[Sidenote: Busy Work]
Miss Frederick never let her wits fail when it came to providing
interesting material for children. Stories—she could tell them by the
hour and make her children laugh or cry as she would. Something to do,
delightful little tasks that were play, not work, an unlimited
assortment of these she had always at hand.
For some of the most eager ones she kept on hand a supply of busy work
which was brought out as a special reward for diligence.
For Janie and Rhoda, the two irrepressibles, she had a small collection
of Chinese paper dolls, no two alike, or some needle-work, or a specimen
from the woods. At times she sent Janie out to bring natural objects.
“See how many different things you can bring in to me from that maple
tree, and Rhoda, bring as many different kinds of parts from the
rose-bush as you can find. They must be tiny and no two alike.”
At another time she called for different kinds of soil, stone, cloth,
pictures, and when the list seemed exhausted, she repeated items on it
without any loss of interest because some new characteristic concerning
them was brought to the attention of the curious, wondering, little
investigators.
The child that pays too much attention to what other pupils are doing
needs only to be interested in his own work. He should not be punished.
The teacher should discover what in his schoolmate’s work interests him
and then give him the same kind of work. Such a pupil should cause a
teacher no trouble. It is a matter of keeping him interested and busy,
and that is not a difficult task for the skillful teacher.