The plan of the Third Reader is the same as that of the Second, with
the exception that a few historical lessons have been introduced, and
two lessons which may serve as an introduction to Physical Science.
The botanical lessons supplement those given in the Second Reader.
These, and the lessons on Canadian trees, and all lessons relating to
things in nature, should be made the subjects of conversation between
the teacher and his class, and should form a basis for scientific
instruction. The pupils should be led to study nature directly. To this
end they should be required to obtain (wherever possible) the natural
objects which are described in the lessons, and to examine them, and to
form opinions for themselves concerning them.
Similarly, every lesson should form the subject of conversation--before
reading, during the progress of the reading, and after reading:--the
teacher eliciting from his pupils clear statements of their knowledge
of it, correcting any wrong notions they may have of it, throwing
them back upon their own experience or reading, and leading them to
observe, compare, and judge, and to state in words the results of their
observations, comparisons, and judgments. Some of these statements
should be written on the blackboard, and then be made the subject
of critical conversation; others might be written by the pupils at
their desks, and afterwards be reviewed in class. In this incidental
teaching, it should be the teacher’s aim to develop the previous
imperfect knowledge of the pupils concerning a lesson into a full and
complete knowledge. This can best be effected by judicious questioning
and conversation.
The illustrations of the lessons, as in the Second Reader, are intended
to aid the pupils in obtaining real conceptions of the ideas involved
in the lessons. Children vary greatly in capacity for imagination. It
is essential, however, to the proper understanding of a lesson, and
hence to the proper reading of it, that a child be able to imagine the
persons, actions, objects, described in it. The illustrations will
aid in developing this power of imagination, and the teacher by his
questions and appropriate criticisms, and by a judicious use of his own
greater knowledge and experience, will aid still more in developing it.
In the poetry great care has been taken to select not only such pieces
as children can easily comprehend, but also such as are in themselves
good literature. Many old favorites have been retained, their worth as
reading lessons having been proved with generations of school children.
In the reading of poetry the teacher must constantly assure himself
that the pupils clearly understand what they read. Children have a
natural ear for rhythm, and a fondness for rhyme. Hence they easily
learn to read verse being insensibly charmed by its melody. But they
cannot, with equal facility, comprehend the poetical meanings, the
terse expressions, and the inverted constructions, with which verse
abounds. Much more time, therefore, should be spent by the teacher,
in poetry than in prose, in eliciting from his pupils the meanings
of words, phrases, and sentences. He should not rest satisfied until
the pupils can substitute for every more important word, phrase, and
sentence of a poem, an equivalent of their own finding. He must be
certain too that they understand the substitutions which they offer.
Conversation and questioning will here, as elsewhere in school work,
help him in effecting his purpose.
The exercises which are put at the end of some of the lessons are
intended merely as examples of exercises which the teacher can
himself prepare for all the lessons. Methods of using these have been
described in the Preface to the Second Reader. In the Word Exercises,
many of the words have been re-spelled phonetically to indicate
their pronunciation. This too is merely an example of what may be
done with all words. Pupils should be taught to pick out the silent
letters in words, and to indicate the true phonetic equivalents of
the “orthographical expedients,” as they are called, by which vowel
sounds are often indicated. For example, in _neighbour_, _g_, _h_, and
either _o_ or _u_ are silent, and _ei_ does duty for _ā_; so that the
pronunciation of the word may be indicated by _nā’bor_ or _nā’bur_.
It will be a useful exercise for the pupils sometimes to write out in
this way, on the blackboard, the phonetic spelling of the irregularly
spelled words which occur in their lessons, alongside of their common
spelling. Practice will soon give facility in doing this. It is
believed that by such practice the orthography of irregularly spelled
words will be more easily remembered, and accuracy of pronunciation
more readily gained.
To aid in securing accuracy of pronunciation, a short chapter on
Orthoëpy has been prefixed to the reading lessons. The statements
in it are to form a basis for lessons to be given by the teacher to
the pupils in conversation. Orthoëpy is acquired only by constant
attention to utterance. Carefulness in enunciation must first become
a habit. The correct pronunciation of individual words will then be
gained by the imitation of those who speak correctly, or reference
to a dictionary. It is true that in the pronunciation of many words,
authorities differ widely; hence dogmatism in pronunciation is to be
avoided. Notwithstanding this, no one can hope to become a correct
speaker without the careful study of a dictionary. The teacher should
see that the system of sound-marking adopted by the dictionary in use
in his school, is understood by his pupils, so that they may consult it
intelligently.