the boards are covered [*3] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY with scrawls of writing or half -erased examples. A teacher is often judged solely by the appearance of her boards. Outbuildings. The outbuildings should be looked after carefully. It should be the business of the school authori- ties to see that they are in a condition of decency at the beginning of the term, and that of the teacher to see that they are kept so. After the teacher who finds them in bad condition has done her best to improve them, her voice should be heard early and often till they are put right. Indecent inscriptions or pictures should be effaced by some means. A daily, yes, a semidaily, inspection should be made, and the children should be trained as rapidly as possible toward a state of disgust for anything of the sort. The school yard. The school yard should contain a pile of sand in which the children may play at recess and where many of them may work out much illustrative work in con- nection with their lessons. The yard should be raked and cleared up generally. An effort should be made to plant trees if they are lacking. A flower garden should be started, shrubs introduced, and vines planted around schoolhouse and outbuildings. A few years of care may change a bar- ren waste into a place of beauty, and morning-glories, nasturtiums, hop vines, and Virginia creeper may make quite a stride toward it in one season. REFERENCES Brown pictures. G. P. Brown, Beverly, Mass. Kern. Among Country Schools. Ginn and Company. Meier. School and Home Gardens. Ginn and Company. Perry pictures. The Perry Pictures Company. Prang colored prints. The Prang Educational Company. Rhine prints. Atkinson, Mentzer, and Company. [24] CHAPTER IV APPARATUS — ITS SOURCES, CARE, AND USE Need of tools. Though scanty material often develops a saving turn of mind, though a skilled workman may make his own tools or improve upon the inferior ones furnished him, yet it is true in general that no good work in any line can be done if material and tools are lacking. In school work, books and other tools and supplies of various kinds are needed. They should be accumulated with eagerness yet with caution in selection, handled with utmost care, and made use of in such a way as to be productive of best results in shortest time, with least wear and tear. Economy of school material. The children should be taught economy regarding all school material. Books, pen- cils, paper, pens, chalk, everything of the sort, should be kept in mind by the teacher, and all waste rigidly sup- pressed. Children often feel that things which are the property of the town never have to be paid for by anybody, and that no care of them is necessary. A little talk on the principles of taxation would clear up this idea. Teachers themselves are often so careless in this respect as to be positively dishonest, feeling no compunction in using school supplies for private consumption at home and tak- ing permanent possession of textbooks whenever they wish — a proceeding which is nothing more nor less than stealing. Often teachers are wasteful of supplies, using [25] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY large amounts of material when small would do as well. My own observation is that nine out of every ten young teachers, if they were to have a class cut circles an inch in diameter out of four-inch squares of any material, would have each child place the circle exactly in the middle of the square, and never give a thought to the resulting waste. Care of books. A teacher should be as careful of each book as if it were her own and absolutely new. I have seen teachers fresh from the sharpening of many lead pencils, with fingers black from contact with the lead, fall calmly to study of lessons or to looking up some disputed point without even wiping the hands. A record should be made of all books given to children, so that the teacher may know whom to hold responsible. Early in the term the books should be inspected and their condition learned. All marks should be erased. Any needed mending should be done. Much use may be made of adhesive transparent tape, ad- hesive cloth, and loose-leaf binders. The books should be covered and the child's name put upon the cover. There should be frequent inspection during the term and a thor- ough taking account of stock and repairing at the close. Each child should feel the need of care of his books and that the teacher will know what happens to them. Being made to bring a cent has given many a little child a large start in the right direction, particularly if parents were wise enough to make him earn the cent. Children should be taught how books may be abused. They should never be bent too far open, never marked unreasonably, never turned down or chewed at corners, never packed too closely on the shelves. Covers too tightly put on loosen bindings ; so does a fall. A large book [26] APPARATUS — ITS SOURCES, CARE, AND USE dropped is seldom as good afterwards, so neither teacher nor children should carry about too many at a time or pile too many upon a desk. Fewer books than usual should be kept in desks. This will insure better care, more frequent inspection, better proportioned study time, less noise, less loss of time in repacking. Certain books may well be kept in the desks, but many of the others may be kept in the bookcase or in neat piles on some unused desks and distributed when needed. Older children may generally have most of their books under their own care. Readers are often too tempting to be kept in desks, and any child who makes a hobby of a particular subject is not to be trusted with the entire care of the book relating to it. If children are allowed to take books home, they should be cautioned against laying them on ground or doorsteps, getting them wet, or leaving them at home or at other places where they will not be ready for work next day. Distribution of apparatus. Children should be trained to help distribute books and all other material. It should be done in such a way as to save time and disorder. Books should usually be given and taken by rows and put into the case in proper order, one child doing the work for the row. Sometimes papers and light material may be handed in bunches to the children at the front desks, who may each take a piece and pass the bunch to the child behind him. Collection may be made in the same way. When many things are to be given for one lesson, as, for example, in a drawing class, teacher and pupils may help in the work, the teacher passing the material slower of distribu- tion and the children the rest. Often everything needed [27] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY for a painting lesson may be put upon a large board and taken by the teacher down the aisles, children from four desks helping themselves to it at the same time. It is not well for a teacher herself to distribute books or papers to a whole class one by one, nor yet for her to stand still and await the slower distribution of a single child. Training children so they understand just what to do and the best way of doing it saves much time and is a general help in discipline. Time taken in such training is not wasted, and if the teacher says, " All hold papers in the right hand," they should be held in that way if it takes the whole session to bring it about. Tools should be ready. Pencils and other tools should be kept in readiness. Pencil sharpening should be under the supervision of the teacher and seldom done in school. I remember visiting a school in which ten minutes of school time were occupied in getting pencils ready, the children standing around the wastebasket, or waste heap, as it might have been called when the orgy was finished. The work might just as well have been done before school — the children were all there. Pupils should understand that they must be responsible for being ready. If a child fails to get in readiness, he should sit idle and do his work at another time. This will soon quicken the memory and induce a feeling of respon- sibility. " I have forgotten my book " or ortne y might find all the combinations whose answer is a certain number. These tablets might be made with the hectograph or with black calendar figures or with colored calendar figures or with words. By means of such variety, interest is heightened and the varying tastes of the children are all met. The boy who would never without a struggle do his number work, which usually consisted of copying combinations and writing the answer, thought the work with vertically arranged combinations to be matched to the answer the very best of all the desk work. One of the troubles in using desk work with children just entering school arises from the inability to teach as many kinds of work as are needed to keep the children employed without doing the same over till they are weary of it, a matter needing careful planning on the teacher's part. Need of explanation. If desk work is to accomplish its mission, it must be understood by the children, and time for explanation may well be taken from class-work time. It is a profitable investment, as the child is introduced through it to a means of drill that he may work at for many hours independently. How to be regarded by the child. Children often fail to do the given work. Failure arises from not understand- ing how to do it or sometimes through a feeling that it does not amount to much. The child should be made to see its importance, to regard it as his work and its accom- plishment as worth while. This attitude is helped by the [236] DESK WORK teacher's showing her sense of its value, through seeing that it is done and approving its satisfactory completion. If she does not look at it, there is little incentive to the pupil to work. A cursory glance and a word or two produce satisfactory results. The child should be expected to keep at his work till it is finished, and the signal for completed work should be folded hands. Such do no mischief. The teacher should remember that little children accomplish tasks very rapidly and that half the troubles in school come from the fact that not enough work is exacted to keep the children as busy as they can be, every minute. Children will do vary- ing amounts of this, as of other work. It is well to give out a second kind to be done when the first is finished, though this is not always necessary. Decision as to kind. The kind to be done should be decided by the teacher, who should try to apportion it so that drill in the different subjects will be furnished — work leading to arithmetic for one period, reading for another ; spelling, drawing, and other subjects, coming along in turn. When special drill is needed in a subject this kind of work should be increased. If choice is left with the pupil, he emphasizes the kind he likes best and often neglects the kind he needs. Sometimes, however, a choice may be given, particularly as a reward. Work should be attractive and hygienic. All desk work should have elements of beauty and should be so planned that it cannot harm the pupil physically. Beauty, in a child's eyes, usually means variety and brightness. Bright little pictures to be matched to words, and colored pegs, sticks, and tablets rather than plain ones, are, then, the better thing. No work should be given that can strain [237] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY eyes or nerves because of dimness or size. The hecto- graphed tablets should be brightly printed; the letters, figures, and slips upon which the work is written should be large. Stringing tiny beads, sewing with fine mate- rials or with tiny perforations, underlining known words in the print of ordinary newspapers, and all such things are criminal work to give. Use with older grades. Desk work is intended mainly for little children. The first, second, and third grades use it most profitably. Sometimes older children do not want to do it, because it seems like baby work. Sometimes they are eager to secure the fun of it. There are some kinds of work well adapted to larger pupils, as some of the music material, some of the arithmetic, and much of the language work. Selecting from a box of miscellaneous words those that are names of objects, those that describe objects, or those that express action is excellent drill. Finding the words that make the subjects and those that make the predicates of given sentences, arranging com- parison of adjectives, principal parts of verbs, and conju- gation of verbs furnish work which would do no harm in the highest grades. Sources of material. The desk work may largely be made with hectograph, development paper — oak tag — stub pen, colored paper, calendars, little pictures from maga- zines or other advertisements. Older children may make it for the younger as a part of their industrial work. Desk work may be bought from the various firms that deal in such materials, — like the J. L. Hammett Company, the Milton Bradley Company, and D. H. Knowlton & Co., — but usually the necessary work can be made. [238] DESK WORK Care of material. The material may be kept in enve- lopes, in little boxes, or — some kinds — in one large box. The little-box way is best, and discarded thread or silk boxes may be obtained at any store. The dealers will save them for a teacher who explains the purpose for which they are to be used. A set of small boxes of one kind of work may be kept in one large .box for convenience in dis- tribution. Each little box should be labeled and numbered. If the tablets of each box are also numbered to correspond with the box, the sorting is made easy, as one can see at a glance where each piece belongs. Several times a year in a small school, as often as possible in a larger one, the desk work should be gone over and put thoroughly in order. Older pupils may do much of this, certain pupils having charge of different kinds of work. Breaking, marking, stealing the work, should all be looked out for. Many a moral lesson may be given through this means. Distribution of work. The pupils should usually dis- tribute and collect the work. It saves the teacher's time and furnishes training for the children. They will do it awkwardly at first, but that is a greater reason for their doing it. The little people to whom the boxes are given should be trained to let them alone till told to open them. The teacher may explain how the material is to be used and then give the signal for opening the boxes. To wait for this signal is a training to self-restraint that in itself is of value. No teacher who has carefully worked out the subject, planning work to meet the needs of a class and observing the results gained by use of the various kinds, will there- after need to be urged to make educative desk work fill a large place in her primary teaching. [239] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY A FEW KINDS THAT ARE PARTICULARLY USEFUL For Reading Rhymes and words. The child to build the rhymes or put the word tablets upon corresponding words of rhyme. ' These may be both written and printed, and type sentences in prose may be substituted for rhymes. Tablets, containing pictures — colored, uncolored, or hectographed — together with written or printed words. These are to be matched to tablets containing written or printed words. Tablets containing pictures only. These are to be matched to tablets with words. A step in advance of the preceding work. Written and printed words which are to be matched to each other. Tablets containing common words. These are to be used in building sentences. All of these may be used during the sight reading. When read- ing by the phonetic method is reached, the child may continue all of above work and may have the following in addition : Letters, to build words. Initials, to match to endings to build words. Words and letters, to match the letter to the word beginning with it. Words containing a common element, to match to cards having the common element only. For Language and Grammar Much of the reading material. Pictures with words below, to write story containing words. Pictures without words, to serve as a basis for a story. Tablets with parts of speech, to put in groups those which are usually verbs or nouns or adjectives or other parts of speech. Singulars and plurals. Adjectives — positive, comparative, superlative. Verbs — principal parts. Pronouns — declensions. Words, to build sentences for drill on correct forms, like " It is I," " Whom did you see ? " Abbreviations, to match to words. [240] DESK WORK For Arithmetic Tablets with number combinations written vertically, to match to answer. Tablets with number combinations written horizontally, to match to answer. Tablets containing single figure or sign, to build combinations and answers. Tablets with numbers and signs, to build multiplication tables. Matching dominoes. Finding equivalents in dominoes. Cards with varying number of holes punched, to match those having the same number. Tablets with numbers, to arrange in order as in counting. Tablets, to build tables of denominate numbers. Equivalents in denominate numbers to match ; for example, I qt. = 2 pts. Measures or surfaces, to find equivalents in measures or surfaces ; for example, an 8-inch length to be matched to a 6 and a 2, to a 7 and a 1, to four 2's. The desk work in number may be varied by using written and printed words or figures, by making with hectograph, or by employing black or colored calendar figures. Many modifications of suggested work may be made. For desk work also, the pupils may do many things such as are mentioned under the class drills in number, like making the multipli- cation tables in squares or constructing magic squares. Such work is to be found illustrated in most books on elementary arithmetic. For Geography Tablets with counties of own state, to arrange alphabetically. Tablets with cities of own state, to arrange alphabetically. Miscellaneous tablets, to pick out the ones which name rivers, seas, bays, cities, capes, or islands. Tablets, to match states, capitals, and largest cities. Names of states, to match to products. Cut-out maps, to put states or countries in proper places. Outline maps, to fill in in various ways. [241] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY For Drawing Sticks, to match for color. Tablets, to match for color. Tablets, to match for form. Sticks and tablets, to make designs. Color tablets, to be matched to name tablets. Building the spectrum. Placing adjacent colors of spectrum. Coloring pictures. Free work with clay or plasticine. Work for illustration with clay or plasticine. Paper folding and cutting. Paper cutting or tearing, to represent stories, games, occupations. Cutting figures from wall paper. Cutting figures from advertising catalogues. For Miscellaneous Drill Pictures of weather signals, to be matched to proper explanatory words. Names of months, to build calendars. Names of days, to build weeks. Names of months, to match to names of seasons. Letters, to build words for spelling drill. Word tablets, to build scales or intervals as indicated on staff. Tablets with signatures, to match to music. Tablets with names of keys, to match to staff exercises. Cut-up pictures, to put together. Cards punched with large holes in outlines of objects, to be sewed with coarse lacings. Stringing kindergarten beads. Stringing berries, seeds, straws, and other natural objects. REFERENCES Many of the books named under Industrial Work furnish sugges- tions that may help here. Arnold. Plans for Busy Work. Silver, Burdett & Company. [242] DESK WORK Arnold. Waymarks for Teachers. Silver, Burdett & Company. Arnold. With Pencil and Pen. Ginn and Company. Cobb. Busy Builders' Book. Ginn and Company. George. Teachers' Plan Books. A. Flanagan Company. Kindergarten supplies of various sorts, including much material men- tioned here, may be obtained from the J. L. Hammett Company, Boston ; the Milton Bradley Company, Boston ; Edward E. Babb and Company, Boston ; the Dennison Manufacturing Co., Boston ; D. H. Knowlton & Co., Farmington, Maine ; and from many like sources. (See the lists given in the chapter on apparatus.) [ 2 43 ] CHAPTER XXIV INDUSTRIAL WORK Justification of such work. Industrial work or handwork has been introduced into school in the belief that the child who is skillful with his hands, while slow in purely mental work, needs a chance, and that the child who is unskillful with his hands needs to acquire a modicum of power in that direction. Manual work trains not only the hands which execute but the brain which directs. It has every excuse for being. Actual observation proves that much work of this sort may be done with but little loss in such work as has for years formed the school courses. In one school where much industrial work has been done for several years little apparent loss in regular progress has appeared. The chil- dren to all appearance cover the ground they have always covered. There may be a leak somewhere, but it does not show. The explanation seems to be that the children work so much more busily in anticipation of extra time for manual industry that much of the former waste of time is eliminated. Little attention is given to whispering, giggling, note writing, or other forms of idleness or mis- chief. The regular lessons are put through with all speed, and the entire change of occupation furnished by the handwork takes away greatly the element of fatigue. Any teacher who doubts this may recall the effect upon herself [244] INDUSTRIAL WORK when nervously tired if she busies herself with some light piece of plain sewing or fancywork. The pleasure fur- nished by the work, together with satisfaction in the results, has its great effect. Paper and cardboard work. One of the things easiest to be done, and for which material may be secured with least trouble, is paper and cardboard construction. Rich's book called " Cardboard Construction " will suggest to the teacher much work in construction of various boxes, trays, wall pockets, baskets, and things of that sort. Many of these are easy to make and may be attempted by first- grade children, while some of the things may be made by pupils of fifth or sixth grade with profit. The older children may also do cardboard work, and things to be constructed are easily thought of, quite elaborate boxes, blotting pads, portfolios, and booklets resulting. The port- folios, the covers to boxes and booklets, and the corners of the pads may be decorated with colored pencils or with water colors. Picture cutting and mounting may be done, and valentines, Christmas cards, Thanksgiving menus, May baskets, may come at the proper seasons. Toy furni- ture may be made by all the grades, and the furnishing of dolls' houses brings an absorbing pleasure. For this work with the little children, dictation may be used or the pat- terns may be drawn for them to cut out. Later they may mark around a pattern ; later still copy one from measure- ments ; and finally, when they are old enough, invent their own patterns. Material for the work is suggested in Miss Rich's book, but for all practical purposes the teacher may use stiff drawing paper or the so-called studio papers which may [ 2 45] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY be procured from any school-supply house. Printing estab- lishments will sometimes furnish them more cheaply. Many of the articles may be constructed from common cartridge paper, such as is used for covering walls. It is cheaper and works very well if it is unrolled and pressed flat. Sewing. Sewing is easily introduced into any school and may vary from very simple plain sewing to embroidery and elaborate fancywork. Plain sewing is usually best. Patton's "Home and School Sewing" and Hapgood's " School Needlework " are very helpful books, and either will insure the teacher's going about things in the right way. Basting, running, gathering, hemming, overcasting, backstitching, are necessary to be taught and may be done through the making of articles calling for the different stitches. The youngest children — sewing should not start before the third year — may practice stitches on canvas or may run along lines drawn with a pencil on soft white cloth, to learn how, but it is better to make things as soon as possible. Towels may be hemmed in the common way or by the French hemstitch, or napkin stitch. Small straight aprons may be made, and dolls' clothes attempted. Older children may do more elaborate work, — hemstitching and embroidery stitches, — but plain sewing is what is really best fitted for most school work. It is not a good plan usually to let the girls take their sewing home, for mothers are too prone to pick out the stitches as not satisfactory or at any rate to finish the garment. During the work at school the children should be taught right ways of sewing and not allowed to work awkwardly, even if they seem to produce better results in that way. [246] INDUSTRIAL WORK It is an excellent idea for the older girls to dress a school^ doll. This has proved a fascinating employment, and many fine stitches have been set in its accomplish- ment. The seams are short, and many different kinds of sewing are needed. Much information may be picked up in regard to fitting. The teacher may cut patterns, or they may be bought. The Jenny Wren patterns issued by the Delineator are helpful, as are also those recommended by the Goodwin " Course in Sewing." The doll with her ward- robe may usually be disposed of at some fair, and enough realized to cover the expense. The doll should not be too small, which renders the handling of the garments difficult. The older girls may also be taught the simple crochet stitches and make what they please. The wash cloth is an easy article, and it may be made by whatever stitch one wishes to teach. Plain knitting may be taught also. Boys should not be given the general sewing, but it would be well to teach them to darn a stocking, put on a patch, and sew on various kinds of buttons, in case of future emergencies; so when such work is in progress all may take part. Sewing may include, besides that just discussed, work like sewing on burlap or similar material for the construc- tion of needlebooks, napkin rings, and all such articles. The children may also sew braids made from raffia into baskets, frames, hats, mats, and other small articles. In connection with the doll-dressing, hats may be made in this way or from straw braid if that is available. Mats may be sewed from the results of the spool knitting, which fur- nishes good work for the younger children. The materials being so simple, consisting of a spool with four pins [247] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY driven into it and odd bits of yarn that may be found in any darning basket, nearly all children are easily equipped. Reins are the most favored product, but mats are also popular. Weaving. Weaving is a pleasing form of industrial work. The little children may learn it by means of the common kindergarten mats or similar ones constructed of brown paper. Preparing these last might form handwork for some of the older pupils. Mats for learning may be made also from enamel cloth. The paper mats with bright colors give much pleasure to the children and may be made into cornucopias, May baskets, and other articles, with a little adjustment. The strips should always be wide, and children should not be allowed to do such fine weaving as to try the eyes. Much weaving may be done on looms constructed of cardboard, having notched edges or holes punched near the edges around or through which the warp may be strung. Such looms may be used for making wash cloths out of cheesecloth cut in bias strips about half an inch wide and frayed or fringed at the edges. On these looms dolls' hammocks may be made also and rugs for dolls' houses. The warp for these may be common white twine. This is more cheaply obtained at the dry-goods stores, where it is used for doing up bundles. Jute may be purchased at stores where twines of different sorts are bought, more cheaply than at the school-supply houses. Holders may be made of jute warp and woof, though a wooden loom is better for these. Wooden looms may be made easily by nailing to- gether four smooth strips of wood and then driving tiny nails along two opposite ends, a quarter of an inch apart. [248] INDUSTRIAL WORK A wire fastened along each side prevents the mat being pulled in too much. In the same way knitting needles may be run through the cardboard looms to serve the same purpose. The Bartlett loom is a good cardboard loom for weaving little articles of worsted, like caps, capes, hoods, and skirts. This loom may be obtained from the manufacturer, or its equivalent may be easily made. From the J. L. Hammett Company one may get for a dollar samples of all these Bartlett looms, partly strung so as to show the way of working, together with a book telling how to make the various articles. The cost of each thing amounts to two or three cents. Raffia. Raffia may be employed for many things and is a favorite material. It may be bought very cheaply in the natural colors, and one may dye it for one's self; or it may be purchased already colored. The natural costs about twenty cents a pound and the colored fifty, if purchased from the regular school-supply houses, but it may be bought in natural colors at better terms at the seed stores. The cheapest source that I know is the McHutchison Company, New York, which sells it at a cost not much more than half as great as that usually charged, if several pounds are purchased. Mats and sofa-pillow covers woven of raffia are very pleasing, and the covers are particularly useful for piazzas. Raffia spread smoothly and wound over a pasteboard foundation may serve for constructing pic- ture frames, boxes, needlebook covers, and other attractive objects. Knotting. Raffia may be used for knotting. Most books on basket work give directions for simple knots with which may be made bags, dolls' hammocks, and other simple [249] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY articles. Children who live where such things are useful like to make dip-nets, for which macrame cord is the best material. Basketry. Perhaps the most interesting manual work, and that furnishing most variety, is basketry ; so many different materials may be used in so many different ways. Baskets and mats may be woven from reeds. This is too hard for the fingers of younger children, but the results are so quickly obtained that the older ones are eager for the work. Reeds of different sizes — from one, the finest, to eight and nine — may be bought. Sizes two and three are the most useful. Reeds may be bought so cheaply from F. B. Alexander, West Newton, Massachusetts, that a good-sized basket costs only a few cents. There are many good books on basketry, such as White's " How to Make Baskets " and " More Baskets and How to Make Them." If it is wished, the reeds may be dyed with Easy Dye before the weaving, or the completed baskets may be dipped. Jap-a-lac applied with a brush gives a pretty finish, as do the wood stains. The children may produce pleasing effects by use of the juices from flower petals and other natural materials, and time is of so little value to young children that they are willing to experiment. Reeds take all dyes easily, but raffia needs to soak overnight in clear warm water, or for an hour or so in strong soda water, before dyeing. Many other materials may be used for weaving mats and baskets, like rushes, dried grasses and roots, corn husks, and any natural material that has length and is tough when dry. Good wastebaskets and workbaskets may be [250] INDUSTRIAL WORK made with reeds starting from a wooden base, holes being bored to hold the reeds, which are fastened with glue. Around these uprights any material may be woven. Sewed baskets take longer than woven ones but are very satisfactory. Reeds, raffia, husks, or grasses are used for the foundation, and the sewing is done with raffia or other similar material. These baskets, once started by aid of the teacher, usually present no difficulties. In starting when reeds form the foundation, the end must be sharpened to a long point and soaked till very pliable. Natural raffia is used most frequently for the sewing, the colored furnish- ing ornamentation in stripes or figures. The rope founda- tion is very satisfactory for a sewed basket for younger children. Rope may be bought by the pound at the produce stores. It is soft and pliable and easily worked. A rather quicker method than sewing is presented in the wound basket, in which results are obtained by wind- ing reeds around reed spokes by means of raffia. There is almost no limit to the work that may be done in basket making, and it is interesting to watch children grow in skill, some children of grammar-school age producing very beautiful results. Linings of silk or silkaline may be added, and these contribute much to the attractiveness of the work. Chair caning-. Chair caning is good work and easily done by grammar-school children. This side of the indus- trial work seems so practical that parents are immediately interested. Chair cane may be obtained from Alexander's, and directions for caning are given in White's book on basketry. The old seat, cut out, will give assistance in directing. The cane is best used slightly damp. It is held [25i] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY in place as woven, by small wooden pegs which are thrust into the holes and moved along as needed. The caning goes from back to front, then from side to side, then from back to front again in the same holes, then from side to side to make a mesh, then from corner to corner and from opposite corner to corner, finally being finished by a bind- ing cane, slightly wider. Caning is particularly good work for boys. Whittling. Whittling may be done by both boys and girls but is preferred by the boys. Larsson's book " Ele- mentary Sloyd and Whittling" gives good suggestions. A kitchen paring knife is better than a boy's pocketknife, which is apt to close unexpectedly. The pupil should be taught to whittle from him instead of towards the body. Soft wood, like pine from the wood pile or an old box and cedar from cigar boxes, furnishes good material. Thread winders, buttons for cupboard doors, key tags, small picture frames, — in shape, oblong, round, or elliptical, — pen- holders, and many similar things may be made. Stenciling. Stenciling is good work and is enjoyed by boys and girls. Sofa-pillow covers, bags, and draperies may be constructed. Denim, linen, scrim, or any smooth mate- rial may be used. The design is marked on waxed or shellacked paper and cut out carefully. It may also be made on blotting paper, which is good, as it easily absorbs what would spread beyond the desired surface. The paper is then adjusted on the material, and the color applied to the holes of the pattern with a brush. Easy Dye, mixed ac- cording to the directions on the tube, may be used, as may common water-color and oil paints. The pupil should use what he can most easily secure. [252] INDUSTRIAL WORK Modeling. Clay modeling, while remarkably suited for work with little children, may be employed profitably by the older, who may make whatever they feel themselves capable of. An embryo sculptor would probably produce a pretty good statuette. Many animal forms may be made. Most of the children will stop with tiles and vases. An excellent way to make vases is by shaping the clay into a rope and then building it around and upon itself, mak- ing it strong and smooth by equal pressure of the fingers from within and without. Children should be trained to make the vases beautiful in shape. They may be dried and then painted if care is taken not to have the colors too wet. Painting directly from the pan of water color is best. Leather, iron, brass, and other kinds of work. If mate- rial can be obtained, work may be done in bent iron, tooled leather, or perforated brass. Sheets of brass, a block of soft wood, an awl, and a design stamped with carbon paper are all that are needed for the latter. Stamped patterns may be bought, but they are expensive. Sheets of brass can be bought cheaply by the pound at hardware stores. Any other manual work for which the child has the means may be done. If he has a jig saw or any tools at home, he should be encouraged to use them. The work should spring out of what is at hand. Many suggestions have been made, in the hope that some may fit. The dolls' house. It may be well to say an extra word about the dolls' house. A pasteboard box may represent a single room, the front of which is open. A wooden box will serve the same purpose. An elaborate house may be made by means of four sweet-corn boxes. A roof put on gives the attic, and one has kitchen and dining room downstairs, [253] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY sleeping room and living room above. Furnishings may be made from cardboard, small reeds, and like material. In one school, such a house was the joint property of nine grades. All contributed to its decoration. The older chil- dren designed and made wall papers and carpets. The middle and lower grades did the sewing on curtains and bed fixings. The middle-lower grades also wove draperies and rugs from raveled silkaline, as described with cheese- cloth. They wove a hammock for the attic, a pillow to go in it, a rug to go under it. All the younger children helped construct the furniture, which was made of studio paper — white in the sleeping room, green in the living room, gray in the dining room, and brown in the kitchen. All neces- sary furniture was made, including a kitchen stove and a sink with faucets. The older pupils made the house with some assistance. There was a window in each room and a door between adjoining rooms. Four third-grade boys, clad in long aprons, painted the outside. Dolls of proper size were to occupy it when finished. The idea was of great interest, and many mothers — yes, and fathers, — were dragged in to see the house. It may be gradually re- furnished and so prove a further means of training and enjoyment. Work M for something" always produces enthusiasm. Work in connection with special subjects. Little chil- dren take particular pleasure in constructing things appro- priate to special days, occupations, or the line of work they are doing. At the February and May patriotic times they may make soldiers' encampments ; at Christmas time, Christmas trees and fireplaces ; at Thanksgiving, Puritan houses and interiors ; at plowing and planting [254] INDUSTRIAL WORK and harvesting times, the horses, plows, rakes, barrels, and all the proper equipment. When they study the Dutch people, Holland may grace the sand table, its place to be taken later by an Eskimo or Indian village. In this way the children truly live the things they are studying. Cooking and household economics. Though the time is coming, in the near future, when simple apparatus for cook- ing will be installed in small schools, at present real cook- ing lessons are impracticable. Yet even now much may be done by simple talking lessons, in the way of teaching fundamental principles that underlie cooking and usual household operations. Considerable instruction may be given regarding the care of a home. Books like the "Ele- ments of the Theory and Practice of Cookery" will furnish substantial help in these lines. Gardening. It must not be forgotten that the school gardening belongs under the head of the industrial work. It should be emphasized as much as possible, and sugges- tions for home work and interest in all the home activities should abound at school. Time of doing work. Industrial lessons may be given Friday afternoons or at other times where it may conven- iently come. In some schools it has been substituted for some of the regular lessons, once a week. Most of this work, in schools with a crowded program, may be taken incidentally — the children working when their other as- signed tasks are accomplished. In schools where children bring dinners, the industrial work may occupy part of the noon time, particularly in cold weather. Much may be done at home if it is under school approval. Experience has shown that the time taken at school is hardly missed [255] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY in the accomplishment of required mental work. At any rate, since this work is just as valuable and necessary as so-called study, it should be had in school. Conduct of class. In giving the lessons, one gets on better if not too many work at a time, though a skilled teacher who has carefully planned her work can keep quite a class occupied. If a large class is to work on baskets, for example, it is often better to start a few at a time. Many times older pupils can help younger. Care is needed that the industrial time does not present a bedlam. Proper behavior should be required — a reasonable degree of keep- ing quiet, a prompt response to requests of teacher, and attention to her directions. Whenever several children need the same directions they should all attend and receive them together, as in that way a great saving of time is obtained. Care should be taken that eyes and nerves are not strained. Some children cannot do weaving or fine work of any kind. Much of the work should be done only a short while at a time, and then some change instituted. Material. Suggestions for materials have been made, some of which are repeated from the chapter on apparatus. In general, it may be said that nearly all materials for in- dustrial work may be obtained more cheaply at the places where such material is used in bulk or occurs as waste, rather than from school-supply firms. Much material for school industrial work may be got for a song — or without a song, for the asking — if a teacher keeps her eyes open. If materials cost, it has been found wise in many schools for the teacher to get them and then let the children pay for the completed articles. Seldom is the price of any one thing fifteen cents, and usually it is less than seven. [256] INDUSTRIAL WORK Making a start. A teacher feels herself to be under- taking a great deal in starting industrial work in her school, but, begun simply with the single thing one feels able to do, the work broadens steadily of itself. Suggestions come from all sides, and soon the teacher finds herself feeling confident and showing considerable power in this direction. The joy of the children and the help in discipline make it well worth while for any teacher to put forth consider- able effort. Of course, regular courses in cooking, sewing, and manual training are the best, and wherever possible it is hoped they may be had, but even with such courses a place may be found for many of the things here suggested. ' REFERENCES Bartlett Loom Manual. J. L. Hammett Company. Dobbs. Primary Handwork. The Macmillan Company. Foster. Elementary Woodworking. Ginn and Company. Goodwin. Course in Sewing. Books I— III. Frank D. Beattys & Co. Greer. Food — What It Is and Does. Ginn and Company. Hapgood. School Needlework. Ginn and Company. Holland. Clay Modelling. Ginn and Company. Larsson. Elementary Sloyd and Whittling. Silver, Burdett & Company. Leavitt. Examples of Industrial Education. Ginn and Company. Ledyard. Primary Manual Work. Milton Bradley Company. Newell. Constructive Work for Schools without Special Equip- ment. Milton Bradley Company. Palen and Henderson. What and How. Milton Bradley Com- pany. Patton. Home and School Sewing. Newson & Company. Rich. Paper Sloyd. Ginn and Company. Ross. Wood Turning. Ginn and Company. Sage and Cooley. Occupations for Little Fingers. Charles Scrib- ner's Sons. [257] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Sargent. Fine and Industrial Arts in Elementary Schools. Ginn and Company. Study of History in Elementary Schools. Charles Scribner's Sons. The Delineator. The Butterick Publishing Company. Todd. Hand-Loom Weaving. Rand, McNally & Company. Trybom and Heller. Correlated Handwork. J. L. Hammett Company. White. How to Make Baskets. Doubleday, Page & Company. White. More Baskets and How to Make Them. Doubleday, Page & Company. Williams and Fisher. Elements of the Theory and Practice of Cookery. The Macmillan Company. Wilson. Handbook of Domestic Science and Household Arts. Whitcomb & Barrows, Boston. A-B-C Weaving Looms. The A-B-C W eavm g Loom Company Toledo, Ohio. Bartlett Looms. J. L. Hammett Company. Day's White Paste. Diamond Paste Company, Broadway, New York. Easy Dye. J. L. Hammett Company. Jellitac. A powder for making paste. Arthur S. Hoyt, 90 West Broadway, New York. Leathers, and tools for working them. W. A. Hall, 119 Beach Street, Boston. Raffia. McHutchison Company, 1 7 Murray Street, New York. Reeds. F. B. Alexander, Watertown Street, West Newton, Mass. For other materials see the lists in the chapter on apparatus. [258] CHAPTER XXV SPECIAL EXERCISES Friday afternoon. For years Friday afternoon has been accepted as a special-exercise time in many schools, par- ticularly the rural one. Nowadays many teachers are put- ting the special work in here and there through the week instead, either by varying the regular work to include what might be called special or by substituting the specials for regular studies once a week, where they seem to work in well. For our purpose it may be well to retain the old idea of Friday afternoon, though the work may be arranged as suggested above if preferred. Into Friday, then, may go extra work in music or drawing and such nature lessons as cannot be included in the opening exercises or closing talk or in the geography, reading, or language periods. Here may go such of the industrial work or handwork as has not been taken incidentally or in connection with some allied work. This time may include spelling matches, and speaking pieces, and anything else that the teacher likes. Speaking pieces. The old idea of speaking pieces before the school has many things to recommend it, but it may be a source of friction — as when the big boy does not want to speak. Much of this trouble may be removed by hav- ing the exercises less formal and having the preparation made at school. The play element may also be brought in, having one part of the school entertain the rest. [259] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Visitation days. It is well to have public special exer- cises rather frequently, though these should usually em- body work that springs from the regular doings of the school. Sometimes a visitation day should be appointed, to which parents are specially invited. On such days almost the regular work of the school should go on, the object being to let the friends of the children know what happens regularly in the school day. The guests may be invited for morning or afternoon or both, as the teacher sees fit, and the intent should be to increase acquaintance and sympathy between school and home, not to show off in any way. On such days the teacher should have her advance work, with such reviews as come up naturally, and she should really teach and drill just as she usually does. In a rural school it is well occasionally to invite a neighboring school to visit and see a combination of regu- lar and special work. Such hospitality furnishes a strong incentive to good school work. Entertainments. The other kind of public exercises may preferably come in the afternoon and may consist of a specially prepared entertainment. Invitations and pro- grams may be made by the children. Sometimes the exer- cises may be general, sometimes for the celebration of a special occasion. If they are general, the children may say the poems and sing the songs they have learned dur- ing the term. They may dramatize some of the stories they have already played in school. The teacher or some of the children may tell a story. They may present some little play and several tableaus or illustrated dialogues. Some of their physical exercises may appear — marches with singing, drills, and the like. [260] SPECIAL EXERCISES While it is often well to have the public exercises gen- eral in character, it is a good idea to have exercises- for the celebration of special occasions. Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays coming so near each other, a public afternoon might center around their lives. Anything patriotic is suitable for such an occasion. Memorial Day also gives a chance for a patriotic celebration, and Christ- mas Day furnishes an opportunity for a host of beautiful things. Thanksgiving may include many things relative to the harvest, and much pleasure may arise from repre- senting scenes from the history of the Pilgrims and Puri- tans. Longfellow, Whittier, and other poets may be given a special entertainment. A special period of history or a country, like Holland or Japan, may furnish the nucleus. In connection with such exercises there should be speak- ing by children singly or in groups. All should appear in something outside an exercise shared by the school, though what each child shall do the teacher and circumstances must decide, since some can do one thing better and others another. The point must be to have an arrange- ment in which no one can justly feel slighted. Certain children may assist in decorating, others may make a wel- coming committee, others may pass programs or do some- thing to bring themselves into prominence, and the least forward child should come into the limelight as much as possible. Tact and a kind heart will help the teacher here. Preparation of material. Long experience has taught that a child who has once learned to speak a piece in a certain way may thereafter be trusted to say it in that way when the occasion arrives, no matter how many times he has been corrected in some part and has said the selection [261] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY in the new way. So it is evident that the only wise plan is to teach him rightly at first. Before giving him the selection to work upon by himself, he should be made to read it to the teacher till he easily and naturally reads it with the proper inflections. This may be brought about by the same means that are employed in the reading les- son or it may be secured by imitation, but the first ren- derings, before the learning begins, should be correct ; then the child may usually be relied upon to say it properly. Dressing up. The children should by all means be encouraged to dress up the schoolroom appropriately and also to array themselves to fit their parts. The desire to masquerade — to make believe — is very strong in most chil- dren, and the realistic effect produced fixes the impression strongly. Training for the imagination is furnished also, and the idea has much to commend it. Teachers should be careful, however, not to make too great demands upon the time of parents, and as far as possible the pupils and teacher should make their own preparations. Children will often develop great power in preparing costumes and in training other children for parts. I have in mind an apparently rather stupid girl in a fourth grade who organ- ized and wholly managed several public outside enter- tainments based upon the exercises that had been held in her school. Admission entertainments. Usually it is better for school entertainments to be free. Occasionally a slight admission fee may be charged, and the proceeds devoted to school improvements. It is a good plan in such cases for the children to do as much of the business part as possible, in the way of making arrangements, printing and selling [262] SPECIAL EXERCISES tickets, making programs, and the like. It is often well to have an exhibition of handwork in this connection, with perhaps a sale. Value of entertainments. Public exercises are of great value in creating interest, enthusiasm, and pride in their school on the part of the children. They also arouse these sentiments in the parents and friends, and form one of the strongest links between teacher and com- munity. They are worth much, but they should not be secured at too great a sacrifice of regular school work, REFERENCES Comstock. A Dickens Dramatic Reader. Ginn and Company. Cyr. Dramatic First Reader. Ginn and Company. Finlay-Johnson. The Dramatic Method of Teaching. Ginn and Company. George. The Song of Hiawatha. A. Flanagan Company. Holbrook. Dramatic Reader for Lower Grades. American Book Company. Johnston and Barnum. Book of Plays for Little Actors. Amer- ican Book Company. Knight. Dramatic Reader for Grammar Grades. American Book Company. Noyes and Ray. Little Plays for Little People. Ginn and Company. Stevenson. Children's Classics in Dramatic Form. Houghton Mif- flin Company. Various educational magazines. [263] CHAPTER XXVI THE RECITATION Preparation. The preparation for a lesson should be made by both teacher and pupil. If either is to omit it, it may better be the pupil than the teacher. Indeed, in cer- tain ways of taking a subject, the teacher is the only one who needs formal preparatory work. Preparation by the teacher involves gathering up what she already knows of a subject, reading from the child's textbook and from other books, direct observation of the things which form the subject of the lesson when such observation is possi- ble, thinking out illustrations, — pictures, objects, verbal illustrations, — and getting into line all the material ac- quired, so that the work may go on logically and vividly. This last includes deciding on manner of presentation and arranging material according to the plan selected. Ways of conducting recitation. There are many ways of taking up a recitation. The child may study his text- book and give it back to the teacher word for word, in response to questions or topics. It need not be said that this is a poor way. Or he may study his lesson and give it back in his own words, in response to the same stimuli. This is better, but not the best way. The recitation should be a thinking period, containing much discussion, much free interchange of opinions and questions between teacher and pupils. The recitation time should serve as a stimulus [264] THE RECITATION to both. An occasional lesson may be confined to testing the pupil's faithfulness of study and his knowledge, but most recitations should do more. They should at least add much to the child's knowledge. The teacher should tell him many things directly; she should tell him more, in- directly — by showing him that he may find out what he wants to know either from books or direct observation. She may also lead him to new knowledge by calling into his mind the information he has on the subject under dis- cussion, and then leading him by questions to see new relations, new results, and so arrive at new facts. By means of such recitations the child grows broader in knowledge and gets increased power and skill in obtaining knowledge for himself. This last is one of the great aims in education. Questions and topics needed. For a long time school recitation was carried on by the question and answer method. In a reaction from the great amount of set work that resulted, large use was made of topics. The best recitation work combines both. The topical method, in theory, gives the child a topic and lets him talk about it freely and in his own words. Abuse of the topical method lets a pupil tell regarding a topic the ideas of some one else in the words of some one else. The child is purely passive and need do little thinking or secure little gain in power to express himself. This is not a necessity, but it is of frequent occurrence. The pupil being able to recite without words from the teacher, it follows that a lazy or ineffective teacher soon becomes a mere figurehead. She presents the subject for talk either verbally or through the written topic and, except for that, virtually drops out of the lesson in which she ought to be the most important factor. [265] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY By that it is not meant that she ought to do all the work, but she should be the master spirit that produces thought as well as effort on the part of the child. Topics should never serve for more than to start the parts of a lesson. Questions and answers and free discussion should continue it. The pupil should state his own knowledge or opinions in his own words. He has often to gather his opinions from the book, but they should become vividly his before the lesson is through. To recite a lesson through by either questions or topics and then, if time serves, to recite it again is more than absurd. Oral teaching, or development. Oral teaching, or devel- opment work, should be a prominent feature in many recitations. It is particularly suited to young children for a great deal of their work, but it is also extremely helpful with older classes, and no kind of class work is so produc- tive of the habits of inquisitiveness and of thought, to say nothing of the habit of free expression. We may well have this kind of work largely increased in most of our schools of more advanced grades. All children, even the dullest, acquire a considerable fund of knowledge. In development work, this knowledge is turned about and seen in new relations, and out of this process new knowledge springs through the child's own thought wisely guided by the teacher. This kind of teach- ing is very useful in connection with geography and science work, but it need not stop there ; it will help greatly to have more of it in connection with arithmetic, grammar, his- tory, in fact nearly all subjects. Power to deduce the new from the old is of great service in life ; also power to turn one's knowledge upon situations as they come up and get at [266] THE RECITATION the connected truths. In many of our schools we do not have enough recitation work that is not preceded by direct book study of the subject to be handled. It is often helpful to read over and discuss with a class the advance lesson in a subject — a process productive of thought, though of a different kind from that employed in developing a lesson. It is often wise to have the lesson dug out by the chil- dren without the aid of class discussion first, but too close following of this plan has made children prone to accept stated facts without thought and to feel that books are the only seat of information. Developing the lesson is a great help in fixing values ; finding out what parts are essential, what parts illustrative, what parts minor, what parts ornamental — put in for attrac- tion. Something of this sort may come also in connection with discussing the lesson, but many a child has no idea that in study one needs to find out the gist of the matter and proceed from it to the full development of the subject, — that is, get the skeleton and then find proper covering for it, — a process that is usually followed in a well-given development lesson ; so such a lesson trains the children gradually to ability in that direction. It is necessary in all this work to distinguish carefully between reasoning and guessing and to train the child toward the former. There should be study following the development reci- tation, for the purpose of fixing the facts taken and for getting additional information. It is not to be supposed that a child's work in school is to cease to be work because he learns things and how to learn more things easily in his classes. [267] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Assignment. Part of each recitation must be given to assigning work for study. This may occupy a minute or two, or in some cases a rather large part of the recitation may be taken for it. In either case the assignment should be clear enough and full enough so that no mistakes can occur. Every pupil should know just what is expected and have an idea of how to go to work. There should be no excuse for argument later as to where the lesson was to begin or leave off or how it was to be done in general. A teacher's indefinite assignment is often responsible for a child's indefinite achievement. This may hold true equally when the assignment is from one topic or page to another or when, the whole lesson being development, the assignment in a way occupies all the recitation period. It is the work of this part of the recitation period to cause the pupil to find out what he is to learn and how he is to go about it ; in other words, to bring him face to face with his problem for the next lesson, without which help he will often waste much time. Questioning. Skill in questioning is greatly needed in development work and in class work of any kind. If a teacher has little power to question, she should observe good teaching and profit by it, and she should practice by thinking out carefully what seems a good way of taking up a lesson. She may select a geography lesson, for example, and make a careful plan with thoughtful questions. She may think what she will ask, what different answers this question may bring, what she will ask if she gets this answer, what if she gets that, what if still another. In this way she may train herself to a habit of questioning well on the spur of the moment. [268] THE RECITATION Questions should be clear, simply worded, and definite. Cloudy, indefinite questions bring hazy answers, given at a venture, or answers far away from what the teacher has in mind. Questions should be given in logical order, that the child may follow the train of thought smoothly and easily and see all along what the teacher is aiming at. The teacher should be careful not to ask leading ques- tions, those in which the idea of the answer is conveyed ever so slightly. If a pupil does not know, it is right that he should realize it ; and if a teacher is to do all the work, it should be done openly and not under pretense that the child is a factor. Questions that may be answered by Yes or No, or other alternate questions, are better avoided. They may be used occasionally, but the habit of asking them is easily formed, and they do not furnish the best form of questioning. Too simple and unnecessary questions should be omitted. Teachers generally talk too much, and the time taken by such questions may be used to advantage for other things. Questions should probe. The answers should show what knowledge the child really has. Thought, active thought, should be required from the pupils. Roundabout questions should be avoided and those that use unnecessary words. In general, it is better to use " what," " where," " when," and " how " to start questions rather than to end them. Such beginnings as "and," "now," "well," "who can tell," "what can you say," "what about," are not good. Such are used so often by many teachers as to become absolute mannerisms, and children are quick to notice, to imitate, or to laugh at anything in the teacher which resembles mannerism. [269] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Questions should be given distinctly and not repeated. They should be given before the name of the pupil who is to answer, but the name should follow instantly, with but few exceptions. They are less wearying if given with a falling inflection. The names are better called in this way also. Distribution. Questions should be well distributed. They should not all go to the good scholars because they can answer better, nor to the poor ones because they need them more. All should have a chance, all should have their time. Some will do more in their time than others, as is the way of the world. The best will be able to do harder things than the poorer scholars, but it is not possi- ble that all should come out at the end of the year knowing the same amount. That would truly be a "lock step" of the graded-school system that might well be complained of. The lower attainment of the slower child may be as great for him as the almost perfect work of the more gifted. The work of any class should be of so broad a range as to allow for the uneven equipment of the members. The teacher's questions should not be aimed at half the class or at a little group or at individuals. All should feel themselves included in whatever is going on. Ques- tions should not go around the class except in a very few cases of drill work — in which much time may be saved and the turns swing along so fast that all have to be alert any- way. Even then the teacher needs to be magnetic and watchful. It is not well to question alphabetically or in any set order. Name cards, too, are dangerous, as one con- tinually gets the square peg in the round hole — the weakest child with all the hardest questions, and the brightest dull [270] THE RECITATION because of insufficient exercise for his powers. Nor should the questions be given for all to answer, as concert work is seldom valuable. Volunteer answers need to be carefully looked out for. Many children who do not raise hands can answer ques- tions. The teacher gets into the way of working with the active children. Time is lost in waiting for the hands, and — as was said above — prompt questions, without waits for hands or before calling names, save much time. There is no time to spare for waiting for these things, nor before the next question. The questions should be ready, as they usually will be if the teacher knows her subject and has trained herself to think logically from point to point. Attention a characteristic of a good recitation. A good recitation must command the eager, interested attention of the class. This can never be gained without what we call animation. No shadowy, colorless lesson ever aroused in the pupils the attention that might otherwise have been there. Animation does not mean noise. One does not have to talk every minute, nor in a loud voice. Distinct- ness and life may be present, though the voice is low. A high-pitched voice defeats its own ends by producing a nervous distraction akin to pain. A mumble, however, seldom goes with animation. Jerky, noisy movements ; walking up and down ; wringing hands ; gesticulating — all such nervous ways are no help in producing the effect that animation and life of the right kind bring. The lesson needs to be introduced in a way striking enough to at once attract the attention of the children, and attention once gained should be held. Many teachers work along on so dead a level that one may stay many [271] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY minutes in the room and have only a general idea of what the teacher is working for. Children come to the recitation with minds filled with thoughts of which the teacher has little idea. The lesson should start in such a way as may serve for a preparation for the work to come. Aimless thoughts — > those called up by what the child was just working upon, and any other inadvertent ones — should be driven out and the ideas needed for the comprehension of what is to form the subject of the lesson brought into prominence by a few short preparatory questions. Then the lesson will swing along smoothly. Variety a help. For the holding of attention, variety is needed — new ways of taking up a subject, little surprises of manner or thought. Much drill work has to be done in any class. In this there is often not enough that is new to hold the attention, and reviews without attention do not establish facts in memory. Here comes in the value of devices which shall produce interested attention and so serve to fix the required thing. Experiments and illustra- tions, besides helping in many other ways, justify them- selves by their effect upon attention. Other reasons for loss of attention. Since, whenever the teacher loses the attention of her class for any reason, she has to gain it all over, she should beware of losing it. At- tention lessens if a child cannot see or cannot hear or is physically annoyed in any way. It vanishes when one goes for any length of time without having anything to do ; as when one child works for a large part of a recitation period over a difficult problem or sentence and all the rest of the class sit and presumably attend. One can see the interest and attention waver, see pupil after pupil relax. [272] THE RECITATION Rarely can effort pull them up again. A little to do often, rather than a lot occasionally, is the better way. It is not necessary that a child do all of an exercise himself because it troubles him. He can do a part and hear other pupils finish. Individual work at map or board, prolonged to any length, sets all the class free to gather wool with wander- ing wits. If a teacher takes time during a class to help studying children, she may be sure of loss of attention ; though of course she should see that the pupils not reciting are controlled and busy during class time. Sympathy between teacher and class is a great help in holding attention. They simply walk the path together with pleasure, the teacher's interest stimulating the child's. Responsibility of class. A class should be made to feel a [responsibility for attention. The stimulus should not have to come wholly from the teacher. " It is your busi- ness to make me learn it and like it " should not be the governing feeling. A class should feel that it is only polite to look attentive ; to listen, think, exert itself. Praise is often effective in securing the right attitude, though some children, if much praised, think that they have achieved and cease effort. Usually it is a good means to employ. The child should feel that besides — the punish- ment may be given with the tongue. One usually says too much ; a few vigorous words or a few of quiet contempt will go further than much wrath. Constant nagging would drive anyone to desperation ; telling once should be enough and generally will be if the teacher watches to see that all suggestions are obeyed. General calls for order are of little good. To wait a minute — a minute with eyes closed is interminably long — is better. It is a mistake to let one's discipline always show how the wheels go round. That school is best disciplined in which things go right, but no one seems to be thinking about discipline. There is usually someone who is making the trouble. The teacher should find the ringleaders and deal with them, nearly always quietly, as far as possible privately. To go and speak to a child is far better than to call to him, for many reasons — among which are the tendency of children to imitation and the fact that no one knows what the teacher says to the child. The idea should be culti- vated with each pupil that he is responsible for himself and need not concern himself with the others except to [292] DISCIPLINE set them a good example and to do nothing to disturb them. This last idea may be so well developed that little need for discipline will arise. Often the teacher, by call- ing attention to an offense, opens an avenue # of offense to the other pupils. This is equally true when the disci- pline largely takes the tone of forbidding to do things. Children are very imitative, very open to unconscious suggestion. It is better to tell what to do. Pupil government. Many teachers use successfully the idea of pupil government. This cannot be worked well with younger children. In using it with older ones, the teacher should remember that she is still at the head of the government. The responsibility of school control must always lie with the teacher, but she may be able to do it best by influencing the children to control themselves. It is a matter for careful handling. The Brownlee " System of Child Training" gives some good suggestions in this line. Motives for misbehavior should be found. The reasons for disorder should be sought. To control a school well, it is necessary for the teacher to discover the child's motives. Much apparent heedlessness and disorder arise from defects of sight and hearing or other physical troubles. One would always be more sympathetic if she knew these to be the cause. An uncomfortable child is hardly ever good. Again, much disorder is caused merely by ignorance of good manners. Teachers need to be par- ticular in corridor and yard to keep the pupils mannerly and free from the boisterous rudeness that comes without intent but that frequently spills over into the schoolroom and at any rate may make the child a nuisance in general company. A great deal of trouble arises from an overflow [293] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY of animal spirits. Sympathy and giving more work to do will meet this. Often the seating arrangements are bad, and breaking-up of the " ring " will straighten the trouble immediately. Much open disorder comes from the child's getting so absorbed in what he is bent upon that he becomes unconscious of the teacher's presence, a case of maximum attention which produces apparently open and reckless misbehavior. A pupil's wrongdoing sometimes comes from obsti- nacy. For one to be born obstinate is very unfortunate. Frequently the child is as unhappy as he is making others. He would stop balking if he were able. He should be managed by kindness, by overlooking many occasions for friction. If trouble comes, one should handle him as one would a balky horse — divert his attention, ignore him, give him a choice of things to do, gently push him along, sometimes treat him to a surprise. Collisions with an obstinate, sulky child should always be avoided. Usually the teacher's self-respect is not suffering as much as she thinks. If the collision has to come, as come sometimes it must, the teacher should be sure to come off victor. One should not be too prone to discover signs of offense. Often what seems like rudeness is bashfulness, self-consciousness, embarrassment. Yet it is well to remem- ber that looks and acts can express rudeness as well as can words, and many a child is allowed a veiled insolence for weeks, which must needs produce a bad effect upon him and the school. The teacher should demand polite- ness always and, on the other hand, should herself never fail of courtesy even in the most trying moments. Many little offenses are often worse than one large one, being [294] DISCIPLINE fully as bad in intention and much less easy to handle. An occasional child seems to plan to keep just inside the border line and never seems to do the one thing which would deserve marked attention. He should be jerked one way or the other with decision, should hear the list of his offenses in a bunch and either reform or receive his deserts. On the other hand, a teacher sometimes seems to be obsessed over the small misdemeanors of some particular child. It would be well to seat him be- hind her for a while, where she need not see him con- stantly, or else behind the school so she may disregard him without their knowing it. Mode of administering punishment. Punishment should be given in a way to preserve the pupil's self-respect, except in a few cases where a sense of humiliation is desirable. The teacher's self-respect should be maintained also, and many degrading punishments are to be avoided for their effect upon the teacher more than upon the child. Punishment in wrath must needs lower the teacher's feeling of respect for her own efficiency. Punishments should be given impersonally and sympathetically, regret- fully as to the need but without maudlin display of sen- timent. They should be administered in such a way as to prevent a recurrence of the offense, but to prevent it largely through raised ideals. Kinds of punishments. It is difficult to state what particular punishments should be employed. Those that might injure a child physically should never be practiced. Slapping of faces, boxing of ears, shutting in dark closets, oversevere shakings or whippings, all such things, a teacher should scorn to use. [295] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Isolation is often very effective. It gives a child time to cool off, to get another point of view. Much trouble comes from nervousness, and the stimulus of an audi- ence being removed, the child is calmed and quieted. The school has a chance to recover its equilibrium, as does also the teacher. Isolation should not usually be accompanied by disgrace and should not be too long continued. Putting on honor will work with some pupils when all other means fail. Sending home is sometimes effective, but often produces an unpleasant state of feeling. If the parent can be made to understand the exact condition of affairs by means of a private note, it sometimes works well. Punishing like with like is a good way. Having the child do till tired what he did for fun, in the hands of some teachers, makes an almost ideal form of punishment. Whipping may be done when the teacher is assured that it is what the child needs. It should be used not because it is the easiest way but because it seems the best thing. It is so easy a mode of punishment that there is danger that it will too often seem the best, so one needs to be careful about employing it. If the teacher is assured that it is the best thing, it should be done with dignity and dispatch. It should nearly always be performed in private, as should most punishments. Once in a great while it is well for a school to see what goes on, as a lesson, but the effect of such things upon nervous chil- dren is bad, and it is not desirable to satisfy too closely the inquisitiveness of others. Right motives should be appealed to. Many too com- monly used punishments appeal only to the child's fear or to his sense of shame. Fear is the lowest of all [296] DISCIPLINE motives, and shame, unless carefully handled, may be little higher. It is far better that a pupil do right through ambition, through love, admiration, or respect for the teacher, or through a large desire to do right than through poorer motives. Rational obedience is by far the best. A child should know why he is expected to do certain things, why he is punished or praised. It is not always well to defer obedi- ence for explanations however. Explanations may accom- pany directions or may come afterwards or sometimes do not need to be given at all. Confidence in his teacher should be one of the greatest reasons for the obedience of a pupil. Rational obedience as far as possible, but obedi- ence anyway ; obedience through the highest motives pos- sible, but obedience through a low motive if necessary while a higher is being established ; obedience at any rate — this should be the teacher's creed, otherwise she may do serious injury to the child. Uplifting the tone of the school by talks and making the pupils feel that good order of the school is necessary for them, that it lies within their power and should be accomplished by them, that they are responsible for it, will go far to produce a proper attitude. It should be "we" and not "I" or "you" in connection with all school affairs. The aim of discipline. The aim of all punishment and discipline should be self-control, power for self-governing, development of character ; consequently the means employed must be as many as there are children, as changing as the needs of the school. The teacher should remember that because school gov- ernment aims at high things all superintendents and [297] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY committees want a well-governed school. She should re- member also that it is the spirit and not the body that governs, so she should increase her own self-confidence. She should expect to be obeyed. She should grow able to manage her school for herself. She may indeed call upon superintendent and principal when their help is necessary, she may better call upon them than have her school run wild, but she should feel ever unsatisfied till she herself is able to govern her school. Influence of teacher's character. The teacher's char- acter is the greatest moving power. What she is and the spirit she establishes will govern or misgovern her pupils. If she cannot control herself, she will not control the chil- dren. If public opinion condemns her, if — as has been suggested before — she is known and discussed by all the street-corner loafers, if she is not a quiet or an active power for good, she cannot make of her school what she otherwise would. Good discipline cannot end with the schoolroom door. The teacher's influence must go with the child and uplift and support him as will that of a worthy mother. The teacher's example and precept must work quietly and steadily through all a child's waking hours, whether spent in work or play, whether in school or home or elsewhere. REFERENCES Brownlee. Character Building in Schools. Houghton Mifflin Com- pany. Brownlee. System of Child Training. Holden Company. Moral Training in the Public Schools (a group of essays). Ginn and Company. Scott. Social Education. Ginn and Company. [2 9 8] CHAPTER XXIX CONCLUSION Going away. When the time comes for the term to end and for the teacher to depart, she should not hurry in the doing so. It may be true that she is homesick, having been away from home perhaps for the first long absence. Her surroundings may not have been very congenial, she is undoubtedly tired, and she has probably done all she will be paid for ; yet in spite of all these facts, it is better to put things to rights without undue haste. It is not well for a teacher to close a term at three o'clock and take a four o'clock train, or, as sometimes happens, to supposedly close at four and take a three o'clock train. School should be ended with due decorum, with no signs of haste or neglect. Children are too easily taught the idea that the last of the term amounts to nothing. The register should be carefully made out, and such additional information as one would have been glad of herself should be left for the next teacher. The books and all other apparatus should be put in order, the boards cleaned, the flowers and other litter thrown away — in short, there should be left behind a place that has been swept and put in absolute order. As the teacher has tried to make the school a home, so let her leave it as she would leave her own home when going away for a visit. Let her extend the idea to her boarding place and leave [299] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY her room in good condition. Then when everything is right she may go away with a light heart, a consciousness of duty done, a wholesome regret for whatsoever mistakes she may have made, and a new hope and determination for the future. Coming back. Let us hope that in many cases this future may return her to the same school, to be heartily greeted in the neighborhood, to rejoice over the orderly schoolroom, to be put in mind of forgotten things by her own register and other records, to enlarge the resources of the school equipment, and to carry on all those good plans which she was wise enough to start, regardless of whether the next teacher would continue them. Even to a rural school, perhaps above all to a rural school, it is well that there should be several of these returns. Teaching in the country is not without great advantages, since going to school is the business of the children and they are often without the great social distractions of a village or city. Nature presents her most attractive side. True, the salary is smaller, but the temptations to spend are fewer. The teacher may occupy a far more important place than in a larger community, and the opportunities for doing good are great. What the book has tried to teach. Lest it seem to the teacher that too much has been required of her in the foregoing chapters, it may be wise to take a backward glance and do a little summing-up. She has been asked to give less work in arithmetic and to make it appeal to the senses and to reasoning; to make the language work include abundant expression of thought with correction of its expression and a contribution to material for thought [300] CONCLUSION by means of poems, stories, and pictures ; to make the reading intelligent and about something worth while ; to make of geography and history thought-subjects rather than mere verbatim recitations ; to open the eyes of the children to the beauties of nature and their ears to har- mony of sound ; to employ drawing as a handmaid to other work; to train somewhat the pupil who is skillful with his hands and to start another who is not skillful upon the road to skill ; to make the child physically com- fortable, mentally efficient, and morally strong ; to con- sider the need of tools as great in the training of children as in the manufacture of shoes, bicycles, or horserakes ; to make the schoolroom as pleasant as the ordinary home ; to make her behavior that of the modest, virtuous woman who is above reproach. It all calls for work, thought, and self-denial. What business ever failed to need these ? She who expects to teach without them, who has chosen teaching as an easy occupation, may well be discouraged and retreat as early as possible. She who is willing to give of herself largely may find their accomplishment far easier than she thinks and her rewards greater than can be known by any other than herself. [30i] INDEX (References given at the end of the chapters are not repeated in the index, neither are the lists of poems and stories given in Chapters XV and XVI.) Accidents, 79-81 Addition and subtraction by end- ings, 99, 100 Adenoids, 76, 77 Animal study, 206-211 Apparatus (Chapter IV) : need of tools, 25; economy of, 25, 26; care of books, 26, 27 ; distribu- tion, 27, 28 ; tools should be ready, 28 ; acquisition of books, 29; books the most valuable tool, 30; homemade books, 30; pictures the next tool, 31-33; the school collection, 33 ; use of pictures, 33, 34 ; school cabi- net, 34, 35; loans, 35, 36; effect of use in class, 36; the black- board, 36, 37 ; maps and charts, 37 ; drill cards, 37, 38 ; other apparatus, 38-42 ; educational papers, 42 ; books for teachers' use or for children's library, 43 ; the picture as, 152 Aquarium, 210 Arithmetic (Chapter IX) : impor- tance, 95, 96; character of first grade, 96, 97 ; later primary number work, 97 ; playing store, 101 ; work above fifth year, 101- 103 ; use of class time, 103 ; need of independent work, 103; need of good judgment on part of teacher, 104 ; a few good drills, 104-107 ; a few ways to help to easier work, 107-110 Assignment of lessons, 268 Attendance, 66; use of seating plan for, 39, 45, 46 Attention, a characteristic of a good recitation, 271, 272; rea- sons for loss of, 272, 273 Austin, Mary, study of poem of, 159-162 Bancroft, " School Freehand Gym- nastics," 84 ; " Games for Play- ground, Home, School, and Gymnasium," 279 Basketry, 250, 251 Bird study, 210, 211 Blackboard, 17 ; decoration of, 21, 22 ; cleaning of, 23, 24 ; as a tool, 36, 37 ; Whitney, " Blackboard Sketching," 219 Bookcase, 16, 17 Books, 7-9 ; care of, 26, 27 ; acqui- sition of, 29, 194, 195 ; the most valuable tool, 30; homemade, 30 ; covers for, 40 ; for teachers' use or for children's library, 43 Boston guard penholder, 225 Brass, work in, 253 Breathing exercises, 85 Brushes, 40 Bryant, " How to Tell Stories to Children," 167; "Stories to Tell to Children," 167 Building and Grounds, School (Chapter III) : cleanliness, 15; orderliness, 22-24; outbuildings, 24 ; schoolyard, 24 Cabinet, 16, 17, 33-35 Cane, 251 Cardboard construction, papers for, 38, 245,^246 [303] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY " Cardboard Construction " (Rich), 245 Cards, for drill, 37, 38; report, 65; for reading, 115 Chairs and desks, 70 Chart, reading, 114, 115 Children's Hour (Tappan), 167 Clay, 39 Cleanliness, 15, 16 Cold-air schools, 68 Combinations, to twenty, 98, 99 ; of classes for spelling, 140 Community, teacher's position in, 4. 5 Conclusion (Chapter XXIX) Contagious diseases, 81, 82 Correction, in reading, 124, 125; of pupils' English, 144, 145 Covers, for books, 40 Crayons, 38, 39, 218, 223 Current Events, 90 Curtain, 22 Decimal square, 106 Decoration, 17-21 Desk Work (Chapter XXIII): material for, 12; need of, 234, 235 ; teacher should see purpose of, 235; variety necessary, 235, 236 ; need of explanation, 236 ; how regarded by child, 236, 237 ; decision as to kind, 237 ; should be attractive and hygienic, 237, 238 ; use with older grades, 238 ; sources of material, 238 ; care of material, 239 ; distribution of, 239 ; list of kinds, 240-242 Desks, 70 Development paper, 38 Development work in a recitation, 266, 267 Dictionary Study (Chapter XI) : need of power, 128; prepara- tion for formal study, 1 28 ; class practice in looking up words, 128,129; determining pronunci- ation, 1 29 ; knowledge of parts of speech, 129, 130 ; testing knowl- edge of meaning, 130; need of individual dictionaries, 131 Discipline (Chapter XXVIII) : reasons for need of, 282 ; reasons why difficult, 283, 284; what con- stitutes good order, 284 ; noise a condition of disorder, 284, 285 ; movement favorable to disorder, 285, 286 ; industry, obedience, politeness, signs of a well-ordered school, 286 ; under- standing by teacher of what constitutes disorder necessary for good, 286, 287 ; proper or- ganization a help, 287, 288 ; per- sonal element a large factor, 288, 289 ; tact an essential ele- ment, 289, 290 ; popularity, 290, 291 ; love and respect, 291 ; not knowing what to do, 291 ; should be quiet, 292, 293 ; pupil government, 293 ; motives for misbehavior should be found, 293-295; mode of administer- ing punishment, 295 ; kinds of punishments, 295, 296; right motives should be appealed to, 296, 297 ; the aim of, 297, 298 ; influence of teacher's character, 298 Discussion, in reading, 122, 123; in history, 195 ; an aid in devel- opment, 266, 267 Disorder, 284-287, 293, 294 Distribution, of apparatus, 27, 28, 239; of questions, 270, 271 Dolls' house, 253, 254 Dramatizing, 169, 170, 192 Drawing (Chapter XX) :asameans of expression, 147 ; use of pic- ture in, 152 ; in connection with nature study, 212; neglect of subject, 215; interest, the first step, 215, 216; sources of sub- jects, 216, 217 ; material, 217- 219; the lesson, 219, 220; should train to artistic power, 220, 221 Drill cards, 37, 115 Drills, in arithmetic, 104-107 ; for sight words, 115, 116; in lan- guage, 145-147 ; by desk work, 240-242 [304] INDEX Drinking cup, 77, 78 Easy Dye, 40 Economy, of material, 25, 26; of time, 27, 28, 50-52, 57, 59 " Education by Plays and Games " (Johnson), 279 Educational papers, 42 " Elementary Sloyd and Whit- tling" (Larsson), 252 " Elements of the Theory and Practice of Cookery " (Williams and Fisher), 255 Emergency, helps for, 13 English, ways of improving, 142; the teacher's, 142, 143; correc- tion of pupils', 144, 145 Entertainments, 260—263 Equipment, Teacher's (Chapter II) : why needed, 7 ; box for, 7-13 Ethical training, 90-94 Executive ability, use and value of, 57 Experiment, 212 Eyesight, 71-74 First day, 44-48 Flies, 69 Flowers, 20, 24 Fumigation, 81, 82 Furniture, 16, 17 Games, language, 146, 147 ; kinds of, 278-280 ; " Games for Play- ground, Home, School, and Gymnasium" (Bancroft), 279 Geography (Chapter XVII) : im- portance of subject, 178, 179; preliminary work, 179; early work, oral, 179, 180; map mak- ing and reading, 180; study of surface features, 180, 181 ; order of procedure, 181 ; climatic con- ditions, 181, 182 ; relation to man, 1 82-1 84 ; with a book, 185; location of places, 185, 186; aids, 186, 187 ; use of different books, 187 ; emphasis of causal idea, 187 ; reviews with older classes, 187-189; teacher and books as sources of aid, 189 ; correlation with history, 195, 196 Globe, 39 Grammar, work leading to techni- cal, 148, 149; technical, 149, 150 Grounds, School Building and. See Building and Grounds, School " Gymnastic Stories and Plays " (Stoneroad), 84 Habits, smoking and other bad, 83 Handwork, 244-257 Hapgood, " School Needlework," 246 Health, 67-86 Hearing, 74-76 Hectograph, 41, 42 History (Chapter XVIII) : intro- ductory, 191 ; story-telling a foundation for, 191 ; reading, 191, 192 ; regular study, 192, 193; what to emphasize, 193; local, 193, 194; verbatim recita- tion, 194; topical study from more than one book, 194 ; how to get books, 194, 195 ; discus- sion in class, 195 ; maps and correlation with geography, 195, 196; pictures, poems, and sto- ries, 196, 197 ; reviews, 197 ; training gained through, 197 ; preparation of teacher, 197, 198 "Home and School Sewing" (Pat- ton), 246 Home work, 62 " How to Make Baskets " (White), 250 " How to Tell Stories to Children " (Bryant), 167 Hygiene, instruction in, 82, 83 ; work should be hygienic, 237, 238 Hymns, 89 " Illustrated Phonics " (Ives), 85 Illustration, articles for, n, 12; study of poem for, 160-162 [305] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Industrial Work (Chapter XXIV) : material for, 12, 13 ; justification of, 244, 245; paper and card- board work, 245, 246 ; sewing, 246-248 ; weaving, 248, 249 ; raffia, 249 ; knotting, 249, 250 ; basketry, 250, 251 ; caning, 251, 252; whittling, 252; stenciling, 252 ; modeling, 253 ; leather, iron, brass, and other kinds of work, 253; the dolls' house, 253, 254; in connection with special subjects, 254, 255; cooking and household economics, 255; gar- dening, 255 ; time of doing, 255, 256; conduct of class, 256; ma- terial, 256; making a start, 257 Interest, arousing, 58 Interruptions during reading, 124 Iron, work in, 253 Itch, 78, 79 Ives, " Illustrated Phonics," 85 Jackman, " Nature Study for Com- mon Schools," 212 Jellitac, 40 Johnson, " Education by Plays and Games," 279 Keeping in at recess, 62 Lamp, 39 Language (Chapter XIII) : early work, oral and incidental, 142; ways of improving English, 142 ; the teacher's English, 142, 143; presentation of good models, 143; free expression by pupils, 143, 144; correction of pupils' English, 144, 145; arousing in- terest and watchfulness, 145 ; exercises to secure correctness, 145, 146; various forms of ex- pression, 147; written work with lower grades, 147 ; work with older children, 147, 148; work leading to technical grammar, 148, 149; technical grammar, 149, 150; use of pictures in, I 5 2 ' 153 Larsson, " Elementary Sloyd and Whittling," 252 Leather, 41 ; work in, 253 Leaving places, 61 Lentils, 97, 99 Library, 29, 43 Lice, 78, 79 Loans, 35, 36 Local history, 193, 194 Looms, Bartlett, 40, 249 ; A B C, 40 Maps and charts, 37 ; making and reading in geography, 180 ; in history, 195 Material, mending, 40; for read- ing, 126, 127 ; for drawing, 217— 219; care and distribution of desk work, 239 ; for industrial work, 256; preparation of, for entertainments, 261, 262 Mats for weaving, 39, 248, 249 Mending material, 40 Mineral study, 205, 206 Miscellaneous articles for teacher's box, 13 Modeling, 253 ; clay for, 39; plas- ticine for, 39 " More Baskets and How to Make Them" (White), 250 Morning Exercises (Chapter VIII): Scripture, 88, 89; hymns, 89; devotional poems, 89; other features, 89, 90 ; current events, 90; ethical training, 90; indirect instruction, 91 ; careful super- vision, 91 ; direct instruction, 91-94 Mounting, of pictures, 31 ; board for, 38 Multiplication tables, 99 Music (Chapter XXII) : ways and means, 228 ; need of stimulus, 229 ; character of work, 229, 230; perfection not to be ex- pected too early, 230 ; all should sing, 230, 231 ; treatment in rural schools, 231 ; tactics of recitation, 231 ; training in ap- preciation, 232, 233 [306] INDEX Nature Study (Chapter XIX) : in- troductory, 199; what to include, 199, 200; plant life, 200; fall work with plants, 200-202 ; seed dissemination, 202; plant study in winter, 203; plant study in spring, 203-205 ; mineral study, 205,206; animal study, 206; mode of working, 206, 207 ; smaller forms of animal life, 207, 208 ; continued schoolroom observa- tion, 208, 209 ; the aquarium, 210; "Nature Study" (Hodge), 210; bird study, 210, 211 ; nat- ural phenomena, 211 ; time and place of lessons, 211, 212; ex- periments, 212 ; aids, 212; gen- eral, 212; "Nature Study for Common Schools" (Jackman), 212 Noon rest time, 279, 280 Nosebleed, 80 Oak tag, 38 Obedience, 296, 297 Object and action work in teach- ing reading, 112, 113 " Object Lessons " (Ricks), 181 Opening exercises, for first day, 46, 47 ; general, 88-90 Orderliness, 22-24 Organizing for permanent im- provement, 16 "Our World Reader," 179 Outbuildings, 24 Overwork, 83, 84 Paints, 39 Paper and cardboard work, 245, 246 Papers, sources of, 38 ; educa- tional, 42 Parent-teacher associations, 66 Paste, 40 Patches, gummed cloth, 40 Patterns, Jenny Wren, 247 Pegs, 39 Pencils, 39 ; Dixon's Eterno, 42 ; individual, 78; in drawing, 217, 218 ; for writing, 223 Penholders, 39, 225 Pens, rubber marking, 40 ; auto- matic shading, 40 Phonetic drills, 118, 119 Phonic, or phonetic, method in reading, 11 6-1 19 Physical Comfort of the Child (Chapter VII) : teacher respon- sible, 67 ; room should be com- fortable, 67 ; flies, 69 ; desks and chairs, 70, 71 ; physical defects, 71; tests of eyesight, 71-74; hearing, 74-76; adenoids, 76, 77 ; drinking cup, 77, 78 ; dry sweeping, 78 ; individual pen- cils, 78 ; lice and itch, 78, 79 ; small ailments, 79-81 ; conta- gious diseases, 81,82; instruction in hygiene, 82, 83 ; smoking and other bad habits, 83 ; worry and overwork, 83 84 ; physical exercises, 84, 85 ; breathing ex- ercises, 85; sense training an indirect aid, 85, 86 Physical exercises, 84, 85 Picture (Chapter XIV) : introduc- tion, 152; treatment, 152, 153; sources, 153, 154; use in con- nection with written work, 154; use in history, 196; use in nature study, 212 Picture wire, 40 Pictures, 10, 11 ; decoration by, 17-19; Prang, 18; Rhine prints, 18; Perry, 18, 41, 153; mounts for, 31 ; as a tool, 31-33 ; school collection, 33; use of, 33, 34; Brown, 41, 153 Pitchpipe, 39 Placards, 39 Plant life, 200 ; fall work with, 200- 202 ; study of, in winter, 203 ; study of, in spring, 203-205 Plants, 20 Plasticine, 39 Play (Chapter XXVII) : teacher should superintend, 277 ; teacher should not control, 277, 278; kinds of games, 278, 279; indoor recess, 279; children should take [307] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY part in, 279 ; noon rest time, 279, 280 ; in connection with regular school work, 280, 281 Playing store, 101 Poem (Chapter XV) : devotional, 89; value of study, 155; selec- tion and sources, 155-157; prep- aration for teaching, 157 ; teach- ing, 157, 158; reproduction, 159; manner of reciting, 1 59 ; illus- tration by use of " The Rocky Mountain Sheep," 159-162 ; list of good poems, 162-165; in his- tory, 196 Position, during reading, 124; in writing, 225, 226 Post cards, 32, 33 Prang pictures, 18 Prang Textbooks of Art Instruc- tion, 220 Preparation, for teaching, 1 ; of teacher for recitation, 51, 52; of material, 59 ; of teacher for poem, 1 57 ; of teacher for his- tory, 197, 198 Prizes, 62 Program, for first day, 47, 48 ; regular, 49 ; place of subjects in, 49, 50 ; arrangements for making most of time, 50, 51 ; length of recitation periods, 51, 52; written, 52; changing, 52, 53 ; sample, 53-56 Promotions, 63-65 Pronunciation, work for, in read- ing, 122; determining pronun- ciation of words, 129 Punishment, 295, 296 Pupil government, 293 Questioning, 268-270 Questions, needed for recitation, 265, 266 Raffia, 40, 249 Railway folders, 32 Rank, 63 Reading (Chapter X) : purpose, 112; primary, 112-121 ; word method, 112; object and action work, 112, 113; use of rhymes, 113, 114; the reading chart, 114, 115; drill cards, 115; other drills for sight work, 115, 116; the phonic, or phonetic, method, 116, 117 ; learning sounds, 117 ; recognition of word through hearing sounds, 117, 118; sound- ing words, 118; need of con- tinued drill, 118; phonetic drills, 118, 119; sounds should continue to be basis of getting words, 119; if no method is in use, 1 19, 120; supplementary, 120, 121; advanced, 1 21-127; difficulties and general method of treating, 121, 122; work for pronuncia- tion, 122 ; work for understand- ing, 122, 123; other aids, 123; position and voice, 124; inter- ruptions and corrections, 124, 125; re-reading, 125, 126; best material, 126, 127; history, 191, 192 Recess, 278, 279 Recitation (Chapter XXVI) : in arithmetic, 103 ; in reading, 122- 126; verbatim, in history, 194; tactics of music, 23 1 ; conduct of class in industrial work, 256; preparation, 264 ; ways of con- ducting, 264, 265 ; questions and topics needed, 265, 266; oral teaching, or development, 266, 267 ; assignment, 268 ; question- ing, 268-270 ; distribution of questions, 270, 271 ; attention a characteristic of good, 271, 272 ; variety a help, 272 ; reasons for loss of attention in, 272, 273 ; re- sponsibility of class, 273 ; atti- tude of class, 274; characteristics of a teacher helping, 274, 275 ; summary, 275, 276 Reeds, 40, 250, 251 Report cards, 65 Reproduction, of poem, 1 59 ; of story, 168, 169 Review, in geography, 187 ; in history, 197 [308] INDEX Ricks, " Object Lessons," 181 " Rocky Mountain Sheep " (Mary Austin), the study of, 160-162 Room should be comfortable, 67- 70 Rulers, 39 Sand tray, 39 School, cold-air, 68 School Arts Magazine, 220 " School Freehand Gymnastics " (Bancroft), 84 " School Needlework " (Hap- good), 246 School officers, teacher's attitude toward, 5, 6 Scrapbook, 40 Scripture reading, 88, 89 Seating plan, 39, 45, 46, 66 Seed dissemination, 202 Sense training, 85, 86 Senses, defects of, 71-76; train- ing, 85, 86 Shrine of beauty, 21 Sickness, 80-82 Sign marker, 40 Smoking, 83 Solids, 39 Sounds, learning for reading, 117; recognition of word through hearing, 117, 118; sounding words, 118; need of drill in, 1 18 Sources of apparatus, 38-43. See also lists at ends of chapters Speaking pieces, 259 Special Exercises (Chapter XXV) Friday afternoon, 259; speaking pieces, 259; visitation days, 260 entertainments, 260, 261 ; prep aration of material, 261, 262 dressing up, 262 ; admission entertainments, 262, 263 ; value of entertainments, 263 Spelling (Chapter XII) : time of beginning, 132 ; manner of be- ginning, 132, 133; series, 133- 135 ; learning value of letters, 135 ; of miscellaneous words, 135, 136; oral and written neces- sary,i36, 137; oral, 137; written, 137 ; study of, 138, 139; in con- nection with other lessons, 139; encouraging interest in, 139, 140 ; combination of classes, 140; the poor speller, 141 Splinters, 79, 80 Starting in (Chapter V) : 44-56 Stenciling, 252 Sticks, 39 " Stories to Tell to Children " (Bryant), 167 Story (Chapter XVI) : for Ian guage drills, 146; importance 166; kinds, 166; sources, i66 ; 167 ; characteristics of a good 167; manner of treating, 167 168; oral reproduction, 168, 169 written reproduction, 169 ; other forms of reproduction, 169: dramatizing, 169, 170; read- ing, 170, 171 ; list of, 171-176 foundation for history, 191 ; use in history, 196, 197 Studio papers, 38 Study, independent, 60 ; of spell- ing, 138, 139; value of poem, 1 55; following development, 267 Supervision, 91 Supplementary reading, 120, 121 Sweeping, 78 Table, homemade, 17 Tables, multiplication, 99 Tappan, The Children's Hour, 167 Teacher (Chapter I) : prepara- tion for work, 1 ; school train- ing not sufficient, 1,2; personal appearance, 2-4; position in community, 4, 5; attitude toward school officers, 5, 6 ; makes the school, 6; equipment (see Equip- ment, Teacher's); need of watch- fulness by, 46; responsible for health, 67 ; English of, 142, 143 ; an example in writing, 227 ; char- acteristics of, helping to a good recitation, 274, 275; duties re- garding play, 277, 278 ; influence of character in discipline, 298 Teeth, 77 [309] EVERYDAY PEDAGOGY Testing knowledge of meaning, 130 Tests, 63 Ticket pins, 40 Tools, need of, 25; should be ready, 28 Topics, study of history by, 194 ; needed in a recitation, 265, 266 Towels, 79 Toy money, 39 Training, school not sufficient, 1, 2 Variety, necessary for interest in desk work, 235, 236; a help in recitation, 272 Ventilation, 68, 69 Visitation days, 260 Voice in reading, 124 Waste, of material, 25, 26; of time, 27, 28, 50-52 Waste paper, 22 Weaving, mats for, 39, 248, 249 White, "How to Make Baskets," 250 ; " More Baskets and How to Make Them," 250 Word method of teaching read- ing, 1 1 2-1 1 6 Work, preparation of teacher for, 5 r > 5 2 > 57> 58; important and necessary, 58, 59 ; study work independent, 60 ; change of, 61 ; means employed for getting done, 61, 62 ; home, 62 Worry, 83, 84 Wounds, 80 Writing (Chapter XXI) : not to be begun too early, 222, 223 ; character of, 223-225; position, 225, 226; precept, example, and practice needed, 226, 227 Written lessons, 63 ; in spelling, 137 ; in language work, 147, 148; use of picture with, 1 54 Yard, 24 [3IO] LIBRARY OF CONGRESS # 019 809 873 5